Old Truth Blog

I've had my share of mixed feelings regarding Ron Paul. As a defender and promoter of liberty, Ron Paul is matched by few men. He's introduced millions to individualism, free markets, sound money, and non-interventionism. I applaud him and praise him for his selfless efforts in this beautiful cause. He's taking his principles to ever wider audiences, and as President of the United States, he would have a greater platform than any libertarian has ever had in the fight for freedom. But I have my reservations. One the one hand, there are those who argue that a Ron Paul victory would only prolong the life of the American Empire. While it may have it's reigns tightened for a time, it would ultimately continue it's course of plunder and destruction once Ron Paul is out of office. While Ron Paul would be a beacon for educating the masses on the principles of liberty, when the Empire does reach it's logical conclusion, Ron Paul and libertarianism would be made int...

This video is absolutely superb. If you value life and freedom at all, Ron Paul deserves your support.

The below video demonstrates rather briefly the consistency in the fight for liberty, sound economics, and a non-interventionist foreign policy that has permeated Ron Paul's congressional career.

I've been debating with myself on whether or not I should even make this post. My thoughts on what I'm about to say have a dual meaning. First, on just how far-reaching and consistent Ron Paul's libertarian principles are, and Second, how far I believe we've strayed as a society from the Christian principles to love our neighbor as well as our enemies. In theory, everything points to Ron Paul being electable. He can out-left the Left and out-right the Right . But I think that's also his downfall. He has too many enemies, and those enemies have too much power. Just look at this list: The Federal Reserve Wall Street Bankers Military Contractors Federal Drug Warriors Big Labor, Unions Big Agriculture Foreign Recipients of Federal Aid And the list goes on. I see too many special interests with too much on the line (money) to allow a Ron Paul victory. He wants to capsize the boat that is Big Government. And here's the really disturbing part, I even g...

Chapter 46 of the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon, chronicles the time that Captain Moroni of the Nephite Armies rallies his people together to fight for their liberty. The seminal moment came when he created "the title of liberty": And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah. And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it: "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children," and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren...

It's perfectly clear to me that Ron Paul is unlike anyone else in Washington, and unlike any of the other candidates vying for the Republican nomination for President. But it may not be perfectly clear to you. I'd like to invite anyone unfamiliar with Ron Paul's breadth of principle and scholarship to look at a few things. Books -  Ron Paul has written or co-written several books, all of them (except his medical works) with one purpose: to spread the message of freedom. You'll also notice that not a single one of them engages in self-aggrandizement, unlike many others . In chronological order: 1981 - Gold, Peace, & Prosperity 1982 - The Case for Gold 1983 - Abortion and Liberty 1983 - Ten Myths About Paper Money 1984 - Mises and Austrian Economics 1987 - Freedom Under Siege 1990 - Challenge to Liberty: Abortion 1991 - The Ron Paul Money Book 2007 - A Foreign Policy of Freedom 2008 - Pillars of Prosperity 2008 - The Revolution - A Manifesto 20...

I have shared content and posted about Ron Paul a little more often than usual lately. For those who know me, you know that I don't care to waste my time voting nor get involved in elections. However, Walter Block has convinced me that I should be doing all I can to promote Ron Paul. Now, let me explain why Ron Paul is different. Yes, he's the only candidate, nay, the only member of the Federal Government that can be considered a voluntaryist . All the rest are coercivist crooks . The entire lot of them. Ron Paul has been battling these crooks for 30 some-odd years, in and out of Congress. He's been consistently principled, and has consistently fought for liberty . He's truly an anomaly. That's not a platitude. That's not something that you can say about any candidate since the founding of the United States. That is a fact. I've studied Ron Paul the last few years and own several of his books. I've added him to my list of people I consider Great . H...

I've noticed a certain type of libertarian that not only follows and promotes Ron Paul, but that Ron Paul keeps around him. They include Lew Rockwell and the crews at LewRockwell.com and Mises.org . The overriding theme among them all is that they are voluntaryists, or anarcho-capitalists. Since first studying Ron Paul and following this crowd, I've believed that Ron Paul is in actuality a voluntaryist, posing as a Constitutionalist. The video below demonstrates this using quotes from Ron Paul's books, and clips from a few interviews.

There's one reason why the dollar has lost 95% of it's value since 1913, the economy experiences booms and bubbles, and then busts, government has grown, liberty has been lost, and massive, on-going wars have been financed all over the world. That reason is central banking. In the United States, central banking is known as the Federal Reserve System. Ron Paul's latest book calls for the end of the Federal Reserve System. Here are a few excerpts from his chapters in " End the Fed " explaining why we must abolish the Federal Reserve: Why You Should Care "Everybody thinks about money and almost everybody wants more. We use money without thinking much about its nature and function. Few of us ask where it comes from, who controls it, why it has value, and why it loses value from time to time. In the same way, most people accept the Federal Reserve, the manager of the nation's money stock, as an indispensable institution that the United States cannot func...

This is a fantastic interview by TIME with Ron Paul. He is currently the most principled politician in Washington, and we would all be better off listening to his arguments, ( YouTube, 6m, 21s ):

In a review for Ron Paul's latest book End the Fed , David Gordon gives a short and precise description of the boom-bust cycle (or business cycle, or trade cycle): Far from being a means to maintain monetary stability, as its supporters falsely insist, the Fed through expansion of bank credit bears primary responsibility for the business cycle. The expansion temporarily lowers the money rate of interest below the true market rate, largely determined by people’s time preference, i.e., their preference for present over future goods. Businesses, with money available, expand; but the new projects cannot be sustained. When the monetary expansion ceases (if it doesn’t, we will have hyperinflation, with disastrous consequences), these new investments must be liquidated. The process of doing so is the depression. Explaining this has been one of the greatest advancements in economic theory over the last century, yet too few understand it . Much more in depth analyses can be found here a...

In my opinion, there really isn't anything more American than the principle and practice of secession. Think about it. Our country began through an act of secession. Our very claim to govern ourselves instead of by a foreign, central power was realized through the secession and eventual union of thirteen separate British colonies. This is important history as it demonstrates the founding principle of our nation, self-government. While Washington may be on the same continent as most American States, it's centrality is growing and could rightly be considered foreign by some. Here's Congressmen Ron Paul's response (4m 39s, YouTube ) to Texas Governor Perry's recent secession comments:

Here's Congressman Ron Paul (5m, 35s, YouTube) on how to deal with piracy . He was a proponent of the same solution to deal with terrorists back after 9/11, and since we now have hindsight on just how far we've gotten in our search for bin Laden, his was probably the better course: (Hint: The solution is in the Constitution .)

We were brave today and despite mother nature, we protested the federal government. I don't know how effective protesting is, and I'm certainly not one to believe that protesting is the most efficient way of bringing about change, but I found value in going as it provided a receptive place for me to pass out literature on the Austrian school of economics. "Why Austrian Economics Matters" by the Mises Institute to be exact. A friend and I bought 150 pamphlets and passed them out in about 15 minutes. They went like hot-cakes. Only one person, after asking what it was and I explained how the Austrian school has shown the Fed to be the main cause for the business cycle, decided he didn't like it and gave it back. Everyone else was reaching for it as I yelled out "Learn Austrian Economics!" and "Ron Paul is a student of the Austrian school of economics!". I only wish I had a thousand or two. But hopefully what I did have will encourage someone to ...

In a not-so-great-because-Ron-Paul-obliterates-Actor-Stephen-Baldwin debate between the two over legalizing marijuana, Congressmen Paul makes sound common sense points in his opposition to the federal prohibition of marijuana, via YouTube  (embedded below):

I have completed this book and wanted to first share some thoughts and then quote some of the best parts from each chapter (just a few chapters).  I am glad I bought and read this book and should have done so a year ago when it came out. The book represents Ron Paul's political and philosophic beliefs about the Constitution, war and US foreign policy, economic freedom, civil liberties, and the central bank. He's consistently libertarian in each of these areas and the main call of the book is for an intellectual revolution in regards to our system of government, or the system of government that evolved, unconstitutionally, over the last 200+ years. I will probably keep my eye on Ron Paul and what he's up to a little closer than I have been and will do what I can to elect like minded individuals to all levels of government. Now for the quotes that stood out to me: Chapter 1: The False Choices of American Politics My message is one of freedom and individual rights. I believe i...

I've picked up this book by Rep. Ron Paul and just finished the preface, which I will re-print here. But first a moment to share the names of those that have been influential in the journey I've been on these last few years in regards to my classic liberal (libertarian) philosophical beliefs. It started through reading the weekly columns of Walter E. Williams and Thomas Sowell in my local newspaper (Deseret News). Both are fine economists. Dr. Williams teaches at George Mason University and explains the libertarian philosophy, and economics, better than most. Dr. Sowell is one of the world's finest scholars and has written several books, many of which I own. From there I began reading the columns of John Stossel and subscribed to The Freeman  journal. This journal introduced me to several econo-libertarians such as Donald Boudreaux, Robert Murphy, and Steve Horwitz. About this time I discovered Google Reader and the ease of which I could follow these writer's blogs, art...

As time goes on since President Obama took over as Commander-in-chief, the possibility that America will continue to be involved in oversea wars is strengthening. As he said during the campaign, he wants to send more troops into the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Obama very well could leave an Afghanistan War legacy, when it's all said and done. Unfortunately, that doesn't sound like the "change" we were led to believe in. And it's reasonable to assume that as the American presence increases in Afghanistian and decreases in Iraq, terrorists organizations could relocate westward. Then back to Iraq we go. Where would it end? What's the solution? I find myself leaning more and more toward the position that Texas Congressman Ron Paul has been proposing since the war began, namely, stop occupying and policing the world, leading to more and more international conflict and domestic debt. Here's Ron Paul on Obama's Foreign Policy thus far: Rep. Ron Paul on Obama...

In this incredible video, Ron Paul is shown in several clips and quotes from the beginning of the decade predicting what is now upon us. It's unfortunate that our government continues in the error of their ways. For more on the Austrian school of economics of which Paul subscribes, visit the Ludwig von Mises Institute homepage. You will find a plethora of resources, dating back decades, calling for an end to the Federal Reserve system: The U.S. Economic Collapse