(A transcript can be found below the video.)
Question: Congressman Paul, you have wanted to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan for years. In fact, you said on the house floor on the U.S. military’s efforts in Afghanistan quote “Whose interests do we serve by continuing this exercise in futility?” So if President Paul had been running things and troops were already out of Afghanistan, wouldn’t that mean that Osama Bin Laden would be alive today?
Congressman Ron Paul: Absolutely not. I mean, he wasn’t caught in Afghanistan. Nation-building in Afghanistan and telling those people how to live, and getting involved in running their country hardly had anything to do with finding the information [about] where he was being held, in a country where we give billions of dollars of foreign aid to. At the same time, we’re bombing that country. So it’s the policy that’s at fault.
No, not having the troops in Afghanistan wouldn’t have hurt. But we went to Afghanistan to get him, and he hasn’t been there. Now that he’s killed, boy it is a wonderful time for this country now to reassess it, and get the troops out of Afghanistan, and end that war that hasn’t helped us and hasn’t helped anybody in the Middle East.
Question: Congressman Paul, you say that we should cut off all foreign aid to the Middle East and quote “let them take care of themselves”. You say the prison at Guantanamo should be closed, that the detainees there have not been given due process. Governor Pawlenty said a couple months ago that bullies respect strength, not weakness. Is Governor Pawlenty wrong?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, I think strength is good, but you have to have strength in doing the right things. I think secret military prisons, keeping people there for years and years without due process, is not a characteristic of a republic that believes in freedom. It’s just not the process. It’s more typical of an authoritarian government to have secret prisons. So, therefore, I don’t think it serves our purpose.
We have tried nearly three hundred suspects in civilian courts, and hundreds of them have been convicted and put away. So why are we afraid of openness. Why do we have to move in the direction of giving up the right of habeus corpus, which someday, if we’re not careful, will effect American citizens. We should treat people the way we think we might be treated under dire circumstances. And our dire circumstances are moving right along, because we may have real trouble in this country, and we may be subject to the same type of treatment. So we do not need secret prisons, nor do we need the torture that goes on in these secret military prisons.
Question: Congressman Paul, you have said that medical malpractice rewards are creating a crisis in the medical industry, driving doctors out of the business. We also know the CBO has projected that tort reform could save the federal government 54 billion dollars over 10 years. So why are you against federal tort reform?
Congressman Ron Paul: Because the federal government shouldn’t be involved. It’s a state matter. Tort law is a state matter. And it’s a tough vote for me, because as a physician, I know doctors are on the receiving end, and it does push up, you know, the cost of medicine. If you look carefully at all my legislation, I have offered a free market alternative to this. To allow the doctors to negotiate, to make contracts, to get them out from under the monopoly control laws, give tax deductions for insurance policies where there’s no-fault insurance.
And there is a way, in the private market – today we can’t contract with our patients for third-party settlement. And that takes it out of the markets and over to the attorneys. If they accept my position on this, a free market approach, and not a nationalized tort law control of this, believe me, we’d put all the trial lawyers out of business. They wouldn’t get most of the money that comes from all these lawsuits when they’re suing doctors.
Question: Congressman Paul, you routinely vote against raising the debt limit. Would you let the country go into default, which all the experts agree would only make continued borrowing even more expensive for the U.S. government? And you say you want to cut government spending by 50%, eliminating everything from the Federal Reserve to the Department of Homeland Security. Under your plan, what would you leave for the federal government to do?
Congressman Ron Paul: Yeah, I’d sort of like to follow the Constitution and then we wouldn’t have these kinds of problems.
No, you have a government that provides national defense, but you don’t have militarism and police the world. We could take care of people here at home if we weren’t spending 1.5 trillion dollars a year on our militarism. That money needs to be spent back at home, and we would have more defense not less defense. So I don’t see why we should raise the national debt.
You say we’ll default. Probably not. They have money coming in; they can patch it over and pay it. But that’s the only way they’re going to get a message. But it’s nothing new. Our country has defaulted three different times. They promised one time during the Civil War to pay in gold; they refused to. In the 30s, they promised to pay in gold, they refused to. And then in 1971 they promised to pay foreigners in gold, they defaulted. We stuck in to ‘em.
Once again we’re going to default. We’re defaulting every single day. That’s what your prices are doing. When prices go up, they’re defaulting on your money. So we need to look at the Federal Reserve System.
Question: Congressman Paul, you’ve expressed concern that Israel will act unilaterally and start war with Iran. You’ve also said that you fear the United States will condone an Israeli attack on Iran. How does President Paul plan to stop Israel from acting?
Congressman Ron Paul: I think Israel has to do what they think is in their best interest. And they shouldn’t have to come ask us permission. If they have border problems, or if they have trouble with Iran – they didn’t ask us permission to bomb the nuclear site in the early 1980s, and I think that was fine. But I think they become too dependent on us. Not only for money – and they economically become dependent – they become independent in that they can’t even work toward peace with a country we might not like them to.
I don’t want any of this foreign aid, for Pakistan or anybody else, because the principle is wrong. Because it doesn’t achieve anything. If we stop all the foreign aid, you say “aw, we’re going to hurt Israel”. But, you know, the Arab and the Muslim nations get twice as much money. And there are people in Israel…it’s not like 100% of the people in Israel or every Jew in this country believes that we should have the foreign policy that we have.
So I think Israel should be in charge of their sovereignty, and we should never intrude on what they do. And if they want to attack Iran, we shouldn’t tell them what to do or what not to do.
Questions: Congressman Paul, in 2007, in an interview, you were asked, “should gays be allowed to marry?” You said quote, “Sure. They can do whatever they want and call it whatever they want.” Are you advocating legalizing gay marriage in this country?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, as a matter of fact, I spent a whole chapter in a new book I’ve written on marriage. And I think it’s very important, seeing that I’ve been married for 53, 54 years now. But I think the government should just be out of it. I think it should be done by the church or private contract. And we shouldn’t have this argument. Who’s married, and who isn’t married. I have my standards, but I shouldn’t impose my standards on others. Others have standards they have no right to impose on me. And I just don’t like it. But if we want to have something to say about marriage, it should be at the state level, and not at the federal government. Just get the federal government out of it. It’s one area where it’s totally unnecessary, and they’ve caused more trouble than necessary.
Follow-up Question: Given that answer, I have to ask you about your defense of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Even just weeks ago, you just criticized this administration’s decision to no longer defend it against legal challenges.
Congressman Ron Paul: And the main reason there is the Defense of Marriage Act – and I’ve been quoted as I voted for it – I supported it, but I wasn’t there. But because that bill actually protects the states. I do recognize that the federal government shouldn’t tell states what to do, and the defense of marriage act was really designed to make sure the states have the privilege of dealing with it, and the federal government can’t impose their standards on them.
Question: …let me add that Republicans have historically had success when appealing to union voters – blue-collar voters. Do you see danger in the GOP alienating union members?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, I wouldn’t think so because I think union members believe in the rule of law, and you can approach them in other ways. You know, I represented a farm district and they thought you couldn’t be elected if you didn’t vote for subsidies. But you reach them in a different manner.
But, you know, when it comes to jobs, you just have to look where all the jobs are being lost. In Texas, we have a right to work state, and we have no income tax, no corporate tax. Where are the jobs coming from? Union states. Because the wages are higher. Sure, they make more money when the jobs over there, but they don’t build automobiles and we don’t have steel mills anymore. So, no, the union wage is an artificial wage paid by the government under the National Labor Relations Board. The whole thing is unconstitutional and they shouldn’t be telling people where to go. The Interstate Commerce Clause should be there to facilitate and allow people to move their businesses back and forth and not to inhibit business decisions.
Question: Congressman Paul, you say that the federal government should stay out of people’s personal habits. You say marijuana, cocaine, even heroin should be legal if states want to permit it. You feel the same about prostitution and gay marriage. Question, sir: Why should social conservatives in South Carolina vote for you for President?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, they will if they understand my defense of liberty is their right to practice their religion, and say their prayers where they want, and practice their life. But if you do not protect liberty across the board…it’s a First Amendment-type issue.
We don’t have a First Amendment so that we can talk about the weather. We have the First Amendment so that we can say very controversial things. So for people to say that yes, we have our religious beliefs protected, but if people want to follow something else, a controversial religion, you can’t do this. If you have the inconsistency, then you’re really not defending liberty. But there are strict rules on freedom of choice of this sort. Because you can’t hurt other people, you can’t defame other people, but, yes, you have a right to do things that are very controversial. If not, you’re going to end up with a government telling us what to eat, and drink, and whatever.
You know, it’s amazing that we want freedom to pick our future in a spiritual way, but not when it comes to our personal habits.
Follow-up Question: But Senator [sic], are you suggesting that heroin and prostitution are an exercise of liberty?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, you know, I never used those words. You probably put those words someplace, but, yes, in essence if I leave it up to the states, it’s going to be up to the states. Up until this past century, you know, for over 100 years they were legal.
What you’re inferring is, “You know what, if we legalize heroin tomorrow, everybody’s going to use heroin”. How many people here would use heroin if it was legal? I bet nobody would put heroin…”Oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don’t want to use heroin, so I need these laws!”
Questions: Now we’ll do a bit of a lightning round. Thirty second response from each candidate, down the row. Depending on the poll, President Obama is getting a bump after the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. Some on the left are now saying President Obama is unbeatable in his re-election effort. Why are those pundits on the left wrong, and what is his biggest vulnerability? Congressman Paul…
Congressman Ron Paul: His biggest vulnerability will be the economy and high prices. He hasn’t dealt with that because he doesn’t understand the business cycle as so many others don’t. So the economy will be the big issue. My theory is, people vote from their bellies, because it’s whether they have jobs or not, or whether they need things. That’s why people vote.
And we’re in big trouble, prices are going up. Unemployment is continuing to go up. And we have not had the necessary correction for the financial bubble created by our Federal Reserve System. Until you allow the correction, and the liquidation of debt, you can’t have growth.
Question: Congressman Paul, a lot of folks consider you the founding father of the Tea Party Movement. Now Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has founded and heads up the Tea Party caucus in the house. Has she eclipsed you?
Congressman Ron Paul: Well, she’s not here tonight, so she hasn’t quite done that. (laughing)
So we attend Tea Party meetings together, and of course the Tea Party Movement was started during the last campaign when there was a special day where they raised $6,000,000 spontaneously. And that was the beginning of it. No, I don’t feel threatened.
Moderator: Each candidate has 30 seconds for closing remarks right now. We will go down the row. We begin with Congressman Paul.
Congressman Ron Paul: The big issue today is the budget and the deficit. We approach it in Washington by looking at it as an accounting problem, and it isn’t. It’s a philosophic problem. Until we decide what kind of government we want, what the role of government ought to be, we can’t solve it. The role of government ought to be to protect our liberties and provide a free market economy and to provide for the national defense. Which means that we bring our troops home, and we restore sound money to this country.
