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Nov. 22, 2023 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
25:00
The Ron Paul Liberty Report -- Thanksgiving Special

Why is being thankful so important? Why is it important to remain optimistic despite the dark clouds of tyranny? Why is it counterproductive to think that "everything is going according to plan" for the authoritarians, when it obviously isn't? We hope you enjoy this special Thanksgiving Edition of The Ron Paul Liberty Report! If you would like to donate to our show, please visit: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/donate/ Happy Thanksgiving!

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Why We're Grateful 00:15:30
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With us today is Chris Rossini, our co-host.
Chris, welcome to the program.
Great to be with you, Dr. Paul.
Very good.
You know, tomorrow's Thanksgiving, but we're going to start the holiday a little sooner.
Today is Wednesday, but we are going to be concentrating, though, on the subject of Thanksgiving, because I've always had a little bit of favoritism toward the day celebration because I've been so thankful for so many things in my life.
And yet, this is something that, you know, is void of a whole lot of controversy, although some does exist on the exact history and that sort of thing.
But for the most part, unlike some of the military holidays, people have been able to avoid, you know, compromising on this whole principle that we ought to, you know, be thankful for what we have.
And certainly the people that live in this country ought to be thankful.
And as bad as the problems that we have with immigration right now, to say nobody wants here for the right reason, you know, there has to be a few of those, you know, that know America has been better than other countries.
And there's reason to be here.
And we should be thankful.
I was in the military in the mid-60s.
I was drafted in 1962.
And I did a lot of traveling as a flight surgeon.
You had to be on flying status.
And I'd go around the world and visit many, many countries.
The one thing I knew after having been away for maybe five days, 10 days, or 15 days was I was anxious to get home and get back home and get back with the family.
But the whole thing was that when I got home, I was ready to come home.
But the difference, I noticed the difference because I had never traveled before.
I don't even know if I'd been out of the country, maybe to that foreign country of Canada or something like that.
But no, I didn't know anything about traveling.
But I noticed the big difference.
And even back in the 60s, there were a lot of countries.
You know, the Third World Nation was there, but it was a lot different.
But we went to a lot of different countries.
And the one thing I noticed, there was a difference.
And, you know, whether it was traffic and the people or whatever.
So I always, when I got back home from those trips, I always thought, you know, it's great to be great to live in America.
And of course, we were taught and we recognize and still do recognize there's certainly some advantages to being an American citizen and living here.
Although we on this program talk a lot about the threat to it.
And our goal is to try to preserve all those good things about America because nothing is static.
Nothing is status quo and just stays the same because it's either going to go up and down.
And unfortunately, there's a few people now, including us, that we are fearful that we might lose some of these wonderful things.
And that to me is so, so important.
But I think what I think about mostly to be thankful for in a political sense, of course, I'm very thankful for my personal life, the family that we have, and also the opportunity to be a physician and to express myself in the political sphere.
So I see all that.
But, you know, I am also very much aware and become more aware as time goes on about being thankful.
I just kind of buy, this is just an accident, you know, just out of the clear blue.
And then I get to thinking about the founders, and I'm fascinated with what they have had to say.
But, you know, all the founders just essentially talked about divine providence.
They believed that there was something special.
They weren't, you know, they didn't believe predestination and a few things like that, but they really believed that it was God's will for America to be a great country.
And it was much more so back at the time the founders lived.
And they participated in that.
And the language they used, it was very, very clear that they had spiritual thoughts.
And yet, that is something that, yes, we do, but we still are also now concerned.
Are we going to be maintaining these?
And my personal opinion is if we continue to be careless, you know, it's going to be tougher to be as thankful as we are now because we still live in a great country.
We still can have a program like this.
And there has been attacks on our liberties, but we still have the advantage.
So it really depends not so much on individual people in government as much as the people that make up America and how we're going to react.
Are we going to assume responsibility?
So I am very grateful that I live in America, that I've had opportunities and have had a chance to try to understand what's really, really going on.
And I think what I'm very thankful for in a very personal way is I feel like one of the most impure and the most important thing an individual can have that, you know, are slightly interested in what's going on is the fascination with being curious.
What made America great?
And why is it being challenged right now?
And I think curiosity is fantastic.
And some people never have it other than what am I going to do for the next hour or two?
And it's not very productive.
And that's a different story.
But I think when you talk about really being thankful for a country and for our liberties, you have to be curious to put it into the proper perspective.
Because if you think one thing, think, oh, everything's perfect, we don't have anything to do, I don't think that'll get us very far.
Or on the other side, say it's over and done with, you know, and there's no purpose in this.
There's no help.
So we're not going to do it.
We better do our best to get our share and get on with life.
So that is the case.
But I think being curious to understand, you know, the whole issue of what the political system is like, what the spiritual world is like.
And I think I find it really very fascinating.
And I am very thankful that we can still participate in this.
But I also want to continue to work in the effort to preserve this for all Americans.
Very good, Dr. Paul.
Yes.
And before I begin, I would like to point out, I'm sure our listeners and viewers have noticed that Daniel hasn't been here.
He is taking a much needed break, and I'm sure he's looking forward to getting back on the show after Thanksgiving.
So we all miss him and look forward to him being back.
Yeah, Dr. Paul, I think along the same lines.
There is no other country on earth that I would rather live in than America.
I thank God that I was born here and live here and am able to use my talents here that I've been given.
And so despite, you know, our show is focused on keeping an eye on the government.
And isn't that the job of the citizen?
It should be the job of the media and everyone else, but that's you have to keep an eye on them because they have power.
They can do things that we can't do.
They do things that they shouldn't do that are against the law, and somebody has to keep an eye on that and point out to the people.
And that's what our show is all about.
But fortunately, there's a difference between the American citizens and the government itself.
It is not the same, despite their silly propaganda that we are the government.
That's nonsense.
You know, the people and the government are clearly different.
And if the people acted like the government does today, we'd all be criminals, you know, but we don't.
We don't lie all the time.
We don't cheat and steal all the time.
And that's why our society, as hobbled as it may be at the moment, still functions, because if everyone was like the government, it would be chaos.
You know, so peace and commerce still dominate, despite the fact of the downward trend that we're living in.
And living in downward trend is a part of life.
You know, the good will always be attacked in this world.
The weeds will always try to overtake the garden.
Dr. Paul has a huge garden.
He knows that you have to tend that garden because the weeds will never stop.
So tyranny will never stop, you know, but it takes a lot of people to hold the right ideas to keep it in check.
We could at least keep it at bay.
We can at least keep it from dominating our lives.
And while things are, you know, heading in the wrong direction, it could always turn around.
And it's our ideas that will help make that happen.
Very good.
You know, the television companies, the major media companies, have had soft programs and programs dealing with Thanksgiving about meals and all this talk.
And it's not very serious at all, but they did get some psychologists involved.
And they say, you know, sometimes on holidays like this, they come together, they bring relatives together and they haven't been together.
And some find out, well, some don't like Trump and some love Trump and they get into fighting over this thing.
And so the psychologists and these stations come in and they weren't being very, you know, adamant about it.
It was almost conversational.
I said, well, this is what you have to do to make sure you don't get into a fight with your cousin that you haven't seen for a while.
And what they said is you have to avoid talking about anything important.
Don't talk about politics and don't talk about religion.
You know, I've heard that since I was a little kid.
You should watch out.
Don't get into controversy with politics and religion.
And I got to thinking after many years, I said, those are the two most important subjects I like to talk about.
But, you know, it goes on.
It's sort of sad in a way.
Well, don't talk about something serious.
But, you know, we have a large family and they come together and we have one or two that we think have strayed away and they're not quite as libertarian as we'd like.
But I'll tell you what, we have a good time because, you know, if somebody has a disagreement, I delight in it because it's always conversational and it was done in good faith.
And hopefully we both benefit from it.
But I got a little bit of a kick out of this whole thing that the media is there.
They're going to tell us what we're allowed to talk about.
But I understand what they're saying.
But to me, it's a little sad that you're seeing your relatives that you haven't seen for a year or two.
You have to say, watch out.
The government's watching you.
You can't bring up this subject.
You might be canceled if you are.
So that's getting a little bit carried away.
But, you know, I over the years like to go back and look at history.
And I've used it in my speeches very often.
And that was Victor Hugo's, his statements about optimism and all.
And he said that he had some very famous quotes that I want to use because I think they deal with what we're talking about.
One that I had not seen before that I find fascinating because this is what we should be telling our families if they want to fight over nothing.
Hugo came to the conclusion to love another person is to see the face of God.
And he didn't make it more complicated.
And I said, well, maybe he has something there.
He had another statement for coordinating and getting along with people.
He says, darkness cannot drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
And that's pretty good advice, too.
But the one that I use the most in campaigning about ideas being powerful.
And he says, nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
And even the military can't stop it.
So this is where we are.
I mean, we've lost some of our liberties.
We're worried about it.
There can be changes.
We still have enough liberty to have programs on, at least talk about it.
And it is very, very important that we consider this and realize that we don't have to own the three medias all of a sudden.
Even when I ran in Congress first, because I remember when CNN came in, I was in Congress and the administration didn't want the CNN to participate in the press conferences that the president was holding.
And I came there to defense.
Why do you want to exclude them?
Now I know why, but no, I would say I'm serious.
But they did.
They had people would come in.
But now there's many, many ways we didn't have the internet.
And I still, from the very beginning, I says, I don't understand how it worked.
But it seems to me like we're going to have some smart libertarians come around and be able to use the internet to counteract all the bad stuff that's going to come up and try to hold in check the control by government on what we do on the internet.
And that's a job and a half.
But believe me, there is a lot of information and things that we can get from the internet.
And I think right now, I would say right now we're better off than we were one or two or three years ago as far as the intrusion into our use of the internet and our freedom of speech.
But COVID was bad for us and that had to be reversed.
Some of that has been reversed already.
People realize that there are a lot of lies told.
And so we're optimistic, fingers crossed, because there are people who would still like to have lockdowns for epidemics and that sort of thing.
I think that the technology, and we have people, and as long as we can use it, we still have a chance to counteract all the challenges that we face from the opposition, Chris.
Fantastic, Dr. Paul.
Yes.
And our longtime viewers, I'm sure, know that even though we talk about challenging subjects, we do our best to keep optimistic, that in spite of it all, we must remain optimistic because if you already know that the truth prevails, no matter what, otherwise it wouldn't be true, then you have to force yourself to be optimistic no matter the appearances.
And I read a lot of social media and I say, oh, we're doomed.
We're this, we're that.
Doomed To Fail 00:02:31
And you know what?
If you have that attitude, you probably are doomed personally.
Doesn't mean everything's doomed, but you may be doomed because you're leaving nothing for your mind to figure out to help you.
You know, you're closing your mind off and maybe you're done, you know, and I see a lot of, oh, everything is going according to plan, going according to plan for these globalists for this.
And it's, if you really sit and think about it, it really isn't.
You know, if you go back, you know, to the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, the Soviet Union, the British Empire, they all failed.
They all had this global agenda.
They wanted to conquer the known world or the whole world and they failed.
And even if you think even more recently, we're finding out no one wants the fake meat.
We don't have vaccine passports.
Almost no one is getting the updated vaccines.
The last time we checked, it was 2% of people.
This is not going according to plan.
Iraq and the Middle East is not a mini USA with McDonald's on every corner.
They fail.
They fail.
Now, these are dangerous people.
They do a lot of damage in failing.
And that's where we have to use our brains to throw a monkey wrench into their plans, to speak out against it, to speak the truth.
So they're going to fail and they're going to create a lot of damage.
And you got to do your best to shield yourself and your family.
And for goodness sake, stop believing them.
Propaganda works, not all the time, but it works a lot.
And they have a lot of believers, a lot of true believers.
And that's a problem.
And they're the ones usually that get hurt the most.
So we have to remain optimistic because the truth always prevails.
Very good.
You know, biblically, there was a lot of information and talk about, you know, the moral decay and people would worry about it.
What's the end of the world's coming?
The people are acting immorally.
But the advice that God sends is that, you know, there's don't worry about it.
There's a lot of people out there that care.
And there is a remnant.
There's always going to be a remnant that will maintain the principles and morality that is necessary for a rebuilding.
And the other thing that the advice was, is it's going to be hard to find them and hard to count them.
Understanding Remnant Liberty 00:03:53
There's more than you ever could dream of.
And I sort of sense that we can look at that in a political sense too, because I come across people that, you know, that, you know, just have been briefly introduced to the ideas of liberty on why it's a moral issue and why it's non-violence.
It promotes peace and prosperity.
And all of a sudden, I realize that the influence tool for one or two, there's many more people out there now, young people that came to some of our rallies and campaign efforts, you know, they have their own programs, their own newsletters, their own radio programs.
And let me tell you, you can't keep up.
They're out there.
That's why to me, one of the most important things we do is make sure that we protect the ability to all individuals who want to express and join the remnant of those people who remembers and understands how the development of the ideas of liberty have been developed since Roman times.
And right now, there's a sincere effort.
I think when you read about the precise beliefs of the economic policies of the founders, they were good and they were well educated, but they didn't have the same understanding on economic policy and the free market economic system.
And so I think we're further ahead.
I think we have a better understanding of monetary policy, not that we follow it, but behind the scenes and in the remnant, there's a better understanding of what money is all about than it was even when they wrote in the Constitution about money issue.
I mean, they were they're they're very good at it, but there's a better understanding now.
So there is a remnant out there, and uh I think it's growing.
I keep thinking about, you know, how are you going to convert all these people?
You need millions of people.
I say, I think of it one at a time.
And that one person, when they're converted, I was always pleased about the fact that when I first started in politics, and I was in, I'd be invited to a college campus.
They say, oh, there's a couple of libertarians there.
So I'd go and I'd talk.
And I was pretty naive, I guess.
And I'd talk to 15 or 20.
So he said, what are you doing?
You're just wasting your time.
I said, well, it's therapy, therapy for me.
So, but those 15 now, they're still around and they have their own programs.
So there's a lot of reason.
An idea whose time has come can't be stopped.
Even the armies can't stop it.
And that's why, you know, I think Victor Hugo is so important.
And he at one time, you know, was very, he came from a military family and he shifted his views in his early writings and all he talked more about the military approach and he switched over.
You know, the Enlightenment and the Romantic era had an influence on him and he and he changed his attitude.
He talked about these ideas that I mentioned briefly.
So I think the opportunity, the understanding is out there, but it's not going to just automatically grow.
It wasn't made that way.
And we know a little bit about history and it's been difficult from the very beginning.
And that's why I think I emphasize now and talk a lot about the higher law and natural law in contest with people who say, why do you waste your time with that?
You know, you can't know the truth.
How can anybody have access to the truth?
Well, it is true.
I've never met one person that knew the truth at best, but moving toward truth and acting in sincerity to seek the truth and peace, I think is worthwhile adventure.
Understanding Grows Through Effort 00:02:57
Chris?
Fantastic, Dr. Paul.
I will finish up by thanking the most important people, and that's those of us, the remnant, that Dr. Paul was just talking about, our listeners and our viewers.
Since we started this show back in, I think 2015, our numbers have been up every year.
We're always growing, which is very encouraging for us, gives us that pep to get in front of the camera.
And it has continued every single year.
So thank you.
We're available on all the major podcast distributions.
We're live on Rumble every day in the week.
We're also available on YouTube.
So thank you.
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We will praise Republicans.
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I'll put a link in the description in case you're listening to this.
And thank you so much.
And enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday.
Very good.
And I want to thank all our viewers for tuning in today and on other days, because like Chris points out, you're the program.
Without you, we can't do very much.
And it keeps us doing.
And I've always argued when I've been involved with political activity is if you understand what's going on, it's significant and you have the proper perspective and not thinking that you can save the world tomorrow.
People used to have asked me a lot, how did you ever put up with working with those clowns in Washington?
I said, well, I just didn't have high expectation.
I had low expectation.
So my goals were such.
So I usually wanted to err on the side of maybe achieving something that I, oh, I can do this.
I can do this.
So anyway, it's very important that we continue to do it.
I think we should have fun doing it.
If we have our conferences, and that's one thing I ask them to do, have a good time and enjoy the companionship of getting together with people who are like-minded.
I think that's important.
But also, I do it for a very selfish reason.
I feel good about it.
I feel good about meeting people.
And I think it's worthwhile.
And it relieves the tension that I have.
And I'd like to say something or do something.
And to my surprise, the reception has been pretty nice.
And I deeply appreciate that.
So have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.
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