Ron Paul: Freeze The Budget And Stop Plundering American People! – OpEd

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One might think that the recent drama over the debt ceiling involved one side wanting to increase or maintain spending with the other side wanting to drastically cut spending, but that is far from the truth. In spite of the rhetoric being thrown around, the real debate is over how much government spending will increase. No plan under serious consideration cuts spending in the way you and I think about it. Instead, the cuts being discussed are illusory and are not cuts from current amounts being spent, but cuts in prospective spending increases. This is akin to a family saving $100,000 in expenses by deciding not to buy a Lamborghini and instead getting a fully loaded Mercedes when really their budget dictates that they need to stick with their perfectly serviceable Honda.

But this is the type of math Washington uses to mask the incriminating truth about the unrepentant plundering of the American people. The truth is that frightening rhetoric about default and full faith in the credit of the United States being carelessly thrown around to ram through a bigger budget than ever in spite of stagnant revenues. If your family’s income did not change year over year, would it be wise financial management to accelerate spending so you would feel richer? That is what our government is doing, with one side merely suggesting a different list of purchases than the other.

In reality, bringing our fiscal house into order is not that complicated or excruciatingly painful at all. If we simply kept spending at current levels, by their definition of cuts that would save nearly $400 billion in the next few years, versus the $25 billion the Budget Control Act claims to cut. It would only take us five years to cut $1 trillion in Washington math just by holding the line on spending. That is hardly austere or catastrophic.

Ron Paul
Ron Paul

A balanced budget is similarly simple and within reach if Washington had just a tiny amount of fiscal common sense. Our revenues currently stand at approximately $2.2 trillion a year and are likely to remain stagnant as the recession continues. Our outlays are $3.7 trillion and projected to grow every year. Yet we only have to go back to 2004 for federal outlays of $2.2 trillion, and the government was far from small that year. If we simply referred to that year’s spending levels, which would hardly do us fear, we would have a balanced budget right now. If we held the line on spending and the economy actually did grow as estimated, the budget would balance on its own by 2015 with no cuts whatsoever.

We pay 35% more for our military today than we did 10 years ago for the exact same capabilities. The same could be said for the rest of the government. Why has our budget doubled in 10 years? This country doesn’t have double the population or double the land area or double anything that would require the federal government to grow by such an obscene amount.

In Washington terms a simple freeze in spending would be a much bigger cut than any plan being discussed. If politicians simply cannot bear to implement actual cuts to actual spending, just freezing the budget would give the economy the best chance to catch its breath, recover and grow.

Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician, author, and politician who served for many years as a U.S. Representative for Texas. He was a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012.

10 thoughts on “Ron Paul: Freeze The Budget And Stop Plundering American People! – OpEd

  • August 1, 2011 at 12:35 am
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    Thanks for covering Ron Paul’s suggestion. It’s amazing how Washington can’t even fathom a freeze in pay.

    Ron Paul 2012. You can do it Ron!

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  • August 1, 2011 at 1:27 am
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    When fascism goes to sleep it looks under the bed for Ron Paul.

    He has never taken a government junket.
     
    He does not participate in the lucrative Congressional Pension Program.
     
    He returns a portion of his annual Congressional Office Budget every year.
     
    He has never voted to raise taxes.
     
    He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
     
    He has never voted to restrict gun ownership.
     
    He has never voted to raise Congressional Pay.
     
    He never voted to increase Executive Branch Power.
     
    He will Reinstate The Constitution and Save The Republic
     
    He will END the unconstitutional FED.
     
    He will phase out the unconstitutional IRS beginning immediately
     
    He will secure the borders
     
    He will limit Big Government in your private affairs
     
    He will stop Illegal immigration and no amnesty
     
    He voted against regulating the Internet
     
    He voted against the Iraq War and warned us against going forward with an undeclared war.
    “Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it’s realized that our liberty and wealth are in Jeopardy”  July 10th, 2003

    He voted against the un-patriotic so called Patriot Act.
     
    He supports a non-interventionist foreign policy yet a strong military
     
    He will end the inflation tax
     
    He is a true Constitutional Conservative
     
    He would have soundly beat Obama in 2008 because Independents trust him and like him.

    Republicans could have had a V8 instead of McCain’t in 08
     
    Ron Paul for President 2012
     
    Because no one else can be trusted to say what he means and do what he says like Ron Paul does.

    Ron Paul is the man of the hour. They used to laugh him for being way ahead of the others in his thinking and his warnings. Now, they are not laughing because what he predicted is coming to pass. Now, he is being called a prophet for having warned us and still calmly suffered through the barbs. “First they, ignore you, then they fight you, then you win.” Gandhi

    Reply
  • August 1, 2011 at 1:30 am
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    Awesome letter. Factual, and easy to comprehend. Thank you Rep. Paul for fighting for average Americans!!!

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  • August 1, 2011 at 1:41 am
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    Ron Paul 2012!!!

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  • August 1, 2011 at 3:47 am
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    We need a hero. May God grant America the vision to see.

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    • August 1, 2011 at 12:54 pm
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      Leah. The hero we all need is the one within YOU. You are that hero. Ron Paul is a hero for sure, but he also wants us to wake up to the hero within us and take right action. See it, believe it, be it.

      “…the choice to pull this lever is not mine to make …Because this world, the world that I’m a part of and that I helped shape, will end…. tomorrow, a different world will begin that different people will shape, and this choice belongs to them.” (V to Evey)

      Reply
  • August 1, 2011 at 5:36 am
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    Thank you Dr. Paul. You have been fighting on our side for decades. By “our side” I mean the people. I honestly can’t think of anyone I would want on my side more than you.

    Ron Paul 2012!

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  • August 1, 2011 at 6:50 am
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    You go, Ron!

    There’s still a lot of good people left and we got your back!

    Vote for Ron Paul in 2012

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  • August 1, 2011 at 7:21 am
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    I absolutely agree! Thank you Dr. Paul for a sane voice in Washington. I look forward to voting for you!

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  • August 1, 2011 at 11:04 am
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    Great article. If Dr. Paul doesn’t win 2012 I expect real, Constitution-bound citizen to pick up arms and march on fascist Washington.

    Today the Middle East. Tomorrow U.S.A.!

    Reply

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