Slashing Big Government - An Idea Whose Time Has Come!
Amid the madness and superficiality of US presidential campaign politics, suddenly there is serious talk about the Federal Reserve and...cutting government spending! Ron Paul's social media blew up over the weekend after Elon Musk invited him to team up, grab a machete, and start slashing two trillion dollars from the budget. Will the enthusiasm hold? Is it suddenly "cool" to talk about monetary policy, out-of-control spending...and the Fed?
Hello, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With us today, we have Daniel McAdams, our co-host.
Daniel, good to see you today.
Good morning, Dr. Paul.
How are you?
Good.
Good.
I've been looking around for some good news.
I did discover something, a surprise, that our organization, you know, the Liberty Report, has had a token amount of influence because they sort of were, you know, seeking us out and talking about cutting spending into the trillions of dollars and also bringing up the subject.
We even had a comment from the to be vice president talking about the Fed.
So, you know, these are some of the ideas I looked at for a long time.
But one thing I knew from the very beginning, that the last thing I want was power over other people.
I don't want to tell people what to do.
And then why do you do it?
But I have to confess that I like the idea that the ideas that I've gathered from many others and put them together are important now, more so than they were 25, 30 years ago.
So I think this is pretty neat.
And there wasn't a lot of excitement.
You counted them up.
There are more 10,000 comments.
But no, I have to admit, I'm pleased with that because I think our efforts, and when I say our efforts, I really mean that because when I think of the thousands of people that helped me in campaigning to get the message out, we've always talked about you have sometimes an idea, you know, is spreading much faster than you know at all.
And there's a remnant out there.
So there's lots of activities that we don't know about.
So even though, you know, there wasn't this well known, I was always confident the one comment I had was the ideas of liberty, limited government, sound money was the right way to go.
And because it was the opposite of gaining power over individuals.
And that's what all politics seems to be.
How am I going to tell people what to do?
How am I going to tell the world what to do in the other countries?
And how are we going to run the monetary policy, all the works?
That was not a goal.
So I would think our supporters that we have, the work you've done with the Institute, and making this emphasis on foreign policy, you know, I thought that would be the hardest knot to crack.
And it is a tough one.
But we were already seeing people, you know, not being rubber stamped by both parties.
Both parties have division.
And it's over this issue of can we work and move toward a non-interventionist foreign policy.
So I think a lot of good things are coming from this interest.
And it does surprise me that there were more than, and I think you said there were more than 10,000.
Yeah, I thought I was going to have a quiet weekend working on my yard, you know, then all of a sudden you had to go and blow things up on Friday night, I think it was.
But, you know, seriously, I mean, it does feel like, you know, libertarians, we kind of, we don't often have things to cheer about these days.
You know, it often feels that way.
But what I think this captured is really that kind of pent up interest that's out there that is just not reflected in the mainstream media and elsewhere.
But I'm going to break it down really quickly, just a couple things that have happened in case anyone slept through the weekend.
So I think we were on Thursday's show.
We were talking about Elon Musk was up on stage with Trump saying, I want to slash $2 trillion out of the budget.
And we both said, that sounds like a great idea.
You said it sounds like a great idea.
And then went home and you tweeted this out.
Put on the first one, that first clip.
You tweeted this out in support of you.
You said, Elon cutting $2 trillion from the budget, great idea.
Start with some of the biggest welfare recipients.
Military industrial complex, pharmaceutical industrial complex.
Oh, and end the Fed.
To which, to both of our surprises, Elon Musk, the man himself, responded, click that next one.
He responded with a simple sentence, needs to be done.
Half a million people saw that.
So that was incredible enough.
It's great that he recognized your appraise and said it needs to be done.
But then something else happened.
Put this next one together.
There was an invitation for you to get involved.
And this comes out, it was based on an interview.
We're going to show a clip from that interview in just a minute.
But this is Ron Paul says he wants to join Elon Musk to cut government waste in the second Trump administration.
Not exactly what you said, but we'll get to what you said in a second.
To which Elon replied, would be great to have Ron Paul as part of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Well, that's interesting, but my first thought, could that be an oxymoron?
You know, because it reminds me of all the efforts, the pretend efforts.
But we're looking now and hoping that this is not pretend.
This is serious stuff.
But in the old days, they would always have one bill, you know, all the spending bills, they come up.
Oh, we have a commission to get rid of all the waste and fraud and abuse.
And I would vote for it.
But also, tongue in cheek, I would tell him, I said, you know, it's not going to happen.
So I think, I mean, the people who are now talking about it are a little bit different than the Kamala Harris.
I was in that crowd and the Biden group.
Oh, sorry, go ahead.
I was going to say, even in Congress, that when they do that, they would cut a swimming pool for some poor black kids in the inner city.
Then they'd pass a trillion-dollar military budget.
Or the other one is, and I think you've mentioned this before, is they propose a budget for $20 billion and they take it down to $19.
The year before it was $15.
So an increase, a so-called decrease is actually an increase.
Well, let's listen to kind of what started it out.
Now, you went on David Gernowski's show.
He's an old friend of ours, a neighbor's choice.
This podcast.
It's a very good podcast.
But he, being a good journalist, he just put it to you straight.
You might want to grab your earpiece.
This is a 30-second segment of David just saying, hey, are you interested?
Do you want to do this?
And so people can hear exactly what you said.
Let's go ahead and play that clip.
I was wondering, you know, I saw that Elon had interacted with you on Twitter about your ideas for cutting.
Would you ever be an advisor for him?
If he ever, if Trump got in there and put Elon in charge of looking for wasteful spending, would you help him if he asked you?
Oh, I would.
Everybody would know what I believe.
There would be no secrets.
And I think, no, they would, but I wouldn't want an official position.
You know, because I'm sort of steered away from getting too involved in the politics of it all, right?
I was wondering.
So that was an interesting clip.
So what were your thoughts when Dave was asking you that?
Were you starting to pack your bags?
No, not really, because I've known him, and he worked in our campaign, and he gave the campaign and the work he did there a credit for giving him an incentive to follow on.
And now he's very successful with his web page and his broadcast.
So that to me is so important because even though it's very clear in my mind, because I think it's opposite of everything I believe, that I don't want to deal with accumulation of power.
But I do admit that I don't mind having a little influence.
You know, if you can have people influence ideologically, you know, and explain.
See, I think one of the neatest challenges with our philosophy is the people that want to cut.
You know, if you propose to cut welfare, what kind of a monster are you?
Taking food stamps away from the poor.
And then if a person, you know, is just blindfolded on that, all you have to do is start talking about where the real welfare is.
And it's corporate welfare.
So it is in the monetary system.
So that's why I think the ideas are so important.
And if people change their mind and they did it because they worked with us in the campaign or whatever, you know, I think that's fine.
I think that's a peaceful way of trying to change things.
So you never know.
You may get a phone call from Elon.
You may get a message from Elon.
You know, you never know.
And I think actually, if you go to the next one, this is a couple more interesting.
There's a ton.
And Zero Hedge did a great kind of summary of all of these things that happened over the weekend.
It was crazy.
So here, if you put that next one on, so here's Donald Trump Jr. responding to this idea that you might be happy advising Musk on cuts.
Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, I'm all for this.
Let's go.
So that's great.
And I think you did the right thing too.
If you go to the next one, this is your reply to Elon Musk.
You said, love to have you on my Liberty report to discuss.
So we're waiting by the phone.
We're waiting in our DMs or whatever.
And we're going to open up the doors and let people come see you here in Clue, Texas.
Yeah, well, if Elon wants to fly down here, he can sit right between us or you guys can be on it.
Well, I tell you what, if attention to good ideas is worth something, they gave us a little bit of an attention there.
Because most of the time, some of the things they were saying, when you cut, cut, cut, and you're in a position of authority, they get into big trouble.
And unfortunately, Trump has been vulnerable because they know he's serious and he's not with us on all the issues.
But I think that just moving in that direction is a big deal.
You know, if the government is getting smaller couple percent a year, that would be amazing because it always goes up about 10%.
But if the size and scope of government is going up steadily, as is the debt and the budget, that that is bad news.
And people still don't quite realize how serious that is.
They do pay a little lip service to it.
Oh, we have to cut back when it's appropriate.
But if it were known to be as serious as we think it is, they'd do something about it.
But the other thing is, oh, we'll avoid being blamed for it.
We'll put the blame on somebody else.
That's all the blame game.
Yeah.
Well, maybe we can do it from a rocket ship.
You and Elon.
Get out of town.
But, you know, I mean, you have a brand new column out.
It's Monday.
And you talked about how kind of the re-emergence of ideas.
I thought it was a good point that, you know, first, as you said, you know, JD Vance saying, hey, I'm not a Ron Paul guy, but I'm starting to think about this Fed stuff a little more.
You know, I thought it was fascinating because he was very sincere.
And even though somebody said, yeah, but he had a disclaimer in there.
He didn't want to accept all that libertarian stuff.
Well, that didn't bother me a bit.
He's nibbling around what we were doing, and his discovery and his message had to do with the monetary system.
And that's when I think I made the mention that, you know, what we want is the development of one of these presidents soon.
That will be another Andrew Jackson who would get rid of the central bank.
And the other thing that I was very pleased on what Cheye said was that the thing that he picked out that was on top of his list on his mind, I thought was so appropriate.
And that had to do with very, very rich people that have influence and are, you know, are on the inside.
And they may be insider.
And he says, you know, something, and he was genuinely concerned.
He says, the fact that they're able to get loans between one and two percent, there's something he didn't say it, but what he was saying, there's something unfair about that.
But also, the reason why I thought that was good is that one of the consequences of inflation is the class warfare.
You know, if the rich are doing this, and all of a sudden people, you mean, is that blunt?
We just thought they were brilliant people.
Yeah, exactly.
Some are, but not all.
Well, you know, I mean, even you can almost take Vance as saying, well, hey, I'm not a Ron Paul guy as the beginning of the process.
You know, these people, libertarians, are a little weird.
In fact, when I started reading Lou Rockwell in the 90s, I thought that.
I said, these people are a little bit weird.
And then I stopped and said, well, so am I.
So maybe he's starting that process.
You never know.
One advantage I had, the intellectual that I first became associated with and friends with was Leonard Reed.
And he was dignified, a gentleman, and just spoke softly, but never, he never, the term they used, and Murray used it, don't leak.
Don't leak on your beliefs.
But they never advocated violence.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, the thing that then really kind of blew up, because I think Elon, the wheels must have been turning and he saw the big response on Twitter X to this kind of interchange between the two of you.
He could sense it was blowing up.
And he actually seemed like he was warming to the idea more because he kept commenting.
And then he actually posted this meme.
Now, my guess is you're not super familiar with it.
It comes from a cult film called Office Space that a lot of people were interested in.
So it's kind of that's how memes are.
You know, they evoke different things.
But so put this up.
This is from Office Space, but it's the Department of Government Efficiency.
And for those of you only listening, it's Elon's face next to Dr. Paul's face.
And they're looking at, for example, an employee and they're saying, what would you say you do here?
Which is sort of what Elon is famous for doing, of going around SpaceX and his other companies and asking an engineer, what do you do here?
And if he doesn't have a good answer, you're out.
Well, that's what I could have done in a way.
Did do a little bit of it, just walk around the house floor.
Yeah, what do you do here?
What do you think you're doing here?
50 Million Chuckles00:03:37
That would be a good one.
But anyway, that little meme to show you the power of kind of the new media, kind of the alternative media.
Yes, that wasn't a 5,000-word essay, but conveying in that picture probably just enough information.
That was viewed by 50 million people.
50 million people looked at this, they had a chuckle, and then they kind of reflected a little bit.
Hey, that's kind of neat, you know.
Nobody was stuffing the ballot box.
Nobody was stuffing anything.
No.
Well, that is.
That's pretty amazing.
But to me, that is a positive idea of an issue becoming popularized.
An idea about money that it's necessary and people are appropriate or accepting it and moving it.
And the neat thing is, we had so many young people in the campaign.
I was the most impressed when I had a 14-year-old, and he brought his parents in when I was in the middle of the campaign in 2008.
And he brought his parents into the congressional office, and we got to talking.
And he was so well-informed because I remember telling him, I says, do you know that you know more about the Fed than most members of Congress?
But the other thing that pleased me, I kept thinking, well, wow, the parents going to say, here he is getting the attention, and I'm paying attention and praising him.
And I even brought that up to the parent, and you didn't even have to ask them.
They were just so delighted.
And it was strictly in ideas.
It wasn't like, oh, you can't accept that.
That's too much like a Republican.
That's too much like a Democrat or something like that.
They were very pleased that this 14-year-old had a clear understanding.
I don't know his name, but it'd be neat to meet him again.
I bet he was homeschooled, too.
Wouldn't be surprised.
That's one thing actually that's interesting.
I was talking to someone over the weekend when this was all blowing up.
And the greatest form of praise is following what the person has done.
And Trump announced that this sort of $10,000 tax credit for homeschooling, which is something you proposed.
No tax on tips.
That's something you proposed.
And a few other things.
So if he's serious about it, it shows that he's been listening to the kinds of things that you were proposing back then, which is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
Is that?
Yeah, and the whole idea, I'm not comfortable.
I had to have a different approach being in Congress because I found some benefits, but it wasn't going to be confrontation and thinking that they were going to pass my legislation, me being upset that they don't do this.
It was mainly to present some ideas that they haven't thought about.
What do you think about this?
Well, I've never thought about it.
Yeah, exactly.
But it's it, excuse me, it's in our history, though.
You know, when you look at, when you look at from the time the Declaration of Independence up to the Constitution, it's buried in there.
A lot of experience of problems way back.
And we're still making those mistakes.
But eventually, I've argued that they always have to end it.
And almost always they end.
Well, to truly end it, you have to use precious metals.
This is the way history has been.
Keep the Focus Alive00:04:11
Well, you know, talking about this Elon meme that got so many views, you know, I remember your admonishment has always been, spread the message, but have fun doing it.
And I think that's a great example of having fun, doing something lighthearted, you know, and it can be very effective.
Well, you know, if I get a call from one of those very important people after the campaign is over and the election, I'm saying, you weren't serious, were you?
The campaign's over.
That was a gimmick.
Oh, no, we're going to do it.
I don't know.
I don't know about that.
Well, we'll keep an eye on it.
Tomorrow's a big day, so we'll see what happens.
But let's move on to, we're going to cover just one other thing before we have to go.
And the reason why this is a good one to cover, because people say, well, Dr. Paul, what would you cut?
What would you cut?
And your approach is more philosophical.
But I think on this one, you could specifically say, I would cut that and put this next one up.
Because this is about war and this is about escalation.
U.S. bombers arrived in the Middle East as part of a new deployment for Israel.
And you would ask, well, did Congress get together over the weekend to declare war or authorize this?
No, they didn't.
It wasn't even the president.
It was Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, who has zero constitutional authority to order the deployment of anyone.
But he ordered the deployment of B-52s, bombs, missiles, everything to Carter and throughout the region, saying we are going to escalate at the same time warning Iran.
So I'm pretty sure that you would advise cutting the money to send B-52s to the Middle East.
Yes, I would, if I had the chance, and they asked me an open-ended question, I would tell them what I've been saying the last couple weeks because I've tried to narrow it down.
It should be complicated.
You know, there's so many different things you could do and so many special interests, and which ones are you going to pick and how you're going to do it.
And I said, the best thing to do is anybody who's getting ready to spend their money in Congress or anywhere, any lobbyist, the question that should be asked is, where do you get the authority to do that?
And that's what you were referring to.
Why don't they have this authority to go to war?
So where's the authority?
And most of them would be shocked to know that they're not supposed to go to war without the people getting their vote through the representative.
That's weird.
Old-fashioned.
And also, where are you going to get the money?
Oh, we'll get it appropriated.
Yeah, where do they get it?
They don't have any money.
They have $35 trillion in debt.
And they think nothing of adding, what, this year, over a trillion dollars more debt.
They never touch it.
And these are grown people.
But they didn't go to homeschooling.
No, they didn't.
Yeah.
So anyway, we'll keep an eye on that.
And I guess we'll close it down.
But I want to do a couple of things if you're ready to close.
And I'll just close this Monday.
And I want to thank everyone.
We're a little bit excited here.
We're a little bit happy here.
We love to see a little bit of attention paid to our efforts.
We keep plunking away here day after day, so it's nice to get recognized.
And one of the ways we're able to do that is through your generosity.
If you put that next clip up, and I'll put a link in here, if you can help the Ron Paul Institute to continue to spread Dr. Paul's message, please go to ronpaulinstitute.org and make a tax-deductible donation.
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Yes, and I want to add one other comment about simplifying things by suggesting another couple questions to ask or trying to get it explained.
One is when you're looking for people and trying to convince people, the term voluntarism sounds so wonderful because who wants to live in their house and it's not voluntary anymore?
Voluntarism vs. Authoritarianism00:01:54
And I know people will abuse and distort what I'm saying, but volunteerism is pretty neat because both sides have to agree on what you do.
And on social affairs, religious affairs, political things, you just come together.
Otherwise, it doesn't happen.
But the opposite to this, which we have accepted, and it's been almost unanimous by both parties, unless they have a real strong libertarian instinct, is that if you don't have voluntarism, the void is filled with authoritarianism.
We put a bunch of people up in Washington who are very aggressively and tell you how much they know, and we can tell you.
And the people, you can't leave this up just to the people because they're not smart enough.
I've heard that argument.
So we have to tell them what to do.
Where do you get the authority?
Oh, don't worry about that.
We'll take it.
But there are some simple rules that we can develop, and we get more people to do that when they're campaigning, when they get serious.
And I would say what we've been talking about here, and Daniel's been doing such a great job on the foreign policy of non-interventionists and mind our own business and staying out of these wars, that there's more and more people joining us in that.
But that is a big task because the military-industrial complex is very, very big.
And it is that authoritarianism where these special interests can come in.
It's all couched in the word of, oh no, that's democratic.
They're just their group to come and lobby for what they think is theirs and what is right.
Well, it may be democratic in their terms, but democracy can become a dictatorship, and that's why it's so dangerous.
What we want is freedom, volunteerism, and to point out authoritarianism leads to nothing but trouble.