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Politicians
use fear to justify wars, Paul says
GOP candidate calls for troop withdrawal
By Margot Sanger-Katz
10/08/07 "Concord
Monitor " -- -- Rep.
Ron Paul believes political leaders are pumping up the threat of
terrorism to accomplish political goals. Paul, the 10-term Texas
congressman, told Monitor reporters and editors that concerns
about the country's security have been overblown to justify
needless foreign invasions and domestic surveillance programs.
"It scares the living daylights out of me that they would do
that, to talk about perpetual war," he said, dismissing the
contention that Islamic terrorism is a grave threat that will
face the country for a generation or longer. "All that is, they
have to have an enemy."
Paul, who is running for the Republican nomination for
president, said he sees a clear path for making the country
safer while protecting individual liberties. That vision is in
keeping with the ideals he reads in the U.S. Constitution: small
federal government, broad protections of individual liberties
and a hands-off foreign policy that achieves peace through trade
and cooperation.
That reading informs the views that have made the former
obstetrician a phenomenon on the campaign trail. As the only
Republican presidential candidate calling for the complete and
immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Paul has repeatedly
challenged his rivals' assertion that continuing the war will
make Americans safer.
Paul said he believes that terrorism is fueled by U.S. policy
abroad. Occupation, he said, leads to the type of desperation
and hostility that cause people to choose suicide attacks.
"As long as we occupy Muslims' countries, our danger is always
growing," he said. "So, I think we're in a much more dangerous
time now than we were before 9/11 because instead of wising up,
what we've done is more of the wrong thing."
The Cuban missile crisis of 1962, where the U.S. faced a
tangible military threat, was resolved peacefully, he said.
Currently, the U.S. faces no threat as dire, Paul said, yet
turns readily to military solutions.
He said fears about terrorism have contributed to declining
safety, destabilized the federal budget, and have led to
domestic policies that he sees as violating the Constitution.
Paul opposes warrantless surveillance, national identification
cards and other antiterrorism measures that he considers
violations of privacy.
"Today, the federal government spends most of its time
protecting government secrecy and violating personal privacy,
and we were supposed to do the opposite," he said.
In Paul's estimation, the last hundred years have seen the
country move increasingly away from constitutional precepts. The
federal government has grown, along with the notion that the
government can solve the country's foreign and domestic problems
through intervention, an idea that Paul sees as wrongheaded.
Paul believes the U.S. should remove troops stationed abroad,
not just in Iraq but in Korea, Afghanistan and other nations,
eliminate federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue
Service and the Social Security Administration, and work to
sever political alliances with foreign nations. He believes the
country should decriminalize most drugs, slash the size of the
military and return the country's currency to the gold standard.
A smaller government would allow individuals and states to solve
problems more creatively. In areas like education and medical
care, Paul would prefer to see approaches that use the market
and individual choice rather than federal regulation. Government
control only stunts creativity and encourages mismanagement, he
said, pointing to the Washington, D.C., public school system and
the federal response to Hurricane Katrina as examples of how
federal approaches can result in costly failures.
A smaller government is also necessary, he said, to head off
imminent economic collapse. Paul sees the country's current
budget deficits as unsustainable and predicts a monetary crisis
soon if the country does not change course.
Paul ran for president in 1988 on the Libertarian ticket, but he
said his ideas are embedded in a long Republican tradition.
Though he disagrees sharply with his Republican rivals for the
nomination on a variety of issues, he describes himself as the
"real fiscal conservative," with a foreign policy perspective
similar to that of President Bush when Bush first ran.
"I'm a Robert Taft Republican - I'm from the old right - where
he believed in civil liberties and he believed in
nonintervention overseas," Paul said. "What is amazing is that
they can take a person like me and make me sound like I'm not a
Republican."
Paul said that he's been surprised and heartened by the
enthusiasm of young supporters, who have turned out in straw
polls, spread his message in internet chat groups and who have
harnessed significant fundraising capabilities, though they have
not yet made a strong impression in national opinion polls.
Paul's third-quarter fundraising total, reported last week, was
$5 million, on par with Arizona Sen. John McCain, a Republican,
and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat.
But he sounded an uncertain note when asked how he could convert
that energy into votes.
"We get criticized so much because we're not going to enough
states. Everybody wants me to come, and the problem is I'm just
flat out too lazy. I tell them . . . can't I just talk to them
on the internet?"
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