Who Is Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is a 72 year old Texas congressman, physician, and '08 Republican presidential candidate. He was born in Pittsburg, PA during the Great Depression. He moved to Texas upon his military service and currently resides in Lake Jackson, TX. He is married to his wife Carol, of 50 years. He has 5 children & 18 grandchildren. He is a Christian, raised Episcopalian and Lutheran; and currently a member of a Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Duke University Medicine. He is a physician specializing in Obstetrics, having delivered over 4,000 babies. He served over 5 years in the armed forces as captain and flight surgeon toward the end of Vietnam and during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He is a 10th term congressman faithfully representing the 19th Congressional district of Galveston, South Houston, and Brazoria County, TX. He has been involved in Congress for over 20 years, since 1976. He is a well read and opinionated economist, influenced by Austrian 'free market' economics which holds that government control over the money supply eventually leads to economic inefficiency and monetary instability. He was a close friend of Ronald Reagan, one of four in Congress to endorse the president. He ran for president in '88 as a Libertarian. He has served the House committees of foreign affairs, economics, banking, and finance. He serves as a founder in the Republican Liberty Caucus and the Congressional Rural and Wildlife Affairs Caucus. He represents traditional Republican values and principles. He represents a true conservative statesman of the likes of Taft, Goldwater, Helms, and Reagan.

Ron Paul is currently running for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. He was reluctant to sign on at first, believing that no one was interested in traditional Republican values and Libertarian ideals; but, he has since been overwhelmed and encouraged by his rapidly growing supporters as the '08 race has developed. His strict grassroots campaign raised over $20 million without the help of neither special interest groups nor major funding from Paul himself. On November 5th, his supporters raised a record $4.3 Million in one day with over 20,000 new donors participating. On, December 16th, his supporters raised over $6.2 million receiving 30,000 new donors, toppling the one day political fundraising record set by John Kerry. Some estimate that Ron Paul has close to 150,000 donor/supporters that have coined themselves: 'the Ron Paul rEVOLution.' He has been named on of the most influential people of 2007 by Time, GQ, and MSN online. He remains the most popular Republican candidate on the internet. He has over 1,400 'meet-up' groups in states across the nation and nations all over the world. He has appeared as distinguished guest on radio and television talk shows- both conservative and liberal, even though the media tries to silence him and the national polls misrepresent him. He has, surprisingly, gotten more support from active military personnel than any GOP candidate. He has the undying respect of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Washington despite his radical views and 'strictly principled' voting record. Ron Paul is a serious constitutionalist; His voting record speaks for itself. In Congress, they call him "Dr. No!", "Champion of the Constitution", and "A Taxpayers Best Friend"- among other things.

His politics in detail:

- Ron Paul votes to restore constitutional values in our nation and has consistently and principally voted against any legislation that threatens civil liberties and blurs constitutional lines.

- He votes against reinstating a military draft.

- He has voted to secure our borders with serious immigration reform. He supports a strong national defense and a more effective border patrol. He supports the building of a more effective barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. He does not support amnesty rights for illegal aliens, illegal immigrant driver's licenses, and birth-right citizenship. He also votes against the national I.D. card.

- He votes against most United Nations "resolutions" and does not approve of the U.S. membership in the U.N. nor N.A.T.O. He generally disapproves of entangling alliances in world affairs. He does realize that there are exceptions to this principle. Even still, he denied the Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement as suggested by the U.N. He completely disapproves of the Council of Foreign Relations and its notion of a 'New World Order' and secret plan of an 'American Union' of nations (which most front-running politicians have subscribed, either knowingly or unknowingly)

- He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch. He is wary of 'big government' in general. He votes to increase the power of local and state government. He votes to cut government spending significantly. He has never voted for an unbalanced budget. Even as a successful congressman, he consistently votes against 'pork barrel spending.'

- He has never voted to raise congressional pay. He hasn't even signed up for the lucrative congressional pension plan. He has never taken a government-paid junket from a lobbyist nor allowed special interest groups to sway his vote. Also, because of his concerns for the depleting U.S. dollar, he returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

- He has never voted to raise taxes of any kind. He does not support the federal income tax, as well as any other tax that violates the Constitution. He votes against a heavy inflation tax; and leans toward a low to nonexistent "flat tax" instead of a "fair tax," although he has said that a fair tax is world's better than our current tax system offers.

- He voted against North American and Central American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA and CAFTA). He does not support U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO) or any other tax payer-funded, internationally-controlled breach of free market trade and national sovereignty.

- He votes against the idea of a FEDERAL welfare state, realizing that our country cannot afford such a notion. He does not support FEDERAL-controlled tax payer-subsidized universal health care. He proposes a free market health care system to answer the high drug costs and higher medical fees. He always votes to lower healthcare costs significantly. He realizes that many well meaning Americans, including veterans, rely on subsidiaries such as Medicare and Medicaid and calls for a gradual independence from these institutions. He is very sympathetic on this issue. As