Likely presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, warned of an impending collapse of the U.S. economy during a fireside chat at Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Saturday.
Paul represents the libertarian wing of the Republican party and was known as "Doctor No" for his opposition to government spending bills and his votes against most forms of government regulation. Some of Paul's chief goals are the abolishment of the income tax and the IRS and the gradual replacement of the Federal Reserve by the gold standard.
Paul used the chat as an opportunity to warn the audience about what he called the "grave state" of the American economy. According to Paul, Congress simply does not have enough revenue to finance the government's programs, and is forced to borrow and use the Federal Reserve to print enough money to keep the government afloat.
"If we collected all the taxes we needed today, our system would collapse." Paul said. "We delay payment to delay the crash. We borrow almost $3 billion a day to pay for what we have created."
As a libertarian, Paul has frequently butted heads with the Republican leadership.
"There are two parties in Congress right now," Paul said. "Big government conservatives and big government liberals. The only difference is what they want to spend money on."
Perhaps the most obvious issue where Paul disagrees with Republican leadership is the war in Iraq. Paul was one of the only Republicans to vote against the Iraq War resolution, and believed that the maintenance of the "American Empire" overseas was no longer financially feasible.
He also warned against America's continued war-mongering with countries such as Iran and said he believes that the issue was of particular importance to young people because they are the ones who would be drafted should such a war occur. To highlight his point he talked about his own experience with the draft.
"I like to tell people that I was a volunteer and served five years in the Air Force during the Vietnam War." Paul said. "The truth is I got a notice saying that you could be drafted and be a private in the front lines or you could volunteer to be a captain and practice medicine. I immediately volunteered."
Paul said that as a college student at Gettysburg College he had never been very involved in politics. He graduated and pursued a career of medicine as an obstetrician in Galveston, Texas. It was only after he had read the works of the free-market writers of the Austrian School of economics that he began to develop an interest in politics and decided to run for representative in 1976.
"When I told my wife that I was going to run," Paul said. "She told me 'it's dangerous,' and I said, 'Why's that?'" Paul recounted. His wife's response? "You might get elected."
Paul did not think he would win as a Republican because Texas was a heavily Democratic state at the time, but he wanted to help educate the people.
"I want to talk bluntly about our monetary policy, and how it related to war, welfare and foreign policy." Paul said. "Monetary policy is the vehicle for financing what you want to do."
Paul, however, did win the election and although his views are still a minority in his own party, Paul has hope in the future of libertarianism.
"There's enthusiasm for the freedom movement," Paul said. "It's spreading not through the government or universities but through the Internet. Our numbers are now growing by leaps and bounds. The question is will we accept these principles soon or will government collapse, or will both happen at once."
The discussion was part of the fraternity's Andrew J. Scarlett Lecture Series.
