American politics has had few voices of reason in the last five decades. During his time in office, starting in the late 1970s up until the early 2010s, former Texas Congressman Ron Paul was a breath of fresh air in a miasma of statism.
Even in retirement, the former Congressman has continued to be a sober voice of order and liberty. Recently, Paul penned a piece titled “Don’t Trade Real Liberty for Phony Security” where he warned about the calls for state control of people’s individual liberties following mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde Texas.
Paul alluded to the United States House recently passing a “creating new domestic terrorism offices in the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.”
This law is part of the Deep State’s efforts to target “domestic terrorists” and “right-wing extremists” — two terms with increasingly broad definitions.
Paul observed that the proponents of these “anti-extremist” efforts “have used the Buffalo shooter’s mention of ‘replacement theory’ in his ‘manifesto’ to attack prominent conservative commentators” such as Tucker Carlson.
Carlson and other Dissident Right pundits have been lambasted for talking about the Great Replacement theory, despite the fact that the cultural Left brags about how changing demographics will ensure their electoral hegemony. Paul nailed it by asserting that this effort to demonize right-wing figures who talk about the Great Replacement is designed “to stigmatize, intimidate, and even criminalize those expressing views or facts that contradict the cultural Marxists or the Democrat party establishment.”
US politics has a lot of cognitive dissonance among all of its actors. Paul detailed this below:
The push to use the police state against “right-wing extremists” is supported by many progressives who (correctly) oppose the national security state’s civil liberties abuses of Muslim and other minorities. Conversely, many conservatives who have defended all infringements on liberty done in the name of the “global war on terror,” (correctly) oppose federal crackdown on “right wing extremists.”
The former Texas congressman highlighted the folly of taking such unprincipled views on civil liberties:
Both sides fail to realize that a violation of any individual’s liberty is a threat to everyone’s liberty.
The Uvalde massacre saw another renewed push for heightened state control of people’s lives. Chief among the legislative measures being proposed were red flag gun confiscation orders. These types of orders would grant law enforcement the power to confiscate an individual’s firearms without due process by using a simple allegation that the individual in question poses a risk to himself or others.
Particularly shocking is how red flag laws tend to have strong bipartisan support. Paul noted that “former President Donald Trump endorsed a policy of ‘take the gun first, worry about due process later.’
Paul believes that if Congress truly cared about defending liberty and upholding security, it would consider passing Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie’s legislation to repeal the “Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.” The 1990 GFSZA has basically turned schools nationwide into criminal safe spaces and made them vulnerable to mass shooting attacks.
At the end of the day, creating a police state to keep tabs on right-wing extremists and depriving people of their right to bear arms will make America less free and more insecure.
Sadly, Paul’s words will likely fall on deaf ears. The majority of the DC Swamp is hooked on statism. Nevertheless, Paul’s commentary remains valuable in a time when political discourse is saturated with generic neoconservative and neoliberal takes on current affairs.
Paul’s body of work has inspired many people to continue the fight he launched in Congress. It’s now up to liberty conservatives to continue the legacy of Dr. Paul and vigorously oppose all state encroachments on our liberties.
Future generations are counting on us to make things right. Let’s not fail them.
