Ron Paul to start small government think tank

Posted by Steve Adcock

Ron Paul has kept quite busy since his retirement from Congress. Recently, I reported on a new home schooling curriculum spearheaded by Dr. Paul that promises to better prepare students for college and the real world. Now, the Libertarian-minded ex-Congressman will announce plans this week to start a new think tank that he promises will promote small government ideals and a reduced role of federal government in the lives of the American people.

Called the “Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity”, it will “serve as the focal point of a new coalition that crosses political, ideological, and party lines”, according to Paul’s Facebook page. The think tank will focus on two main issues, education and the coming generation – our nation’s future leaders. ”The neo-conservative era is dead,” Paul wrote, citing the chaos and turmoil at the hands of irresponsible politics and unaccountable leaders.

During his announcement on Wednesday, Paul will be joined by a couple of big-named Libertarian-minded individuals like Judge Andrew Napolitano and Lew Rockwell of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

The Ron Paul school curriculum available online

Posted by Steve Adcock

Former Congressman Ron Paul has apparently been hard at work since his retirement from Congress this year, releasing a curriculum designed for parents who home school their children in subjects like western civilization, the free market and liberty, public speaking, English and history, along with science and math courses all the way up through Calculus and Statistics.

Known as the Ron Paul Curriculum, the courses are available online in video form, and parents can access the course material for free up through the fifth grade level. Paul says that students who take the curriculum and apply themselves will enter college at the junior level, testing out of lower-level classes taught by government-funded “educators”.

Ron Paul to write book on school choice, free markets

Posted by Steve Adcock

Recently retired Republican Representative and Libertarian-leaning Ron Paul has signed on to write a new book, titled “New School Manifesto”, that will push ideas that advocate for a free market approach to the United States’ educational system.

The book is set to be released in September, just as students return to class.

The book is said to reject the state-run monopoly on education in the country and instead focuses on giving people an affordable choice on where to send their children by creating competition through the free market. Paul says that parents should be the ultimate authority on their child’s education, not government.

Paul uses the postal service’s competitors, like UPS and FedEx, to support the idea that competition results in better and cheaper services for everyone.

“Ron Paul’s beliefs are always controversial, and even if you disagree with his principles, his arguments will make you think,” said Grand Central Publishing, Paul’s publisher.

What will happen to a post-Ron Paul Republican Party?

Posted by Steve Adcock

After 23 years in Congress, Dr. Ron Paul will retire as a state Representative from Texas, sell his condo in Washington D.C., and return to the Lone Star state to live out his remaining days without the spotlight of the political process. Unfortunately for the GOP, he might be the Republican’s last remaining voice of true small government and individual liberties.

Ron Paul ran unsuccessfully for president in 1988 as a Libertarian, and again in 2008 and 2012 as a Republican. Arguably, Paul’s realistic hopes of becoming president as a Republican were overshadowed by the need to get his message across to the American people at the national level with television cameras rolling and radio microphones on.

Indeed, the retired OB/GYN was widely known as one of the last remaining members of the Republican party who believed in consistent small government policy across the board. Routinely, Paul would fight spending, fight government intrusion into the social lives of the American people and question the United States’ involvement (read: meddling) in matters overseas. Paul believes that U.S. foreign policy perpetuates aggression towards U.S. interests abroad, and argues that our reliance on the Federal Reserve is destroying the value of the American dollar.

Readers of our nation’s founding fathers will quickly recognize their spirit and dedication in Paul’s voice. A small federal government that relies on state governments to make decisions that favor local citizens is a concept that enveloped Paul’s ideas, writings and speeches. Sadly, this spirit is now in the minority as government dependence increases among the American people, and deficits rise, wars continue, and peace dwindles.

The Republicans are left with a stark future. While it is true that no single man shapes an entire political party, the Republican’s lone voice of a significant downsizing of Washinton D.C. is retiring. The Republicans are left with the burden of creating an image, or at least an illusion, of a party that remains in support of a smaller government – somehow. With John “Obamacare is the law of the land” Boehner at the helm in the House, the task is nothing less than daunting. The only constant within the Republican party is its failure to enact significant reform of any kind. Wars, wasteful stimulus and deficits litter the political resumes of virtually everyone in Congress.

In truth, the Republican party leadership is probably relieved to have “trouble-maker” Ron Paul out of the spotlight. After all, who needs a member of their own party calling out party leadership? Who wants to be exposed for what they truly are? Hiding behind the cloak of a perceived belief in small government is far more comfortable. Ignoring a cranky old man who supports the removal of power from Washington bureaucrats gets tiring.

But this relief will soon turn to shock as the defunct party is forced to find its way in the political discourse, furiously searching for ways to separate itself from the Democrats. When the leader of the Republican party goes limp-wristed on one of the most expensive and manipulative regulations of the American people (Obamacare), it is a tough road to travel – with or without Ron Paul.

Without Paul, it just got tougher. Without Paul, their voice of small government and freedom is gone. No other member of the GOP seems willing to pick up where Paul will leave off. No other member seems willing to question government involvement in unnecessary and endless wars, reckless spending, regulation of marriage and the War on Drugs. The party’s small government side is barren. Within the party, Paul was sitting in an auditorium alone. Now, that same auditorium rests dark and silent.

Will the Republican party find a way to give the American people a legitimate choice in the future, or will they continue to follow in line with Democrats and fall on what’s left of their swords as they maintain their commitment to destroy any semblance of small government in Washington D.C.?

Is United States foreign policy to blame in Mideast conflict?

Posted by Steve Adcock

In his usual fashion critical of big government and interventionism, outgoing Texas Representative Ron Paul blasted the United States’ role in the Israeli v. Palestine conflict and cautions Americans to be prepared for a potentially short cease fire in the middle east.

“While we should be pleased that this round of fighting appears temporarily on hold, we must realize that without changes in US foreign policy it is only a matter of time before the killing begins again,” he wrote.

Paul noted that President Obama said last week that no country would ever tolerate bombs falling on their citizens and the United States must stand behind Israel. ”Considering that this president rains down missiles on Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and numerous other countries on a daily basis, the statement was so hypocritical that it didn’t pass the laugh test. But it wasn’t funny,” he added.

Indeed, the same mistakes made under George Bush are evident with this president who, even after rampant and demonstrable discontent from the American people over our government, was given another 4-years in the White House. Taxpayers are forced to fund a conflict with roots so deep in history that no living American could possibly claim to have seen the beginning.

How much peace can our nation reasonably expect with a foreign policy that relies on dropping bombs and, in some cases, arming the enemy? Who can predict a lasting cease fire in the region as our tax payers are continuously forced to fund a battle that has gone on for decades, even centuries? Who expects a country to simply buy its way out of a conflict rooted in religious oppression and third-world societies?

“We are on a collision course with much of the rest of the world if we do not right our foreign policy. Ending interventionism in the Middle East and replacing it with friendship and even-handedness would be a welcome first step.”