Ron Paul

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Ron Paul
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 14th district
In office 1976–1977; 1979–1985; 1997–present
Preceded by	Rob Casey; Bob Gammage; Greg Laughlin
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	August 20, 1935 (age 71) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Carol Paul
Profession	Physician
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul (born 20 August 1935) is an American physician, congressman and presidential candidate from the U.S. state of Texas. A Republican, he has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, and had previously served as the representative from Texas's 22nd district in 1976 and from 1979 to 1985.

In 1984, Paul ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Tower, but the nomination went to Phil Gramm. Paul also supported term limits for members of Congress at the time and likened himself to the famous Senator Robert A. Taft. Paul was the Libertarian Party nominee for president in the 1988 election. After his failed presidential bid, Paul returned to Congress in 1997. He was again elected as a Republican, but against the wishes of the party leadership, which had backed Paul's primary opponent. His opponent in the primary was the incumbent representative. On 11 January 2007, Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a 2008 presidential campaign. He formally declared his candidacy 12 March 2007 as a guest on Washington Journal on C-SPAN.[1]

Contents 1 Early life and education 1.1 Early political career 1.2 Return to Congress 2 Political affiliations and support 3 Views 4 2008 Presidential Campaign 5 Books by Ron Paul 6 Footnotes 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early life and education

Paul was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Howard Caspar Paul and Margaret Paul.^[1][2] He graduated from Dormont High School in Dormont, Pennsylvania, in 1953. Paul attended Gettysburg College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957, and the Duke University School of Medicine, receiving M.D. in 1961. He did his internship and residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit from 1961 to 1962, and was a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1968. Paul completed obstetrics and gynecology training at the University of Pittsburgh while in the Air Force from 1965–1968, and in 1968 he and his wife Carol moved to Surfside Beach, Texas.

[edit] Early political career

He became a delegate to the Texas state Republican convention in 1974. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to Congress in 1974 against the incumbent Democrat Robert R. Casey. When President Gerald R. Ford appointed Casey as head of the Federal Maritime Commission, a special election was held in April 1976 to replace him. Paul won that election but lost six months later in the general election to Democrat Robert A. Gammage. He then defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch. Paul won new terms in 1980 and 1982. He was the first congressman to propose term limit legislation for the House of Representatives. Paul was an unsuccessful candidate for US Senate in the 1984 GOP primary. In 1985, Paul returned to medical practice. He was succeeded by Tom DeLay.

In 1988, Paul won the nomination of the Libertarian Party for the U.S. Presidency. He placed third in the popular vote (with 431,750 votes - 0.47%), behind George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

[edit] Return to Congress

In 1996, Paul was again elected to the House as a Republican. Mainstream Republican Party figures backed the incumbent, Greg Laughlin, a conservative Democrat representative who had switched parties in the wake of the Republican takeover of Congress. Laughlin attempted to portray Paul's views as extreme and eccentric, but Paul won the primary and went on to win the general election.

Leaders of the Texas Republican Party made similar efforts to defeat him in 1998, but he again won the primary and the election. The Republican congressional leadership then agreed to a compromise: Paul votes with the Republicans on procedural matters and remains nominally Republican in exchange for the committee assignments normally due according to his seniority. This is arguably similar to the deal that Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont had with the Democratic Party (though Jeffords was elected as a Republican and was officially an independent until his retirement in January 2007). Paul was convincingly re-elected in 2000 and 2002. He was elected unopposed in 2004 to his ninth term in the Congress, and was re-elected again in 2006 by a 20-point margin.^[3] He is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

[edit] Political affiliations and support

Ron Paul joined the Libertarian Party in 1987 as a lifetime member, a status which he appears never to have renounced. Though only elected to Congress as a Republican, Paul remains on good terms with the Libertarian Party and has addressed its national convention as recently as 2004.^[4]

Libertarian Party spokesman George Getz said that thousands of libertarians across the United States donated money to Ron Paul's campaign funds. Campaign disclosures reveal that 71.4 percent of contributions to Paul's coffers come from outside his home state of Texas. ^[5] Unlike many political candidates, Paul receives the overwhelming majority of his campaign contributions (92.5% in 2004 and 96.8% in 2006) from individuals. ^[6][7]

Paul is also a former national chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus, the libertarian wing of the Republican Party.^[8]

[edit] Views

Main article: Political views of Ron Paul

Ron Paul professes a Constitutionalist (limited government), libertarian ideology, and opposes presidential and judicial autonomy.

[edit] 2008 Presidential Campaign

Main article: Ron Paul presidential campaign, 2008

On 11 January 2007, Paul filed papers to form an exploratory committee for the 2008 presidential race.^[9][10]

Paul formally declared his candidacy 12 March 2007 as a guest on Washington Journal on C-SPAN.^[11] click here to view the C-SPAN Interview

[edit] Books by Ron Paul

• Challenge to Liberty
• The Case for Gold. ISBN 0-932790-31-3. ([2])
• A Republic, If You Can Keep It
• Mises and Austrian Economics: A Personal View. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1984.
• Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution After 200 Years. Lake Jackson, TX: Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, 1987. ([3] Book distributed with permission in 7 parts in pdf-format)
• A Foreign Policy of Freedom. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Gwynne, Sam (1 October 2001). Texas Monthly.
• Bernstein, Alan (23 May 1996). “Newsletter excerpts offer ammunition to Paul's opponent; GOP hopeful quoted on race, crime”, The Houston Chronicle, p. A33.

[edit] External links

• Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Site
• Congressman Ron Paul Announces Presidential Run while taking LIVE calls on C-SPAN! Full Video!
• Official web site of Congressman Ron Paul
• Congressman Ron Paul's Congressional Campaign Site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Ron Paul Myspace Page
• Ron Paul 2008 social network
• On the Issues - Ron Paul issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org - Ron Paul campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart - Ron Paul profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia - Ron Paul profile
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
• Unofficial Ron Paul for President 2008 Blog
• Ron Paul 2008 Blog
• Ron Paul for President 2008 Blog and Links
• Advocates for Self-Government profile of Ron Paul
• Congressman Ron Paul and Medical Marijuana
• Congressman Ron Paul Talks About Gold, Oil & the Economy
• Rep. Ron Paul's Column for Antiwar.com
• Texas Observer Interview with Rep. Ron Paul An Anti-War Republican!
• Audio: A Texas Republican Comes Out Against the War in Iraq A Talk with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul
• National Taxpayers Union Honors Ron Paul as one of 29 Congressmen who are "Taxpayer's Friends"
• Commentary by Rep. Paul on U.S. policy in the Middle East
• Ron Paul archives on LewRockwell.com
• Political profile of Ron Paul
• The Broadcast Indecency Act, An Indecent Attack on the First Amendment by Ron Paul
• Iran: The Next Neocon Target, speech by Ron Paul before the U.S. House of Representatives
• Downloadable audio interview with Scott Horton
• Is America a Police State?, speech before the U.S. House of Representatives on June 27, 2002
• A Modest Proposal: Ron Paul for President by economist David R. Henderson (May 22, 2003)
• The American Dream - Through the Eyes of Mrs. Ron Paul by Mrs. Ron Paul on TheDailyPaul.

Preceded by Robert R. Casey	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 22nd congressional district April, 1976 – January, 1977	Succeeded by Robert A. Gammage
Preceded by Robert A. Gammage	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 22nd congressional district 1979 – 1985	Succeeded by Tom DeLay
Preceded by David Bergland	Libertarian Party Presidential candidate 1988 (3rd)	Succeeded by Andre Marrou
Preceded by Greg Laughlin	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 14th congressional district 1997 – present	Incumbent

Texas's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators: Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), John Cornyn (R) Representative(s): Louie Gohmert (R), Ted Poe (R), Sam Johnson (R), Ralph Hall (R), Jeb Hensarling (R), Joe Barton (R), John Culberson (R), Kevin Brady (R), Al Green (D), Michael McCaul (R), Mike Conaway (R), Kay Granger (R), Mac Thornberry (R), Ron Paul (R), Rubén Hinojosa (D), Silvestre Reyes (D), Chet Edwards (D), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D), Randy Neugebauer (R), Charlie Gonzalez (D), Lamar Smith (R), Nick Lampson (D), Ciro D. Rodriguez (D), Kenny Marchant (R), Lloyd Doggett (D), Michael Burgess (R), Solomon Ortiz (D), Henry Cuellar (D), Gene Green (D), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D), John Carter (R), Pete Sessions (R) All delegations: Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming — American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands

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