Etienne, from his perch overlooking the open pit sewer that is Washington DC, has come to the conclusion that Ron Paul is the only honest man in Congress. So obviously I am supporting him as President of the United States and encourage all my friends, visitors, and those simply interested in honest government to check him out! Here is a tribute from someone who knows him well.
The following is the forward to Congressman Ron Paul's 1988 book: Freedom Under Siege written by
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. the founder and president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute who served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Paul for a number of years.
Every American who cares about liberty owes a debt to Ron Paul. From his first run for Congress in 1974 through his gallant try for the Senate in 1984 to his present campaign as Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, Ron Paul has been an outstanding leader for freedom.
I had the privilege of working as Dr. Paul's chief of staff in Washington. And in
the often corrupt and always superficial city of Washington, D.C., he was a beacon of honesty and decency.
Even the advocates of big government came grudgingly to recognize him as the man they couldn't sway, the man they couldn't buy. His only concerns were freedom, peace, the Constitution, and honest money, and these same ideals animate his latest book.
Naturally, the criminals who want your tax dollars in their pockets found Ron Paul hard to deal with. Devotion to principle is not the engine of Capitol Hill. The backslapping, vote-trading politicians and lobbyists felt uncomfortable around Ron Paul, almost as though their shirt collars were too tight.
Greatness is often lonely, and it is never easy to oppose colleagues or the statist special interests who wanted Ron Paul to act as their errand boy to the Treasury. They were all amazed, and then aghast, at his refusal to play their game.
New Congressmen are always advised, in shady Sam Rayburn's words, "To get along, go along." They're told: "Don't make waves. Vote for the other guy's spending and he'll vote for yours. Do as you're told and you'll be taken care of." How easy to become part of the system, and reap the rewards of power.
For virtually every Congressman, there is not even a pause before he plunges into the trough. It is, after all, why he entered politics. But that was not why Ron Paul went to Washington. He sought a great rostrum for freedom, and he never sold out. He even opposed public works projects in his own district, a stand that still boggles every politician in America.
As Ron Paul patiently explained, he could hardly criticize federal spending in California while supporting it in Texas. But such consistency was outlandish. No one could believe his ears.
Over the years, Ron Paul's influence grew. Not with the politicians, but with the people. He educated millions, spreading the ideas of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard on runaway government, sound money, and the free market. Other Congressmen would be flabbergasted to receive thousands of their own constituents' letters telling them to vote like Ron Paul. As Andrew Jackson said, "One man with courage can make a majority."
Ron Paul has helped build the majority for freedom. In his campaigns, in the Congress, with the F.R.E.E. Foundation and the Mises Institute, calmly and without fanfare, he's worked for us and for our children.
How often I saw him at his desk, at 7:00am and at 11:00pm, poring over legislation and committee hearings most other Congressmen ignored, studying Constitutional history and Austrian economics, and writing some of the most eloquent words ever to come out of the Capitol. He worked hard and cheerfully, earning a fraction of his former income as a physician.
He would get angry at the goings-on. And frustrated. But he was never defeated, because he never forgot why he was there. Not to make a career in the State apparatus, but to help dismantle it.
He never made a promise he didn't keep, never violated his oath to uphold the Constitution, never desecrated free market or hard money principles, never voted to waste a cent or to raise our taxes, was never less than a pure champion of liberty.
We have not seen Ron Paul's like in Washington since the days of the Founding Fathers. And this book helps demonstrate why. On the economy, civil liberties, the IRS, foreign policy, the gold standard, the draft, and the Power Elite, he takes the hardcore, principled Libertarian position. He is the 20th century's Thomas Jefferson.
The Omnipotent State threatens us with inflation, expropriation, depression, war, and slavery. Republicans and Democrats offer only lies and loot-seeking.
But Ron Paul and the Libertarian Party provide honesty and decency: an America where we are free to work and to achieve; an America at peace with its citizens and its neighbors; an America of abundance and compassion; an America of healthy families and decent children; an America tolerant of peaceful differences; an America true to its origins in liberty; an America liberated from the Moloch State.
The remaining years of the 20th century hold out the prospect of State created war, pestilence, famine, oppression, and depravity. If we succeed in changing this specter, Ron Paul and the Libertarian Party will have made the difference.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., is founder and president of the Ludwig von Mises
Institute.
1988
Read Freedom Under Siege Here.
Donate to Ron Paul's Presidential Campaign Here.
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