WEBVTT NOTE End the Fed 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Thank you. It's real nice to be here. It was nice I didn't have to drive too far and get on an airplane. 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:13.000 That was nice, too. So, welcome to Houston. For those who've come from outside Houston, and it's good to be here, 3 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:24.000 I would like to introduce my wife. My wife Carol is with me today. 4 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.000 She had to show up because she played hooky a couple times this summer. 5 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:36.200 And so she has to make up for that, but she's doing well, and I'm very pleased with that. 6 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:43.400 But I am very pleased to come and speak, and Lew, he may have given me a topic, but he didn't announce it, 7 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:48.000 so that means I can say anything I want, right? 8 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Well, you know, I do have some good news, though. 9 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:09.000 and the good news is this, that it is very clear that when governments and government officials act, you know, outside the law, it's an encouragement for individuals to act outside the law. 10 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:15.000 And if you're looking for a revolution, believe me, there's going to be a lot of activity going on. 11 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:22.880 Just think about it. We could start with this little insurance, well-endowed insurance program 12 00:01:22.880 --> 00:01:29.160 called Social Security, run honestly and ethically and above board. But lo and behold, they complain 13 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:38.620 with a guy like Madoff, Madoff goes and does the same thing, you know. But isn't it wonderful 14 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:43.400 who's going to be Secretary of Treasury, you know, in this need? I mean, he doesn't believe 15 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:49.400 And you're not even paying taxes? So what the heck? What is going to happen these days? 16 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:57.400 I mean, we may truly see some exciting times ahead, but no, he believes in collecting taxes now, 17 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:05.400 and he'll probably be very ruthless in collection of taxes, but obviously it does make a strong point. 18 00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:10.400 Now, a lot of you may have seen a bumper sticker that I have in my office, 19 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:16.400 Because it's been on the internet, and yesterday I had some young kids in the office, not too unusual. 20 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:21.400 And the students came in and they wanted to get their picture with the bumper sticker. 21 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:26.400 Of course, he allowed me to be in the picture too. 22 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:32.400 But this bumper sticker is very simple. It says, don't steal. The government hates competition. 23 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:37.400 And they don't like competition. They don't like competition and running your life. They want to run your life for you. 24 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:45.400 They don't want competition to run the economy, they want to run the economy and of course they don't like anybody to run their own affairs overseas. 25 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:51.400 They think they're capable and have this obligation to run everybody's affairs overseas as well. 26 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.400 So it boils down to a very simple philosophy of what we need. 27 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:02.400 We need to get the government, you know, out of our lives, out of our bedrooms, out of our walls, off our back and out of foreign countries 28 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.400 and, in the meantime, just get rid of the Federal Reserve. 29 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:18.400 Over the many years of speaking out and speaking out against the Federal Reserve and sound money, 30 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:25.400 it had to be a unique crowd, you know, those conspiracy nuts and these people to bring up the subject, 31 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.400 yes, we should get out of the UN, and yes, we should get rid of the Federal Reserve. 32 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.440 and in that special crowd you would get these cheers but something has happened 33 00:03:35.440 --> 00:03:39.960 something dramatic has happened and it's happening on the campuses of this 34 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:44.040 country and some people give me credit I don't take the credit I tell I give 35 00:03:44.040 --> 00:03:50.440 credit to the academicians the many people you've heard speak here and groups 36 00:03:50.440 --> 00:03:56.240 like the Mises Institute have who have changed changed attitudes and it isn't 37 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:01.240 isn't just a few anymore, isn't just a unique crowd that believes in the conspiracy. 38 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:07.240 I mean, it's so dangerous now that it has infiltrated college campuses. 39 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:11.240 I mean, I couldn't have possibly influenced these college kids. 40 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.240 I mean, one person can't do that. 41 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:17.240 So some of these ideas have infiltrated and it's getting to be very serious 42 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:21.240 because you all know the story about what happened at the University of Michigan. 43 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:24.240 I mean, that was startling. It scared me. 44 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:27.840 because here I am it was after the debates over in Detroit we went over to 45 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:31.600 Ann Arbor and I got there a little late there's a little bit of agitation and 46 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:36.080 frustration but it was it was dark and but there was a large crowd there I 47 00:04:36.080 --> 00:04:38.880 couldn't see the crowd very well it was that dark but they said there were a lot 48 00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:44.600 of a lot of young people there so I went on and gave my talk and and alluded to 49 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.760 the monetary system and the Federal Reserve and all of a sudden a bunch of 50 00:04:47.760 --> 00:04:58.120 And then they started chanting, end the Fed, end the Fed, you know, I mean, where did this 51 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:01.400 all come from? 52 00:05:01.400 --> 00:05:08.160 So I'm on the receiving of that information and that message. 53 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:14.440 They were telling me to end the Fed, so I said, well, that does sound like a good idea. 54 00:05:14.440 --> 00:05:26.440 So we have promptly introduced, once again, the bill to end the Fed. 55 00:05:26.440 --> 00:05:34.960 When we had our little rally up in Minneapolis, along with, I think it was another political 56 00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:41.360 party down the street had another rally and a convention, we had ours, and lo and behold 57 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:46.360 Well, we had speakers there that had the audacity to mention Austrian economics. 58 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:48.360 Believe it or not, they started cheering Austrian economics. 59 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:50.360 I mean, what is going on? 60 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.360 There is great progress going on. 61 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:56.360 In Washington, you can see some progress. 62 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:00.360 They're thinking seriously about what's happening because, guess what? 63 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:05.360 They're scared, and rightfully so, and they don't understand what's happening. 64 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:13.260 and Lew has alluded to it, the fact that other members do now ask questions. 65 00:06:13.260 --> 00:06:18.360 Before, it was usually chuckling and laughing and forgetting about it and say, 66 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:25.760 there he goes again. But now they will. They will come up and they're very serious about asking it 67 00:06:25.760 --> 00:06:33.560 because frequently the people on the financial stations of all places, I mean, they'll come up 68 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.440 And they'll say, well, you know, he predicted this and predicted that. 69 00:06:36.440 --> 00:06:37.760 It wasn't that I predicted it. 70 00:06:37.760 --> 00:06:42.600 I just read what a lot of you people write about and learn how Austrian economics work. 71 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:45.200 So it isn't a great thing to predict. 72 00:06:45.200 --> 00:06:53.600 You know, it's like it takes a genius to predict that if you print a lot of money, it loses its value. 73 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:58.800 You know, now that's really brilliant. 74 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:03.400 So, and then this whole idea that a bubble is forming. 75 00:07:03.400 --> 00:07:07.600 A lot of you in this room probably remember the name and know the name Jim Grant. 76 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.840 And Jim Grant is a good Austrian economist and a good writer. 77 00:07:11.840 --> 00:07:17.720 And I invited him down to talk to some members of Congress right after I went back into Congress 78 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:20.120 in 1997. 79 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:23.040 And he came and we had a small group. 80 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:30.480 1997, he took his whole time talking about the horrendous debt being built up by Fannie 81 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:36.400 Mae and Freddie Mac. I mean, we all knew about it and talked about it, but it was really 82 00:07:36.400 --> 00:07:43.560 on his mind. But once again, that doesn't tell you that we know a whole lot about timing 83 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:49.840 because things were bad in 1997 and 1998. There was a bubble, malinvestment, too much 84 00:07:49.840 --> 00:08:07.440 The financial system dates back to August 15, 1971, and then we might have been forced 85 00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:12.080 into a real serious monetary reform, but it didn't happen. 86 00:08:12.080 --> 00:08:14.600 The confidence in the dollar was restored. 87 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:27.600 We had an adjustment. Prices went up and we went on. But in every crisis since, in every recession, they've always been able to do exactly what they had been doing, print, spend more money and run up more debt. 88 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:37.600 And you've got to understand from where they're coming from because it worked to that degree. You know, the recession would go down and it would come back. 89 00:08:37.600 --> 00:09:07.600 This last go-around though, with Greenspan and Bernanke, I mean especially in the year 2000, that little recession that came, it's this anticipation, before they used to wait, oh well, the economy is getting too robust, the treatment for a robust economy is recession, of course, you know, a robust economy should be good, but anyway, they would bring on the recession, but this last year, 90 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:11.000 In 10 years, they never allowed the recession to come. 91 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.800 They anticipated in every time it takes more and more and more. 92 00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:17.700 I blow the bubble up bigger and bigger. 93 00:09:17.700 --> 00:09:25.900 So now, since we are the recipients of benefits of being able to issue the reserve currency 94 00:09:25.900 --> 00:09:31.880 of the world, all this paper manufacturing and issuing of paper has been a worldwide 95 00:09:31.880 --> 00:09:32.880 event. 96 00:09:32.880 --> 00:09:40.080 So this bubble is, I don't think it's overstating the point that this bubble is the biggest 97 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:41.880 of all history. 98 00:09:41.880 --> 00:09:47.900 And there's been a greater trust placed in us, the American system, the paper money, 99 00:09:47.900 --> 00:09:55.220 our Federal Reserve, our great wealth, and unfortunately our great military because military 100 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:57.740 can convey confidence in a currency. 101 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:02.060 You know, if there's a war going on and one country's beating the other country, their 102 00:10:02.060 --> 00:10:04.820 Their currency goes up with a victory. 103 00:10:04.820 --> 00:10:08.780 So there's a lot of the perception of who will be victorious. 104 00:10:08.780 --> 00:10:15.240 So we came out, liberty didn't come out so well after World War I, but economically we 105 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:19.580 came out pretty well, World War II has been on and on. 106 00:10:19.580 --> 00:10:27.400 So we've had this tremendous bubble build and even in the old days they had inflation, 107 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:29.360 but it was regional. 108 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.760 It was never so universal and so worldwide. 109 00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:40.120 I sense in Congress today that the members of Congress are very, very worried and frightened. 110 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:48.360 But lo and behold, you know, they give $350 billion to Treasury, and it didn't seem to 111 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.920 solve the problem. 112 00:10:50.920 --> 00:10:54.560 Markets haven't improved any, so they said, well, where did the money go? 113 00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:56.320 Well, we don't know where it went. 114 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.840 Why would you ask this question like that? 115 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:05.400 So what do you do now? What should we do now? Well give us another $350 billion. And what 116 00:11:05.400 --> 00:11:11.480 did the Congress do? I mean last week we had two bills we debated related to the TARP funds 117 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:16.960 and the money, I mean the rubber stamp was put there, so the new administration will 118 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:26.300 get that $350 billion. But obviously the spending and the borrowing and the inflating that created 119 00:11:26.300 --> 00:11:30.460 Our Problem is the only tool that they have left, and the only thing that's holding it 120 00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:35.860 together is a remnant, a small amount of confidence left in the system. 121 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:39.940 Right now it's still the confidence in the dollar. 122 00:11:39.940 --> 00:11:46.260 I am reminded about, and a few of you in this room must, I'm sure remember, in the 1970s, 123 00:11:46.260 --> 00:11:52.900 John Exter, who had had some experience in central banking, he had this neat graph, or 124 00:11:52.900 --> 00:12:22.900 Demonstration where he had an inverted pyramid and of course at the bottom of the pyramid was gold and above that the different currencies but even then when he proposed that picture of how the economy inflates there weren't even any derivatives that existed and just think of what his concept was and his concern and then you put what 70 trillion dollars worth of derivatives up at the top and there's a tremendous rushing out of the lesser desired assets 125 00:12:22.900 --> 00:12:25.300 and that sort of rushing toward the bottom. 126 00:12:25.300 --> 00:12:28.420 But on days I just wonder exactly where we are 127 00:12:28.420 --> 00:12:30.780 in this gravitating down toward the peak 128 00:12:30.780 --> 00:12:33.480 and down to those very limited assets 129 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.880 which would be gold and silver. 130 00:12:35.880 --> 00:12:38.980 But right above that still is the dollar, 131 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:41.420 the dollar and treasury bills. 132 00:12:41.420 --> 00:12:43.340 I mean people, they don't know where to go. 133 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:44.940 They don't understand it very well. 134 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.380 So they have billions of dollars. 135 00:12:47.380 --> 00:12:48.940 You can't go and get a CD. 136 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:50.740 You gotta buy treasury bills and you know, 137 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:51.860 they're not hard to make. 138 00:12:51.860 --> 00:13:09.860 We can create those out of thin air, you know, rather easily, and you know, down at the bottom though, we would have several of the currencies that people still cling to, the yen isn't all that bad, the euro is holding its own, 139 00:13:09.860 --> 00:13:16.860 but I think the British pound isn't doing too well and may not hold it, so they'll be whittled away. 140 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:22.140 they'll be whittled away but in the meantime the concept of central banking 141 00:13:22.140 --> 00:13:26.520 has not vanished yes we have these growing number of kids on the campuses 142 00:13:26.520 --> 00:13:30.180 and a lot of people like you out there studying have understood this for years 143 00:13:30.180 --> 00:13:35.100 but there's still a lot of people who believe very strongly in central banking 144 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:39.960 so as our movement grows and makes an effort to get rid of the concept of 145 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:46.100 central banking and the Federal Reserve we also have the group that have had the 146 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:55.100 and the greatest deal of influence on our government, those who tend to have control over the Republican Party and the Democrat Party. 147 00:13:55.100 --> 00:14:04.100 You know, it seems like Goldman Sachs has an influence on government, whether they're Republicans or Democrats. 148 00:14:04.100 --> 00:14:09.100 But those individuals who know about it are making their plans. 149 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:22.100 A week ago we were told, and I went back a day early because I was told that Bernanke would be before our committee on Monday for some hearings to go over the TARP funding issue. 150 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:29.100 And when I got there he wasn't there and they said, oh no, he couldn't make it, he was elsewhere. 151 00:14:29.100 --> 00:14:36.100 But it turned out that was the day, if you remember, he gave a speech in London on a Monday morning and that was the news. 152 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:41.260 But he was over there, that was the cover, giving a speech, the speech was broadcast, 153 00:14:41.260 --> 00:14:48.060 it was on our news, and you can get the script, and we had the vice chairman of the Fed come 154 00:14:48.060 --> 00:14:49.520 before the committee. 155 00:14:49.520 --> 00:14:56.560 But what they didn't tell you is the day before he was at, in Basel, Switzerland, at Bank 156 00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:00.900 of International Settlements, meeting with a few of his buddies, you know, and they were 157 00:15:00.900 --> 00:15:01.900 talking. 158 00:15:01.900 --> 00:15:10.820 But I asked the assistant to Bernanke whether or not we could have those minutes, but he 159 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:13.540 said, no, you're not allowed. 160 00:15:13.540 --> 00:15:19.140 No, he didn't say that, and I closed my statement by saying, yes, I'm not allowed to have those 161 00:15:19.140 --> 00:15:22.940 because under the law, he doesn't have to tell us a thing. 162 00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:28.060 You know, we complain about $700 billion and the Treasury blowing $700 and we can't make 163 00:15:28.060 --> 00:15:29.580 them listen to us. 164 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:39.980 That's peanuts compared to the trillions that the Federal Reserve has control of, but they know by now that this system is not viable. 165 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:51.580 The way I see it in my mind is that the very weak system that came out of Bretton Woods was the fiat dollar standard and it's lasted up until now. 166 00:15:51.580 --> 00:16:00.420 and it built a financial pyramid of debt and it's worldwide. 167 00:16:00.420 --> 00:16:04.380 And that system has come to end because it's, it's, it's functioning. 168 00:16:04.380 --> 00:16:10.620 I mean, everything is collapsing and closing down and production is going down 169 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:14.060 and all the things that we are witnessing. 170 00:16:14.060 --> 00:16:22.960 But the dollar is still existing, but they're still trying to revitalize what built the big bubble. 171 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.760 And of course that is the creation of money and the creation of credit. 172 00:16:26.760 --> 00:16:32.860 But the one thing they don't have any control over is the restoration of confidence. 173 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:37.160 Since the world has lost confidence in the dollar system, 174 00:16:37.160 --> 00:16:42.160 the only thing the politicians and the bankers have is to keep doing the same thing 175 00:16:42.160 --> 00:16:47.500 I'm convinced that in my mind I may be wrong... that they can't go back and pick up the pieces. 176 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:56.360 It's sort of like going back to the British wanted to go back and restore the pound at the old gold standard, which obviously didn't work. 177 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.200 We can't go back to the old gold standard. We can't go back to the Bretton Woods. 178 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:02.560 We can't go back to the Venece B Voron Business School. 179 00:17:02.560 --> 00:17:08.160 and Restore the Pound at the Old Gold Standard, which obviously didn't work. 180 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:10.160 We can't go back to the old gold standard. 181 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:11.980 We can't go back to the Bretton Woods. 182 00:17:11.980 --> 00:17:15.480 We can't go back to the post-Bretton Woods standard. 183 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.420 And therefore, something new has to come up. 184 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:25.140 They're planning their, they're making their plans for what they think they should have. 185 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:33.820 And I'm very confident that they would like to see, you know, a one world central bank. 186 00:17:33.820 --> 00:17:39.180 The dollar hasn't done the trick, that we were entrusted to run the system, but now 187 00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:42.620 they will have to take it away from us and take it away from the dollar. 188 00:17:42.620 --> 00:17:46.660 Which means, if they get away with it, they might be able to keep things going or get 189 00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:50.180 things started again, but I think we're going to be in charge. 190 00:17:50.180 --> 00:17:54.220 I think that we are destined to be a much poorer nation. 191 00:17:54.220 --> 00:18:01.220 is what the handwriting on the wall, of course the world is going to be poorer too, and the question is whether they can devise a system. 192 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:10.220 So time is short and the arguments are very, very important and I think we're making great progress. 193 00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:20.220 But the battle is going to be on the campuses and just hopefully we have enough time to stimulate enough young minds 194 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:25.720 and the minds that they can get in the right positions to give the right answers. 195 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:30.220 This is one place where I've been tremendously encouraged on the campuses. 196 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:38.220 During the campaign, there's a youth group, the Young Americans for Liberty has been an outgrowth of what we're doing 197 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:43.220 and I'm helping to the best of my ability to have them get organized. 198 00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:46.220 And we will be testing that. We will be going to the campuses. 199 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:53.220 If I enjoyed traveling more, I would do it more often, but traveling is a job for me. 200 00:18:53.220 --> 00:19:00.220 I've had a lot of nice invitations lately. I can't tell my wife all about these, but she might decide to take one. 201 00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:07.220 We had one from Hong Kong the other day, and just this week I had one from Italy and Turkey. 202 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:09.220 We've had several in Eastern Europe. 203 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:17.220 And the way I see this is, you know, with the Internet, they do hear and understand what we're talking about. 204 00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:23.220 But it must be like five or ten percent, maybe less, hopefully ten or fifteen or twenty percent. 205 00:19:23.220 --> 00:19:29.220 But obviously never a majority. But it isn't like it's just in Auburn, Alabama. 206 00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:32.220 This isn't where it is. I mean, it is out there. 207 00:19:32.220 --> 00:19:38.220 And the other day I was coming back from the Capitol and a bunch of men were all bundled up 208 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:13.220 It's not a numbers game. It's not a numbers game. You don't say, when are we going to get 51%? 209 00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:17.220 Well, we just need influential people, and that is what's happening. 210 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:22.220 And that's why the Mises Institute deserves support, because they are changing the numbers. 211 00:20:22.220 --> 00:20:28.220 I mean, all the people that have been helped to get their degrees and get teachers in the right places, 212 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:36.220 that's where the future is. And right now, it hasn't had a reflection in Washington, but it's starting to. 213 00:20:36.220 --> 00:20:43.220 It's starting to. It's starting to have a reflection. They're starting to ask about Austrian economics and they're asking the right question. 214 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:49.220 And believe me, you can't have any influence until they start asking the questions. 215 00:20:49.220 --> 00:20:54.220 They're asking the right questions. They're worried and they're concerned. They know this isn't working. 216 00:20:54.220 --> 00:21:04.220 And I am encouraged in that sense, but in the other sense, though, I am very concerned because it can get pretty rough. 217 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:15.220 And my main goal is, of course, I want to live in a prosperous manner, peacefully, and have as much enjoyment as possible. 218 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:23.220 But it isn't the prosperity that motivates me. I do know that if prosperity is my goal, the freer the society is, the better it is for us. 219 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:31.220 I understand that. But my biggest concern, of course, when I see what's happening is a threat to our personal liberty. 220 00:21:31.220 --> 00:21:35.020 And I have always argued I would argue the case for liberty because for me it's a moral 221 00:21:35.020 --> 00:21:37.180 issue, it's not a pragmatic issue. 222 00:21:37.180 --> 00:21:42.660 I would argue the case for liberty because I just want to be left alone. 223 00:21:42.660 --> 00:21:51.860 That's what I want to be. 224 00:21:51.860 --> 00:21:58.100 But fortunately we don't have to take that case because not only can we be left alone, 225 00:21:58.100 --> 00:22:03.100 That is the philosophy that takes care of the maximum number of people with the maximum amount of prosperity. 226 00:22:03.100 --> 00:22:07.700 But today, we live in an age where I think it's really coming down to the wire. 227 00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:18.700 I mean, if we would have had this climax and dissolving of the system as we're having today around the world in 1971, 228 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:22.700 we would have been in a lot worse shape, believe me. 229 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:27.300 I just think we're in so much better shape now to argue our case. 230 00:22:27.300 --> 00:22:33.140 We have better methods of transmitting our information. 231 00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:37.120 We make fun and laugh sometimes at radio talk shows, but we've made a lot of use out of 232 00:22:37.120 --> 00:22:38.740 radio talk shows. 233 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:43.740 But with the Internet and the communications that we have now, it's just fantastic. 234 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:51.420 The fact that somebody in Italy might want Ron Paul again, that's pretty weird. 235 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:54.700 This communication thing is fantastic. 236 00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:56.780 There's every reason to be encouraged. 237 00:22:56.780 --> 00:23:00.500 I don't think we have to worry about the philosophy. 238 00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:06.260 I believe that, you know, probably in this room we can agree on 99% of the things because, 239 00:23:06.260 --> 00:23:09.560 you know, you don't have to be real smart to tell other people how to live. 240 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:14.020 You just have to be smart enough to lay off and leave them alone. 241 00:23:14.020 --> 00:23:20.100 I thought, you know, probably the most significant statement I made to undermine the campaign, 242 00:23:20.100 --> 00:23:25.860 the presidential campaign in this day and age, was telling people, well, I would be 243 00:23:25.860 --> 00:23:55.860 I serve as president. I want to be president. I said, but not because I want for what I want to do because I don't want to run your life. I don't want to run the economy and I don't want to police the world. I don't know how you want to do with your life. I don't know how to dictate to the economy. And I certainly don't want to be involved overseas. You know, you can turn that around and say not what you don't want to do. What do you want to do? Well, you want to preserve liberty. You want to preserve the greatness of this country. And in the meantime, we will protect the prosperity of this country. 244 00:23:55.860 --> 00:24:02.120 But if we concentrate on that ideal of liberty, I believe that we can find all our answers. 245 00:24:02.120 --> 00:24:03.120 Thank you very much.