E-mail a friendRep. Ron Paul
airdate September 3, 2008
Texas Rep. Ron Paul has earned a reputation as a strict constitutionalist. He's an advocate of smaller government and nonintervention, which guided his opposition to many social welfare programs and military action in Iraq. Paul is also an M.D., who refused to accept Medicare/Medicaid payments from his patients. He ran for U.S. president in '88 as a Libertarian and as a G.O.P. candidate in the '08 cycle, and has written several books. His current assignments include the Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees.
Former White House hopeful, whose campaign resonated with young people, details what he thinks McCain must do to capture the youth vote. (1:14)
Full interview. (6:41)
Rep. Ron Paul
Tavis: Earlier tonight, I had a chance to talk to Ron Paul. You recall that campaign that he ran that inspired all kinds of young people, raised all kinds of money, set records in fact. Here now a conversation earlier tonight with Ron Paul.
Congressman Paul, nice to have you on the program, sir.
Rep. Ron Paul: Good. Thank you.
Tavis: Let me start by asking. We've been reading a lot about your wife. How is she?
Paul: She's doing very well. Thank you for asking. She's getting a lot better now.
Tavis: Good, good. Congratulations. You ran a heck of a campaign, whether one agrees or disagrees. First of all, I'm grateful you showed up for our debate last year, so thank you for that.
Paul: It was fun (laughter).
Tavis: We had a lot of fun too. Whether one agrees or disagrees, you struck a chord in the country and particularly with the young people. Tell me what you did that struck that chord so well this time around?
Paul: I keep trying to figure it out when other people ask me because they want to do it. I think it's basically the ideas. What I'm so pleased about is the young people like it. But I preach a lot of about self-reliance and, you know, taking care of one's self and being responsible, but it also means that you have a right to your life and to run your life as you choose and you have personal liberties, the protection of civil liberties, and not try to have somebody micromanage peoples' personal lifestyles. I think young people sort of like that.
But I also blend that in with you have a right to make as much money as you want and you ought to have a right to keep it or spend it the way you want, and they like that. But I think it's foreign policy. That's been a big issue for young people. I think they see the burden of the foreign policy falling on them in case these wars keep spreading and they seem to be very persistent. The Selective Service is still there and they know they're inheriting the financial burden.
They understand that, but they also don't like the idea that they might be forced to go overseas. They see a lot of their friends who've gone over and either loss of life or been injured and are sick. I think they like my very, very precise position of a different kind of foreign policy which sometimes they accuse me of not being Republican, but quite frankly, there have been Republicans in the past that have advocated the same foreign policy position.
Tavis: Aside from foreign policy, which I'll come back to, I promise, in just a second. Aside from that, how does the rest of your agenda differ that dramatically from Mr. McCain's agenda or from that of the larger Republican Party?
Paul: Well, in probably spending, you know, he would be willing to spend a lot more money than I would be and that has to be related to foreign policy because a lot of money goes there. Take McCain-Feingold, which is an interference, I believe, on the First Amendment.
Tavis: Campaign finance reform.
Paul: Yeah. Campaign finance reform. I didn't like that. On taxes, he's voted for higher taxes. He's never resisted the expansion of the Department of Education. So from a conservative viewpoint, there has been some pretty strong disagreements.
Tavis: So back to foreign policy now. The major difference between your foreign policy agenda and his is?
Paul: Probably the same as my disagreement with the Democratic party too and that is that they basically endorse the idea that we have a moral and constitutional responsibility to be everywhere, to police the world, to go into nation-building. Although George Bush won in the year 2000, taking the position similar to mine. We do too much nation-building and too much interference around the world, and mine is very precise. I just don't think we should do it. I don't think our interests are best served by having troops everywhere.
For one reason, I don't think we can afford it and I just don't like the idea that we've invaded countries that have not attacked us, that we're in Iraq, we're in Afghanistan, we threaten the Iranians. Everybody hardly even questions Republicans or Democrats, "Oh, yeah, we should be in Georgia. They're fighting over there. We're gonna rebuild the Army that we had already built." The main reason is, we got an oil line going through Georgia. I mean, that's the kind of thing that I differ with John McCain on, but I differ with Obama as well.
Tavis: This oil and, for that matter, the environment in a much larger sense, but certainly this issue of oil and our oil dependence is going to be an issue in this campaign and already is, given certainly Mr. McCain's pick of Ms. Palin out of Alaska. Give me your sense of what we ought to be doing about this oil problem that we have?
Paul: Well, get the government out of the way. The government has caused the problem because we go to war to protect our oil. Oil at the time we went into Iraq was $27 a barrel. Now it's well over a $100 a barrel, so it doesn't really help.
The government gets in the way by subsidizing corporations to make ethanol from corn and that hasn't helped. Nobody's proven that that was an economically correct decision because it's cheaper to make ethanol from sugar cane and we could import it cheaper than we make it from corn. But if you really want to make cheap ethanol, you make it from hemp, but that's illegal.
I personally think, although individuals should make the decision of what is the best source of energy, the market should. But I personally think nuclear power is safe and clean and efficient and you can have electricity. You can run electric cars. Yet we have a lot of obstacles in our way, so we put pressure on burning more coal and we take away the incentive then to have more nuclear power.
Tavis: So all that said, you've been running a shadow convention, a counter-convention, outside of this hall for another set of delegates, if you will. Tell me about your convention that you've been running.
Paul: Well, it's not quite another set of delegates. Our delegates come over, but, of course, our numbers are small as far as, you know, having an influence in this convention. But we did have over 12,000 people show up to hear the message and to learn how to participate in the electoral process not this year, but later.
But even though this year, we found out to our surprise that a lot of them have already filed for City Council and Mayors and State Reps. That's how enthusiastic they've been, so there's a lot of momentum. This was mainly to celebrate what has happened the past year, how these young people have been energized and how we can promote these ideas and lay plans for the future, so it was a lot of fun.
Tavis: As you well know, John McCain, if elected, would be the oldest person we've ever elected as president when he's inaugurated. Back to our earlier point, and this is my quick exit question, back to our earlier point, you did something as an older American, as one, as my grandmother would say, as one who's more chronologically gifted (laughter).
Paul: (Laughter) There you go.
Tavis: In your chronological giftedness, you were able to strike a chord, a relationship with young Americans. What advice would you have for John McCain about how to do that, if he can?
Paul: There's only one way you can do and that is you have to have a different philosophy. It's the philosophy, you know, because we are of similar age. But the idea of true liberty is a very young idea and it appeals to young people. Ideologically speaking, I have a very young idea and that's very appealing to young people.
Young people are very idealistic and they like that. They like consistency. I've been impressed that they like the idea of self-reliance. A lot of people assume, "Oh, no. They just want to be taken care of from cradle to grave." I don't believe that anymore.
Tavis: A lot of folk were impressed with your campaign. I'm honored to have you on the program. Good to see you, Councilman. All the best to you.
Paul: Thank you. Thank you very much.
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