[I]f we merely tinker with current attitudes about what role the federal government ought to play in our lives, it won’t do much to solve the ethics crisis. True reform is impossible without addressing the immorality of wealth redistribution. Merely electing new leaders and writing more rules to regulate those who petition Congress will achieve nothing...
Could it be that we’re all looking in the wrong places for a solution to recurring, constant, and pervasive corruption in government? ...
Believe me, if everybody benefited equally there would be scant outcry over a little bribery and influence peddling. As our country grows poorer and more indebted, fewer people benefit. The beneficiaries are not the hard-working, honest people who pay the taxes. The groups that master the system of lobbying and special interest legislation are the ones who truly benefit...
The founders detested democracy and avoided the use of the word in all the early documents. Today, most Americans accept without question a policy of sacrificing life, property, and dollars to force “democracy” on a country 6,000 miles away. This tells us how little opposition there is to “democracy.” ...
Our system of democracy has come to mean worshipping the notion that a majority vote for the distribution of government largesse, loot confiscated from the American people through an immoral tax system, is morally and constitutionally acceptable...
Buying influence is much more lucrative than working and producing for a living. The trouble is the process invites moral corruption...
Dealing with lobbying scandals while ignoring the scandal of unconstitutional runaway government will solve nothing. If people truly believe that reform is the solution, through regulating lobbyists and increasing congressional reporting requirements, the real problem will be ignored and never identified. This reform only makes things worse...
The theft that the federal government commits against its citizens, and the power that Congress has assumed illegally, are the real crimes that need to be dealt with. In this regard we truly do need a new direction. Get rid of the evil tax system; the fraudulent monetary system; and the power of government to run our lives, the economy, and the world; and the Abramoff types would be exposed for the mere gnats they are. There would be a lot less of them, since the incentives to buy politicians would be removed...
Even under today’s flawed system of democratic government, which is dedicated to redistributing property by force, a lot could be accomplished if government attracted men and women of good will and character...
Considering the [Iraq] war had nothing to do with our national security, we’re talking big bucks being wasted and lining the pockets of many well-connected American corporations. Waste, fraud, stupidity, and no-bid contracts characterize the process. And it’s all done in the name of patriotism and national security. Dissenters are accused of supporting the enemy. Now this is a rip-off that a little tinkering with House rules and restraints on lobbyists won’t do much to solve...
[W]e now qualify as the greatest international debtor nation in history. Excessive consumption using borrowed money is hardly the way to secure a sound economy...
The biggest rip-off of all – the paper money system that is morally and economically equivalent to counterfeiting – is never questioned. It is the deceptive tool for transferring billions from the unsuspecting poor and middle-class to the special interest rich...
Wealth is transferred from one group to another, and it’s all related to the system that allows politicians and the central banks to create money out of thin air. It’s literally legalized counterfeiting...
The incentive for Americans is to buy consumer goods from other countries whose people are willing to save and invest in their factories and jobs. The only way we can continue this charade is to borrow excess dollars back from the foreign governments who sell us goods, and perpetuate the pretense of wealth that we enjoy...
During this administration the dollar has... depreciated in terms of gold, the time-honored and reliable measurement of a nation’s currency, by an astounding 55%...
Once Rome converted from a republic to an empire, she depreciated her currency to pay the bills. This eventually led to Rome’s downfall. That is exactly what America is facing unless we change our ways...
We have come to accept our role as world policemen and nation builder with little question, despite the bad results and an inability to pay the bills...
The Abramoff-type scandals come and go in Washington... [b]ut our efforts should be directed toward eliminating the greatest of all frauds – printing press money that creates the political conditions breeding the vultures and leeches who feed off the corrupt system...
Counterfeiting money never creates wealth – it only steals wealth from the unsuspecting. The Federal Reserve creation of money is exactly the same. Increasing the dollars in circulation can only diminish the value of each existing dollar. Only production and jobs can make a country wealthy in the long run. Today it’s obvious our country is becoming poorer and more uneasy as our jobs and capital go overseas...
The Abramoff scandal can serve a useful purpose if we put it in context of the entire system that encourages corruption. If it’s seen as an isolated case of individual corruption, and not an expected consequence of big government run amuck, little good will come of it...
Congress was not meant to be a rubber stamp. It’s time for a new direction.
Searching for a New Direction by Ron Paul
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