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Ron Paul Strikes Gold
Why the oft-marginalized congressman is the greatest threat to Obama’s regulatory plan
Chadwick Matlin
The Big Money
Friday, July 3, 2009
Ron Paul’s legislative history is a lesson in principled failure. Among the bills he has co-sponsored: ending U.S. cooperation with the United Nations, a repeal of antitrust law “to restore the inherent benefits of the market economy,” and stripping the government of the right to set a minimum wage. Just last week, he again introduced a bill “to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990,” which would presumably make schools less safe but which would reinforce our right to bear arms. For Paul, ideology almost always trumps politics.
None of these bills, I should note, have picked up much support. And Paul’s track record with economic legislation isn’t any better. His perennial efforts – shifting the country back toward a gold standard, abolishing the personal income tax, and dismantling the Federal Reserve – are nonstarters. They so change the very fabric of this country that Paul can’t marshal his colleagues to his side.
Which is why Paul’s most recent legislative accomplishment is so impressive. He has rallied the majority of the House to support his new cause: an audit of the Federal Reserve. Legislators are sick of not knowing what’s going on inside Bernanke’s fortress, especially as the Fed becomes further enmeshed in the nation’s fiscal policy. Paul’s little bill has become emblematic of a larger movement, one that could spell trouble for Obama’s troubled regulatory plan. Ron Paul – always an enemy of regulation – is now an enemy of Obama. And a mighty powerful one at that.
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Paul wants to audit the Fed primarily because he wants to destroy it; the audit bill is just the latest chapter in Paul’s lifelong crusade against it. His vendetta is fueled by the belief that the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, a central bank within a country that doesn’t allow central banks. That the Fed can manipulate the currency and “create legal tender out of thin air” is heresy. And so Paul attempts to dismantle it the only way he can: through legislation.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Thus we come to the audit. For Paul it’s a foot in the door to a much larger goal. To the 244 co-sponsors – 74 of them Democrats – it’s a way to show their constituents that they’re worried, too, about where taxpayer dollars are going. It’s an amusing dissonance between the leader of the rebellion and his revolutionaries. The two parties are after entirely separate goals, one (transparency) vastly more achievable than the other (the end of the Federal Reserve).
This again makes Paul’s coalition all the more remarkable. The distrust of the Fed has reached a point at which a majority of House members are following a radical into battle. Congress’ frustration was evident last month when Bernanke got roasted in front of Congress, putting his future as Fed chairman and the health of Obama’s regulatory plan in doubt.
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