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Ron Paul

From dKosopedia

Contents

Biography

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ron Paul moved to Texas in 1968, where he set up a medical practice specializing in obstetrics/gynecology (Dr. Paul boasts he has delivered over 4,000 babies).

Paul ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1974, but then won a special election when that seat became vacant, and he served from April 1976 to Jan. 1977. Although he was not reelected in 1976, he won the election in 1978, and held that seat until 1984, when he made an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate.

His retirement from politics wouldn’t last long, however. In 1988, he campaigned for the Libertarian Party Presidential nomination, and ultimately received 431,750 votes.

After the "Republican Revolution" in 1994, Paul returned to the GOP, and returned to the U.S. Congress after his hometown had been redistricted to the Texas 14th Congressional District. He successfully won the Republican primary against party-swicher Greg Laughlin by focusing on comments made against him by then Majority Leader Newt Gingrich some years earlier. In the House of Representatives, Paul serves on the Financial Services Committee (as vice-chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee), the International Relations committee, and the Joint Economic Committee.

Besides his legislative duties and outspoken advocacy of a strict adherence to the Constitution, Rep. Paul has also published a number of books, among them Challenge to Liberty, The Case for Gold, and A Republic, If You Can Keep It.

Ideology

Ron Paul describes himself as a strict adherent to the Constitution, and only the constitution, voting against any legislation he deems outside the scope of the founding documents, regardless of how his party sees it.

In practice, this has caused Paul to be viewed as a firebrand and a maverick in the Republican party, often coming out against his conservative colleagues on such critical votes as the Patriot Act and the War in Iraq. Paul seemingly has no qualms with fiercely criticizing his own party when he feels they’ve overstepped their constitutional bounds, which is often. Far from a safe Republican vote, Paul sides most often with the Libertarian Party, and is counted by them among their list of allies.

As listed on his official web site, these are The Ron Paul Freedom Principles:

Controversial positions

External links

Retrieved from "http://localhost../../../r/o/n/Ron_Paul_339f.html"

This page was last modified 21:38, 6 July 2009 by dKosopedia user PatRoseDemocrat. Based on work by Michael and Chad Lupkes and dKosopedia user(s) Corncam, Jfern, Roger, Centerfielder, VSerge, BartFraden, Allamakee Democrat, DRolfe, IrishAlum, Power and Glibfidget. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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