On December 12, 2007, six years ago today, Dr. Paul was a participant at the Iowa Republican Presidential debate. He was asked the following questions:
1) “What sacrifices would you ask Americans to make for debt reduction?”
2) “Realistically, what do you believe you could accomplish in your first year as President?”
Dr. Paul goes straight for the U.S. military empire in both of his responses. You can watch them below, or read the transcript after the video:
Answer #1)
I think it’s absolutely unnecessary to sacrifice. We want to get more freedom, more chances to spend our own money. It’s unnecessary.
We can cut by looking at our foreign policy. We maintain an empire which we can’t afford. We have 700 bases overseas. We are in 130 countries. We cut there. And then we have a better defense of this country, and the people get that money and they get to spend it here at home.
There’s no need to sacrifice. We need more liberty, more rights for the people to spend their own money, and in that situation, there is no sacrifice and no need for it.
Answer #2)
Well there’s a limit to what you can do in one year, and at home it’s more difficult; you would have to work with the Congress. But, the commander in chief could end the war, and we could bring our troops home. That would be a major event. It would be very valuable.
We could become diplomatically credible, once again, around the world. Right now, today, we’re not. Even our allies resent what we do. We would have no more pre-emptive war. We would threaten nobody. We would not threaten Iran. Not it is proven, once again, Iraq didn’t have a nuclear weapon, had nothing to do with 9/11.
The Iranians have no nuclear weapon according to our CIA. There’s no need for us to threaten the Iranians. We could immediately turn the Navy around and bring them home. And I think this would be a major step toward peace.
Ron Paul Institute coverage on Iran:
“You Cannot Negotiate With Iran” – by Ron Paul
–“Is The Iran Agreement A Good Deal?” – by Daniel McAdams
–“Iran Gets Short End of The Nuclear Deal” – by Eric Margolis
Understanding Media Propaganda About Recent Talks Over Iran’s Nuclear Program – by Jeremy R. Hammond
