“Back in 1927, an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket, said that the American people would never vote for socialism but he said under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.

There are many ways in which our government has invaded the precincts of private citizens, the method of earning a living. Our government is in business to the extent over owning more than 19,000 businesses covering different lines of activity. This amounts to a fifth of the total industrial capacity of the United States. “ Ronald Reagan 1961 speech against Socialized Medicine

"Shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's 'bold new imaginative program' with its proper age?" Reagan wondered. "Under the tousled boyish haircut it is still old Karl Marx—first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother to us all. Hitler called his state 'State Socialism', and way before him it was relevant 'benevolant monarchy'." Ronald Reagan 1960 letter to the GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon re JFK.

“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to ensure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are traveling the same path.” Ronald Reagan Interview published in Reason (1 July 1975)

"I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts." Ronald Reagan Farewell address 1989

Trying to figure out how I, a Midwesterner, became obligated to spend my tax money to support damage to homes and businesses belonging to people stupid enough to live where they get whacked by a hurricane every 10 or 20 years...

There is class warfare in this country. Against the poor and the middle class. The Ron Paul is basically telling you that whatever happens you are on your own. No FEMA, SS, Medicare, roads, bridges, heck maybe we should get rid of the police and the fire department while we are at it. If we leave all of these things to the individual states we will have some states with good services and other who are like the wild west. I know which ones I am going to live in.

Again,

Libs

What part of BROKE do you not understand.  Unlimited money, sure, lets give everyone their own personal FEMA agent.  This is what we have the National Guard for.

I dislike faux news as much as this site but they at least told the whole story and didn't take Ron Paul's message out of context. The mainstream media's character assasination of Ron Paul is sickening. You people that buy into what the msm and paid shills like Feisty Redhead tell you should be tried for treason along with Bernake and Obama and the rest of the criminals in D.C. 



I'm not sure a response to a national emergency can really be coordinated by individual states. Doesn't make much sense to me.

When conservatives say liberals are waging class warfare & liberals say conservatives are, you can assume with a good deal of accuarcy that there is indeed class warfare going on

The conservative Goddess of economics is Ayn Rand who believes only "elite capitalists should control populations & countries",,, It's safe & realistic to understand that theirs is against the middle class & the working poor & that is echoed by even the elite

I feel genuinely sorry now for autistic syndrome people in wheelchairs. All Paul said was, a coordinated dedicated subsidised volunteer network in place would be far more cost effective, more efficient, than the over-hyped, inflated political grandstanding and opportunism.

Right on Extra hops. The size of this article and the shills coming out of the woodworks to spread disinfo and distort Ron Paul's message are clear signs that this "unbiased journalism" was nothing more than a political attack. Go to faux news and their article on the same subject is 4 times as long as this one.

I'm not sure I understand everyone's discouraging comments about Paul's comment.

I mean first and foremost he's a republican politician which means he's definitely lunatic and a first class liar who's against anything that helps anyone (other than himself), he's self absorbed with a God complex, and always has to have something to say about everything weather Obama's commented on it or not.

I mean did you really expect this republican goof or any republican for that fact to act any different than this??

Let me guess next you're going to say you expect Michelle Bachmann to make sense when she speaks!

How many of you sheep write your social security numbers on your arm so the thugs that work for Janet Nazipolitano could identify you.

We lived in a depraved society. Very few people see how wrong that is!

My God, the people on here clamoring for a one world government make me sick. Read the frickin' Constitution.

And stop this Republican-Democrat nonsense foisted upon you gullible people by the lackeys in the mainstream media. The two party dichotomy has destroyed this country.

I know conservatives are mostly dump sheep, but I thought liberal held a higher level on the cerebral plain. Yet, they chant the same tired slogans that have tricked us for over one-hundred years.

Change? Like less military intervention abroad. Like a true currency. Like regaining our civil rights. If it wasn't for Obama's tan, I would swear he is George Bush, PartII

Change...LOL!

Ron Paul wants to eliminate FEMA and the national weather service warning system that posts hurricane, flash flood, and tornado warnings.

Paul also says he wants to return things in America to the way they were in 1900 - I guess that means Ron Paul wants to kill ANOTHER 6,000 Texans in Galveston the next time a hurricane hits there - and THOUSANDS more people from coast to coast in future natural disasters.

And some people actually consider voting for him and other like-minded republicans who also want to get rid of social security and medicare??? It boogles the mind!

Why does the American government borrow money with interest when it has the Constitutional authority to create money without paying interest?

This, my friends, is why globalist enforcers such as FEMA exist!

"We should be like 1900..." Sure. Let's go back to the good old days of the horse and buggy. No electricity. Slavery. Child labor. Subjugation of women. Survival of the fittest. This is the Tea Party's vision for America. The Neanderthals long for the Stone Age.

I would love to put him in front of a crowd of people in Galveston after a direct hit by a hurricane and have him explain to them why it will be weeks before they have electricity, clean drinking water, medical care, etc. because he told the Feds to keep their disaster relief money/help. What's he going to do when the Texas Governor and Legislature tell him, "Sorry, we're broke, too, you're on your own." To actually think there are reasonable people in this country who support this guy. If you think it's bad now, see how you're doing after a couple of years of HIS presidency.

“Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.” ~ Franklin Pierce Adams

When that fat Governor from NJ thanks FEMA for a job well-done and sings their praises during the recent storm while Ron Paul wants to eliminate FEMA totally you know the Republican Party is a fractured mess. I LOVE WATCHING REPUBLICANS EAT THEIR OWN!

I realize that reality is a concept Democrats cannot grasp. But the reality is this Nation is in debt and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The Government cannot print a bunch more money and hand it to FEMA, to respond to the damage caused by this newest cats-ass-trafee, period. It may sound callus but its reality, and the individual States must be responsible for most of the aftermath of this storm. To put it in terms that would be easier to comprehend, picture set backs in your own life and how you have to set up with a solution on your own. Ron Paul, though I do not support most of what he says is just stating the obvious here, we don't have billions of dollars of FEMA money to give. So each citizen will have to contribute what they can, volunteers will have to pick up shovels and brooms, insurance companies will have to pay out premiums already collected from premiums, and as far as any infrastructure damage, wasn't Obama given a trillion in stimulus to cover that?

I am not saying this was not a hardship especial those lives that were lost, have a family myself and am sadden by any loss of life. I am speaking in terms of finances alone. The reality theres no money for this. Next week maybe a earthquake, the next a tornado, where is the money going to come from..........print it????????

Look for the wrench and get tightened up, Ron.

PAUL IS RIGHT to many government agentcies eliminate 1/2 the government jobs, too many government workers period

I don't know about getting rid of FEMA, but I can tell you that there are a lot of people that simply ignore facts and warnings and do as they damn well please. Then they turn around and demand that you and I bail them out when the inevitable happens. New Orleans is a great example. For decades they had been warned that they were building in the path of destruction. Yet the building continued. They were told in no uncertain terms that if a hurricane hit it would wreck major havoc, as New Orleans was below sea level to begin with and located in the likely path of a major hurricane. It was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when. And even when they were advised to leave before Katrina hit, they still stayed and many did not take the proper steps to protect their property. FEMA could not go out and board up every house, make sure stuff was put away properly or build houses ahead of time that were designed not to get blown away in a storm. In fact, many of the houses in the New Orleans area were constructed in a way that was least conducive to withstanding hurricane and tornado conditions. Just like building multi million dollar homes on the shore cliffs in California where they are prone to mudslides.

The best that an agency like FEMA can do is provide after the fact relief. And even then that can be thwarted by the attitudes of those you are seeking to help. There were, literally, idiots from NO that were testifying before Congress that the Fed Gov had exploded the levees/dams and it was not the storm that had caused the damage. Much of that non-sense was politically motivated.

The problem with any Federal government agency is that along with the money/aid comes certain strings attached thereto. Those strings are often at the expense of powers traditionally exercised by State and local governments, where locals have more control over what happens, and the motivations behind the strings are largely political and overly intrusive, rather than practical and the least intrusive as possible. Thereby leading to gross mismanagement and large waste of tax payer dollars.

You need to stop reading a paragraph and then speak like you read the whole book. Our government is just like all the comments on here all they want to do is blame someone else. We as a nation are to blame. We have let the thieves and crooks run this country for too long. We are the voters that put them in office as well the voters that can take them out. Sitting around pissing and moaning doesn't change a damn thing !!! There has not been a great president since Kennedy, Reagan, or Clinton. For the ones that voted Obama in office I hope you are happy with what you got as I am not !!! If he thinks he can then he needs to get into his office and do something to impress this country instead of living in a hole and denial blaming Bush for everything!!! You think things are so great you better take another look around because they are not. There is no such thing as a 2nd recession when you are still in the recession...it is called depression and there are very few still alive that has lived through a depression. There's going to be a whole lot more people yelling "God Help Us" if we hit the depression stage. The only thing then will be survival and it will come down to the HAS and HAS NOTS...and I am not talking about money. I am talking about water, food, shelter, and the knowledge for surviving. In walks the good ole country boys and girls that so many make fun of. They will be the ones to survive as they already know how. You city folks with no guns nor survival skills without stores are in big trouble then.

As far as Galveston and Hurricane IKE...I stayed and went through it. Do not state that there was no devastation here. There was and still is. Crystal Beach was wiped clean and nothing was left. So the one that commented about out it wasn't that bad...you were either not here or so messed up on something you don't remember it.

Now it is time for us to really research who we want to place in the highest office of this country. Not vote because they say the same lies as we have heard before, but really know who they are and what they stand for. Check their records on everything. I, for one, am tried of empty promises and we need someone in there that can lead this country back to where we were before. Put this country back on the right track making them accountable for their actions. If you are too lazy or shallow enough to just vote because you can...please no not vote this time as this is what happened last election. When you vote make damn sure you know what you are doing. Our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren depend on us to make sure we do the right thing this time. Now if you think it can't get worse you are sadly mistaken. It already has !!!

I did not vote for Obama last time and damn sure will not this time. For all the ones that will scream racist let me clear one thing up right now!!! It had nothing to do with the color of his skin nor his religious views. It had to do with the FACT that this man had no experience nor knowledge for the job he was trying to take on. What he has done since he has been in office has confirmed this. I don't care if you are purple with orange dots so long as you know how to do the job and do it RIGHT !!!

Katrina was the diaster it was because of Bush and his beloved Brownie. Alaska Airlines sent two aircraft doen there to help carry people out of the area. Even sent relief crews for both. Mr Brown`s geniuses sent the aircraft and crews away. All anyone could figure about the rejection from Brown`s FEMA was that the aircraft and prsonnel were not sent under FEMA. Brownie`s folks were more interested in protecting their turf than about helping people.