Ron Paul's Iowa dreams becoming more real

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

DES MOINES, Iowa - Rip Van Winkle slept for 20 years and woke to find the world had passed him by. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, woke up one morning recently to find that perhaps America has caught up with him.

Paul, 72, has had a 32-year career in the House. But some voters have just now discovered Paul’s constitutionalist, individualist, “just bring all the troops home” creed.

Last weekend in Iowa, Paul, running for the Republican presidential nomination, was greeted by 700 whooping fans at Iowa State University in Ames and another 300 at a rally in Des Moines.

“There is something rather amazing about the Internet,” he told his Ames supporters, about two-thirds of whom appeared to be under age 25. “I’ve been used to delivering a message very similar to what I’m delivering tonight for many, many years and not getting a whole lot of responses. And all of a sudden, there’s a whole generation of people now very excited about hearing about the message of freedom.”

'Practically miraculous'
“I think it is practically miraculous what has happened in the last 12 months,” Paul told reporters in Ames. “Not me and not what I’ve done. But it’s miraculous to find out that there have been so many who had already been informed and were just waiting for someone to ignite these issues.”

On foreign policy, Paul told crowds in Ames and Des Moines:

• “Let’s give up on nation-building and policing the world."
• The Constitution mandates a policy of non-intervention. “That means: mind our own business.”
• He’d pull troops from Iraq and everywhere else. “Don’t you think 55 years is long enough to be in Korea?”

He also denounced the idea of bombing Iran to prevent the potential of the Tehran regime acquiring a nuclear weapon, which he sees as no threat to the United States or Israel.

MSNBC video Republican discord Oct. 21: Ron Paul, at a Republican debate in Orlando, Fla., says the other GOP candidates aren’t following traditional conservative beliefs. MSNBC

“Israel would be better off” and the Israelis "could take care of themselves” if the United States ended its alliance with Israel, he said during a weekend meeting with several Christian pastors from across Iowa.

No Ron Paul speech is complete without a denunciation of the Federal Reserve Board which he blames for the devaluation of the dollar.

He forecasts ever greater Chinese reluctance to buy Treasury bonds.

“All empires fail because of a financial crisis,” he told the Christian pastors.

If elected, Paul would try to radically shrink the federal government.

“If we don’t want the government running our lives and we get to run our lives, then we have to assume total responsibility for what we do,” he told the Ames crowd. “We have to suffer the consequences. But the great thing about this philosophy is that if you believe in life, liberty, and the right to pursue your happiness, you also believe you get to keep all of the fruits of your labor.”

Hence Paul would scrap the income tax.

“We don’t have to put anybody out in the streets,” he said. “We can just let young people —whoever wants to take care of themselves — get out of the (Social Security and Medicare) system,” he said.

Americans' love of the welfare state
Since most Americans have become accustomed to the welfare state, isn’t ending it the toughest idea to sell to audiences?

“It is,” he acknowledged in an interview before his Ames speech. “It’s really tough — unless the young people listen to what I’m talking about, because the young people know they’re getting ripped off.”

Asked point blank whether he would propose to abolish Medicare, Paul replied, “That’s not my goal. It might be my theoretical goal and my philosophic goal.”

He predicts Medicare will “self-destruct.”

He foresees a transition in which current beneficiaries are paid for, but "young people get out.”

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