PRESS
RELEASE from RickPerry.org
For Immediate Distribution:
News Release
Sept. 6, 2011
Ron Paul’s Reagan Revisionism
His
ad refers to him as “the one who stood with Reagan”…His 1987
resignation letter indicates Reagan drove him from the Republican Party
AUSTIN
– Rep. Ron Paul’s newly released attack ad refers to the congressman
as, “the one who stood with Reagan.” But his 1987 letter announcing his
resignation from the Republican Party indicates Reagan drove him from
the party.
“Ronald
Reagan was one of the most significant presidents of our generation,
and a proven fiscal conservative,” Perry spokesman Mark Miner said.
“Like President Reagan, Gov. Perry has cut taxes and freed employers
from government regulations that kill jobs.”
“Rep. Paul’s letter is a broadside
attack on every element of President Reagan’s record and philosophy.
Paul thought President Reagan was so bad, he left the GOP,” said Miner.
“It will be interesting to hear Rep. Paul explain why Reagan drove him
from the party at tomorrow’s debate on the grounds of the Reagan
Library.”
In
one part of the letter, Paul wrote, “There is no credibility left for
the Republican Party as a force to reduce the size of government. That
is the message of the Reagan years.”
Paul
continued, “Thanks to the President and Republican Party, we have lost
the chance to reduce the deficit and the spending in a non-crisis
fashion. Even worse, big government has been legitimized in a way the
Democrats never could have accomplished.”
Paul even went so far as to call
Reaganomics, “warmed-over Keynesianism.”
Paul
summarizes his reason for leaving the Republican Party with the
following tirade: “I want to totally disassociate myself from the
policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary
inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and
unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of
international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and
privacy.”
As a lifelong
Republican, it saddens me to have to write this letter. My parents
believed in the Republican Party and its free enterprise philosophy,
and that's the way I was brought up. At age 21, in 1956, I cast
my first vote for Ike and the entire Republican slate.
Because
of frustration with the direction in which the country was going, I
became a political activist and ran for the U.S. Congress in 1974. Even
with Watergate, my loyalty, optimism, and hope for the future were tied
to the Republican Party and its message of free enterprise, limited
government, and balanced budgets.
Eventually
I was elected to the U.S. Congress four times as a Republican.
This
permitted me a first-hand look at the interworkings of the U.S.
Congress, seeing both the benefits and partisan frustrations that guide
its shaky proceedings. I found that although representative
government
still exists, special interest control of the legislative process
clearly presents a danger to our constitutional system of government.
In 1976 I was
impressed with Ronald Reagan's program and was one of the four members
of Congress who endorsed his candidacy. In 1980, unlike other
Republican office holders in Texas, I again supported our President in
his efforts.
Since
1981, however, I have gradually and steadily grown weary of the
Republican Party's efforts to reduce the size of the federal
government. Since then Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have
given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national
debt. How is it that the party of balanced budgets, with control
of
the White House and Senate, accumulated red ink greater than all
previous administrations put together? Tip O'Neill, although part
of
the problem, cannot alone be blamed.
Tax revenues are
up 59 percent since 1980. Because of our economic growth? No.
During Carter's four years, we had growth of 37.2 percent;
Reagan's five years have given us 30.7 percent. The new revenues
are due to four giant Republican tax increases since 1981.
All
republicans rightly chastised Carter for his $38 billion deficit. But
they ignore or even defend deficits of $220 billion, as government
spending has grown 10.4 percent per year since Reagan took office,
while the federal payroll has zoomed by a quarter of a million
bureaucrats.
Despite
the Supply-Sider-Keynesian claim that "deficits don't matter," the debt
presents a grave threat to our country. Thanks to the President
and
Republican Party, we have lost the chance to reduce the deficit and the
spending in a non-crisis fashion. Even worse, big government has
been
legitimized in a way the Democrats never could have accomplished.
It
was tragic to listen to Ronald Reagan on the 1986 campaign trail
bragging about his high spending on farm subsidies, welfare, warfare,
etc., in his futile effort to hold on to control of the Senate.
Instead
of cutting some of the immeasurable waste in the Department of Defense,
it has gotten worse, with the inevitable result that we are less secure
today. Reagan's foreign aid expenditures exceed Eisenhower's,
Kennedy's, Johnson's, Nixon's, Ford's, and Carter's put together.
Foreign intervention has exploded since 1980. Only an end
to military
welfare for foreign governments plus a curtailment of our
unconstitutional commitments abroad will enable us really to defend
ourselves and solve our financial problems.
Amidst
the failure of the Gramm-Rudman gimmick, we hear the President and the
Republican Party call for a balanced-budget amendment and a line-item
veto. This is only a smokescreen. President Reagan, as
governor of
California, had a line-item veto and virtually never used it. As
President he has failed to exercise his constitutional responsibility
to veto spending. Instead, he has encouraged it.
Monetary
policy has been disastrous as well. The five Reagan appointees to
the
Federal Reserve Board have advocated even faster monetary inflation
than Chairman Volcker, and this is the fourth straight year of
double-digit increases. The chickens have yet to come home to
roost,
but they will, and America will suffer from a Reaganomics that is
nothing but warmed-over Keynesianism.
Candidate
Reagan in 1980 correctly opposed draft registration. Yet when he
had
the chance to abolish it, he reneged, as he did on his pledge to
abolish the Departments of Education and Energy, or to work against
abortion.
Under
the guise of attacking drug use and money laundering, the Republican
Administration has systematically attacked personal and financial
privacy. The effect has been to victimize innocent Americans who
wish
to conduct their private lives without government snooping.
(Should
people really be put on a suspected drug dealer list because they
transfer $3,000 at one time?) Reagan's urine testing of Americans
without probable cause is a clear violation of our civil liberties, as
are his proposals for extensive "lie detector" tests.
Under
Reagan, the IRS has grown bigger, richer, more powerful, and more
arrogant. In the words of the founders of our country, our
government
has "sent hither swarms" of tax gatherers "to harass our people and eat
out their substance." His officers jailed the innocent George
Hansen,
with the President refusing to pardon a great American whose only crime
was to defend the Constitution. Reagan's new tax "reform" gives even
more power to the IRS. Far from making taxes fairer or simpler,
it
deceitfully raises more revenue for the government to waste.
Knowing
this administration's record, I wasn't surprised by its Libyan
disinformation campaign, Israeli-Iranian arms-for-hostages swap, or
illegal funding of the Contras. All this has contributed to my
disenchantment with the Republican Party, and helped me make up my mind.
I
want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given
us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate
military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy,
zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the
attack on our personal liberties and privacy.
After
years of trying to work through the Republican Party both in and out of
government, I have reluctantly concluded that my efforts must be
carried on outside the Republican Party. Republicans know that the
Democratic agenda is dangerous to our political and economic health.
Yet, in the past six years Republicans have expanded its worst
aspects
and called them our own. The Republican Party has not reduced the
size
of government. It has become big government's best friend.
If
Ronald Reagan couldn't or wouldn't balance the budget, which Republican
leader on the horizon can we possibly expect to do so? There is no
credibility left for the Republican Party as a force to reduce the size
of government. That is the message of the Reagan years.
I conclude that
one must look to other avenues if a successful effort is ever to be
achieved in reversing America's direction.
I therefore
resign my membership in the Republican Party and enclose my membership
card.