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Ron Paul
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Mario's Bistro.
Patrick Bet-David
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Ron Paul
What you're talking about is so little. This is a big problem and you think you're going to change things?
Chris
Congressman Paul why don't we just open.
Ron Paul
Up the Constitution and read it.
Dr. Ron Paul
Do you think President Trump and Musk are making progress in shrinking the government today?
Ron Paul
I am not expecting the budget deficit to shrink this year nor the next year because there's too many people who have become dependent on it. So there'll be an emergency this year, believe me.
Dr. Ron Paul
Has the the enemy of the state changed and evolved from what it was in the 70s, 80s, 90s to who it is today?
Ron Paul
The people that run our universities are not on our side. The education of our founding fathers is unbelievable and there were no universities to brainwash them.
Dr. Ron Paul
If the situation and the scenario happened that you're claiming to get it to the levels that you'd like it to get to? It's a massive disruption to the system.
Ron Paul
No, the damage has already been done. Bubbles have to burst. You better be prepared because that would probably cause a civil war.
Dr. Ron Paul
You don't sound optimistic.
Ron Paul
No, I'm the most optimistic person in the world.
Dr. Ron Paul
Did you ever think you would make it? Adam? What's your point? The future looks bright.
Chris
My handshake is better than anything I ever saw.
Ron Paul
It's right here.
Dr. Ron Paul
You are a one of one.
Unknown
My son's right.
Dr. Ron Paul
I think I said this today. We have somebody who has developed and he may not even know it. He I'm sure he does. Thousands of disciples of his because of what he's taught over the years and every time he speaks. I was just sharing a story with Dr. Ron Paul earlier about what you and I, the first time we sat down together in Houston and that stuck with me till today. It's a, it's an honor again to have you on the podcast. Dr. Ron Paul. How you doing, sir?
Ron Paul
Thank you very much, Patrick. Good to be with you again.
Dr. Ron Paul
It's great to have you on here. So question, with everything that's going on right now, with all the policies that we're seeing, where you're seeing, you know, the deals happening with the Panama Canal and Blackrock or Doge the Elon talking about the $100 billion in savings or the tariff wars between Canada and China and US and Mexico, with everything that is taking place, what are you most excited about and optimistic about and what are you most concerned about?
Ron Paul
Oh boy. You know, the individual issues that you mention are secondary for me to the philosophy that motivates people to do things. So if somebody is a socialist or somebody is a libertari libertarian who motivated, what have they read, who's influenced your ideas? So I think right now what we're facing basically is the late recognition how much trouble we're in. And of course they're, they're once again saying, well yeah, there's too much cover, we have to cut waste, fraud and abuse. Well, I've heard those terms all the time over the years and nothing really, really happened. But I think this time it's because it's bigger. There's a sort of a conclusive end coming because the bankruptcy and I used to talk about, oh well, there's a moral bankruptcy and a financial bankruptcy. And I would talk mostly financial because I was more interested in the monetary system and the debt. But you know, lately I think I have been moved. Not that I think there's a big difference between it because you can't separate the two, but I think the moral bankruptcy is what, what exists and has existed throughout all of history. You know, good versus evil and, and, and, and the whole thing about natural law versus government law and all these things, these are the big pictures and where do people fit in on this that I try to simplify and say, well, you know, are you an interventionist or not? You know, and I can talk to you about, you know, where you want to intervene. Oh yeah, I want to intervene and do this and that. Well, my view is that we as individuals and especially if you're in government, you should be a non intervent than to deal with People who are aggressive and causing trouble. But for, for telling people how to live, what to do, how to spend their money, how to draft kids and send them around and start wars and without declaration all this stuff there, there's a lot of, a lot of interventionists and guess who I think it is? I think there's just only two parties you ought to worry about Republicans and Democrats because they accept these principles. But that doesn't mean I can't see the difference. And in some places, you know, there are def. Certainly is a better movement. They all talk about now you got to cut the spending, cut the spending. But I think it's coming to a climactic end. I think $36 trillion or something. And then I hear schemes like oh, all we have to do is buy a couple crypto and they're going to go up in value. We're going to pay off the national debt. Well that's just grabbing the straws on solving the problem because the problem is a moral approach to committ oneself to non aggression. I'm not going to use force, but everything government does is the use of force and that has to be designed. There will be some force. We have a national defense and things like this. But individuals. Our problem I think stems from the fact that most people still, in spite of all the violence in the street, most Americans would say no, you shouldn't lie, cheat, steal and kill people. You know, that's aggression. But what do we do when governments do it? We totally ignore and participate and send them money without the, without even paying any attention to the restraints in the Constitution. I'm thinking, you know, like declaration of war. Look at all the war and the killing that's gone on and all the money spent which is all unconstitutional and it's violent. The monetary system just an act of violence that is so, so corrupt that that's fraud and abuse. And yet that isn't even being discussed today how, how terrible that is. But you know, you or I Patrick, if we did it that we'd go to jail for that. And they still know that if we steal and hurt people that's bad. But if you look at it stupidity and ill advised people and people who, who just want more power and money in government, they cause a lot of harm. And if I compare that to you know what people think, oh, all we have to do is get rid of USAID and things will be okay for getting rid of that, believe me. But there's a lot more to it. I want to see and discuss the philosophic Principles that allow people to justify their involvement in participating in this violence.
Dr. Ron Paul
So how do you feel about what they're doing with Doge now? And if you were an advisor at the highest level, maybe even leading the charge, what else would you go after next?
Ron Paul
I, I wouldn't go after. I would still want to attack it in a philosophic way today. See, if you, if you have a bad program, and right now we're starting to see that they'll have to retain some of USAID. And it's the principle, if you permit something, just 10% of what you think is that's the seed and it'll grow. If the Congress could, has an argument, should this budget be $100 billion or $90 billion and they set for 95, that's not progress. That's endorsing 100% of the principle that they should be involved in either, you know, some type of social program that's helping the very wealthy, the pharmaceuticals or the military industrial complex. So once you commit to that principle, you know, then we're in trouble. But if you're looking for one item, I mean, I go back to the item that motivated me to get involved in the details of it, and I would think that if, if you didn't have this privilege of the very few people who are involved, to be able to create the, the, the worldwide reserve currency, the dollar, and that would be our Federal Reserve. I mean, that, that is, that's how everything is paid for. And that is the most immoral thing in the world because it's a debt. I mean, it's a tax. It's just a tax. It's a wicked tax on the middle class and the poor because they print the money, devalue the currency. And that is a tax, a tax on the people. And they try to balance this. And we just had a meeting this week with the Fed and they talk about technicality, oh, this and that and that. And none of that is possible. You can't know those things in economics. So I, I just get a biggest charge or discussed too, with all the talk about what should interest rates be. Ron, what would you do? What would you do to interest rate? Well, I wouldn't try to, you know, you know, decide because the interest rate is so important. It tells you the price of money and whether the activities that the people are participating in are wise decisions or not. So it's, I think it's that big picture that I want to see. And I would, I would still go. If you had the one thing it, I, some People ask me this, I'll say, well, this, that's change one law. The Federal Reserve cannot buy government debt. And because they buy the debt, there's, there's a guarantee and we're wealthy and all that. But I also recognize that if I was there and I was there and I did that and no more government, no more government purchase of debt, you better be prepared because that would probably cause a civil war.
Dr. Ron Paul
Do you think the philosophies of the libertarian, you would still consider yourself a libertarian today? Yes. Would you consider yourself a libertarian?
Ron Paul
Yeah, I used, I used the word. But there are other ways to qualify. You know, even within the Libertarian party there are libertarian leaning type or conservative leaning and yeah, yes, but I still call libertarians is the best term that I use, although because some people think that's a negative term. I frequently will use freedom and liberty. But libertarian, you know, as soon as they put the AI I A n on there, people are saying, oh, you're just a libertarian. So I use it. But I know if you said do I call myself a libertarian? I do.
Dr. Ron Paul
Okay. So whenever I see IA and at the end I think about Armenians because I'm half Armenian, so I think about libertarian in a different way. But the reason why I asked that question question is, do you think the libertarian philosophies would be very difficult to do for a company as big as ours, a country as big as ours, where it would be a good philosophy to start off a nation with. So even if somebody like you got in, it would be very hard to get it to the levels that you would like it to get to. Because to get it to the levels that you'd like it to get to, it's a massive disruption to the system. No.
Ron Paul
The reason you give for not doing it and it wouldn't work is the reason why I want it because it is too big. You can't manage this government. You have. See for me, all activity, social, religious, sexual, international, every activity should be voluntary. Both sides have to voluntary, have a voluntary agreement to what they're doing. That's what happens in the marketplace and there's a lot of that left. But there's a lot of corruption too because there's so much regulation. So this stuff about how do you do it with this mess we have? Well, yeah, I think we have to get rid of it. And the founders knew exactly what they were doing by trying to prevent it. But how many people and how many times you hear them Talking about Article 1, Section 8 and Amendment number 10, you know, they don't they mention it. But you know, it's, it's not very. Where is very sincere. I remember one time after a debate for the presidential thing, some a student came up to me and he was very pleased. He said, boy, I understand what you mean and all this stuff. And I said, well, he was praising me. And I said, well, you know, and I was curious because somebody at that particular night after me, you know, he spouted off how dedicated he was to the Constitution. And when I look at what they do, 98% or 80% of all that happens in Washington is technically immoral and illegal under the Constitution. I said, well, why don't you, why don't you go talk to him? He says, well, I didn't believe here, you know. So he was telling, he was felt in the delight of the Constitution. But to hear this college kid, I thought it was astounding that all of a sudden I said something. He said something. But. So that's what I got impressed with young people. I think young people have a room in their brain to still accept, you know, some of the newer ideas and understanding or renewal of an idea of liberty. And so I think it's, I think it's wonderful that young people will look at it that way, but it's, it's, it's terrible. I, I still think it can be boiled down to what, what was readily apparent through all of history of natural law and, and, and government law. And even before we had a civilization, the there, there were a lot of rules. The main rules of natural law. You can't lie, cheat, steal or kill. And that's been known from way back. I mean the, that, that was even before they had printing presses. They knew those were the laws. They were done imperfectly. But that says a natural law. People know that and they know it now, but they overcome it by justification. Oh, but we need it. Somebody is going to be poor and they won't have any food. Yeah, I am convinced. If you want to have the maximum amount of peace and prosperity, you want to have the most minimum amount of government. Because there's, there's this tendency that people who accept the idea that you can use force and it not be something that you're. That's immoral, they would go ahead and do it. So that's why, that's why governments grow and you can't shrink them. They will end themselves. And just like the wars end.
Dr. Ron Paul
So you said governments grow and you can't shrink them.
Ron Paul
So how do you shrink today?
Dr. Ron Paul
So do you think, do you think President Trump and Musk are making progress in shrinking the government today?
Ron Paul
I think what they're doing philosophically and calling all this to our attention is the most important because it's already, look at the resistance they're getting. And so, yes, you could have something here and there, but the approach right now, I said, well, maybe it'll work with the Department of Education. It isn't to just shrink it, it's that get it out of the federal government. At least that would be moving in one direction and put it all on the states and say, oh, wouldn't there be terrible education and all this? And that's just, I just don't buy into that. I, I think the bigger it is, the more centralized it is. And if you can't do it at the city level, you go to the state level, then that doesn't, they think that doesn't work because there' too much corruption. So they go to the federal government. Oh, then they go to the UN and NATO and, and say, well, the world is too complex. You can't let people make those kind of decisions. We have to have smart people go to these international organizations and sort things out. And all it does is lead to. Lead to the bad guys taking over. But I think what, what Musk is doing is, is great, but I see it as an educational thing because quite frankly, I am not expecting the budget deficit to shrink this year nor the next year because there's too many people who have become dependent on it. They want it, and there'll be some pain and suffering, and that's where the real problem is.
Dr. Ron Paul
So you think it's going to take a couple of years? Nothing, 20, 25 and nothing, 2026. No budget cuts?
Ron Paul
There'll be budget cuts, but I don't think, I don't think you'll see the deficit go down. No, I don't think one or two years is going to solve the problem. But if people have all of a sudden change things, people's attitudes have to change. One best recent example, I think this, this point about attitudes have to change as more education and morality was what happened under Covid. I mean, when from my viewpoint as a physician and a libertarian, I thought that was so atrocious. And what was done just because the government, government bureaucrats was going to deny a lot of people medications that the people decided they wanted to take, and we'll put them in nursing homes and take care of them, and then, oh, finally, oh, 82% of them died, you know, this sort of thing. So I think that, I think that we, we have to move in that direction. During COVID the people woke up, the parents went to PTA meeting and people. It was, it was, to me, it was the most ridiculous thing to live through for two or three years. We're still self suffering the consequence. How much money did Trump spend? He was, the deficit were horrible under those conditions. Oh, but this is an emergency. So there'll be an emergency this year, believe me, there will be an emergency and there'll be somebody that says, ready to invade Florida. So we'll have to, we'll have to mobilize and there'll be another epidemic and that kind of stuff. So I don't sound optimistic.
Dr. Ron Paul
You don't sound optimistic?
Ron Paul
No, I'm the most optimistic person in the world because I think where we've made our progress is in this idea of understanding what is going on. I mean, Austrian economics is really, it just came alive since World War II. Progressivism and socialism. Oh, how about, you know, the 19th century? And that's been around a long time. But I think the Mises Institute and the various institutions and that's why I spent a lot of time in education more, you know, to try to explain this, because when the people became aware of what was happening, you know, finally habit had changed. Okay, what about war? How did the people woke up and people finally were, you know, figured it out. The Vietnam War was insane. You know, 78,000 or 68,000Americans killed for no reason at all. We're still participating in wars all over the world. And we say, well, yeah, but no Americans died. But our bombs are killing people. Whether it's in Ukraine or the Middle east or Yemen, it's all our bombs. And that's a moral issue because the people sit by and say, I don't even know where Yemen is. I don't care. And I want to know whether my Social Security check is coming. So that's going to exist. That's not going to go away. But I think the philosophy of a lot of people outside our university system, whether it's the Mises Institute or the other various groups, because there's a lot of good group, I think that, I think there's a big, a big positive thing. When I went, even in the last two or three decades, when I went to Congress in 1976, I mean, they looked at me and what are you, what are you doing? You're, there's two of you up there voting. You're voting for, with a radical left wing person. But they didn't understand the philosophy of liberty and why you, if you're going to have liberty, you can't have it, you know, in one area, you know, social sexualism, but not in economic things. And I think, I think that philosophy is alive and well. And when I go to college campuses and the ones I went to campaign, I was excited about what is there and it's still there. And I think you even mentioned a positive thing when we started. There's a lot of people and I don't hardly understand it because there's a lot of people still talking about some of those issues I talked about, you know, 10 years ago ago. So I'm very optimistic about that but, but realistic about was this an easy battle? No, it is not.
Dr. Ron Paul
The reason why I said are you optimistic is because you said you're going to see there's going to be an epidemic or there's going to be something that someone's going to need money for us to print money. Florida, you said watch. There's going to be a situation for us to spend money. That's what you're saying, right?
Ron Paul
Because that'll keep coming and that'll keep being our problem. And I don't think, I don't think non intervention I. Non interventionism is far enough along to stop all that because we're too slow. We finally stop wars like Vietnam, we finally stop Covid, but we need to stop that before they start.
Dr. Ron Paul
How do you do that?
Ron Paul
Understood it.
Dr. Ron Paul
How do you do that?
Ron Paul
Well, I think read, probably read the education of our founding fathers. It's unbelievable. And there were no universities to brainwash them is basically. And they, and they also, they also, you know, took, they didn't have the, the system, they didn't go to government schools. But boy, I'll tell you what, I am impressed with their, their, the education they achieved. And historically they knew something about Greek history and Roman history, the whole works and liberty just, it hasn't been recently invented but it's evolved over these years and I think we've made tremendous progress in the last three or four decades. But it's a, it's, it's a long way to go. I realist because I understand the human nature pretty well because there's this over overrunning, you know, overriding issue that people do want a free life and if they have the free lunch, they certainly don't want it taken away. And that's what we're witnessing now. There's a lot of resistance out there and the universities are still filled plug with the people teaching that the philosophy they gave it. Oh, yeah. Boys could. Boys can go. What is it? Boys can become girls and set Olympic records. Well, for me, as a physician and a libertarian, that's.
Dr. Ron Paul
No, I'm with you in that part. So this is why I asked you the question earlier, when I said, do you think to fully get the libertarian philosophies in there, it's tough to do when America is this big. You can talk about it, but it's easier to do to start a country. And this is kind of where I was going with it. This is where I was going with. And the question I want to ask. But let me ask the question. I want you to go into this part. So, for example, right now you said, this year, next year, I don't see the deficit moving. We're still going to be spending. It's going to take a year or two before we get there. Great. So then for somebody from the outside looks and says, okay, Dr. Ron Paul, so Trump is president now. So then say a person like a Joe Biden gets in in 2028. I'm just making this up. I know a lot of people think it's going to be J.D. vance and all that, but let's just say Newsom gets in. So then philosophies change. So if Elon and Trump do what they do the next four years and they show results and say they drop another crisis that happens in 2028 to get people to hate Trump and Musk and they use fear porn and they scare the crap out of America and they go, for a person like Newsom, you're constantly changing the pendulum where philosophies don't have enough time to create momentum. I don't know if this makes sense. So this is kind of like Steve Bannon was on Cuomo yesterday, and Steve Bannon was telling Cuomo that, you know what we need? We need Trump to go for a third term. And Cuomo's like, that's not possible. We can't do that. And he says, no, that's what we need. We're already working on it. I don't know if you saw this clip or not, Rob. If you got it, you know, I want you to hear this clip here. It's Bannon with Cuomo. Rob, if you can play this, you'll hear the audio. Go for it.
Chris
A man like this comes along once every century, if we're lucky. We've got him now. He's on fire. And I'm a huge supporter. Want to see him again in 2028?
Unknown
And obviously anybody who doesn't like what you say but judges is at a function of a lack of intelligence, doesn't know anything about you. I don't make that mistake. You're a smart guy. You know, he's term limited. How do you think he gets another term?
Chris
We're working on. I think we'll have, I think we'll have a couple of alternatives. Let's say that we'll see, we'll see the definition. We'll see what the definition of term limit is.
Unknown
All right, well, so you're talking about litigating this issue because I don't want people to listen to our interview and say Bannon's cooking up an insurrection. Bannon is cooking up. You know what I mean? I want, I want people to get a straight take on where your head is. What do you suggest, Chris?
Chris
As you know, I've had, I've had greater long shots than this when we, we supported President Trump after the election. I realize you don't believe the election.
Dr. Ron Paul
Of 2020, so I guess the question I'm asking is, in order for us to keep a philosophy of Doge, Department of Governmental Efficiencies going and really teaching this, don't you think you need the same philosophy to be running the country for 12 years? So everybody get locked in. Locked in and saving money? Because if we keep changing administration, we're losing momentum.
Ron Paul
Yeah. It's not going to be two years or 12 years. I would ask, ask you, how long did it take to undermine the basic thrust of the revolution, you know, the Constitution and how it was written and what the ninth and tenth Amendments mean? That was an erosion that took a long, long time. The erosion came from the universities and they're still there and they preach this stuff. So I think the reason why, I don't think that I'm not worried about it not being done in six months or two years or three years, is the damage has already been done. There has been damage done by bad philosophy, but it created monetary system and an empire. We have an empire. They don't just. But they do disappear. And I think that's what, that's what's big about what's happening today. But in economics, if you spend too much money and you have a lot of debt and then you have a lot of mal investment because if you disrupt the interest rate, people do dumb things because they think there's a lot of money being saved and there isn't. So you end up with bubbles and the bubbles have to burst. There's a Liquidation, period. So the sooner people realize that liquidation is good. In 1921 there was this crisis that came up. But in 1921 they were still not a cane, they weren't Keynesian, that you had to just print a lot of money. In a year and a half, the GDP went down sharply like 15%. It was horrible. But. But they didn't have any bailout and everything was recovered. See, what I'm convinced of, Patrick, is that if I got my freedom and if you had your freedom, everybody had their freedom and you couldn't do any violence, that if they took all our wealth, everything in the bank is wiped out. I think a year or two things would just be so booming, just so people could be rewarded for their effort and it would never get that bad. There wouldn't be anything there. But if people, people didn't have an income tax and didn't have to deal with all this nonsense and all this regulation, that's what they're trying to do right now. That's what Musk is trying to do. But it is, it's overwhelming of what it is. So I don't think it'll happen until people understand the, you know, the philosophy of, of what's going on on economics. Because if you run up a $36 trillion debt, you say, what does liquidation mean? We have to declare bankruptcy. If you or I had, you know, 10 million dollar debt and we had to quit, we'd have to, we'd have to get another job or declare bankruptcy or something. So we could start over, right? But not yet. We're not ready to start over yet. We're ready. We're ready for the liquidation. And that's where the real test will be. Because the cultural Marxists and Marxists said we want chaos and over the streets. And they're getting it and it's going to get worse. And the chaos in the street because they want to replace it with true Marxism, I want to replace it with true liberty.
Dr. Ron Paul
Oh, so here's how I think about what you just said. So if we look at that right there, 1920, 1921. Rob, if you can go to the images to just see it, I know he won't be able to see it, but I'll kind of state it. So you'll see a big nosedive, right? With what happens that, you know, the economy, but what happened eight years later, the Great Depression comes. And that gives the opportunity for a guy like FDR to say, this is why we need unemployment, this is why we need Social Security. This is why we need this, this is why we need that. If the situation and the scenario happened that you're claiming to happen, like let the market crash and go through it. I mean you are giving the opposition and the Marxist an easy play to get out there and say, you see, we tried, we tried Trumponomics, we tried Doge, we tried this and look what it did. It hurt the small guy, it hit middle America. How are we going to handle. So this is why I keep when I have conversations with libertarians, I see myself as a libertarian when it comes down to economics. The only thing I see right now is in order for momentum to be created where there needs to be a locked in belief in one system for many years. I think that is very challenging to do in our kind of a system and I think that's one of the reasons why you're seeing a ban in and some of the other guys talking about we may need to have the same administration for back to back terms even though you can't do it for us to actually show results on what, what's possible.
Ron Paul
You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries, you wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns. McDonald's breakfast comes first.
Dr. Ron Paul
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Ron Paul
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Dr. Ron Paul
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Ron Paul
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Dr. Ron Paul
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Ron Paul
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Dr. Ron Paul
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Ron Paul
@T mobile.com/apple intelligence requires iOS 18.1 or later. Okay, I think you're looking for a gradualist approach and that should always be. You know when they came up with a vote over the years when I was there, they put it on, attach it to a bill, let's get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. So I was cynical. I said you're not going to do it. And they did. But I voted for it. So there is no but. Me setting the stage and helping the Marxists by pointing out this thing's going to get worse. Well you don't have a choice. If I were there and posed all these beliefs on shrinking cadaver overnight, you know, or no, let's just say gradualism. That's what we're working on right now. Just Think of the reaction they're getting, you know, Trump and the whole group to try to come back. They're getting a lot of grooves, but you don't have a choice. The damage has already been done. The money has been spent, the abuse of the currency has been done. You have the foreign policy. What did Trump say today? Well, what we need to do is take over all the, all the, all the, all the electronic plants, all the power plants in Ukraine. Oh, they have oil, we'll take over that. How do we go into the Middle east? Which I strongly opposed. They said don't sweat it. You know, when, once we take over that oil, we'll, they'll, that'll pay for all this warmonger. So they, they always have that. But if the, the, the, the downside, you know, the, the, the, the, the disappearance of the debt and the mal investment. People don't talk about malinvestment. That's all the mistakes. That's when they have 2,000 houses and there was only, the market said there was only room for 1,000. There has to be a bubble there and you have to have these, these corrections. But if you have the, the correction is going to occur. The people should understand. 1921 versus what they did in the depression. The depression was horrible. They did, they introduced so many programs and it never worked until, oh, the war will save us. Yeah, we'll kill millions of people and distract them from the stupid economic policies we have. And we, then we keep doing the same thing over and over again. And it goes back to the money issue. You could do any of this thing if you didn't permit fraud by a secret group of people to print money to take care of the special interest. Well, the people, the poor people have to eat, don't they? Yeah, the poor people in a pharmaceutical industry, the military industrial complex. None of that would exist if you couldn't print money and maintain an empire that has Dominican control of the reserve currency of the world that will dies. They've died. They die over the centuries and this one is, is in the death throes. Pretty soon it will, but it won't be because we're tinkering around and cutting a couple dollars here and there.
Dr. Ron Paul
Nowadays more than ever, the brand you wear reflects and represent who you are. So for us, if you wear a future looks bright hat or a valuetainment gear, you're telling the world, I'm optimistic, I'm excited about what's going to be happening. But you're a free thinker. You question things you like Debate. And by the way, last year 120,000 people got a piece of Future Looks Bright gear with valuetainment. We have so many new things. The cufflinks are here. New future looks bright. This is my favorite, the green one. Just yesterday somebody placed an order for a hundred of these. If you watch the PBD podcast you got a bunch to choose from. White ones, black ones. If you, if you, if you smoke cigars and you come to our cigar lounge, we have this high quality lighter cutter and a holder for the cigars. We got sweaters with the valuetainment logo on it, we got mugs, we got a bunch of different things. But if you believe the future looks bright, if you follow our content and what we represent with valuetainment with PVD podcast, go to vtmerch.com and by the way, if you order right now there's going to be a special VT gift insight just for you. So again go to vtmerch.com place your order, tell the world that you believe the future looks bright. Sir, how do you feel about the fact that president's playing offense like he's a business guy. So he likes to own real estate and a lot of different properties and good locations. So he goes and buys the, I think was a post office right next to the, next to the White House, builds it up really nice fancy 99 year contract land lease. He goes to New York, does all these great property he always wants to build nice Trump Towers, Vegas all over the place. So his mindset is expansion right? So you hear him talk about Canada should be 51st state. You see him brokering the deal with BlackRock to buy the two ports on Panama Canal. They bought 43 of them for $22.8 billion to prevent China from having control over the Panama Canal. He talks about Greenland, he talks about what if we build that in Gaza. He talks about all this stuff, stuff. Does that excite you or does that make you nervous saying no no no, let's just focus on America. Stop looking at Panama Canal, stop looking at Greenland, stop looking at Gaza. How do you view them when you hear him saying those things?
Ron Paul
Well that they're using force to get what they want is anti libertarian. It won't work or eventually crash. And that's when, that's when people can gang up on the people who are doing this. They're using violence to carry the these things out and how they want to do it. So what they have to do, they have to own the government. That's why you have, I mean the Best thing that Musk has done has exposed, you know, the amount that USAID has been involved. That to me is. Is really amazing. But, you know, most people can understand if I go into your house and steal something from you, so it's still wrong and I can go to jail for that. But when the government goes, and you have regulators and you're building buildings all over the place and you get special deals and then you get the loans from the government, the government, this usaid shows how the special interests went in a circuitous way around all the rules that were there and give money out to their special interests. And most of it was political manipulation. So that has to cease, and it will, because the money's going to quit working. You say, well, that's chaos. Yes, it is. But when it comes suddenly and you have a chaos, then you have Venezuela and Zimbabwe, and that's a lot worse. So you want to prevent that. But so my position is not going to be one where next year we're going to have a vote and say, oh, Ron Paul was right, we should cut our spending. So we want to. We want to. We're only going to vote for people in the House of Representatives that agree to cut 10% of the budget every year and work our way out of it. Ain't going to happen. That doesn't work that way. The liquidation has to occur. And unfortunately, it's very dangerous. And that's where we're. That's where we'll see the problem. And it is. It's a contest between who picks up the pieces. I want to participate in advising or encouraging people to pick up the pieces and go for. Go for liberty rather than saying what we have to have our culture. Marxists tell people, you know, everything in their lives what they can do or can't do. And you know, one thing that really bugs me is when we hear that we give some money to a country or some outfit and then they start like a college campus like Columbia. The college campuses come along and they start lobbying or they start expressing themselves. You know, about the Mideast war. It's just an expression, a voluntary, you know, freedom of speech. Oh, you can't do that. We're going to take your money away. So that's a double whammy. They first, they shouldn't have given the money to the university. And the second thing is, are you going to take the money away in order to control speech? So they destroy several things under those conditions. People say, well, and they say, ron, do you know what you're Endorsing some of these people are terrible. Some of them are as terrible as January 6th people. I mean, they were just terrible and they were going to destroy the world. So that's why I think that it has to be much more clarified. And I hope I don't confuse things.
Dr. Ron Paul
But let me ask you this, going back to the question I asked. So it doesn't excite you that US took control of the two ports in Panama Canal away from China? It doesn't excite you that the President's trying to get some of the natural resources from Greenland? You know, even though it sounds out of the ordinary or the conversations he's having with Canada, that that doesn't excite you. You don't look at it and say.
Ron Paul
This is all depends how you do it. I mean, if it's above board volunteerism, both sides have to agree to it. But if, if the Panama, if technically the canal is owned right now, it's been that way for so many years. And you ignore that. That's, that's not moral. Both sides, it's so easy. If you say both sides have to agree, whether it's social, sexual, religious, economic. Both sides, everybody knows that about marketplaces. You go in if, say, if somebody says this is going to cost $20, well, that's too much. And somebody said, well, okay, I'll sell it to you for $15. Both sides have to agree, but that's not the way it is. What they do now is we have a system of government where the lobbyists go to Washington and dictate the sales and what you can do socially, when you think about who gets to run in races and all that other junk, that just makes things that much worse because we allow the government to use force. People say, well, you have to have force. Yes, if I was, I was drafted in 1962 and there were Russian missiles and Soviet missiles in Cuba. And you know, I wasn't somebody that, you know that actually, I mean, I was still interested in foreign policy, but that wasn't my standing grounds. I mean, that's a lot different. I still do believe you have to have a national defense. But here we have. See, I think all this immigration stuff was more of an invasion because we did something. There is. We took money from people who were working and we subsidized them. If you subsidize something, you get more of it. And then we have these millions of people come in that aren't exactly our friends. And we avoided the whole principle of property rights. Because if you are, if somebody Comes into your house. Oh, well, we're short of house. I want to live in your house. And we have a right to this. Most Americans would say, you get out of here. But what if you have a town that has a thousand people and They've worked for 25 years to have an infrastructure and the government sends them 10,000 more and they put them in a hotel? You know, that's insane. But it's a property rights thing. There it wasn't voucher. There wasn't two sides agreeing. But if somebody comes in and says, you know, I've worked hard, I've saved this money and I want to buy this and that. So people just really ought to understand what volunteerism really means. It's fantastic. It would solve a lot of problems. And it's not complicated.
Dr. Ron Paul
Sir, what year was it the first time you got into politics? What year was it? First year?
Ron Paul
Well, the first minute was on, on August 15, 1971, listening to Nixon giving a speech because I was interested in monetary policy. Now, I wouldn't say I was got involved in politics then, but that was when it really excited. Okay, so here's my question. That was a, that was a moment, but I, I, I wanted to express myself. So I ran for Congress and won a seat in 1976.
Dr. Ron Paul
Okay, so 71, you, you saw Nixon. 76, you got involved. So, so, you know, for someone like you, when you know, it's, it's coming from an economic standpoint. 1971 is 54 years ago. So you've seen different enemies over the years. Has the enemy of the state changed and evolved from what it was in the 70s, 80s, 90s to who it is today?
Ron Paul
Yeah, that's where the improvement has been. There are more people understanding what volunteerism is. And see, then the numbers don't bother me too much. It's the quality of people. But the people that run our universities are not on our side. I have a homeschooling group. There's a lot of homeschooling group. Yeah, Yesterday, I can't believe it, there was an announcement, I think it was Illinois. They were cracking down on people who were teaching their kids in homeschooling. Well, from their viewpoint, it wasn't perfect and we have to protect them. We have to make sure what they're going to learn. No, that has to stop. But it's an educational thing. That's where there is a lot of progress. There's a lot more homeschoolers. One thing is, is when we had that horrible time under Covid, the Homeschooling group grew, you know, tremendously. So they're out there. But the fact you say, well, that's only 10%. Well, tell you what, there wasn't. There wasn't 90. There wasn't 51% of the people who endorsed the revolution back then. But the leadership of our country, the founders of this country, they were the ones that really counted. So I think that. I think there's a lot of positive things on it. And besides, it doesn't require me to argue that, well, Patrick, what we need to do is get all our kids to learn how to shoot straight and kill all these people, because they're not killing the right people. So let's go invade Greenland. I think. No, I think you say, well, I know what's going through your mind. I'm assuming that what you're talking about is so little. This is a big problem. And you think you're going to change things by nickel and diming it? No, I think an idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by armies. And I believe this an idea whose time has come. And I would like to help the idea of liberty to come where the American people will stand up to it and really change things.
Dr. Ron Paul
Sir, has the President and Elon Musk asked you for help?
Ron Paul
Indirectly, but not directly. They did some positive things for me on X. They would repeat some of my programs. I think the early on when this started, I put this thing up that stop all foreign aid and made my case for it. And I think it was reproduced. You know, where I might get 50, 60, 70,000 people to look at my stuff. I think we had millions of people when Musk put that up, so he was supporting it. And they even mentioned they've tried to be friendly and, you know, we talked. But, you know, I recognize the significance of what they're doing and what I do. I can't be a very significant person. I work in a different area, changing one mind at a time, changing it to the point where people get excited. And I think that's what excites me. Because one person whose mind has changed and starts something. And that's why I mentioned when people ask me what to do, just do whatever you want to do, but do it. And somebody will use you, Somebody will take it there. You don't force yourself. And if it's an idea whose time has come, you will be used in a positive way.
Dr. Ron Paul
Last question before we wrap up is who. Who concerns you the most today? You know, when I think about the Federal Reserve, when I think about who has the most power. Is it the president? Is it Federal Reserve? Is it the technocracy, these social media companies? Is it the richest people in the world? Who would you say are the most powerful people in the world? I mean, we know about the Rothschild. When we read about Federal Reserve and some of the involvement they had, who do you look at as somebody who is very well read that are the most powerful people in the world today?
Ron Paul
Well, as a group, authoritarians, they think they know what happens and they can tell people how to live and how to spend their money because they're the opposite of a voluntarist who says that you can't do anything unless both sides agree. And I mean, most of the people that I would look up to would be, you know, free market Austrian economists who write this out explicitly. Mises was a great influence on me. Leonard Reed was an influence on me from the foundation for Economic Education. But they taught this and I read those books and I understood the issues and that's what I think is important. So whether it's 10% or 15%, it's not a big deal for me. I mean, if you just have the ideas out there because the people go along. Most people go along, you know, to get along because, you know, do you think the American people right now are worrying about Greenland? They say, well, that's a joke. Or somebody say, oh, that's a good idea. And why would anybody say such a thing? So I think that it's. I think there's a lot of positive things. And all I know is in spite of the fact that there's a systemic attack right now by most politicians in Washington, one way or another, they attack freedom of expression. That's dangerous. When I left Congress, I gave a little speech and I said, that's our biggest threat if we mess up on the First Amendment where we can't express ourselves. And believe me, both sides are doing that. And that is going to be rough. But like, I also believe that if, if you, if you're working with an idea whose time has come, you cannot stop it.
Dr. Ron Paul
What idea do you think time has come today? The concept of liberty. What ideas Time has come today. You're saying, you're saying specifically liberty.
Ron Paul
Freedom, yeah, in my case, it's liberty. And understanding the difference between liberty and chamber of commerce, free enterprise, you know who. I had to talk to them and all they wanted was come up and lobby for money, not lobby for liberty. But there's more of that now. But I found that my encouragement came from people that actually I was shocked because people that were still in grade school understood this stuff as far as I was concerned, and they were excited about it. They're still communicating with me when they were in grade school and high school. And they're out there, and I don't know who they are. And we never know. We never know who the Remnant is made up of. And they're the people who keep things going, keep the ideas alive. The ideas are only that count. But the ideas of using government to use force. Now, I don't think that what's going on now to cut spending, some people say, well, that's using force. They're cutting off my check. But no, there's a lot of serious people. I give as much positive messages about what the commission is doing, trying to cut spending as I can, because I know for the most part, their heart is in the right place. But I'm just trying to be a realist and say, well, you better be prepared for a lot of anger out there. And people are going to be upset because they think it's. They have a right to these things. You have a right to life and liberty, but you don't have a right to somebody else's stuff. And right now, there's too many people who still believe that they have a right to somebody else's stuff. But when the stuff runs out, we better be prepared to patch up the holes with something more positive.
Dr. Ron Paul
Do you remember where you were at the day President John F. Kennedy got assassinated?
Ron Paul
I wrote it into my little pamphlet on not too long ago. Yeah, I was. I was drafted in October of 62. I was in my residency, so they took me out of my residency at Henderson Ford Hospital, and I was inducted into the military. And that was over the Cuban crisis, but I was inducted by January and of 63, and Kennedy was. And I was a flight surgeon. I was a head flight surgeon at that particular day when Kennedy. Kennedy landed at Kelly Air Force Base the day before he was assassinated. And I had a theoretical responsibility, which was just theoretical. It was, believe me, nothing. Nothing special other than the fact that he was there. And they told me about it. I was to be aware of it if anything went wrong. I watched the plane take off. I remember that vividly. And then that plane, I think, stopped in Houston, and then the next day it stopped in Dallas, and that was it. So I knew exactly where I was the day before and the day of the assassination. And my little booklet I've written recently, I talk a lot more about that because my personal experience was the fact That I was close to it the day before he was assassinated.
Dr. Ron Paul
Your, your impression of what you think took place and if you've been following any of the stories with the 80,000 documents that have been released, has anything been shocking to you?
Ron Paul
Well, I didn't read those 80,000, but I think today they said, well, we were going to redact it all, but we are not going to do that. No, my pamphlet, my little story about it is, I think, as a matter of fact, I date that the 1960s as the decade and the assassination as the installation or the recognition of a couple because that's when the FBI, the CIA and others just think Jack Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy assassinated, Martin Luther King assassinated. Other civil rights leaders were killed. And yes, I've read every book I could read and I firmly convinced that it was not a lone killer. 80% of the American people said they don't believe the government. Now that's really healthy. That's wonderful. Because Oswald, nobody believes it anymore. And too many people, you know, that was one thing they always had jokes about in the Soviet Union. They always made jokes about the government because everybody knew what the truth was, but everybody knew they had to lie. You know, it failed. So I, I think it's a bit. But I do, I date the 60s as, as a conversion into what the CIA has done. And it's a lot of you can you. There's a lot, a lot of people who are very well versed in this and there's a lot of books on this and I happen to believe a lot of that stuff to be true.
Dr. Ron Paul
Do you believe when you say a lot of this stuff, a part of it the fact that, that he wanted to end the Fed and that was one of the things that they were not too happy about. Is that one you believe in or not necessarily.
Ron Paul
I believe that I've seen some people that might not be just disagree and say, oh no, there were other things. No, I'd listen to that but no, I think it was a monetary issue that Kennedy wanted to stop the war, but he, he accept he, you know, increased the war in Vietnam and that was. But later on there's a story about his friend that he was living with at the time converted him to a peace neck and he, he was, he had announced it will be different after the election.
Dr. Ron Paul
Last question. I've said this twice now. You've been married 68 years. What secret sauce. What do you have they can share with the rest of us?
Ron Paul
Oh, be tolerant, be involuntaries. Agree on what you're going to do? No, I think it's. I think sometimes it's just being courteous to people, you know, but I don't know, I don't have one magic thing to do. But mostly it's just basic decency sometimes that the decency is not revealed very often. But no, no special things.
Dr. Ron Paul
But I think that's plenty. That's plenty. Dr. Ron Paul, thank you so much for your time. It's always an honor and a privilege to speak to somebody like you that has the wealth of knowledge. And I'm. I'm glad to see that you've inspired thousands out there that are disciples of your teaching that are continuing to message. So thank you so much for your time.
Ron Paul
Thank you very much for having me, Patrick.
Dr. Ron Paul
Take care. Bye. Bye. Nowadays, more than ever, the brand you wear reflects and represent who you are. So for us, if you wear a Future looks bright hat or a valuetainment gear, you're telling the world, I'm optimistic. I'm excited about what's going to be happening. But you're a free thinker. You question things, you like, debate. And by the way, last year, 120,000 people got a piece of Future Looks Bright geared with valuetainment. We have so many new things. The cufflinks are here. New Future looks bright. This is my favorite, the green one. Just yesterday, somebody placed an order for a hundred of these. If you watch the PBD podcast, you got a bunch to choose from. White ones, black ones. If you smoke cigars and you come to our cigar lounge, we have this, this high quality lighter cutter and a holder for the cigars. We got sweaters with the valuetainment logo on it. We got mugs. We got a bunch of different things. But if you believe the future looks bright, if you follow our content and what we represent with valuetainment with PVD podcast, go to vtmerch.com and by the way, if you order right now, there's going to be a special VT gift insight just for you. So again, go to vtmerch.com, place your order, tell the world that you believe the future looks bright.
PBD Podcast Episode Summary: “They Want CHAOS In The Streets” – Ron Paul on Empire Collapse, Censorship & The WAR On Liberty | Ep. 565
In the 565th episode of the PBD Podcast, host Patrick Bet-David engages in a profound and candid conversation with Dr. Ron Paul, a prominent libertarian figure and former Congressman. Released on March 24, 2025, this episode delves deep into the pressing issues of government overreach, economic instability, censorship, and the philosophical battles shaping America’s future. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the essence of their discussion, enriched with notable quotes and structured into clear, thematic sections.
Dr. Ron Paul opens the dialogue by addressing the looming budget deficit, expressing skepticism about its reduction in the near future. He states:
“I am not expecting the budget deficit to shrink this year nor the next year because there's too many people who have become dependent on it. So there'll be an emergency this year, believe me.”
[01:16]
Paul emphasizes the intertwining of moral bankruptcy with financial issues, asserting that both are inseparable and foundational to the nation’s challenges.
A significant portion of the conversation revolves around libertarianism versus interventionist philosophies. Paul critiques the dominant interventionist stance, arguing that government overreach stifles individual freedoms:
“The monetary system just an act of violence that is so, so corrupt that that's fraud and abuse.”
[07:22]
He advocates for a non-interventionist approach, where both parties in any interaction must mutually agree, drawing parallels to the principles of a free marketplace.
Paul critically examines various aspects of government overreach:
Education: He laments the state-run education system, contrasting it with his appreciation for the founding fathers’ education, which lacked university influence. He remarks:
“The people that run our universities are not on our side. The education of our founding fathers is unbelievable and there were no universities to brainwash them.”
[01:35]
Foreign Aid and Monetary System: Paul condemns agencies like USAID, labeling their operations as deeply intertwined with government corruption and fraud. He discusses the immorality of the Federal Reserve’s role in creating debt and devaluing the currency:
“They create the worldwide reserve currency, the dollar... that is a debt. I mean, it's a tax. It's just a tax.”
[08:30]
When discussing current figures, Paul reflects on the efforts of President Trump and Elon Musk in attempting to shrink government and promote liberty:
“What they're doing philosophically and calling all this to our attention is the most important because it's already, look at the resistance they're getting.”
[16:36]
He acknowledges Musk’s initiatives as educational, highlighting their role in raising awareness about governmental inefficiencies and the need for systemic change.
Paul is candid about his pessimism regarding the short-term outlook of the U.S. economy and governance:
“You don't sound optimistic?”
“No, I'm the most optimistic person in the world because I think where we've made our progress is in this idea of understanding what is going on.”
[19:53]
He warns of impending economic liquidations and civil unrest, attributing these to the unsustainable debt and systemic corruption. Paul draws historical parallels to the 1921 economic crisis, forecasting severe GDP contractions and societal upheaval.
Emphasizing the importance of education and philosophical advocacy, Paul underscores the need for widespread understanding of natural law and voluntarism:
“The more you understand, the more you know that this concept is alive and well. When I go to college campuses... I think young people have a room in their brain to still accept... liberty.”
[12:46]
He advocates for grassroots movements and individual actions to foster a culture of freedom and resist governmental overreach.
Paul draws lessons from historical events to contextualize current challenges:
Vietnam War and Foreign Interventions: He criticizes prolonged wars as examples of disastrous government policies driven by interventionist agendas.
Assassination of JFK: Reflecting on his personal proximity to the JFK assassination, Paul expresses distrust in government narratives and underscores the historical pattern of governmental misconduct.
The conversation touches on the difficulties of implementing libertarian philosophies within a dynamic political landscape:
“It's not going to be two years or 12 years... the damage has already been done.”
[27:00]
Paul highlights the challenges posed by frequent administrative changes and the struggle to maintain long-term policy momentum necessary for substantial systemic change.
Paul voices strong opposition to censorship and the erosion of First Amendment rights:
“If we mess up on the First Amendment where we can't express ourselves. And believe me, both sides are doing that. And that is going to be rough.”
[50:04]
He warns against the manipulation of free speech through governmental and societal pressures, advocating for unwavering protection of individual expression.
In concluding remarks, Paul reiterates his commitment to promoting liberty and preparing society for inevitable economic and governmental transformations:
“One to one... there's a lot of serious people... but you don't have a choice. The damage has already been done.”
[52:03]
He encourages listeners to engage in voluntary actions and educational efforts to sustain the movement towards a freer, more autonomous society.
On Budget Deficit:
“I am not expecting the budget deficit to shrink this year nor the next year because there's too many people who have become dependent on it. So there'll be an emergency this year, believe me.”
[01:16]
On Monetary System:
“The monetary system just an act of violence that is so, so corrupt that that's fraud and abuse.”
[07:22]
On Libertarian Philosophy:
“Freedom of expression. That's dangerous. When I left Congress, I gave a little speech and I said, that's our biggest threat if we mess up on the First Amendment where we can't express ourselves.”
[50:04]
This episode of the PBD Podcast offers a deep dive into Dr. Ron Paul's enduring commitment to libertarian principles and his critical perspective on the United States' current trajectory. Through eloquent discourse, Paul articulates the urgent need for systemic change, education, and individual empowerment to combat the pervasive government overreach and economic instability threatening the nation's foundational values. Listeners gain valuable insights into the philosophical underpinnings of liberty, historical lessons, and the formidable challenges ahead in the quest for a freer society.