Ron Paul on free speech, government spying, Crimea and minding our own business

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Ron Paul will bring his libertarian message of smaller government, personal responsibility and minding our own business to Syracuse University Wednesday.

Paul is the former Texas Congressman who twice sought the Republican Party nomination to run for president. His son is Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, a potential GOP candidate for president in 2016.

In a telephone interview Friday, Paul talked about his son, his views on U.S. involvement in Crimea, government spying and his popularity on college campuses.

The interview included some questions inspired by Syracuse.com readers, who are identified.

Q: Do you think your son will run for president? A: It sure sounds like it, but I'm sure he hasn't made a final decision yet.

Q: What advice would you give him if he decides to run? Is there anything you would have done differently from your own experience? A: The better he does, be prepared because the enemy will come down hard on you. ... He's doing very well, so if the establishment politicians get annoyed, they can get pretty nasty.

Q (from Parishmom): Given your differences from the Republican Party on social, economic and political issues, why have you chosen to remain in the party? A: I don't think of myself as being so much a member of the party and promoting the party. Even when I was in Congress, the job wasn't to promote the party as much as to use the party to promote the issues and see if I can get the party to be more oriented toward the Constitution and limited government and the things that I believe in. ...

The reason that people like myself end up in one of the two parties is that the system is very, very biased and it punishes those who want to be independent or in third parties because the laws make it prohibitive for getting often times on the ballot or getting in the debates.

Q (from Rustygun): How would the country be better served with the abolishment of the party system, where each candidate would run on their own platform rather than someone else's? A: I think it would be a lot better and the founders liked that idea. But it seems like it's inevitable. It's hard to prevent. So they advised that they not have a party structure and that everybody belong to one group of people who were running for office. That changed very quickly in our history.

Q (from Arthur Gilroy): The only way that anyone who is branded a "libertarian"...including your son...can win the presidency is by constructing a coalition among conservatives, liberals, younger voters and minority voters. The ongoing accusations of "racism" that have been heaped upon you in the mass media (and thus upon your son as well) are the most serious obstacle to that coalition.... How can you go about more effectively challenging that racist meme other than what you have already done? A: Well, you can't back off when people lie and have innuendos about your record, so you just ignore it. I won Congressional races here in the district 12 times, so the people who knew me best, my neighbors and friends, just never believed the stories that the enemy passes out. If you look carefully at the critics, they have their agenda. For the most part, the attackers have always been those who disagreed with me on foreign policy, who thought we should be the policeman of the world and they highly resent it.

Visit link:
Ron Paul on free speech, government spying, Crimea and minding our own business