5 Ron Paul Quotes That Scare Me

By Daniel Miessler on May 22nd, 2007: Tagged as America | Atheism | Politics | Race | Religion | Ron Paul

Those of you who read this site know that I’ve been heavily promoting Ron Paul as a candidate for President in 2008. Until today all of my posts about him have been positive. But alas, I am not a fanboy. I heap praise when I like something, and I call attention when I see something that doesn’t look right.

Well, something doesn’t look right…

[ Edit: It has come to my attention, from an ample number of unrelated sources, that the race quotes attributed to Ron Paul did not come from him directly, but from a staffer who was subsequently fired. This still leaves the religion quotes, but I can live with those given his hands-off philosophy to government. ]

Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the ‘criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal. — Printed In Ron Paul’s Newsletter (but not written by him)
Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action. — Printed In Ron Paul’s Newsletter (but not written by him)
The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. — Ron Paul
The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. — Ron Paul
Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view. The justification is always that someone, somewhere, might possibly be offended or feel uncomfortable living in the midst of a largely Christian society, so all must yield to the fragile sensibilities of the few. The ultimate goal of the anti-religious elites is to transform America into a completely secular nation, a nation that is legally and culturally biased against Christianity. — Ron Paul
He’s also of the opinion that there is serious disagreement within the scientific community regarding global warming. I was under the impression that the only people disagreeing at this point are in denial.

I’m not abandoning Ron Paul, but these quotes definitely make me uncomfortable. The problem with the race quotes is that even if he has legitimate explanations for them they will still be used against him (very effectively) during the entire campaign. And that’s the last thing he needs when already fighting a nearly impossible battle.

The problem with the religion quotes is that as an atheist I think a largely secular society is the way to go, and he clearly disagrees very strongly. I do agree with him about maintaining Christian holidays and traditions within our country, but to me that’s not so much a religious issue as one of national identity and cohesion.

Either way, he has weaknesses. The only question for me (and for other potential voters) is whether those flaws are outweighed by his strengths. And according to my current tally I’m going to say that they are.:

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Viewing 43 Comments

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    Here is my take on these responses:

    1. Uh, I don't know what this one means. How do inefficiencies mean black people are criminals? Maybe he wasn't phrasing it right or something.

    2. Well, if that *is* what the polls say, ie, blacks in general don't support free market and end of welfare, than it's a completely factual statement. Although I would like to see some concrete info. Stating facts isn't racist. Making stuff up is....

    3. Actually "separation of church and state" is non-existent in the constitution. The government is only restricted in regulating religion... although, personally, I think government shouldn't be involved in religion, but shouldn't prohibit it in government owned places...

    4. That's true actually. He said the "founding fathers". Do some research. Government can't and shouldn't teach morality and civility....

    Paul isn't perfect by any means, but he is still the #1 candidate in my mind. He is the only politician that will tell the truth. That's saying alot, no matter how many crazy views he has.
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    If you do your research on the aforementioned quotes, you'll see that they were, in fact, not written by Dr. Paul. There was a newsletter that went out with his name on it, but where many of the articles were written by staffers. He actually regrets what had been said, and during the campaign in question in the 90's, it was agreed that he did not make those comments, and they are completely at odds with the accusation that he is a racist.

    Here's a story on that, for your reference: http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid...
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    Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the ‘criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal. — Ron Paul

    I think the comment there is less about race than it is about the failure of the D.C. Police and their politics there. Having passed through, I can assure you it is not a bad observation, but is not truly race related.

    Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action. — Ron Paul

    In this case, he is talking about how affirmative action has created a culture of dependency and that is why they have those opinions. It is a common tactic. You create a program, an entitlement, and then people become used to that stipend and depend upon it, so you use that as the lever to get them to vote. It's no accident that, on average, 90% of blacks vote Democratic specifically because they see it as a way to maintain certain programs, many of which I would argue replace a historical injustice with a novel form of discrimination.

    The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. — Ron Paul

    When talking about the Establishment Clause, most Constitutional writing suggests that the founders did not have a problem being a Christian nation. What it did prevent was having a state church, such as the Church of England as an official religion. However, there has always been tolerance for all religions, as guaranteed by the Constitution, and Dr. Paul is a strong advocate for that. What he is saying here, I think, is that our Christian traditions are important.

    The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. — Ron Paul

    It does no good to have a perfectly designed government for a people who have no sense of morality. If you have no conception of right and wrong, of what is proper and not, then you would have no reason to obey the laws or have no investment in your culture, and your nation. For better or worse, religion is how many people develop a sense of morality and while there are good arguments to be made that it does an incomplete job, the fact is you cannot have the state create morality. It has to be cultivated along with a belief system that has a respect and foundation for rights.

    I think everyone has legitimate differences of opinion, but I like his piece on morality. Basically, it makes sense that a government would only be as good as the people involved in it, and as the intentions they show.
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    Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the ‘criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal. — Ron Paul

    - Debunked. Didn't write it and already explained his position on it. If he was a racist you'd see it in more than a newsletter that he didn't write over a decade ago.


    Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action. — Ron Paul

    - Debunked. Already been addressed also.


    The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders’ political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs. — Ron Paul

    - Well, that's a fact. They were. So what? There's nothing that can change what happened in 1776.


    The Founding Fathers envisioned a robustly Christian yet religiously tolerant America, with churches serving as vital institutions that would eclipse the state in importance. Throughout our nation’s history, churches have done what no government can ever do, namely teach morality and civility. — Ron Paul

    - You're misunderstanding his point on this. He's talking about how churches, community groups, etc. used to help people in need and help people get off their feet as a community service. Nowadays the federal government does those things by stealing the money via unconstitutional taxes. His point is that it's not the federal government's duty to provide for everyone. It's each state, city, town, church, or whatever to help others.
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    Since you failed to provide any sources (ahem :P), here are the quotes on Wikipedia with some background and some context:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_paul#Alleged_r...


    Everyone currently running for president has publicly said some stupid things so I wouldn't base your decision on a few quotes.
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    These quotes are easily dismissed. They are clearly not the work of Ron Paul. If you listen to his views on racism as such, then these quotes are completely out of place. For example, compare it with the following (quoted from http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html):
    "Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike: as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called "diversity" actually perpetuate racism. Their obsession with racial group identity is inherently racist.

    The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity." - Ron Paul
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    Expect pieces like this continue and increase from ignorance, lack of research, shoot from the hip commentary, and agenda to take Ron Paul down. It might even be better if it blew up to national news such that it gets debated and Ron Paul can shoot it down publically, since as he's shown, Ron doesn't back down in the face of adversary attacks. It'd be better than this under the radar sniping in which this FUD(fear uncertainty doubt) goes unchallenged.
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    As mentioned earlier, Ron Paul did not make those racist remarks. I suppose he has a certain amount of culpability for having hired a person who could say such things. This is a mistake which has been rectified long ago.

    As an atheist, I see nothing wrong with his comments about religion and the public sphere. They are simply true. I am a bit ashamed to see other atheists who have this agenda to deny Christians or other religious people the right to express their beliefs in public. Personally I am far more offended by the flag-humping you see everywhere in this society than I am by the odd prayer at a football game.

    As for the global warming scam, you are simply wrong. There are many scientists who disagree with it, including most climatologists. This also includes many scientists who are supposedly part of the consensus. Consider the following two sentences removed fraudulently from the 1995 IPCC after it was signed by all the scientists involved:

    1) none of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases.
    2) no study to date has positively attributed all or part of the climate change to ... man-made causes.

    The 2007 version has not yet been agreed on yet, undoubtedly because of disagreement amongst the participants. However, a supposed abstract was released earlier this year, which is more alarmist than ever. Remember what IPCC means.

    Science these days is rotten to the core because it is funded politically. Environmental science is simply the worst example of it but the rot affects all science from medical research even to hard physics. Unfortunately, if you follow the PC line don't get funding. That is true of all science, but especially in areas are inundated by groups with a political agenda. Aside from the environment, AIDS is probably the best example.
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    I really think that was somewhat of a hatchet job.
    They tried calling him a crank, Rosie O'Donnell, rigid, doctrinaire..
    didn't work, so racism is always a good bet - the lemmings will rush away.

    He's pretty much what I would call a thoughtful Constitutionalist libertarian.
    If he made some thoughtless and insensitive remarks about race, it's not the end of the world. The speech police are the ones who are more dangerous right now.

    When he takes to discriminating against people or advocating a return to Jim Crow, attack him.

    Until then, let's take him for what his actions and words indicate - a decent, thoughtful exception to most politicians.
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    It has come to my attention, from an ample number of unrelated sources, that the race quotes attributed to Ron Paul did not come from him directly, but from a staffer who was fired for them. This heartens me greatly.
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    People should slow down and really think about the quotes, perhaps do some research. To start with, the quotes aren't even directly from him, but from a co-written newsletter. But let's say for a second that they were his words...

    The criminal justice system is inefficient and discriminates against minorities without a doubt. Look at the prison numbers. Most of them are drug related crimes. It's called profiling and often times folks don't even realize it happens until it happens to them. This quote simply addresses the problem in the bluntest of fashions. It's not racist to acknowledge when the government causes problems. Think about it, Rudy jumped on Ron for speaking the truth about blowback from errant foreign policy. Now the same elements are jumping on Ron for speaking the truth about blowback from a discriminatory criminal justice system. Yes, 'The Man' is racist, not Ron Paul.

    Most minorities that are in prison are in there because of what? The War on Drugs.

    Who wants to end the War on Drugs and has repeatedly cited the vast amount of problems it has caused society? Ron Paul.

    That doesn't sound like something a racist man would want to do.

    Just because somedoby says 'black man' and 'criminal' in the same sentence does not mean that they are racist. I urge ya to push aside those 'politically correct' emotions and explore the issue from a logical, more rational point of view.

    If I were to say that 'of the Mexicans I know and have seen, that 95% of them work like slaves', does that mean I think Mexicans are slaves? No, but if you take the quote out of context it could be construed as such even though I am in fact complementing the work ethic of Mexicans.
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    Hi, just want to mention that these guys above are lying to you. If Ron Paul didn't write those racist words, which he did, why did they mention his longtime personal friend Burt Blumert? And why would they make first person predictions in his name (ghostwriters don't do that.)

    And most importantly, why would he purposefully suppress and stonewall releasing ALL his old newsletters if that's just a one-off?

    Answer: he wouldn't.

    Because he's obviously a racist.
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    And why, G. Christenson, should I believe you when I use my own mind to come to conclusions that I've studied quite closely? I would surmise that most people who support Ron Paul don't swallow everything and nod their head like other politicians would like them to, they think critically instead. And Ron Paul's words and actions do not add up to the sum of your post. I will continue to support him, and you may continue to say whatever you wish. That is the beauty of liberty.


    -J.
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    As with all elections you'll have to go with the lesser of the evils. And in most aspects Paul verges on good.
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    Ron Paul is against the war, and wants our troops out of there ASAP. Yeay! He is the only candidate calling for that. Yeay! AND...he annually introduces a bill calling for the eliminatin of the IRS. He wants to eliminate the Dept of Homeland Security (yeay!) but also wants to eliminate the Dept of Education (say, what?). He supports gay rights (yeay!) and is antichoice on woman's right to choose (say, what?). The only thing that makes him so attractive to those of us SO FED UP with Republicans marching heavy in Iraq and Dems wiffle-waffling without doing anything about it is his stance on the war, which he has consistently voted against (yeay!). Otherwise, I really can't see that he is the candidate to vote for. I say no.
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    The founding fathers did write extensively about the separation of church an state. Jefferson especially wrote regarding the 1st amendment:
    "Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society."

    The founding fathers were well aware of the religious wars that had cost the lives of millions in Europe. Separation of religion from politics has served our country well. Look at the results of religious based politics in the rest of the world- Sunni vs. Shiite, Catholic vs. Protestant, Hindu vs Muslim, etc. etc. We have can continue a moral society without making America a Catholic, Protestant etc. state.
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    Until we can address the realities of black Americans we cannot move forward as a nation if you quote any statics you are or must be racist..!

    Like the number one killer of blacks between the ages of 25 and 44 is AIDS..!

    70% of all blacks are born out of wed-lock..

    Where did I get these racist stats, Tony Browns Journal which I often watch on Saturdays..!

    Also Hip-Hop Kills..!

    Until we can all be judged as individuals and Americans and not get our rights as members of some select special group we will never move forward..

    There can be only one standard American..!

    The more you differentiate the more you discriminate..!

    We must start demanding the black community take responsibility for it's action and inaction..if you are against this you are actually the racist..

    Simple as that..
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    Wow, TJ, I didn't believe your post at first, until I saw all those exclamation points. I guess you must be right... you state your beliefs with so much justification..!

    Statistics may sometimes be misleading, but random speculation is worse. How can you say these statistics, which come from one source, are racist, and not provide any proof beyond calling them racist? Men die before women, on average. Does saying that make me sexist? White people have less melanin in their skin than black men, on average, does that make me racist? Gay men like to have sex with other men more than straight men, does that make me a homophobe?

    How can you say we need to be judged as individuals, and then demand "the black community" take responsibility for their actions? One of Ron Paul's major themes is that people need to be treated as individuals... grouping a whole community together on the basis of a quality as superficial as race and asking it to assume responsibility for the actions of its members is wrong. The grouping of people based on race is racist and perpetuates racism. Should Oprah be accountable for OJ? Should I, a white male, be accountable for Charles Manson? People should be held accountable only to themselves; to do otherwise unjustly deprives individuals of their rights.

    I support Ron Paul because he most closely resembles my beliefs, mainly limited government. I am pro-choice, and he is pro-life, for example, but I have no doubt he would never enforce a national pro-life agenda. It is not in his character as a libertarian. And besides, abortion is a purely political issue, used ever since Roe v. Wade as a litmus test for any Republican pro-choice or Democrat pro-life candidate to be smeared in the primaries.

    I may disagree with what he says, but I'll defend to the death his right to say it, and I've no doubt he'd return the favor.
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    Excellent points, S.
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    PS - Thomas Jefferson rules, Tom G, great point
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