WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.500 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're going 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:07.440 to unravel the fascinating, highly contradictory, 00:00:07.559 --> 00:00:11.080 and deeply influential career of a man who essentially 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:13.960 reshaped modern American politics. We're talking 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:16.359 about Ron Paul. Yeah, and it's quite a story. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:18.879 It really is. To do this, we're relying entirely 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.859 on a comprehensive Wikipedia article that details 00:00:21.859 --> 00:00:24.859 his life, his medical and political career, and 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:26.960 his deeply entrenched ideological positions. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.920 Right. Our mission today is to figure out how 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:33.609 a Texas OBGYN a man who fundamentally rejected 00:00:33.609 --> 00:00:36.210 the entire Washington establishment, somehow 00:00:36.210 --> 00:00:39.030 became a grassroots Internet sensation, a three 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:41.689 -time presidential candidate and what many call 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:43.450 the intellectual godfather of the Tea Party. 00:00:43.570 --> 00:00:45.270 Exactly. And before we get into the details, 00:00:45.310 --> 00:00:46.829 it's important to lay out a quick disclaimer 00:00:46.829 --> 00:00:48.750 for you, the listener. The source material we're 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:50.350 pulling from today contains politically charged 00:00:50.350 --> 00:00:52.950 content encompassing both right -wing and left 00:00:52.950 --> 00:00:54.869 -wing perspectives. We want to be absolutely 00:00:54.869 --> 00:00:57.530 clear. We do not take sides, nor do we endorse 00:00:57.530 --> 00:01:00.070 any of the political viewpoints or ideologies 00:01:00.070 --> 00:01:02.539 we're going to discuss today. Our sole purpose 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.219 here is to impartially report on the factual 00:01:05.219 --> 00:01:08.040 content provided in the source material and convey 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:11.180 these ideas exactly as they are documented. Okay, 00:01:11.219 --> 00:01:14.579 let's unpack this because Ron Paul's origin story 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.420 isn't exactly your standard politician's resume. 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:21.200 He was born in Pittsburgh in 1935. As a high 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:23.939 school junior, he was the 200 -meter dash state 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:26.700 champion. And a track star. Yeah, right. He went 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:28.620 on to get his medical degree from Duke University. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.799 And then he served as a flight surgeon in the 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:32.939 United States Air Force and the Air National 00:01:32.939 --> 00:01:36.099 Guard in the 1960s. Eventually, he and his wife 00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:38.439 relocated to Texas, where he set up a private 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:40.719 practice as an obstetrician -gynecologist. Which 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.519 is such a massive shift from... Military flight 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.060 surgeon to small -town doctor, yeah. And there's 00:01:46.060 --> 00:01:48.180 an amazing contrast here. You have this guy who 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:50.540 would eventually become steeped in dense macroeconomic 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.939 theory, but locally he was just a town doctor. 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.060 In fact, one of the babies he helped deliver 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:57.700 was the famous Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.260 Wait, really? Selena? Yeah. The source material 00:02:00.260 --> 00:02:02.859 literally highlights that. It's a crazy piece 00:02:02.859 --> 00:02:05.120 of trivia. It is a great piece of local history, 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:07.640 but I think it also highlights how deeply embedded 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:10.219 he was in his community before he ever thought 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:13.319 about Washington. So why does a successful Texas 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.659 doctor suddenly decide to run for Congress? Right. 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:19.379 What was the trigger? The answer is rooted in 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:23.349 a very specific macroeconomic philosophy. During 00:02:23.349 --> 00:02:26.090 his medical residency, Paul started reading Austrian 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:28.849 school economists. He was heavily influenced 00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:31.750 by Friedrich Hayek, specifically his book The 00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:35.629 Road to Serfdom and Ludwig von Mises. And for 00:02:35.629 --> 00:02:37.960 those who might need a quick refresher. The Austrian 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.180 school essentially argues that government interference 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:43.319 in the economy, particularly manipulating interest 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:45.900 rates and the money supply, causes artificial 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:48.900 booms and inevitable devastating busts. Exactly. 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:51.060 So he's reading all this heavy economic theory 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.759 while delivering babies. But what actually pushes 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.379 him over the edge to run for office. Yeah. Because 00:02:56.379 --> 00:02:58.219 a lot of people read books and don't run for 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:01.550 Congress. The catalyst was in 1971. That's when 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:03.750 President Richard Nixon officially closed the 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:06.490 gold window, which effectively ended the U .S. 00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:08.509 dollars tied to gold under the Bretton Woods 00:03:08.509 --> 00:03:12.229 system. Why? Yeah, to Paul, this shift to a pure 00:03:12.229 --> 00:03:15.289 fiat currency was an absolute disaster. It meant 00:03:15.289 --> 00:03:17.550 the government could print money endlessly leading 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:20.590 to runaway inflation that would destroy the savings 00:03:20.590 --> 00:03:22.729 of the middle class. So it was a sense of urgency. 00:03:23.069 --> 00:03:25.310 Completely. I want you to imagine watching a 00:03:25.310 --> 00:03:28.270 technical macroeconomic policy unfold and be 00:03:28.330 --> 00:03:31.069 being so terrified by its long -term implications 00:03:31.069 --> 00:03:34.069 that you decide you have to change your entire 00:03:34.069 --> 00:03:37.120 career path to stop it. He didn't get into politics 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.240 to build a resume he got in because he genuinely 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.900 believed the financial foundation of the country 00:03:41.900 --> 00:03:44.800 was collapsing. And his community roots are what 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:47.599 gave him his initial foot in the door. He ran 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:50.139 for Congress in the 1970s, and after a couple 00:03:50.139 --> 00:03:52.740 of tries, he won. His Democratic opponent at 00:03:52.740 --> 00:03:54.879 the time, Robert Gammage, actually admitted that 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:57.560 Paul was incredibly tough to beat locally simply 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:59.759 because Paul had personally delivered half the 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.900 babies in Brazoria County. I mean, it's pretty 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:03.699 hard to vote against the doctor who literally 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.169 brought your kids into the world. Exactly. But 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:08.349 once he arrived in Washington, he didn't exactly 00:04:08.349 --> 00:04:10.770 play the traditional game. He earned a very specific 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:14.469 nickname. They called him Dr. No. Dr. No. Yeah, 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:16.410 it was a nod to his medical degree, but mostly 00:04:16.410 --> 00:04:18.569 it was because of his absolute refusal to vote 00:04:18.569 --> 00:04:21.810 for any legislation unless the proposed measure 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:24.209 was expressly authorized by the U .S. Constitution. 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:27.709 And he took that literal interpretation to extremes. 00:04:27.889 --> 00:04:31.290 Out of the 620 bills that Paul sponsored over 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:33.709 his more than 22 years in Congress, only one 00:04:33.709 --> 00:04:36.620 was ever... signed into law? Wait, one. Just 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:40.220 one out of 620. One. That's a lifetime legislative 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:43.579 success rate of 0 .3%. And that single piece 00:04:43.579 --> 00:04:46.060 of legislation was just a bill to allow a federal 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:48.620 custom house to be sold to a local historic preservation 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:51.480 society. So wait, if you only pass one minor 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:53.459 bill in over two decades, are you just terrible 00:04:53.459 --> 00:04:55.540 at your job or is there a different strategy 00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:58.060 at play here? It was entirely strategic. Paul 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:00.500 wasn't there to pass new laws. He was using the 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:03.699 house floor as a megaphone. His goal was to educate 00:05:03.699 --> 00:05:06.709 the public on constitutional... and to force 00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:09.290 his colleagues to establish a voting record on 00:05:09.290 --> 00:05:12.709 the Constitution. What's fascinating here is 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:15.370 his willingness to buck his own party to maintain 00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:17.610 that purity. Like when he went against Reagan. 00:05:17.730 --> 00:05:20.350 Exactly. Let's look at 1981. Ronald Reagan was 00:05:20.350 --> 00:05:22.810 a conservative icon pushing his new budget proposals. 00:05:23.329 --> 00:05:26.149 Ron Paul was the only Republican to vote against 00:05:26.149 --> 00:05:28.209 those proposals. The only one. The only one. 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:30.230 Even though they were championed by a Republican 00:05:30.230 --> 00:05:32.870 hero, the budgets actually increased the federal 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:36.100 deficit. To Paul, the math was the math, regardless 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:38.300 of who was in the Oval Office. And he applied 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:40.699 that same uncompromising logic to Democrats, 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.930 too. In 1998, he was one of the Republicans who 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:46.290 co -sponsored a resolution to launch an impeachment 00:05:46.290 --> 00:05:48.870 inquiry against President Bill Clinton. And he 00:05:48.870 --> 00:05:51.149 ultimately voted in favor of the articles of 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:53.730 impeachment. Right. But his reasoning was totally 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:55.449 different from the rest of the Republican caucus. 00:05:55.730 --> 00:05:57.649 Because the rest of the country was hyper -focused 00:05:57.649 --> 00:06:00.930 on the Monica Lewinsky scandal. But Paul explicitly 00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:04.050 stated his vote to impeach wasn't necessarily 00:06:04.050 --> 00:06:07.600 about Lewinsky. He viewed that scandal as far 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.120 less serious than what he considered to be Clinton's 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.660 unconstitutional military attacks in the Middle 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:15.779 East, specifically the 1998 bombing of Iraq. 00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:20.300 Wow. So to Paul, a president waging wars without 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:23.339 congressional approval was the true impeachable 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:25.939 offense. Precisely. That willingness to vote 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:28.480 against his own party and operate on a completely 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.600 different wavelength actually makes a lot more 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:32.180 sense when you look at his broader relationship 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:35.180 with the GOP. Yeah. Let's rewind a bit to 1984. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:37.819 He actually got so disgusted with the Republican 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:40.120 Party that he resigned from the House to run 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:42.519 for Senate, lost the primary, and complained 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:44.379 in his farewell address that special interests 00:06:44.379 --> 00:06:46.540 had taken over. He was completely disillusioned. 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:49.160 Yeah. And by 1987, he wrote a blistering resignation 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:51.600 letter to the Republican National Committee declaring 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.060 the party had zero credibility left when it came 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:56.279 to reducing the size of government. And here's 00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:58.500 where it gets really interesting. He completely 00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:03.379 jumps ship. The libertarian pivot. Yes, he joins 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:05.600 the Libertarian Party and runs as their presidential 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.680 nominee in 1988. And just to solidify his brand, 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:12.920 he paid for his lifetime Libertarian Party membership 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:15.879 with a gold coin. That is a very fitting gesture 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.879 for him. And that 1988 campaign was a crucial 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.360 preview of the strange, eclectic coalitions he'd 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.899 build later in his career because his platform 00:07:23.899 --> 00:07:26.279 was so strictly focused on individual liberty, 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:28.160 meaning he wanted the government out of everything. 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:31.579 He attracted a bizarre mix of supporters. Like 00:07:31.579 --> 00:07:34.639 who? Well, for instance, in September 1988, a 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:36.500 fundraiser was held for his presidential campaign 00:07:36.500 --> 00:07:38.620 hosted by Timothy Leary, the famous American 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:40.959 psychologist and psychedelic drug advocate. Timothy 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:42.660 Leary throwing a fundraiser for conservative 00:07:42.660 --> 00:07:46.160 Texas OBGYN. That's a crossover you really don't 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.180 expect. How does that even happen? It happens 00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:51.000 because libertarianism sits at a very unique 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:53.829 intersection. If you advocate for getting the 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:55.670 government completely out of our lives, you attract 00:07:55.670 --> 00:07:58.470 conservatives who hate taxes and federal regulations. 00:07:58.629 --> 00:08:01.209 But you also attract counterculture figures and 00:08:01.209 --> 00:08:03.889 liberals who hate the war on drugs, mass incarceration 00:08:03.889 --> 00:08:06.990 and foreign military intervention. Leary supported 00:08:06.990 --> 00:08:10.149 Paul because of his anti -drug war and anti -imperialist 00:08:10.149 --> 00:08:12.730 stances. So he builds this eclectic following. 00:08:12.949 --> 00:08:15.589 But after that 1988 run, she spent several years 00:08:15.589 --> 00:08:17.689 out of political office. He went back to his 00:08:17.689 --> 00:08:20.050 medical practice, but he also started a few business 00:08:20.050 --> 00:08:22.910 ventures. He co -owned a mail -order coin dealership, 00:08:22.910 --> 00:08:24.949 and he started a business publishing a variety 00:08:24.949 --> 00:08:27.509 of political and investment -oriented newsletters. 00:08:27.569 --> 00:08:29.529 And we really need to pause here because the 00:08:29.529 --> 00:08:31.970 source material points out that these newsletters 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:34.830 contained explicitly racist and homophobic statements. 00:08:35.230 --> 00:08:37.090 Yeah, this is a critical part of his history. 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:40.240 It is. Throughout the 80s and 90s, newsletters 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:42.419 like the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.460 Paul Survival Report were published under his 00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:47.559 name. They contained bigoted commentary on race, 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:51.159 the LGBTQ community and the AIDS crisis. When 00:08:51.159 --> 00:08:53.080 he later returned to national politics, particularly 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.120 during his presidential runs, these newsletters 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:58.399 became a massive controversy. And how did he 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.049 address that? Paul's defense was that he didn't 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:03.009 write the controversial passages claiming they 00:09:03.009 --> 00:09:04.769 were written by ghostwriters while he was busy 00:09:04.769 --> 00:09:07.750 practicing medicine, but he did eventually accept 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:10.009 moral responsibility for them appearing under 00:09:10.009 --> 00:09:13.389 his name. Regardless of who penned them, they 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:15.450 permanently damaged his relationship with the 00:09:15.450 --> 00:09:18.830 mainstream media and dogged his campaigns. Despite 00:09:18.830 --> 00:09:21.750 that baggage, he somehow engineers a return to 00:09:21.750 --> 00:09:25.279 Congress in 1996 back as a Republican. It was 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.600 a highly contested primary, but he managed to 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:30.019 win with the backing of some heavy hitters. Nolan 00:09:30.019 --> 00:09:32.659 Ryan, the baseball legend who happened to be 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:35.080 a constituent and friend, campaigned for him, 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:37.539 as did publisher Steve Forbes. So he's back in 00:09:37.539 --> 00:09:39.799 Congress, resuming his role as Dr. No voting 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:41.980 against everything. Right. But fast forward to 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:45.600 the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. This 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.299 is where Ron Paul transforms from a dissenting, 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:51.240 stubborn congressman into a massive cultural 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.779 phenomenon. The landscape of political campaigning 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:56.419 completely shifted under his feet, and his supporters 00:09:56.419 --> 00:09:59.279 were the ones driving that shift. When he declared 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.519 his candidacy for the Republican nomination in 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.879 2007, he had almost zero endorsements from major 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.480 politicians. Traditional television and print 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.019 media completely ignored him. But the Internet 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.960 provided a massive workaround. The grassroots 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:16.210 explosion was unprecedented. Before social media 00:10:16.210 --> 00:10:19.309 was the polished machine it is today, his supporters 00:10:19.309 --> 00:10:21.570 were organizing on message boards, forums, and 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:23.769 early tech platforms. They built their own infrastructure. 00:10:24.149 --> 00:10:27.830 Exactly. By May 2007, Ron Paul was the most frequently 00:10:27.830 --> 00:10:30.789 searched term on the blog search engine Technorati. 00:10:30.970 --> 00:10:33.309 His campaign claimed he had more YouTube channel 00:10:33.309 --> 00:10:36.049 subscribers than Barack Obama. He was completely 00:10:36.049 --> 00:10:38.529 bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of political 00:10:38.529 --> 00:10:40.350 media. And they weren't just clicking. You know, 00:10:40.389 --> 00:10:42.649 they were organizing capital. This era introduced 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:44.590 the phenomenon of the money bomb. Oh, right. 00:10:44.769 --> 00:10:47.730 The money bombs. Yeah. A money bomb is a coordinated 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:50.909 online fundraising push over a 24 hour period. 00:10:51.350 --> 00:10:53.610 His supporters organized one around November 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:56.610 5th, Guy Fawkes Day, and raised millions in a 00:10:56.610 --> 00:11:00.080 single day. Through these intensely loyal grassroots 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.860 online supporters, Paul actually raised more 00:11:02.860 --> 00:11:05.120 money than any other Republican candidate in 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.399 the fourth quarter of 2007. That is wild. It 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:10.360 proved for the first time that a decentralized, 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.279 internet -based movement could financially compete 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.120 with the establishment machinery. But the establishment 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:18.899 pushed back hard. When John McCain secured the 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.919 nomination in 2008, Paul flat out refused to 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:24.379 concede the race and refused to endorse him. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.059 Instead, he held a press conference supporting 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:29.539 third party candidates, ultimately endorsing 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:31.740 Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. He just 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:34.580 wouldn't play ball. Never. And when 2012 rolled 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:36.840 around and he ran against Mitt Romney, the friction 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.580 escalated into open hostility. The 2012 Republican 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:42.000 National Convention was practically defined by 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.200 the chaos between Paul supporters and the party 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:46.940 apparatus. Paul supporters filed lawsuits in 00:11:46.940 --> 00:11:48.980 federal court alleging election fraud by the 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:51.340 establishment, claiming rules were broken specifically 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:54.240 to deny delegates to Paul. And at the convention 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.320 itself. At the convention, Paul declined a speaking 00:11:57.320 --> 00:11:59.679 slot because the planners demanded his remarks 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.320 be pre -vetted and that he give an unqualified 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.139 endorsement of Romney. He refused, stating that 00:12:05.139 --> 00:12:07.820 doing so would undo 30 years of his life's work. 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.799 His delegates even staged walkouts. The media 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:13.799 at the time noted that delegations from states 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.299 where Paul had the most support were seated in 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.799 the absolute worst seats in the arena, literally 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:21.960 in the rafters, while territories with zero electoral 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:24.799 votes were placed right in the front. It was 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:26.820 a total mutual rejection. A complete breakdown 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.820 of relations. Yeah. So let's zoom out and look 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:32.580 at the actual ideology that inspired that level 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:35.700 of fierce loyalty and fierce opposition. What 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.080 exactly did the Ron Paul platform look like? 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:40.980 At its core, his platform was an ideology of 00:12:40.980 --> 00:12:43.779 strict non -intervention and what he defined 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:46.340 as profound liberty. Economically, as we noted, 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:48.620 he was a hardcore Austrian school advocate. He 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.100 literally wrote a book called End the Fed, arguing 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:52.940 that the Federal Reserve enables the welfare 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:56.200 state by artificially printing money, and he 00:12:56.200 --> 00:12:58.399 demanded a return to the gold standard. And his 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:01.440 foreign policy. In foreign policy, he was fiercely 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:05.370 anti -war and anti -imperialism. He popularized 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:08.769 the concept of blowback, a CIA term, meaning 00:13:08.769 --> 00:13:11.070 that U .S. intervention and military presence 00:13:11.070 --> 00:13:13.549 in the Middle East actually caused terrorism 00:13:13.549 --> 00:13:16.490 rather than prevented it. Which was a very controversial 00:13:16.490 --> 00:13:18.269 thing to say at the time. Highly controversial. 00:13:18.470 --> 00:13:21.110 He voted against the Patriot Act, opposed the 00:13:21.110 --> 00:13:23.710 Iraq War, advocated for withdrawing from NATO 00:13:23.710 --> 00:13:25.830 and the United Nations to protect national sovereignty, 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:28.929 and objected to all foreign aid, including aid 00:13:28.929 --> 00:13:31.009 to Ukraine. And domestically, he was just as 00:13:31.009 --> 00:13:33.480 radical. He wanted to completely abolish the 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:35.659 individual income tax. He called for shutting 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:38.000 down the TSA and privatizing airline security. 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.139 He opposed the federal war on drugs, advocating 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:43.340 that states should decide how to handle medical 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:45.440 and recreational substances. He just wanted the 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.139 federal government out of the picture. Out of 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:48.980 everything. He believed marriage should be a 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:50.960 private contract without any government involvement. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:54.299 He even argued that secession is a deeply American 00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:57.179 principle, noting that taking secession off the 00:13:57.179 --> 00:13:59.279 table allows the federal government to endlessly 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:01.940 approach uncivil liberties. His staunch defense 00:14:01.940 --> 00:14:04.460 of the free market and strict constitutionalism 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:07.460 also led to highly controversial stances on established 00:14:07.460 --> 00:14:10.080 laws. For example, he was critical of the Civil 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.120 Rights Act of 1964, not because he opposed racial 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.799 integration, but because he argued the law sanctioned 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:17.720 federal interference in private property and 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.389 the free market. It's that ideological purism 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:23.730 again. Yes. And as a free market environmentalist, 00:14:23.789 --> 00:14:26.029 he rejected the scientific consensus on climate 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:28.710 change, calling global warming a hoax used to 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:31.610 expand government control. And we also have to 00:14:31.610 --> 00:14:35.049 note a more recent incident in 2018. A tweet 00:14:35.049 --> 00:14:37.970 featuring a racist cartoon was posted from his 00:14:37.970 --> 00:14:40.330 Twitter account. Oh, wow. The tweet was quickly 00:14:40.330 --> 00:14:42.970 deleted and an apology was issued stating a staff 00:14:42.970 --> 00:14:45.509 member had inadvertently posted it while searching 00:14:45.509 --> 00:14:47.929 for an image. But it brought up echoes of the 00:14:47.929 --> 00:14:51.580 news. So what does this all mean? We have a guy 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:54.539 with a 0 .3 % legislative success rate, deeply 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:57.200 controversial views, who never even came close 00:14:57.200 --> 00:14:59.980 to winning a major party nomination. Yet, if 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:02.019 you look closely, his finger events seem to be 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.620 everywhere in modern politics. The through line 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:08.120 from Ron Paul to today is undeniable. He is widely 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:10.899 characterized as the intellectual godfather of 00:15:10.899 --> 00:15:13.639 the Tea Party movement, which fundamentally shifted 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:15.960 the fiscal and political posture of the Republican 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:18.700 Party starting in 2009. And his family is still 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:21.559 in politics. Right. His political lineage continues 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:24.000 directly through his son, Rand Paul, who serves 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.049 as a U .S. senator from Kentucky. Even in his 00:15:27.049 --> 00:15:29.730 retirement, his influence pops up in the strangest 00:15:29.730 --> 00:15:33.250 places. In the 2016 presidential election at 00:15:33.250 --> 00:15:37.070 age 81, a faithless elector in Texas cast a vote 00:15:37.070 --> 00:15:39.730 for him, making him the oldest person to ever 00:15:39.730 --> 00:15:42.210 receive an electoral college vote. And he's still 00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:45.600 relevant right now. In 2024, he publicly praised 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.059 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his stances on non 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:50.379 -interventionism and his skepticism toward the 00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:52.620 pharmaceutical industry. And right before the 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:55.379 2024 election, Elon Musk expressed interest in 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:57.220 having Paul join a proposed Department of Government 00:15:57.220 --> 00:15:59.580 Efficiency, aiming to cut trillions from the 00:15:59.580 --> 00:16:01.960 federal budget. Did he accept? Paul said he'd 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:04.019 be happy to discuss it and offer advice, though 00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:06.340 he declined an official position. The guy's almost 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:08.519 90 years old and he's still in the mix. It's 00:16:08.519 --> 00:16:10.200 a remarkable trajectory for someone who spent 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:12.600 most of his career as an outlier. It really is. 00:16:12.860 --> 00:16:14.919 To quickly summarize the journey we've been on 00:16:14.919 --> 00:16:16.799 today, you know, we started with a high school 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:21.259 track star and Texas OBGYN. Driven by a deep 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:23.700 belief in Austrian economics and a fear of fiat 00:16:23.700 --> 00:16:26.399 currency, he became a congressman known as Dr. 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:29.419 No for his constitutional purism. Bucking the 00:16:29.419 --> 00:16:32.399 establishment at every turn. Every turn. He rejected 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:35.519 both major parties, ran as a libertarian, published 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:37.820 highly controversial newsletters, and eventually 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:40.299 sparked a massive digital grassroots revolution 00:16:40.299 --> 00:16:44.539 in 2008 and 2012 that utilized money bombs and 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:46.860 the early Internet to shake the Republican establishment 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:49.340 to its core. Which brings us to a really powerful 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:52.059 contradiction. As we noted earlier, Ron Paul 00:16:52.059 --> 00:16:54.559 passed only one minor bill into law, selling 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.500 a custom house out of 620 attempts over two decades 00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:00.240 in Congress. By traditional metrics, he was an 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.899 entirely ineffective legislator. Yet his ideas 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:05.019 laid the groundwork for modern political movements 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:07.599 and completely reshaped the ideological boundaries 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.440 of the right. This raises an important question 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:13.420 for you to explore on your own. In modern politics, 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:15.839 what is ultimately more powerful? The ability 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.660 to compromise and pass legislation or the refusal 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:20.859 to compromise in order to inspire a movement? 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.059 That is a brilliant question to end on. Thank 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:26.160 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.640 Keep questioning, keep digging and keep learning. 00:17:28.740 --> 00:17:29.460 We'll see you next time.