Paul believes freedom, prosperity threatened
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By Deb Nicklay | Tuesday, August 07, 2007 |
MASON CITY, Iowa — Ron Paul’s campaign bus, parked outside The Music Man Square here Monday night bore a sign reading, “Say Yes to Dr. No.”
That is what about 100 citizens did, turning out to hear the Republican presidential candidate at a town meeting.
The “Dr. No” part became immediately apparent as the 71-year-old Republican congressman from Texas began asking the audience to say “no” to the Iraq war, abortion and a large federal bureaucracy that he said creates overspending, inflation, a broken stock market and uneasiness among Americans.
“Our country is unique. ... We have the greatest amount of freedom and prosperity of any country, and yet I believe our freedom and prosperity is threatened,” he said.
“We’ve believed too long that our freedom comes our government. ... Our freedom, however, comes from our creator.”
His years as a gynecologist taught him, he said, that abortion at any stage is wrong.
“Life is sacred. The most obscene thing government could do is to ... use your money to commit abortion,” he said to loud applause.
Paul said that upholding the Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court helped form an American attitude that is harmful to children.
“When you consider our careless attitude about the unborn ... why is it so strange to see how our society is abusive to children?”
Paul said the growth of the federal government has created massive programs such as Social Security, which creates a drain on the national budget. He believes in the free market and said young people today can save for the future rather than rely on Social Security.
“We have to move to a free society. The middle class is threatened; our standard of living has been eroded. We have some serious problems because we believe government will take care of it.”
Involvement in the Iraq war also was ill-advised and today costs taxpayers “a trillion dollars a year.”
“Sometimes it just bewilders me why people around the world don’t approve of our imposition on their land,” he said, adding if “the Chinese came to America and told us how to live, we would want to shoot them, too.”
“My suggestion is that we change our foreign policy, (adhere) to the Constitution, stay out of entangling alliances and bring our troops home,” he said to loud applause.
Paul also called for the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service, favoring instead a national sales tax in lieu of corporate and personal taxes.
Paul called himself “a reluctant candidate” who “is a lot less reluctant than I was six months ago,” given the growth of support he said he has, especially with young people.
(The Mason City Globe Gazette is a Lee Enterprises Newspaper.)
Deb Nicklay can be contacted at deb.nicklay@globegazette.com.
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