Liberty Hall Daily Chat Forum: Politics Unbound

[shermann7]

Ron Paul’s policy ideas a step in the right direction

http://www.thedepauw.com/opinion/ron-paul-s-policy-ideas-a-step-in-the-right-direction-1.3062521#.UjjfQr7D9dg

Never in my life have I left a room feeling so inspired.

Dr. Ron Paul is truly one of America’s most inspirational people, especially to young students like us here at DePauw. I truly believe that this country is realizing that the way to true freedom is not through government “protection,” but through individual decisions. I am a strong believer that Paul’s “noninterventionist” policy is the best way to make this country more economically prosperous, globally stable, and socially free.

One of my favorite parts of Paul’s speech was his response to the liberal’s argument for the redistribution of wealth. It is not acceptable to go steal one of your neighbor’s cars because they have three and you have none, but it seems to be okay when the government does it.

To quote Paul, “the government can not do anything that we can not do.”

We cannot steal from our neighbors, so we should expect the government to do the same. Government’s only role in our financial situations and the economy should be to protect our property, not to take it away.

Government intervention does not increase the number in our middle class, but shrinks it. As Paul said, “I believe the only way to strengthen our economy is to remove government intervention and remove the ridiculous amount of entitlement and welfare spending.”

Another great point that Paul makes is that our involvement in foreign countries is not only not our business, but worse, expensive. The way Paul described this view was through the golden rule, “treat others as you would like them to treat you.” We obviously do not want to be invaded by another country, and neither do the other nations.

More importantly, these unconstitutional, undeclared wars are costing the hardworking taxpayers big time. In order to free the people from the government’s violation of American’s financial liberty, known as taxes, the government must stop the excessive military spending and foreign intervention.

A huge part of what makes me a big fan of Paul is his defense of our Fourth Amendment rights and our rights as individuals. Both Paul and I share the belief that the government does not give us our rights but serves only to protect our rights.

The government does not have the right to choose the moral code of or spy on its’ citizens.

As long as an individual does not harm to someone else, then they have the right to make their own individual decisions. Whether decisions like doing illegal drugs or having a same sex marriage are moral or not is irrelevant.

Paul shared the idea that we do not have to endorse these activities of others, only to be tolerant of other people’s individual decisions. We as Americans hold the right to privacy in our decisions and personal lives.

Although I obviously considered myself libertarian- minded and a Paul fan before hearing him speak live, I did leave feeling even more inspired to be active in the cause of liberty.

Like Paul said, the young people of America are seeing the faults of our current system and are ready to do something about it. They finally understand, to quote Paul, “the American people can handle the truth.” We are through with being lied to by our government.

We are ready for change, big change. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this great movement to move back to Constitutionally sound laws and individual freedoms.

— Wilson is a freshman from Zionsville, Ind. majoring in history.