Ron Paul 2012? Congressman Says Odds Are 50/50

Americans still want libertarian Congressman to audit the Federal Reserve

Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Monday, Dec 13th, 2010

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has raised the hopes of his supporters by suggesting that a 2012 presidential run is still a distinct possibility. Meanwhile a new poll indicates that the vast majority of voters want to see the Federal Reserve fully investigated.

The Congressman made the comments in a front page interview with the New York Times, which highlights how many now see Paul’s Austrian school economic outlook as vindicated.

“I’d say it’s at least 50-50 that I’ll run again,” he said, adding that he would look at where the economy is. (Aides add that it would depend a lot on what his wife, Carol, says.)

The Congressman also expressed surprise at the suggestion that some supporters have made, to have a father-son “Paul/Paul 2012” ticket, incorporating Kentucky Senator elect Rand Paul.

The Congressman has previously downplayed rumours of another Presidential campaign, saying it is unlikely. However, following a string of successes in recent surveys and straw polls, including victory in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) presidential straw poll, it seems Paul is now reconsidering his earlier statements.

Most Recently in September, Paul, who previously ran for the Republican nomination in 2008 and under the Libertarian Party in 1988, told an interviewer that another run is “something I think about every single day,”.

At the height of Paul’s 2008 campaign, dubbed the Ron Paul Revolution by supporters, the Congressman smashed the all-time record for political donations on one day, beating John Kerry’s previous effort as he hauled in over $6 million dollars during a 24-hour period that coincided with the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

Indeed, as we have continuously highlighted, The Tea Party movement, originally Libertarian in origin, grew out of this trend of honouring the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. An event held in 2006 was repeated in 2007 with the Ron Paul Money bomb, and the movement evolved from there over the following three years.

The New York Times piece highlights that Ron Paul’s supporters are now distinct from Tea Party supporters, though they share some values, a fact that is rarely acknowledged by mainstream coverage:

“Even many Tea Party conservatives are not on board with Mr. Paul’s beliefs about scaling back the United States military worldwide. And Paul supporters look on the Tea Party with some disdain.

Mr. Paul acknowledged the sometimes competing interests among Tea Party supporters and his fans. “What brings them together is this acceptance that there’s something really wrong, that we’ve spent too much money and government’s too big,” he said.”

Last week Ron Paul was selected to head up the domestic monetary policy subcommittee by incoming House Financial Services chairman Spencer Bachus.

“This is the leadership team that crafted the first comprehensive financial reform bill to put an end to the bailouts, wind down the taxpayer funding of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and enforce a strong audit of the Federal Reserve,” the Alabama Republican said in a statement, referring to legislation to audit the fed that Ron Paul introduced earlier in the year.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

A fresh poll published by Rasmussen indicates that a majority of Americans still want to see a full audit of the Federal Reserve, now Paul is in a prime position to push for it.

74% of Adults think it’s a good idea, and just 10% are opposed. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

Rasmussen notes that “This is consistent with previous surveys and matches support for an audit found in July of last year when Ron Paul’s audit proposal first began gaining attention in the House. Support has risen as high as 80% since then.”

Earlier this month, information was released concerning the Fed loaning more than $9 trillion in short-term loans and other financial arrangements to foreign banks and corporations at near zero interest rates. The findings were published only after a long and concerted effort to make the Fed more accountable by Ron Paul and Senator Bernie Sanders.

The information only goes back 3 years however, and represents the tip of the iceberg as far as questions over the Fed’s secretive management of the US economy are concerned.

“What I want to do is emphasize the oversight of the Federal Reserve, pursue this idea of auditing the Fed.” Paul said in an interview with Bloomberg last week. “We have a right to know, Congress has an obligation to know, the people want to know and Congress is behind us to do that right now.”

“We have to look into it and we have to start to consider reforms.” the Congressman said.

“I think it’s also very important for us to understand why monetary policy is so dangerous and why we should think about changing the Fed and getting rid of the Fed, and that is their contribution to unemployment, their contribution to the business cycle.” Paul added.

Of the current crop of possible 2012 GOP presidential candidates, Ron Paul is once again the only one truly in step with the majority anti-war, anti-big government sentiment in America.

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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor at Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and regular contributor to Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

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