from National Expositor

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has delivered a riveting “State of The Republic” address on his Campaign for Liberty website, orating his thoughts on where the U.S. stands as a nation and what the future holds.

Paul warns that if the country continues along the course it is on, we will witness a three stage slide into social and political chaos, beginning with the current financial crisis, a coming dollar crisis, and culminating in mass unrest.

by Aaron Dykes

The NY Times reports that House Financial Chairman Barney Frank has met in private with Ben Bernanke to plan strategies for bracing against the overwhelming popular demand to audit the private Federal Reserve, voiced– piercingly for Bernanke– in Rep. Ron Paul’s bill, now with some 300 co-sponsors.

Frank’s part in meeting was to urge Bernanke to face reality– “Mr. Frank warned that he might have to embrace a version of Mr. Paul’s bill,” wrote the Times– now it was time to consider compromises.

However, responding to Bernanke’s top concerns, Barney Frank “vowed” that:

“he would “wall off” deliberations on basic monetary policy, and delay the release of information about the Fed’s financial operations to prevent traders from capitalizing on its moves.”

Bernanke’s “apocalyptic” fear of H.R. 1207 and the accompanying rise in public interest in the Fed, as the NY Times describes it, underscores the drastic survival mechanism of an institution that has historically relied on the secrecy provided by its bland exterior.

Mr. Bernanke initially reacted to the bill in almost apocalyptic terms. The G.A.O. audits, he told a House hearing in late June, could lead to a Congressional “takeover” of monetary policy that would be “highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar and our national economic situation.”

Why this fear has lingered overhead for so long may be simply because he knows that his thin-air empire can’t withstand a Constitutional examination. Bernanke worries about a “takeover” by Congress because he knows that it alone has the Constitutional authority to oversee the issuance of currency.

The Federal Reserve should not have “independent” autonomy to direct the financial commitments of a nation, print its money at will and risk its stability.

Of course Congress’ constitutional power over money is enumerated in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution:

The Congress shall have power… To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

If Bernanke is looking over its shoulder, it is because he knows the Fed’s days are numbered, and that any light (via even a soft audit) will only serve to further expose the improper occupation of the nation’s financial instruments by a private, self-interested global banking cartel.

“The Fed faces populist anger from left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans about its power and secrecy… It was alarming enough that… “End the Fed,” had just landed on the best-seller lists.”

Bernanke and his masters are obviously very unsettled by such a significant public outcry, and, as the NY Times notes, the fact that Ron Paul’s ‘End the Fed’ has reached the best-seller list.

In a Campaign for Liberty update, Congressman and Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) discusses the impacts on monetary policy that recent events will have.  He also talks about the U.S. Dollar and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

by Rep. Ron Paul

With a faltering economy, multiple wars, and the approaching demise of the dollar’s reserve status, there are more than enough problems to keep politicians in Washington working day and night. In between handing out cash for clunkers and nationalizing healthcare, the administration is busy sending more troops overseas, escalating existing wars, and seeking out excuses to start new wars. Congress is working on “urgent” legislation to address crises like healthcare reform and climate change. The reforms are so very urgent that legislation must pass swiftly with no time to read the bills even though the new laws wouldn’t take effect for several years! Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is busy dealing with our dollar crisis by printing up more dollars.

Yes, there certainly is a lot for Washington to do these days. Most, if not all, of what Washington is doing however, is more of what created the problems in the first place. Capitol Hill is filled with politicians running around putting out fires – but with gasoline. The truth is that all these fires keep so many powerful people employed and wealthy that it is not truly in many decision makers’ interests to be very effective problem-solvers. If Washington ran out of problems, think how many lobbyists would be out of a job, and how many special interest groups would just disband? Sadly, whatever is bad for the greater economy is good for the economy and job market in DC.

Of course, no form of government, not even one that respected its Constitutional restraints, would magically create a problem-free society. The question is: how should a society deal with its problems? The form of government that our founders envisioned, in which the federal government was strictly constrained by the Constitution, allows private citizens and communities to solve their own problems. The role of the government should be to protect contracts, punish fraud and violence through appropriate laws, law enforcement and the courts. Not a whole lot of laws or bureaucrats are really necessary to work on just that. Instead, new laws are constantly needed to fix the problems that previous unconstitutional laws created. We have ended up with an incomprehensible maze of laws and regulations that severely constrains the people and expands the government – the exact opposite of what our founders intended.

This is all because the Constitution is treated like a suggestion manual instead of the supreme law of the land. Under the Constitution, politicians’ hands are supposed to be tied in most of the areas they involve themselves in today. But somewhere along the line, politicians stepped out of Constitutional bounds and started pretending to solve our problems for us. All we have to show for it is more problems.

Today, Washington politicians can busily “solve” one problem, knowing that unintended consequences from that “solution” will keep them and their friends all very busy tomorrow. The people are ultimately left suffocating under the burden of Washington’s helping hands. It is coming to a point where our economy, our dollar, and indeed, the rest of the world have had about all the help from Washington that they can stand. The United States is headed the way of Rome and the Soviet Union, for the same reasons, unless we reverse the trend.

I continue to hope that enough Americans will realize that the true strength of our country doesn’t come from Washington, but rather the limitations placed on government in the Constitution. We must resolve to reverse the destructive course that we are on and then never again let big government problem-solving take over our lives and our country.

by Congressman Ron Paul

What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on US soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping?  That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks?  What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children?  And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the US, had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here?

Most Americans would not stand for it.  Yet the above hypothetical events are similar to what our government is doing in Pakistan.  Last week, Congress did approve an aid package for Pakistan for the stated purposes of improving our image and promoting democracy.  I again made the point on the floor of the House that still no one seems to hear:  What if this happened on US soil?  What if innocent Americans were being killed in repeated drone attacks carried out by some foreign force who was trying to fix our problems for us?  Would sending money help their image?  If another nation committed this type of violence and destruction on our homeland, would we be at all interested in adopting their values?

Sadly, one thing that has entirely escaped modern American foreign policy is empathy.  Without much humility or regard for human life, our foreign policy has been reduced to alternately bribing and bombing other nations, all with the stated goal of “promoting democracy”.  But if a country democratically elects a leader who is not sufficiently pro-American, our government will refuse to recognize them, will impose sanctions on them, and will possibly even support covert efforts to remove them.  Democracy is obviously not what we are interested in.  It is more likely that our government is interested in imposing its will on other governments. This policy of endless intervention in the affairs of others is very damaging to American liberty and security.

If we were really interested in democracy, peace, prosperity and safety, we would pursue more free trade with other countries.  Free and abundant trade is much more conducive to peace because it is generally bad business to kill your customers.  When one’s livelihood is on the line, and the business agreements are mutually beneficial, it is in everyone’s best interests to maintain cooperative and friendly relations and not kill each other.  But instead, to force other countries to bend to our will, we impose trade barriers and sanctions.  If our government really wanted to promote freedom, Americans would be free to travel and trade with whoever they wished.  And, if we would simply look at our own policies around the world through the eyes of others, we would understand how these actions make us more targeted and therefore less safe from terrorism.  The only answer is get back to free trade with all and entangling alliances with none.  It is our bombs and sanctions and condescending aid packages that isolate us.