On Wednesday, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) delivered a 48-minute farewell address on the House floor after serving 30 years in Congress. His farewell speech is arguably the best in his career.

full and complete text.  For now ...

Here are a few highlights.

Note: For ease in reading, I dispense with my normal blockquotes (indentation).

Paul Highlights

The major stumbling block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting spending.



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Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for Sitka Pacific Capital Management.

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Missourimule2 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 7:39 PM
Ron Paul could have been an "American Hero", if he could have ever beaten back his inner dingbat - but too often, that was the persona that rose to the surface and destroyed what good ideas he could have had. Was this a great speech? Absolutely - but his strange goofiness and his weird ideas that went right alongside his good ones made it impossible for him to accomplish what he could have.
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Corbett_ Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 9:24 PM
Yeah those ideas about following the Constitution and about personal liberty really were weird...
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 9:25 PM
Yeah, that Ron Paul, what a bunch of goofy ideas! Like--

1) Taking the Constitution literally, and following it. Crazy!

2) Staying out of insane, ginned-up foreign wars. What a nutball!

3) Auditing and closing down the Federal Reserve Counterfeiting Operation (FRCO). Why, that's nuts!

4) Ending the insane and unconstitutional War on (selected) Drugs! What a dingbat!
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OldMexicanblog Wrote: Nov 18, 2012 1:40 AM
Re: Missourimule2,

-- if he could have ever beaten back his inner dingbat --

Yes, he does not want to murder brown people. Why, the man should be committed!
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moulinroe Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 5:58 PM
The Republican Party enjoys large government when they are in charge and champion small government when not. The Republican Party systematically champions those who 'fight' large government when they are not the party "in charge."

Do people here remember Ruby Ridge? Ashamedly, many conservatives made Randy Weaver a 'hero.' Remember him? This so-called 'hero' of Newt Gingrich and the Republican Party in the 1990's, used his wife as a shield as he shot and murdered an FBI agent in Idaho.

The incident at Ruby Ridge became an instrument for the Republican Party to gut and hollow out the FBI.
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Corbett_ Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 9:30 PM
Remember the "crimes" committed by the people at Ruby Ridge prior to the FBI's siege? There were none. These people simply refused to act as FBI informants. So the FBI decided to kill them.
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Dr_Zinj Wrote: Nov 19, 2012 8:54 AM
Remember the FBI consorted with the Winter Hill mob in Boston, allowing Whitey Bulger to send his minions to kill dozens of people, including telex CEO Roger Wheeler? And then the FBI spent years covering that up before surrendering a couple corrupt agents as the fall guys.
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The_Solandog Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 5:12 PM
Many Republican frequently tell us that 50% of Americans pay NO taxes. They forget the word 'income' before the word 'taxes.' That would make it a true statement. However, a person making $20,000 pays $3060 every year in social security and Medicare taxes. And these are taxes, too!

Receipts for fiscal year 2008 were $2.66 trillion. The top three sources are:

* $1.25 trillion - Individual income tax
* $927.2 billion - Social Security/payroll taxes
* $314.9 billion - Corporate income tax

Republicans may casually dismiss Social Security taxes as not a "real" tax, but $927 billion is a real number, and EVERYONE pays that on their first dollar earned.

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Corbett_ Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 9:31 PM
Solandog -- telling this lie on every thread does not make it true.
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moulinroe Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 5:03 PM
Goodly evangelical Christians in America have become hopelessly enmeshed in a slavish worship of all that is pleasant, all that is comfortable, all that is material -- they worship things, they worship products. Will they ever succeed in shaking off this burden, in giving free rein to the spirit that was breathed into us at birth, that spirit which distinguishes us from the animal world.

Goodly Christian people, you lost the war on Christmas; you turned the birth of Christ into an orgy of materialism and a worship of consumerism.

Goodly Christian people in American, have you no shame?
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SMyles Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 4:59 PM
Thank you very much Mike!
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moulinroe Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 4:56 PM
I believe the Republican party screwed up in Iraq on purpose! They did not want the US Army to control Iraqi society after the fall of Saddam.

The Neo-Conservatives and Republican party believed Iraqi society could be re-styled to suit America's need after a whole lot of looting took place

Folks, read "Policy for a New American Century."

Republicans have the same philosophy here in the USA, it's called 'starve the beast.'
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The_Solandog Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 3:59 PM
Many Republicans like to say that the Democrats cut defense spending in the first two years of 'Bubba' Clinton's presidency, just before Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House.

If those deep defense cuts happened in 'Bubba' Clinton's first two years, how come the Republican senate, with 44 senators didn't filibuster those deep defense cuts? Again, these contemptible Republicans put this nation in grave danger.

If these odious and contemptible Republicans lie about things like the 'Clinton Administration Defense Cuts', then what will they not lie about?
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ROUNDBABY Wrote: Nov 18, 2012 1:06 AM
look at obammer and israel=wouldn't trust obammer to get my back when push comes to shove like benghazi. we look weak right now especially with speaker of the world in charge--the annointed one!!he's the affirmative action president--has to get others to do the hard things and is clueless on his own chicago community orginizing--impeachment soon--I GUARENTEE!!
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natch Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 2:04 PM
My only resentment of the Founding Fathers is that they left a one-of-a-kind, extraordinary document to the ordinary to manage. The greedy, the socially intolerants, the authoritarians have taken our Constitution and warped, bent and squeezed it into something almost unrecognizable from its original intent. I see no way we, the ordinary, will ever bring it back.
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natch Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 2:06 PM
...social intolerants
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moulinroe Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 1:57 PM
Bubba Clinton's sexual misconduct got Republican 'knickers in a twist' because they demonstrated symptoms of his liberal secular outlook which tie him to a longstanding conspiracy against God, individual responsibility, and national sovereignty.

The traits 20th century fascism and 21st century Republicanism share are obsession with action for action's sake, the exaltation of instinct over intellect, and of tradition over progress; the insistence that the Republican Party represents the "true" national identity; and the violent rejection and desire to eliminate both foreign enemies and internal ones, the latter being those deemed toxic to the national body politic.

Again, you Republicans think with their blood.
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Jim103 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 1:07 PM
Ron Paul, a hero?

Only to those who regard Osama Bin Laden a hero.
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alopekos teumesios Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 4:49 PM
Wow! You display such mature and reasoned insight. I never would have reached that conclusion without your impeccable logic.
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anti-neocon Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 7:10 PM
please explain. i didn't know osama bin-laden was a constitutionalist.
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Frank130 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 1:03 PM
"Ron Paul, American Hero"

Truly said! Sadly it won't be appreciated by most Americans until some time in the future when all the things he's been trying to warn against come true and all the solutions he had offered were ignored.
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SMyles Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 4:58 PM
"when all the things he's been trying to warn against come true" Plenty enough of what he says is already true and the sheeple still don't get it. That's just the way it is.
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:20 PM
Before tyrants can launch aggressive wars against ginned-up foreign "enemies," they must first launch aggressive wars against their own people.

In the old days, they could only do this through direct taxation. But that system had limits. Eventually, the tyrant's subjects would rebel.

The modern way tyrants plunder their own people, in order to finance wars, is to sanction fiat money. Using the printing press and easy credit, they can steal far more than they ever could through direct taxation, because only a tiny fraction of the people understand what's really going on.
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:22 PM
Ron Paul understands this. His fans, who understand what's really going, react with a tremendous enthusiasm that, frankly, frightens the Republican Party establishment. Enthusiasm for a political candidate? And worse--GENUINE enthusiasm, based on clearly-enunciated philosophical principles? What's goin' on here?
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Grant75 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 11:57 AM
"Ron Paul's politics was always a package deal. It was the politics of ‘no.' It rested on two assumptions: (1) the principle of non-intervention; (2) the obligation to vote ‘no' if the proposed legislation was not authorized by the U.S. Constitution. Simple. Direct. Easily understood. Universally ignored. ... Ever since 1865, there have been only three elected Washington politicians who held this position: Ron Paul, President Grover Cleveland, and Congressman Howard Buffett (Warren's father). ... The politics of "no" is a self-conscious reversal of all politics. . .
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Grant75 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 11:59 AM
. . . Traditional politics is based on the practice known as logrolling. A politician approaches a colleague. He promises to vote for the colleague's bill if the colleague will reciprocate. The two bills must be non-controversial in each man's district. But most bills are. There are thousands of them introduced in every term of Congress. This is the politics of ‘yes.' ... The politics of ‘yes' is based on this justification to the folks back home. ‘I will bring home the loot.' The politics of ‘no' is based on this justification to the folks back home: ‘I will keep out the looters.'" . . . economist Gary North . . .
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:09 PM
Grant, you make great points.

You could possibly argue that the much-reviled Warren Harding at least deserves honorable mention alongside Grover Cleveland. He "solved" the catastrophic depression of 1920 by cutting government spending by half. As a result, the depression was over in 6 months.

He spent the rest of his term gambling, drinking, and entertaining dancing girls. Far, far less harmful than trying to central plan the economy.
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Zerubbabel Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:02 PM
Goldwater might also be included?
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:13 PM
Compared to other post-WWII candidates, Goldwater was a giant.

He was defeated by a campaign that claimed that, if he were elected, we might get embroiled in a pointless ground war in Asia, ten thousand miles from our own shores, resulting in maybe fifty thousand American deaths.
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ROUNDBABY Wrote: Nov 18, 2012 1:11 AM
WHY DOES RON PAUL SUPPORTERS CONDEMN THE REPUBLICANS AND NOT THE DEMOCRATS ALL THE TIME--OHH THE 1%'ERS IN SHEEPS CLOTHES. MAYBE LIBERAL SOROS, MEDIA MATTERS CO-CONSPIRATORS. NO WONDER OBAMMER LOST OUR COUNTRY-JOE BIDEN IS A HEARTBEAT AWAY--TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK
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anti-neocon Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 11:05 AM
the ONLY thing that makes america unique and special is LIBERTY. dr. paul is the champion of liberty. most likely dr. paul is the person in the federal government that the founders would be proud of.
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ROUNDBABY Wrote: Nov 18, 2012 1:15 AM
WHO KEEPS CALLING HIM DOCTOR PAUL--AHHAA HE'S SECRELY GOING TO WORK FOR OBAMMER--WE NEED MORE DOCTORS FOR OBAMMERCARE--THATS WHY THE PAULSTERS VOTED FOR OBAMMER--SIMPLE AS THAT
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Zerubbabel Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 10:56 AM
As Paul began, the problem stems from failure to recognizes the heart of the problem ("we are broke"). Although an uninspired orator, Paul's facts should make one emote a disgust at Conservatives in the aggregate, who in this past cycle rejected Pauline Freedom and embraced yet another big government bureaucratic R to save them from the big government bureaucratic D.

Shouldn't TH be too embarrassed to publish this speech? Aren't we supposed to ignore all of this loss-of-freedom rhetoric except if it is aimed exclusively at the D's?
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myrtle4 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 9:45 AM
Mike, you wrote, "clowns like Mitt Romney". Mitt Romney a clown? If you believe that, you have lost at least one reader.
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anti-neocon Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 10:58 AM
mike, it's alright. keep speaking the truth. you DON"T need readers who are not open to the truth.
by the way, you are too kind to romney. you could have truthfully called him much worse.
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Paulus Textor Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 12:14 PM
Indeed. "Clown" is much too kind.
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Zerubbabel Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 11:00 AM
You emote at a single strident invective and miss the comprehensive ideas laid before you.
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mrscas Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 8:35 AM
Paul was the lone voice.
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Chris from Kalifornia Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 8:17 AM
We need a fundamental change back to following the constitution. Both main parties pay no attention to their oaths of office and routinely pass illegal legislation and institute unconstitutional policies and agencies. Bring all our troops home and station them where they will do the most good...Along the borders. Close the bases in Germany and Japan and all the other "allies". They should be willing to protect themselves. Go back to the constitutional government we had a hundred plus years ago and abolish 90% of the federal government.

Read and consider switching to this: http://www.constitutionparty.com/
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JOHN1464 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 6:04 AM
Better words could not have been spoken. We will miss you, Ron Paul. You are a true patriot.
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S10MDLEXLUTHOR314 Wrote: Nov 17, 2012 4:17 AM
IMHO There is a vast difference between Obama and Romney. Romney is a descent honest man that would have been markedly better for America. It's much more than the differences in economic policies,Obama doesn't respect American's rights. In the next four years we are going to be given an education on the difference between an Obama America and the one Romney would have created. Romney wanted us to vote for love of country, Obama for Revenge. Obama will get his revenge on us !
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