subject: Ron Paul Fails To Grasp The Threat To Liberty In The U.s. Constitution [print this page] Congressman Ron Paul shines like a beacon of hope in the midst of a Congress that has totally lost its grip on the concept of limited government. Sadly, even he fails to comprehend the foundation of our liberty in his campaign manifesto, "The Revolution," published by Grand Central Publishing in 2008.
As stated on the dust cover, Ron Paul is the leading advocate of freedom in our nation's capital. Ron Paul never votes against the Constitution and has earned the nickname, "Dr. No".
Ron Paul Fails To Grasp The Threat
But in the very act of embracing the Constitution Dr. Paul has ironically rejected the true Source of American liberty. He fails to understand why Patrick Henry and other anti-Federalists rejected the Constitution itself as an attack on liberty.
Ron Paul states that the Constitution was designed to limit the federal government's overall scope (p.44)(Art. I, Sec. 8). This oft-repeated statement is very naive, when we consider the sweeping powers enumerated in this section.
For example, Patrick Henry pointed out that when the powers of both sword and purse are given to Congress tyranny is inevitable. This sweeping grant of power left the states virtually defenseless in the face of federal power, as subsequent history has demonstrated.
The author explains that "The limitations the Constitution placed on the federal government had to be taken seriously if we expected to maintain a free society" (p45). But as Patrick Henry clearly understood, the limitations were not taken seriously because there were none.
The book even draws attention to the fact that Patrick Henry objected to the general welfare clause as an unlimited grant of power to the central government. "Patrick Henry raised precisely this concern...in Virginia," Ron Paul notes, but then downplays the threat because the other founders overruled him. In his eyes the founders could do no wrong, never mind the plain facts of history which have ratified Henry's prediction a hundredfold.
Abuse of Power
As an example of Ron Paul's tendency to view the Constitution with rose-colored glasses he denies the threat inherent in the power to raise armies. With a totally straight face he protests that it was "not a power to force people into the army" (p57).
Patrick Henry saw through that argument in an instant on June 16, 1788 in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. When the Constitution grants an unlimited authority to raise armies he declared, "It is a government of force, and the genius of despotism expressly."
What Ron Paul fails to realize is that the Constitution was dead on arrival in 1787. It was completely unable to protect us from tyranny from its inception.
Finally, Ron Paul issues this call to action. "It is not too late to rally and recall our people to the constitution, the rule of law, and our traditional American republic" (p67). Notice the totally secular nature of this appeal.
There is no call to repentance before God. Rather there is the futile call to return to the very document by which America rejected government under God, setting up the Constitution as the "supreme law of the land.
