WEBVTT NOTE The Trouble With Washington 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 What a delight and what a wonderful honor. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:11.500 Now you each so far came up and said that you were supporters of Ron Paul, 3 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:16.500 but there's another supporter of Ron Paul here, and I'm also a strong supporter of hers, 4 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:19.000 and that's my wife, Carol, who's sitting here. 5 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.000 But it is great to be here, especially to get the applause. 6 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:34.000 So I get a lot of speeches in Washington, I don't even get to get lost. 7 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.000 So this has worked out real well, that's why I have to leave up there once in a while. 8 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.000 They do give me time or I take some time on occasion to give a speech here and there. 9 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:48.000 But too often there aren't too many in the auditorium, but I tell them I get some time. 10 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.000 And a lot of people now who have read the Neocon speech, they find it a little bit fascinating. 11 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.000 How many people were there? And some who had watched said, nobody was there and listened. 12 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:03.000 Why don't you make them stay and listen? Well, that's not the way it works. 13 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:10.000 And I said, well, that's not true that nobody was there because there was one guy who had to sit in the chair and listen to the whole thing. 14 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:15.000 But then one other member of Congress, I don't know if there's anybody from Tennessee here, 15 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:22.000 but there's a member of Congress that is in our Liberty Caucus that I have, I have 18 members there, 16 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:27.160 and that is Jimmy Duncan who is very much coming our direction and I work very 17 00:01:27.160 --> 00:01:33.000 closely with him and he came across it read it and was determined that this 18 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.720 thing really ought to be published and spread around which is a real honor from 19 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:42.440 another member of Congress to first have read it and then to say they understood 20 00:01:42.440 --> 00:01:47.040 it and wanted to print it so that was a real compliment but the numbers are going up 21 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:51.200 if you care about whether members of Congress are paying attention to what 22 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:57.200 What are we trying to do? Because just this last week I was on my way to Washington and I got off the plane. 23 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:01.200 There was a liberal Democrat that was coming up on the airplane with me from Houston. 24 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:05.200 He got off and said, Ronnie, I want to tell you, I just read that speech you gave in July. 25 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:07.200 Is that that neocon speech? He said, yeah. 26 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:17.200 He said, one of my staff members came across this thing and insisted that I read this and gave it to him, you know, on the airplane. 27 00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:27.200 He said, that was really interesting. I said, true too. He said, yeah, yeah. So now we're up to three other members. 28 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:43.200 So we're making progress, slowly but surely. My title for my talk tonight, given to me by my friend Lou, is called The Trouble with Washington. 29 00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:55.200 You know, the other way you can put that is, what's good with Washington? I mean, do we have to describe what the problem is with Washington, the trouble with Washington? 30 00:02:55.200 --> 00:03:07.200 Well, there's plenty of trouble up there, and I know you're aware of it, and I will tell you a little bit about my experiences up there and why we do have these problems. 31 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:20.200 problems, but it does give us a lot of trouble. There is no doubt about it. We in Washington 32 00:03:20.200 --> 00:03:26.960 have a group of people, and this to me is the main problem we have in Washington, is 33 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:36.400 that this is the place where the politicians come to live. I mean, that's basically it. 34 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:43.040 The politicians go to Washington to live, and they never leave until they die. 35 00:03:43.040 --> 00:03:48.960 And this isn't just on occasion, the Congress is a training ground for lobbyists. 36 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:53.320 And they come, they're elected, they're appointed, they get a job, they're bureaucrats, they 37 00:03:53.320 --> 00:04:01.000 get appointed, and they love it, and they train themselves not to be better legislators 38 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.640 are better defenders of liberty, but they are in training for a good job. 39 00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:12.360 And they brag about it, they have bragged to me, directly to me, I think inadvertently, 40 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:17.560 not realizing what they were actually saying, but members have gotten ready to leave Congress 41 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:22.920 and said, boy, next year I'm going to make a million bucks being a lobbyist. 42 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:27.720 And I've heard others say, you know, it's just a few more years and I'll have my credentials 43 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:31.120 and I'm going out there and I'm going to make this money. 44 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:35.120 You know, basically we shouldn't be opposed to lobbyists. 45 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:35.600 We are. 46 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:36.960 That's petitioning our government. 47 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:38.560 That's OK. 48 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.720 But the big problem is that the petitioners today 49 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.360 are always the lobbyists who are looking 50 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.560 for something for nothing, something from you. 51 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:50.280 And that's quite a bit different. 52 00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:53.360 So we can't attack the principle of individuals 53 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.000 coming to Washington to petition. 54 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:05.000 But it's so sad to see that so much energy and time and money and power and influence is directed toward 55 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.000 how do you influence this government to their benefit? 56 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:14.000 And this is whether it's welfare at home, welfare for the poor they say, 57 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:20.000 but lo and behold there's sometimes, or most of the time there's another intervening corporation 58 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.000 that's going to make some money off that, whether it's foreign aid in the general sense or a war going on. 59 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:46.000 going on. Somebody's going to make some money off it and it's big bucks. And there are a few who will come to Washington out of self-defense and they certainly have a right to because it's pretty hard to exist in this country today without having, you know, an exposure to the federal government. 60 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:54.000 But it is certainly a dilemma that we all face. 61 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:06.000 You know, I wanted to use a quote from our House leader on the Republican side, and that is, you know, Tom DeLay. 62 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:13.000 Tom DeLay happened to have taken my old seat. I was in District 22 and I left and Tom DeLay took that. 63 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:20.000 And I had somebody come up, I think he was an anarcho-libertarian, he came up to me, he says, 64 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.680 He says, you have performed the worst disservice in the world, I said, what's that? 65 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:30.720 He says, you voluntarily left Congress and allowed DeLay to get your seat, so you're 66 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:34.600 responsible for everything that he has done. 67 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:41.440 But you know, DeLay is a conservative and comes to Texas and talks conservative and 68 00:06:41.440 --> 00:06:43.320 gets re-elected. 69 00:06:43.320 --> 00:06:53.320 But his foreign policy has tended to annoy me a bit, seeing that his foreign policy is 70 00:06:53.320 --> 00:06:59.840 not our foreign policy, it's 100% opposite our foreign policy, and it's also the foreign 71 00:06:59.840 --> 00:07:04.480 policy of whatever George Bush tells him to do, and he comes down there and makes sure 72 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.320 it goes through the Congress. 73 00:07:06.320 --> 00:07:14.320 In order to explain exactly what we're dealing with, I wanted to use the quote that he made 74 00:07:14.320 --> 00:07:20.320 when he was talking to the Knesset in Israel when he went to visit. 75 00:07:20.320 --> 00:07:26.320 So he was explaining there on what our position is here in America. 76 00:07:26.320 --> 00:07:35.320 And to their legislative body he says, standing up for good against evil is very hard work. 77 00:07:35.320 --> 00:07:41.320 It costs money and blood, but we're willing to pay. 78 00:07:41.320 --> 00:07:46.320 I mean, that tells you the story. Is it his blood and his money? 79 00:07:46.320 --> 00:07:51.320 It's your money and our kids, and they're willing to make these commitments, 80 00:07:51.320 --> 00:07:59.320 whether it's in the Middle East, the Far East, Africa, Central America, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, 81 00:07:59.320 --> 00:08:04.320 and it's been going on for a long, long, long, long time. 82 00:08:04.320 --> 00:08:14.320 for a long time. And yet, we as a people, I think, have not quite grasped what's going on. 83 00:08:14.320 --> 00:08:21.320 Fortunately, though, more and more are. Washington can be a fairly depressing place. 84 00:08:21.320 --> 00:08:28.320 A lot of people ask me, you know, aren't you awfully frustrated with Washington? 85 00:08:28.320 --> 00:08:36.320 And I tell them, actually, really, I'm not. I just have very low expectations in Washington. 86 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:41.680 And I guess, if anything, I'm pleasantly surprised that we get a little bit of attention because 87 00:08:41.680 --> 00:08:46.560 I don't really expect that tomorrow they're going to all of a sudden pay attention to 88 00:08:46.560 --> 00:08:51.560 what I'm saying and what we're doing, but always hoping that we'll make a little inroad 89 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:52.560 now and then. 90 00:08:52.560 --> 00:09:06.560 For instance, the Liberty Committee is something I started, sometimes by being invited, and sometimes the other members invite themselves to join, because they find out that when they go home, they hear from their constituents back home and say, 91 00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:17.560 Why aren't you working with Ron Paul? So they get their political cover by saying, Tom, I just want to be a member of your committee. We allow them to become members, but it doesn't change their voting pattern in it. 92 00:09:17.560 --> 00:09:31.560 But even with the weak areas in the Liberty Caucus, we have some members, and back again to Jimmy Duncan, has come and he says we need to meet more often, we need to talk more often. 93 00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:38.560 In the last seven weeks we've had a meeting every week, not all the members show, sometimes it's four, six, eight or ten. 94 00:09:38.560 --> 00:09:46.560 I usually try to get a Libertarian speaker over and get them exposed to some of the views we have on money and foreign policy. 95 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:52.900 and they're very, very open and I saw that as a tremendous positive because it wasn't 96 00:09:52.900 --> 00:09:58.480 me begging and pleading, please come and see me, this sort of thing, but it came from those 97 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:05.520 other members of the committee and I see that as quite positive. 98 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:10.520 You know, it wasn't too long ago that we had a vote on the House floor that I think we 99 00:10:10.520 --> 00:10:38.520 It was a vote on an amendment that I was a co-sponsor of with Butch Otter, and this amendment was to repeal the sneak-and-peek provisions of the Patriot Act, and I thought, well, you know, let's do it, but for a while the leadership fought it and wouldn't allow a vote on it, and we finally got a vote on it. 100 00:10:38.520 --> 00:10:46.520 And to my surprise, pleasant surprise, the amendment passed 310 to 120, something like that. 101 00:10:46.520 --> 00:10:55.520 It was a tremendous vote to repeal a portion of the Patriot Act, which tells us something. 102 00:10:55.520 --> 00:11:03.520 Because first off, the Patriot Act was passed within six weeks of 9-11. 103 00:11:03.520 --> 00:11:09.200 Although there was some discussion, both in the House and the Senate, the version that 104 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:17.280 we ultimately voted on in the House came up without it being available to us. 105 00:11:17.280 --> 00:11:21.400 We had been discussing one bill, they slipped in another bill in the middle of the night, 106 00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:27.200 they stayed in session all night in order to manipulate the rules, and so it was voted 107 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:35.200 on with during the hysteria of post 9-11 and it was overwhelmingly passed and I thought 108 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:38.960 well there will never be any resistance to this. 109 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:44.880 To my surprise we have gotten to the point where the average American is being punished 110 00:11:44.880 --> 00:11:49.920 by the Patriot Act, but there's been a lot of discussion, there's been a lot of discussion 111 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:53.560 on radio shows and the internet and who knows where. 112 00:11:53.560 --> 00:11:59.560 So that vote to repeal is a reflection of the fact, not that all of a sudden we have civil libertarians in Congress. 113 00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:10.560 That hasn't happened, but it means that enough people around the country have started getting their message to the members of Congress, 114 00:12:10.560 --> 00:12:12.560 there was something wrong with that bill. 115 00:12:12.560 --> 00:12:22.560 Now it's not likely that that repeal is going to hold up, because I doubt that the President would sign it, I don't know if the Senate would pass it. 116 00:12:22.560 --> 00:12:35.560 And if something happened that they got that part repealed, I wouldn't be surprised if they're able to circumvent it with some executive order or something else. 117 00:12:35.560 --> 00:12:47.560 But the optimism on that is the fact that enough people had heard about this in order to vote to repeal some of that. 118 00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:58.560 You know, I have a certain reputation in Washington, and some thinks it's negative, some thinks it's positive, and I think it's interesting. 119 00:12:58.560 --> 00:13:11.560 And there is, you know, the political reporter who writes in Roll Call by Stu Rothenberg, he mentioned me in one of his write-ups the other day. 120 00:13:11.560 --> 00:13:24.560 And he said he was having trouble with AT&T. I guess he wanted to call him. He was trying to get a real person on the other end of the phone and talk to this individual, AT&T. 121 00:13:24.560 --> 00:13:37.560 And he was frustrated in that, so he finally wrote in the book, he says, I think it would be easier to get Ron Paul to vote for a tax increase than for me to talk to somebody at AT&T. 122 00:13:37.560 --> 00:13:54.360 But my answer to that is, don't bet on it. 123 00:13:54.360 --> 00:14:03.080 We had a vote six or eight months ago, and it wasn't one of my easier votes. 124 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.280 But I still, of course, believe it was the correct vote. 125 00:14:05.280 --> 00:14:12.280 But I think I got into a little trouble with my wife. She wasn't sure whether I voted correctly on that because I was a lone vote. I was a lone no. 126 00:14:12.280 --> 00:14:18.280 And that was the bill that came up to say that the government should make another list. 127 00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:26.280 Make another list and say, sign up on this list, and nobody's allowed to call you and try to sell you anything unless you're a politician. 128 00:14:26.280 --> 00:14:33.280 If you're a politician, you can call and try to sell your bill of goods, and you're a politician's example, but somebody else wants to sell. 129 00:14:33.280 --> 00:14:42.280 and we're all pestered by these so-called, but you and I decided, what the heck, why should we have another government federal law, another government list 130 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:48.280 and the only problem is we have, the American people have forgotten how to just hang up the telephone. 131 00:14:48.280 --> 00:14:55.280 You know, they can't hang up the phone so they come to Washington and they want to pass the law. 132 00:14:55.280 --> 00:15:03.120 But I saw a neat cartoon as a follow-up from this, and the cartoon essentially said, 133 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:08.960 why don't you put me on the don't wiretap me list? 134 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:10.960 Now that's the list we need. 135 00:15:17.920 --> 00:15:24.160 You know, Walter Block for months, or not a year, 136 00:15:24.160 --> 00:15:31.160 has been asking me to write a little blurb about how I became a libertarian, and I've 137 00:15:31.160 --> 00:15:38.160 totally ignored it, and I've always thought I shouldn't ignore it, but then I got to 138 00:15:38.160 --> 00:15:40.160 thinking there's nothing I can write. 139 00:15:40.160 --> 00:15:43.160 You know, what can I write? 140 00:15:43.160 --> 00:15:48.160 If you're born a libertarian, if you're born to love liberty, that's it. 141 00:15:48.160 --> 00:16:07.160 But I think the real story is, the story you have to write is, how did I and how did others overcome the barrage of propaganda from grade school on up to beat in our heads that we aren't supposed to be libertarians? 142 00:16:07.160 --> 00:16:12.160 You know, that seems to me to be the transition that I went through. 143 00:16:12.160 --> 00:16:19.160 that everything seemed to be so natural that I'd be left alone, just leave me alone. 144 00:16:19.160 --> 00:16:25.160 And governments should be small and taxes should be small and governments should be very limited. 145 00:16:25.160 --> 00:16:29.160 We shouldn't go to war, we shouldn't have welfare and all these things and have honest money. 146 00:16:29.160 --> 00:16:32.160 That just makes a lot of sense. 147 00:16:32.160 --> 00:16:39.160 But the pressure on us, whether it's our schools and our government and our media, 148 00:16:39.160 --> 00:16:46.040 is constantly beating it into our heads that this isn't right and proper. 149 00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:54.560 Now I do know that in the late 50s, I was influenced by the Fee Foundation, came across 150 00:16:54.560 --> 00:17:01.420 some good literature and was introduced into Austrian economics, is how I got more interested 151 00:17:01.420 --> 00:17:07.560 in it and led up to me wanting to run for Congress. 152 00:17:07.560 --> 00:17:17.800 But you know, if you have interest in economic liberty, if you're interested in prosperity, 153 00:17:17.800 --> 00:17:23.320 then you realize that this leads to the understanding of personal liberty. 154 00:17:23.320 --> 00:17:29.760 And if you go from there, you can easily leap into understanding very clearly, if you read 155 00:17:29.760 --> 00:17:35.400 Austrian economics and Murray and Mises and other, you realize that the greatest threat 156 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:41.760 to our Economic Freedom and Personal Liberties is in the time of war, and therefore war becomes 157 00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:47.480 a key issue in our study of personal liberty and as far as free markets goes, because it's 158 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:53.040 certainly under wartime conditions that our personal liberties are most threatened, at 159 00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:57.920 the same time our economy is most threatened because of the spending, and just look at 160 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:04.280 what's happening right now, the budget is exploding, and it seems like the people I 161 00:18:04.280 --> 00:18:34.280 I see on a daily basis are totally oblivious to it. They seem to have absolutely no concern about it, because they'll figure out some percentage point and say, well, it's still not as bad as World War II as far as GDP goes, you know, and think it's no big deal, and then they talk themselves in to say, well, we won't count what we take out of the trust funds, even though the national debt went up nearly $600 billion last year. They said, well, it came in better than we had predicted. Three months ago, we said $405. It came in only 162 00:18:34.280 --> 00:18:40.280 Pre-75s, though, looks like we're doing pretty well, you know, and that's the kind of talk you hear. 163 00:18:40.280 --> 00:18:48.280 They never give any real thought to the fact that they spend all this money and that we have a Federal Reserve that prints the money to cover the debt, 164 00:18:48.280 --> 00:18:59.280 and that every time we do this, that means more intrusion into your wallet and then your personal liberties, and it just never seems to cease. 165 00:18:59.280 --> 00:19:21.280 But from the very first time I went to Washington in the 1970s, I asked to be on Banking Committee, and I was on there, and I spent all my time on Banking Committee, but it was only in the second tour of duty, which was back when I restart was 97, and I asked to be on Foreign Relations. 166 00:19:21.280 --> 00:19:32.280 Now, when I went to the delegation, you do this through your state delegation, and I went to them and I told them I went on banking and international relations, and they said, oh, it's no big deal. 167 00:19:32.280 --> 00:19:41.280 Those aren't very important committees. It's ways and means and rules committee and budget and all these kind of things that are so much more important. 168 00:19:41.280 --> 00:19:47.280 So, you shouldn't have any trouble getting on that. A week later, they came back and they said, sorry, Ron, you can't be on international relations. 169 00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:48.280 and National Relations. 170 00:19:48.280 --> 00:19:49.280 Why is that? 171 00:19:49.280 --> 00:19:50.280 You told me it would be easy. 172 00:19:50.280 --> 00:19:53.760 And they said, well, and these are the Republican leadership, they said, well, they talked 173 00:19:53.760 --> 00:19:59.600 it over and they decided that they assumed you would probably not vote for any foreign 174 00:19:59.600 --> 00:20:00.600 aid. 175 00:20:00.600 --> 00:20:01.600 They said, is that right? 176 00:20:01.600 --> 00:20:04.600 I said, yeah, that's right. 177 00:20:04.600 --> 00:20:09.120 So they wanted somebody that would vote for foreign aid and I don't vote for foreign aid. 178 00:20:09.120 --> 00:20:12.920 I only vote for aid for the American citizens by law and keep more of their own money and 179 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:27.920 You know, but I did wait. I was patient and after four years I finally did get put on just in time to deal with the issue of war in Iran. 180 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:38.920 And that, of course, had to go through our committee. And when that resolution came up, it came up by direction of Karl Rove. 181 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:51.920 It came up in October of, I guess, 2002, right before the election, and they were pretty 182 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:53.800 upfront about this behind the scenes. 183 00:20:53.800 --> 00:20:59.160 We got the Democrats now, you know, and this is a big campaign issue and that sort of thing. 184 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:06.280 So the vote was 30 days before the election, but it came to the committee and the resolution 185 00:21:06.280 --> 00:21:13.680 essentially said that we need to do this because the U.N. is not doing its job and we have 186 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.760 all these resolutions and we have all this great danger and therefore we have to enforce 187 00:21:18.760 --> 00:21:19.760 these resolutions. 188 00:21:19.760 --> 00:21:24.120 They cited the United Nations 16 times in the resolution. 189 00:21:24.120 --> 00:21:29.240 They did not cite the Constitution once or any congressional authority. 190 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:30.920 Congress did not declare war. 191 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:37.480 was merely transferring the power to go to war to the president, saying to the president 192 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:43.360 he could do it when he wanted, under what circumstances, and that was the issue. 193 00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:52.360 So I decided that I would at least bring up the subject of the Constitution. 194 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:58.760 And so I introduced an amendment, a substitute amendment that said this is a declaration 195 00:21:58.760 --> 00:21:59.760 of war. 196 00:21:59.760 --> 00:22:07.760 You could declare a war, a second world war, a first world war, there's just one sentence that we're now in a state of war with such and such. 197 00:22:07.760 --> 00:22:14.760 And so I introduced him and I said, well, I expect the rest of you to defeat my amendment because I have no intention on voting for it. 198 00:22:14.760 --> 00:22:18.760 But if you want war, you're supposed to vote for it. 199 00:22:18.760 --> 00:22:25.760 And since World War II, we haven't voted for war, we haven't won a war since then, and we're still fighting most of them. 200 00:22:25.760 --> 00:22:32.760 We're still in Korea after 50 years. We've sent nearly a trillion dollars there and they're a bigger threat to us now than they were 50 years ago. 201 00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:38.760 So that's when they got a little... I got their attention. 202 00:22:38.760 --> 00:22:46.760 And we have a chairman of the International Relations Committee by the name of Henry Hyde. 203 00:22:46.760 --> 00:22:51.760 He's a nice guy, conservative, but he wasn't very pleased. 204 00:22:51.760 --> 00:23:00.760 So I want to read to you what he said when I brought this up, because it tells you how the system works and how they're thinking. 205 00:23:00.760 --> 00:23:09.760 And Henry said, after he expressed some annoyances, he said, 206 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:15.760 There are things in the Constitution that have been overtaken by events, by time. 207 00:23:15.760 --> 00:23:18.760 Declaration of war is one of them. 208 00:23:18.760 --> 00:23:22.760 There are things no longer relevant to a modern society. 209 00:23:22.760 --> 00:23:25.760 Why declare war if you don't have to? 210 00:23:25.760 --> 00:23:28.760 We are saying to the President, use your judgment. 211 00:23:28.760 --> 00:23:32.760 So to demand that we declare war is to strengthen something to death. 212 00:23:32.760 --> 00:23:36.760 You've got a hammer lock on this situation and it's not called for. 213 00:23:36.760 --> 00:23:41.760 It's inappropriate, it's anachronistic, it isn't done anymore. 214 00:23:41.760 --> 00:23:48.760 I mean that is what he says about the Constitution and about what somebody thinks that we should use it. 215 00:23:48.760 --> 00:24:01.760 Now, Tom Lantos is a ranking member on the Democratic side and he was not a whole lot friendlier to this. 216 00:24:01.760 --> 00:24:08.960 and he said what I was doing and you know he was a little bit firm about it he said this is frivolous 217 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:15.280 to make us deal with this take this time and vote on this he said this is just a frivolous act on 218 00:24:15.280 --> 00:24:23.360 your part and of course we voted on it and then you know it was voice voted down and then I said 219 00:24:23.360 --> 00:24:29.520 we're going to have a recorded vote and then they sighed and fussed and then we had a recorded vote 220 00:24:29.520 --> 00:24:59.520 And the issue of war is pretty darn important. That was an important issue for the founders. It was not to be done by the king. It was not to be done by the executive department. It was not to be done by our presidents. And yet, too long it has been. I mean, Korea went in under a U.N. resolution, and we haven't finished that. This first was awful. It was awful. It was awful. 221 00:24:59.520 --> 00:25:12.520 War has been going on for 13 years and it started under the UN. Even this transfer of power was based on the fact that the UN resolutions weren't being followed. 222 00:25:12.520 --> 00:25:25.520 So that is a major, major issue. One, because war is so important and we were pursuing a war that I had so much opposite, I felt so opposed to. 223 00:25:25.520 --> 00:25:32.800 but the bigger issue probably is where's the rule of law what is left if you let 224 00:25:32.800 --> 00:25:37.720 them get away with that I mean what part of the Constitution do they care about 225 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:43.480 what part will they follow if they will flaunt the Constitution in this regard 226 00:25:43.480 --> 00:25:49.480 and that's really where our problem is is that we have no rule of law because we 227 00:25:49.480 --> 00:25:54.400 have not only the Congress reneging on their responsibilities I had one member 228 00:25:54.400 --> 00:26:24.400 I remember one chairman of a committee when I brought this up on education and suggested that what we were doing might not be constitutional, you know, like the federal government absolute control of all public education and the chairman, who's a nice old guy, from Pennsylvania, and he said, he's not there now, and he said, he was very friendly about it, he says, well I understand the gentleman's concern, he says, but that's not our concern, let the court sort it out. 229 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:54.400 down. You know, what's the oath of office? What are our responsibilities? If we say let the court, well, and even if the courts, even if you did it that way, can you trust the courts? I mean, the courts don't follow the Constitution, the Congress doesn't follow the Constitution, our executive branch issues executive orders that go to war without declaration. We don't have the rule of law, and that's what the real problem is. I mean, there was a reasonable respect 230 00:26:54.400 --> 00:26:59.400 for the Limitational Government Power in our early years, but that has long gone, 231 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:04.960 and it's not an accident that we now face a major crisis. We face a major 232 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:09.140 crisis in our foreign policy, our civil liberties here at home, and economically 233 00:27:09.140 --> 00:27:13.200 speaking. So what have we done for these young people? We're dumping it on their 234 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:24.040 laps. And that bothers me. It bothers me that we haven't been fair in 235 00:27:24.040 --> 00:27:30.080 In many ways we as a generation have lived beyond our means and the next generation is 236 00:27:30.080 --> 00:27:36.160 going to live beneath their means because when you have the benefits of a currency you 237 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:41.440 get away with printing money and it being used as a reserve currency you can run up debt 238 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.060 and get away with a lot but it eventually ends and then there's catch up and the catch 239 00:27:47.060 --> 00:27:52.160 up is the next generation and the threat is not only to their economic well-being but 240 00:27:52.160 --> 00:28:00.160 The threat is to their personal well-being because of the wars that are going on, but to their personal liberties and the rule of law. 241 00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:04.160 So what should we do about all this? 242 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:13.160 One reason why I'm such a strong supporter of the Mises Institute is, I think what the Mises Institute is doing is the right thing. 243 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:17.160 Because I don't see my role as being all that important. 244 00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:24.120 Because I am a politician and I don't change legislation and you know I'm there if I have 245 00:28:24.120 --> 00:28:35.520 value it might be for getting people a little bit interested in an idea but not as a legislator. 246 00:28:35.520 --> 00:28:41.920 The ultimate change will occur when we change people's opinions and attitudes and this was 247 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:48.920 This is so clearly spoken by Mises and the other Austrian economists, you have to change people's opinion. 248 00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:55.920 And this is why the work that Lew has done with the Mises Institute, in getting those professors out there, 249 00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:02.920 quite a few in the room here, and the young people, students who have been exposed, this is what gives me encouragement. 250 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:10.920 In my district at home, that district has a lot of homeschoolers, and homeschooling gives me a lot of encouragement. 251 00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:18.960 A couple weeks ago I was in my district and I stopped in one rural county and I visited 252 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:19.960 with some homeschoolers. 253 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:28.920 It was a small group, probably 20 or 30 total, you know, with their kids and their parents. 254 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:33.240 We just talked about it and I complimented what they were doing because they so often 255 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.560 get a much better education. 256 00:29:36.560 --> 00:29:44.260 A few hours later, I went to a luncheon to a retired school teacher's organization, public schools. 257 00:29:44.260 --> 00:29:53.260 And there was a large crowd, and it was a dining room like this, and the person who was getting ready to interview me, she said, 258 00:29:53.260 --> 00:29:55.860 Where were you this morning? 259 00:29:55.860 --> 00:29:59.260 And I said, I was with the home schoolers. 260 00:29:59.260 --> 00:30:02.160 And that school teacher was not very pleased. 261 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:08.160 She lectured me, and she says, don't you know the harm they're doing to our young people? 262 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:12.240 They don't teach them, and then all of a sudden they dump them back into schools, and then 263 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:18.720 we have to solve all their problems, and they're all social misfits, and just, ah, boy, I can 264 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:25.080 see where there is a conflict, you know, between what's happening, where the solution is, and 265 00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:30.260 what some of our teachers, there are a lot of teachers in our family, so, in public education, 266 00:30:30.260 --> 00:30:36.740 So it's not a blanket accusation, but it's a generality that many of us are aware of. 267 00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:42.420 But on the whole, I'm encouraged, I'm encouraged because there are more young people getting 268 00:30:42.420 --> 00:30:43.420 exposure. 269 00:30:43.420 --> 00:30:49.620 And the other thing that we should be encouraged about is the internet, and what is available 270 00:30:49.620 --> 00:30:50.940 to us there. 271 00:30:50.940 --> 00:30:54.620 So we're getting more information out. 272 00:30:54.620 --> 00:31:00.380 The big question is, is why aren't our numbers being reflected in the change of policy in 273 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:01.380 Washington? 274 00:31:01.380 --> 00:31:05.180 Well, we're not there yet, and I don't think it's coming soon. 275 00:31:05.180 --> 00:31:07.380 I don't think it's going to be gradual. 276 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:12.500 I don't think we can get the ammunition and enough people up there quickly enough to have 277 00:31:12.500 --> 00:31:17.020 a sensible transition, and that's sad. 278 00:31:17.020 --> 00:31:20.580 I think we should always work for it, and that's why I'm there, always suggesting to 279 00:31:20.580 --> 00:31:23.740 them what they might do to improve things. 280 00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:32.740 But it's not going to happen. The momentum, you can see it, take a prescription drug program. 281 00:31:32.740 --> 00:31:39.740 I mean, Republicans can't wait till I do the Democrats in starting a new welfare program. 282 00:31:39.740 --> 00:31:47.740 Is it going to happen in Washington today on foreign policy? Not likely. If I can only find three or four, I found, 283 00:31:47.740 --> 00:31:51.740 I guess there were six Republicans that voted against the war resolution. 284 00:31:51.740 --> 00:31:58.740 And three of us voted for one reason, the other three voted because the UN wasn't included enough. 285 00:31:58.740 --> 00:32:04.740 And so we have a long way to go, but we should be encouraged. 286 00:32:04.740 --> 00:32:08.740 I'm encouraged when I meet young people like this at camp and are interested, 287 00:32:08.740 --> 00:32:12.740 and that Lew is reaching and that the professors are reaching, 288 00:32:12.740 --> 00:32:17.740 so we have every reason to think that our efforts are worth something. 289 00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:32.740 I did want to read, since I'm a strong opponent of the United Nations and I would think that the proper treatment for the United Nations would be to pass H.R. 1146, which would just get us out of the United Nations. 290 00:32:32.740 --> 00:32:46.740 I want to read a short quote from Mises from Human Action on the chapter on the economics of war. 291 00:32:46.740 --> 00:32:55.740 He says, it is futile to place confidence in treaties, conferences, and such bureaucratic outfits as the League of Nations and the United Nations. 292 00:32:55.740 --> 00:33:02.500 Please, potentiaries, office clerks and experts, make a poor show in fighting ideologies. 293 00:33:02.500 --> 00:33:06.640 The spirit of conquest cannot be smothered by red tape. 294 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:11.500 What is needed is a radical change in ideologies and economic policies. 295 00:33:11.500 --> 00:33:17.500 It could be better spoken because that's exactly what we need, that's exactly what all of you 296 00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:22.740 are contributing to by supporting the Mises Institute, and it is achievable. 297 00:33:22.740 --> 00:33:27.380 They've achieved their goals exactly the same way, because they took over the university 298 00:33:27.380 --> 00:33:36.260 and they knocked my natural instincts out of my head until later on I was able to recover, 299 00:33:36.260 --> 00:33:37.940 because they dominated. 300 00:33:37.940 --> 00:33:42.300 So it is an intellectual battle that's going on. 301 00:33:42.300 --> 00:33:45.420 And we're all involved and we have our obligations. 302 00:33:45.420 --> 00:33:49.540 One young person tonight asked me, you know, exactly what should we do? 303 00:33:49.540 --> 00:34:19.540 Well, what you and I do can't be exactly the same, but it's different than I do, and yet we work together, and there are other organizations, there's all kinds of organizations, so some people are able to organize, some people run for Congress, and some people help other people run for Congress, but everybody has a job, everybody has a job, and I think there are two reasons, one, not to do anything is folly, the other thing is it should be for fun, 304 00:34:19.540 --> 00:34:26.540 We don't know exactly what will happen tomorrow. We don't know that it will be more successful than some of us think. 305 00:34:26.540 --> 00:34:31.540 That means that the collapse of our next state will be in charge. 306 00:34:31.540 --> 00:34:39.540 But in the meantime, and I think that's why I really enjoy coming to places like this, 307 00:34:39.540 --> 00:34:44.540 because I get to be friends with you, and you get to be part of my speeches, you know. 308 00:34:44.540 --> 00:35:14.540 And in Washington, it's different. I have to leave Washington. There's no doubt that I cannot stay there for long periods of time, even though on one-to-one basis, that's why I get along with all my colleagues, except behind the scenes, I'm not quite sure what they really say, because, you know, at times I get, I hear stories about them thinking that the country would be much better off if I weren't in Washington. And this made me stop and think about 309 00:35:14.540 --> 00:35:20.140 What was going on with redistricting in Texas? I guess you heard there was a little redistricting going on down there. 310 00:35:20.140 --> 00:35:27.500 We have 15 Republicans and 17 Democrats, and the courts did the redistricting after the 311 00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:32.540 census, and so the legislative body had the chance to come back and redo it, and that's what 312 00:35:32.540 --> 00:35:38.220 they're doing, and it's a legal maneuver. And there is an argument that Republicans deserve 313 00:35:38.220 --> 00:35:44.060 more than 15. Democrats shouldn't have 17 because this state's about 60% Republican. 314 00:35:44.540 --> 00:35:50.380 and so they are redistricting. Now they have designed districts where they 315 00:35:50.380 --> 00:35:56.260 believe they have 22 Republican districts and they have listed them and 316 00:35:56.260 --> 00:36:01.180 they presented the list to me, I just got to see them, and they put them in the order of 317 00:36:01.180 --> 00:36:14.500 the best districts, 82%, 70%, 70%, 60%, 58%, 57% and based on a base vote for Republicans, like it was 1998, 318 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:21.900 lo and behold I finally found my district number 22 so I have the worst Republican 319 00:36:21.900 --> 00:36:25.920 district it is winnable the president has carried that district I can win the 320 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:30.460 district but it's been urbanized I have the city of Galveston rather than all my 321 00:36:30.460 --> 00:36:37.700 rural counties it'll be about 70% new people and so it will be a real real 322 00:36:37.700 --> 00:37:03.700 Challenge, but its base vote is about 45%. So we still have to wait. The courts will be working on this and deciding, you know, what's going to happen, but I have a suspicion that it could be delayed if we don't present it in this space for another two years. 323 00:37:03.700 --> 00:37:13.700 But you know, I've been talking a lot about attitudes and how Washington operates and how they pass Decorations of War and how they pass the Patriot Act. 324 00:37:13.700 --> 00:37:21.700 But you know, there's something else that I think is important, and that is the inside, what they call the inside the beltway mentality. 325 00:37:21.700 --> 00:37:31.700 It does exist. Members of Congress very often come to Washington very idealistic. 326 00:37:31.700 --> 00:37:45.700 Many of them are very young and they have been talking down Washington and they've been, you know, talking conservative and how they're going to limit government and they come and within a couple of weeks the president calls them over, 327 00:37:45.700 --> 00:37:54.700 I need your vote, I need you on my team and the pressure is too much and they immediately, you know, go on. 328 00:37:54.700 --> 00:38:02.700 This was, they did some really, really heavy-handing lobbying to get the votes for the 87 billion dollars. 329 00:38:02.700 --> 00:38:12.700 I mean, heavy, and it was evidently pretty tough, pretty strong-armed, and most, I guess, most of them capitulated. 330 00:38:12.700 --> 00:38:16.700 But you know, I felt really disappointed. They never even called me over there to talk to me. 331 00:38:16.700 --> 00:38:30.660 But the inside development about way mentality also exists outside of congress and there's 332 00:38:30.660 --> 00:38:39.660 a libertarian think tank in Washington that recently issued a statement on monetary policy 333 00:38:39.660 --> 00:38:44.420 and maybe this has been mentioned, maybe you know about it, but I wanted to read one paragraph 334 00:38:44.420 --> 00:38:49.700 because this tells you another problem that we have and it's a problem for me 335 00:38:49.700 --> 00:38:54.940 because I try not, you know, I think we're small in numbers, the libertarian 336 00:38:54.940 --> 00:38:59.420 movement, the freedom movement, so I'm anxious to bring as many together as 337 00:38:59.420 --> 00:39:06.440 possible but sometimes it's a challenge because there are some who call them 338 00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:10.920 them, sort of like we call libertarians now and free market people but they're 339 00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:21.920 This statement that came out on monetary policy tells you a little bit of the work that we have ahead, especially in monetary policy. 340 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:31.920 They were talking about what the Fed ought to be doing. The Fed can always buy longer-term government securities. 341 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:44.920 The main point, however, is to increase the money supply enough to achieve the demand-level target on sustainable basis, whatever the maturity of the government bonds that it chooses to buy. 342 00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:53.920 The objective, again, is to stabilize the path of aggregate demand, not to stabilize inflation, interest rates or the rate of money supply. 343 00:39:53.920 --> 00:40:02.420 That is, print all the money you want, don't worry about prices, don't worry about anything at all, except increased demand. 344 00:40:02.420 --> 00:40:07.420 You know, that almost makes the supply sider sound pretty good, you know. 345 00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:20.420 But I think the Austrians have it much better, that maybe we as politicians and central bankers should never be involved in pretending that we know exactly how much demand and how much supply you have. 346 00:40:20.420 --> 00:40:26.740 you know I think the market works pretty well and unfortunately though it seems 347 00:40:26.740 --> 00:40:32.580 that many people are compelled that they have to participate now you might wonder 348 00:40:32.580 --> 00:40:39.100 why if the politicians all go to Washington to live and stay till they die 349 00:40:39.100 --> 00:40:44.660 why aren't there more libertarians and I think I think there's a pretty good 350 00:40:44.660 --> 00:40:50.220 reason for that because I think he is by our very nature that we don't want 351 00:40:50.220 --> 00:41:13.220 We don't want to tell people how to live, we don't want to police the world, and we don't want to regulate the economy, so therefore, those individuals who delight in the power that they gain in this pretense that they know what is right for everybody, for the world, for the economy and your personal lives, I mean, it is a natural attraction. 352 00:41:13.220 --> 00:41:28.220 They see this as a lucrative move on their part. They also see this, I think, as ratifying because I think they are emboldened by the fact that they know more than the rest of the people and the people need them. 353 00:41:28.220 --> 00:41:40.220 And the natural tendency of the true libertarian is, you know, I want to be left alone and they don't have this tendency to believe that they have to take over and run the show. 354 00:41:40.220 --> 00:42:00.220 But the economic problems that we're about to face I think are rather serious and I am convinced that the natural consequence of economic interventionism and fiat currency always leads to trade problems and we certainly are seeing that right now. 355 00:42:00.220 --> 00:42:05.960 Now, there is a bit of hysteria among many members of Congress today, as well as in the administration, 356 00:42:05.960 --> 00:42:10.760 that is, manufacturing jobs are all leaving, and that's true. 357 00:42:10.760 --> 00:42:18.760 It might have something to do with our monetary policy and some other things, tax policy and regulatory policy, a lot of different things. 358 00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:28.760 But the President, for political reasons, have been very willing to accommodate some of the states like Pennsylvania and Michigan 359 00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:35.040 and others to put on tariffs, and of course to help with the steel industry, but there's 360 00:42:35.040 --> 00:42:40.920 a bill now floating around in commerce getting a lot of hearings, and it coincided with the 361 00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:47.080 president going to the Far East, and that deals with China, and it's all China's fault. 362 00:42:47.080 --> 00:42:51.040 We don't have any responsibility for any of our problems, it's China because they have 363 00:42:51.040 --> 00:42:56.660 cheap labor, and that's it, that's the only reason this is happening. 364 00:42:56.660 --> 00:43:05.660 And also, the Chinese, can you believe this, the Chinese actually keep their wand artificially 365 00:43:05.660 --> 00:43:07.660 low and therefore they're criminals. 366 00:43:07.660 --> 00:43:16.660 Of course, all they did was tie their wand to the dollar, but no, they're still the monsters. 367 00:43:16.660 --> 00:43:22.660 Now, the other day we had hearings on this and I said, well, I don't like capital controls 368 00:43:22.660 --> 00:43:26.500 I don't like tariffs, and I don't like telling Chinese what to do. 369 00:43:26.500 --> 00:43:33.060 I said, but if we're dealing with the value of the Chinese yuan, why don't we do this 370 00:43:33.060 --> 00:43:34.060 with the Chinese? 371 00:43:34.060 --> 00:43:40.340 They qualify now for between $3 and $4 billion of export-import bank credits, a unilateral 372 00:43:40.340 --> 00:43:42.340 transfer of credit to the Chinese. 373 00:43:42.340 --> 00:43:43.620 What does that do? 374 00:43:43.620 --> 00:43:47.940 That lightens up their pressure with their dollars that they get when they buy from us, 375 00:43:47.940 --> 00:43:51.200 and then they can do that to prop up their currency or whatever. 376 00:43:51.200 --> 00:43:58.200 Why don't we just unilaterally stop sending any subsidies to China and everybody else? 377 00:44:03.200 --> 00:44:10.200 Now, the individual from the administration was smiling and nodding approvingly, and then when I pressed him hard enough, he said, 378 00:44:10.200 --> 00:44:13.200 I don't think the administration would go along with it. 379 00:44:13.200 --> 00:44:20.200 But I think he himself was very sympathetic to what I was saying, but obviously it wasn't the administration's position. 380 00:44:20.200 --> 00:44:28.200 But the bill goes on to say that if China doesn't do as we tell them, we're going to put on high tariffs. 381 00:44:28.200 --> 00:44:33.200 Now the neat thing about this, and Austrians will understand this because you're so good at mathematics, 382 00:44:33.200 --> 00:44:43.200 is that they have calculated that the Chinese yuan is 40% undervalued. 383 00:44:43.200 --> 00:44:53.520 and they exactly 40% not 42 it's 40% and therefore there can change the value by 384 00:44:53.520 --> 00:44:58.800 40% and if they don't the appropriate treatment punishment is to put 40% 385 00:44:58.800 --> 00:45:03.680 tariffs on every goods that we bring in from China and that's going to make 386 00:45:03.680 --> 00:45:09.600 everybody happy and as that's the depth of their discussion but I think it does 387 00:45:09.600 --> 00:45:39.600 does show you, though, there is growing sentiment for this type of talk, tariff and competitive devaluations and I am convinced, as I have been for quite a few years, that the monetary system is very fragile, it's going to give us a lot of grief one day and that we have been able to get away with a lot, mainly because it's been a reserve currency and they who were arguing 388 00:45:39.600 --> 00:45:53.600 for this weaker dollar and stronger yen and all this stuff don't realize what temporary benefits this country is getting by being able to print money and having these foreigners take this stuff. 389 00:45:53.600 --> 00:46:00.600 But when it comes, when they get what they want, I think they're not going to be very happy. 390 00:46:00.600 --> 00:46:05.600 The big question, of course, is when that is likely to happen. 391 00:46:05.600 --> 00:46:17.600 You know, over, in my life, in my personal views, I have had some identification with the Christian right. 392 00:46:17.600 --> 00:46:25.600 There's no doubt about it. Socially I'm conservative. And I have met Pat Robertson. He's been interested in the gold standard. 393 00:46:25.600 --> 00:46:32.600 He doesn't like the UN and a few other things. So, we've got along pretty well. 394 00:46:32.600 --> 00:46:43.600 Well. Now, I have had sort of part of company with him philosophically, especially since he came out being such a strong supporter for the war. 395 00:46:43.600 --> 00:46:55.600 And I haven't seen him since then, and I probably won't see him soon, but I've been on his program several times and have not felt, not been that uncomfortable with working with him. 396 00:46:55.600 --> 00:47:03.100 But, you know, even though I've been very upset with him about his position on the war, 397 00:47:03.100 --> 00:47:07.100 I was just having some more second thoughts about him after he decided what he wanted 398 00:47:07.100 --> 00:47:12.600 to do with the State Department. 399 00:47:12.600 --> 00:47:23.600 He suggested that maybe what we ought to do is nuke the State Department. 400 00:47:23.600 --> 00:47:53.600 But, of course, you know, that's risky stuff, even poking fun at that, because somebody's liable to take something like that and twist it around, but maybe he'll come around yet, but as of now, I think that there are many that I have worked with, will continue to work with when I can, if it's a money issue or homeschooling or civil liberties or whatever, we build coalitions, especially in our district, but also 401 00:47:53.600 --> 00:48:04.600 I always hope that by working with them they'll at least respect the views of ours when it comes to civil liberties as well as on the issue of war. 402 00:48:04.600 --> 00:48:19.600 But I want to sort of close with a quote that I think is a real informative quote from my first teacher really in a sense of getting hold of the literature. 403 00:48:19.600 --> 00:48:25.600 That was from Leonard Reed, because you know, in the 50s there weren't very many organizations, 404 00:48:25.600 --> 00:48:29.100 there weren't a whole lot of books, and I bet you there's a lot of people in here that 405 00:48:29.100 --> 00:48:38.100 may have started like I did by reading Bastiat and a few others, and so I have a lot of respect 406 00:48:38.100 --> 00:48:43.100 for what Leonard Reed did and how he kept that organization going. 407 00:48:43.100 --> 00:48:48.100 But he was always optimistic, he always tried to look on the brighter side of things, 408 00:48:48.100 --> 00:48:58.140 In every society there are persons who have the intelligence to figure out the requirements 409 00:48:58.140 --> 00:49:02.280 of liberty and the character to walk in its way. 410 00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:09.460 There is a scattered fellowship of individuals mostly unknown to you and me, bound together 411 00:49:09.460 --> 00:49:16.420 by a love of ideas and a hunger to know the plain truth of things. 412 00:49:16.420 --> 00:49:21.060 That's the story of the remnant and Isaiah's job. 413 00:49:21.060 --> 00:49:27.540 The people are out there and I'm getting to see them, maybe more than you do, although 414 00:49:27.540 --> 00:49:32.140 I wish I could see more in Washington, but I do see them. 415 00:49:32.140 --> 00:49:37.580 And there's a reception out there for those who might not have believed or understood 416 00:49:37.580 --> 00:49:43.940 about what we're trying to do because I feel good about what we have been able to do in 417 00:49:43.940 --> 00:49:50.700 one single congressional district. Although it's a great district and they have good instincts, 418 00:49:50.700 --> 00:49:57.380 a lot of them probably never heard of Mises and don't know too much about non-interventionist 419 00:49:57.380 --> 00:50:01.980 foreign policy and these other things, but their instincts are good and when you present 420 00:50:01.980 --> 00:50:07.140 them with the plain truth of things, they will respond. So there's every reason to believe 421 00:50:07.140 --> 00:50:13.420 the effort's worthwhile. The effort's worthwhile. Even those who are not even in the remnant, 422 00:50:13.420 --> 00:50:19.940 But they're out there, and the numbers are growing, and for that reason, we should all 423 00:50:19.940 --> 00:50:20.940 be grateful. 424 00:50:20.940 --> 00:50:25.800 We should all be grateful that we still live in the greatest country. 425 00:50:25.800 --> 00:50:31.900 We live with a lot of freedoms, even though most of us recognize they're endangered, but 426 00:50:31.900 --> 00:50:37.700 we live in a place where we can still get together, we can meet like this, we have access 427 00:50:37.700 --> 00:50:46.700 to the Internet, in spite of the threats coming from Patriot Act No. 1 and possibly Patriot Act No. 2 and an economic crisis. 428 00:50:46.700 --> 00:50:53.700 But there's still a lot of opportunities, and as long as those opportunities are there, it's up to us to deal with them and use them. 429 00:50:53.700 --> 00:51:03.700 The thing that we must not do is to not make use, a maximum use, of all the liberties that we have to do the job to promote the cause of liberty. 430 00:51:03.700 --> 00:51:05.700 Thank you very much.