Congressman Ron Paul is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation’s capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the “one exception to the Gang of 535” on Capitol Hill.Ron Paul was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, before proudly serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He and his wife Carol moved to Texas in 1968, where he began his medical practice in Brazoria County. As a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology, Dr. Paul has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He and Carol, who reside in Lake Jackson, Texas, are the proud parents of five children and have 17 grandchildren.While serving in Congress during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dr. Paul’s limited-government ideals were not popular in Washington. In 1976, he was one of only four Republican congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president.During that time, Congressman Paul served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary measures. He was an unwavering advocate of pro-life and pro-family values. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels. In 1984, he voluntarily relinquished his House seat and returned to his medical practice.Dr. Paul returned to Congress in 1997 to represent the 14th congressional district of Texas. He presently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.Congressman Paul’s consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, “Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers’ ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are.” Another colleague observed, “There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few.”

ANALYSIS | Republican Representative Ron Paul, R-Texas, is far more libertarian in his economic views than most of his opponents. His views on fiscal responsibility have been well-documented during his many years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Here is a look at Ron Paul’s economic policies.

On Taxes: Drastic Cutting Is Key

Paul has said he wouldn’t raise the debt ceiling, would veto unbalanced budgets, and opposesunfunded mandates and regulations on small businesses. He’s against income, capital gains, and “death taxes,” pledging to eliminate them all. He’s also for eliminating the Internal Revenue Service(IRS).

He feels a flat tax or fair tax would be better than the current income tax system, but still thinks the 16th Amendment, which allows Congress to impose an income tax, needs to be repealed.

On ‘Class Warfare’: In Favor of a Little Against ‘The Ones Who Rip Us Off’

Paul doesn’t agree with his more vocal opponents, Herman Cain and Mitt Romney, in saying that demonstrations are a form of class warfare: “I do agree that there’s a mal-distribution in wealth in this country.”

“Entitlements end up going to the rich anyway,” he told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “Some of them should be attacked. The ones who rip us off, the ones who get bailed out.”

On Economic Recovery: Blame Spending

According to Paul’s campaign site, he believes that “excessive spending, artificial credit, and market manipulation crashed our economy, and no one should be surprised that these same policies continue to prolong the suffering for millions of Americans.”

He thinks we’re sending jobs overseas due to a program of “deliberately weakening our currency.”

On the Federal Reserve: End It

This is a topic Paul enjoys discussing. He’d like to see the Federal Reserve abolished. One of his books is titled “End the Fed.”

During a June 13 debate in Manchester, N.H., he explained that the financial crisis could be linked to the fed.

“We got in the trouble because we had a financial bubble, and it’s caused by the Federal Reserve,” he said. “If you don’t look at monetary policy, we will continue the trend of the last decade. We haven’t even – we haven’t developed any new jobs in the last decade. Matter of fact, we’ve had 30 million new people and no new jobs, and it’s because they don’t – the people don’t understand monetary policy and central economic planning things.”

He sponsored H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, which directs the Comptroller General to audit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the federal reserve banks, then provide a report to Congress.

On Unemployment: Failed Policy Cause of Problems

Paul commented on the Labor Department’s jobs report for September 2011:

“The national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent for the month of September says nothing new about our failed experiment with Keynesian economics. Simply put, all these years of Washington deficit spending and money printing did not move the labor market.”

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Lew Rockwell

Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigration – Ron Paul