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Title: An Oldie (2002): Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 1] View count: 631 Rating: 5.0 (12 ratings) Description: (September 5th, 2002) Rep. Ron Paul [R-TX] speaks before the U.S. House of Representatives on the transition from a nonintervention policy to aggressive interventionism. Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdKFG4qZhqU Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzf-JnbpzMs Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pVY7A4NF7E Ron Paul on The Price of War [Part 4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQVP4h3tnlU (Transcript) Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson spoke for the founders and all our early Presidents when he stated, ``Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none, which is one of the essential principles of our government.'' The question is, whatever happened to this principle and should it be restored? We find the 20th century was wracked with war; peace was turned asunder and our liberties steadily eroded. Foreign alliances and meddling in the internal affairs of other nations became commonplace. On many occasions, involvement in military action occurred through U.N. resolutions or a Presidential executive order, despite the fact that the war power was explicitly placed in the hands of the Congress. Since World War II, nearly 100,000 deaths and over a quarter million wounded, not counting the many thousands claimed to have been affected by Agent Orange and the Persian Gulf War Syndrome, have all occurred without a declaration of war and without a clearcut victory. The entire 20th century was indeed costly with over 600,000 killed in battle and an additional million wounded. If liberty had been truly enhanced during that time, less could be said about the imperfections of the policy. The evidence, however, is clear that we as a people are less free and the prosperity we still enjoy may be more illusionary than many realize. The innocent victims who have suffered at the hands of our militarism abroad are rarely considered by our government; yet, they may well be a major factor in this hatred now being directed toward America. It is not currently popular to question corporate or banking influence over the foreign policy that replaced that of Washington and Jefferson. Questioning foreign government influence on our policies, although known about for years, is not acceptable in the politically correct environment in which we live. There is little doubt that our role in the world dramatically changed in the 20th century, inexorably evolving from that of strict noninterventionism to that of sole superpower with the assumption that we were destined to be the world's policeman. (...) [ http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=8214720 ] ----------------------------------------------------------- Ron Paul voted against the 2002 Iraq War resolution, this is his speech before the House vote on October 8, 2002: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TZ5cpaPlf4 Tags: ron, paul, constitution, liberty, dollar, usa, election, 2008, price, of, war, 2002, Author: jaralero |
