Ron Paul a Fraud

I am so tired of hearing the BS. I have heard all these great things about Ron Paul being a critic on overspending and earmarks and then I learn he has the most amount of earmarks in this new spending bill out of any republicans. Our goverment is a fraud. I give up!

andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com...

But, what if the earmarks are actually important for his district? What if he said, # it, I may as well do right by my constituents?

That's it?
That's all you've got?

He's always been completely up front about having to play the earmark game.
Put them in, enough to help his constituents. then vote NO on the principle of the earmarks.
Of course he takes the money. A lot of it originally belonged to Texans anyway.

He's having to work within this system. So that's what he does.

reply to post by jalien


"His earmarks included repair projects to the Galveston Seawall damaged by Hurricane Ike and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway."

From your article...

Heaven forbid someone ask for money from the Gov to help fix a catastrophic damage. Jesus Christ, if anything, that is what earmarks are SUPPOSED to be for.
I know, instead lets ask for millions for a bridge to nowhere. Or to help protect a wetlands project.

This thread is offensive. Where is Ron Paul's "fraud?"





[edit on 6-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

I'm sure his earmarks are going to fund programs disclosing aliens... I'm going to drink the Kool Aid on this one and look the other way. He's one of my heroes, and is entitled to make some mistakes... when he starts to tell me to support HR 645... then we may have problems.

Originally posted by jalien
Our goverment is a fraud. I give up!

Our government is a Ponzi scheme. One only need look at how social security works to realize how true this is. Fiat money IS a Ponzi currency too. And, all career politicians are scam artists.

reply to post by spacedoubt


"A lot of it originally belonged to Texans anyway."

That is a great point. In Paul's philosophy, he would be best suited to gain back every damned dime that the IRS took from his constituents in Texas.

More power to him for taking that money. Especially when it goes to help repair Galveston. I wonder if the author of this thread saw what happened to Galveston after Hurricane Ike.
It was erased.

reply to post by jalien

Ron Paul would of never let this happen in the first place!
Look up Peter Schiff. He was Dr. Paul's financial advisor,
and the only one that predicted this crash AND had a solution.
Now look whats happening with everything. We have had
self serving lawyers and oil men in charge. THIS is what we get.

Im not a big fan of Ron Paul either and you are right to be tired, people talk about non-objectivity and to hold all politicians to light yet nobody ever laid the speck of criticism towards Ron Paul. Though my disagreements with him lie more on the ideological differences rather than his character or anything so its just a matter of ideology. That being said the source you referenced didnt hold up.

I would much rather have someone get earmarks to make actual repairs after a major hurricaine than earmarks for REAL pork.

IMO real pork earmarks are for frivolous things that really aren't necessary.

I'd say repairing Galveston is necessary. I saw the damage that was done down there. There are still places that are messed up miles away from there so I can only imagine what Galveston looks like.

More Power to Ron Paul! His earmarks are for the good of his constituants and that's what matters.

It's a shame he had to use the earmark route to fix Galveston, when the repairs should have been authorized by FEMA in the first place.

Or, perhaps, Rep. Paul doesn't want FEMA involved?

Originally posted by Iago18
Or, perhaps, Rep. Paul doesn't want FEMA involved?

Probably not, he's not a big fan of Federal gov't encroaching on the states boundaries.

As to the OP:
You and three friends go out to dinner and find out the bills can't be split. Since nobody has exact change everyone decides to split the costs evenly. What you just endorsed was agreeing to order a salad and baked potato while your three friends order lobster, steak, and dessert.

Sure, there exists a problem, but your post doesn't touch on the problem.

reply to post by jalien


No, but your misunderstanding of earmarks is a fraud.

Earmarks do nothing to increase taxes. Nothing! Ron Paul is doing his district's residents a favor by returning tax money back to his home district. The money is already designated to be spent, and Ron Paul's earmarks ensure that the money is at least spent nearby where it was extorted so the people he represent might get some of that money back.

PS - I heard somewhere that Ron Paul's total earmarks for all time have been USD $400 million. This means that if every member of both that house and senate(who I don't even think can earmark bills) did earmark the bills at that rate, the total earmark spending would be 20 billion per year. A drop in the bucket when you consider the 3,600 billion budget for this year.

[edit on 6-3-2009 by truthquest]

I have listened carefully to Dr. Paul. I can only say I wish he had been given a real chance by the Republicans. He might be our President now, and we might not be in this economic downward spiral.
His views on taxes, on the Federal Reserve, and the size of government make perfect sense to me, and to most people I know.
We have to reform the way our primaries are run, and who is allowed to participate in the debates.
That, however, is in the future. Right now, we need to be concentrating on recalling all of the Representatives and Senators who voted for the TARP bailout, and the stimulus package.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
That's it?
That's all you've got?

He's always been completely up front about having to play the earmark game.
Put them in, enough to help his constituents. then vote NO on the principle of the earmarks.
Of course he takes the money. A lot of it originally belonged to Texans anyway.

He's having to work within this system. So that's what he does.

So why does Senator John McCain manage to never involve himself with Earmarks, and yet, he still manages to get things done for Arizona? I am not calling Representative Ron Paul a "Fraud", but I AM saying that your given excuse for Earmarks is completely erroneous.

Earmarks are allowed in accordance with the constitution of this nation.
If John McCain doesn't want to appropriate tax dollars, he is a fool.

And to be perfectly honest, I can only guess that he doesn't care about his constituents, regardless what he says about how mad they are. Appropriating tax money to causes that benefit them is his duty. Let him neglect it all he wants, but hold him liable. He banks on the fact that people are too stupid to understand how the system works. If no Congressmen requested earmarks, all the spending would be left to the Executive.


In fact, the constitution PROHIBITS unappropriated taxes. Like the income tax.
Ron Paul-1: McCain-0

[edit on 6-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

Appropriation of how tax dollars should be spent is the job of the legislature, not the President. Earmarks tell the President how to spend the money. If you get rid of earmarks you transfer all power to the President, and away from the peoples representative. Earmarks have been manipulated in the media, to something that is bad.

reply to post by spacedoubt


Very good pointing out that he plays the game the constituents want but then ALWAYS votes against his own earmarks and all others.

I think the write of the original story knew this but that was not the point of the article, it was to make Dr. Paul look bad so they couldn't add any truth like the fact he votes against his own earmarks....

OK what do you think he has tried to sell you?
All he does is speak his mind! Now how is that being a fraud?
I ask you here and now in front of all my ATS piers!