http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54660
Ron Paul announces White House bid
Texas Republican says nation has strayed from Constitution
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican known for his libertarian views, today announced he will vie for the GOP presidential nomination next year.
"We have lost our way and strayed from the free society our Founders secured for us in the Constitution, but there's no reason the principles that made us the greatest nation ever can't be restored," he said.
"We merely need to respect and follow the rule of law - the U.S. Constitution - and elect leaders determined to stand firm in its defense," he said.
Paul, 71, who ran for the office in 1988 under the Libertarian Party ticket, made his announcement on C-SPAN's Washington Journal program and immediately afterward filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
He said he will pursue lower taxes, to protect the United States from the threat to its independence that various international agreements provide, to secure its national borders, to protect citizens' privacy from government intrusion and to reverse the trend of government taking private property from citizens.
"My concerns for the future of our country are deeply held. The Republican Party has floundered in its effort to shrink the size of government and restore our constitutional republic," he said. "Instead, in recent years our deficits have exploded, entitlements are out of control and our personal liberties are threatened. We have embarked on a dangerous and expensive foreign policy, acting as the world's policeman and nation builder."
Paul, said the U.S. very simply no longer can "afford the extravagance of this ever-growing and intrusive government, both at home and abroad."
"Last year alone our long-term obligations increased by $4.6 trillion dollars," he said.
The problems are not particularly complex, however, Paul insisted.
"Liberty once again must become more important to us than the desire for security and material comfort. Personal safety and economic prosperity can only come as the consequence of liberty. They cannot be provided by an authoritarian government. To expect the government to take care of us from cradle to grave undermines the principles of liberty," he said.
He said the nation's current direction is completely wrong.
"Returning to the dark ages of dictatorship is no substitute for resuming the most modern and grandest experiment known to man - promoting human liberty by strictly limiting the arbitrary power of government," he said.
Central planning is "intellectually bankrupt" and has undermined the moral principles of the United States," he said. "Our planners and rulers are not geniuses, but rather demagogues and would-be dictators - always performing their tasks with a cover of humanitarian rhetoric."
He said the collapse of the Soviet system surprised many, but not devotees of freedom.
They, he said, "have understood for decades that socialism was doomed to fail. Communism, like all socialism, failed intellectually and failed practically. And so too will the welfare/warfare state fail, and then our cause will be heard. The love of liberty will not die."
He said a free society is based on the key principle that the government, the president, the Congress, the courts and the bureaucrats are incapable of knowing what is best for each and every one of us.
"They don't know how to run the economy, regulate our lives or manage a world empire," he said.
Government as "a referee" is fine, but not more.
"The time has come for a modern approach to achieving those values that all civilized societies seek."
Paul long has been an advocate of strict constitutional adherence and belief in a small government, including low taxes, individual liberties and less Washington influence.
The National Taxpayers Union consistently ranks Paul as a leader on the issues of taxation, and he advocates more controls on immigration.
Representing the 14th district in southeastern Texas, he believes amnesty is not the solution to the flood of illegal immigrants moving into the nation today. He opposes abortion and supports the use of vouchers that parents can use for private and parochial schools.
He's supported a resolution to abolish the Department of Education so states, cities and communities can resume control of educating their children.
He's been especially vocal in his denunciations of plans such as the "Trans-Texas Corridor," a superhighway project that opponents argue would be used to bring Chinese goods through Mexico directly into and through the U.S.
Why? The ultimate goal, he said, is not simply a superhighway, "but an integrated North American Union - complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy and virtually borderless travel within the union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether."
Plans for such a "North American Union" were cited as the No. 1 story on WND's list of 10 most underreported stories for 2006.
The January 2007 edition of WND's monthly Whistleblower magazine, which explores this topic in-depth, is titled "PREMEDITATED MERGER: How our leaders are stealthily transforming the U.S.A. into the North American Union."
Paul would join a field that features John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but also could include Newt Gingrich, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, John H. Cox, Alan Keyes and others.
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