Ron Paul’s Legislative Record Must Be Considered

Membership Ticker

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you—especially at a moment like this. That's really it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a much shorter than normal three-week window, by November 5, so we can keep right on doing it. Please pitch in early to help us get there.

$250,000

You come to Mother Jones for unique journalism, and we love doing it for you. That's it. That's the upshot of our fall fundraising drive, and we're hoping to raise $250,000 in a shorter than normal three-week window so we can keep right on doing it.

Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.

We’ve had a LOT of debate in our comments section between Ron Paul supporters and Ron Paul detractors. Supporters tout his positions on the war in Iraq and the war on drugs, and his willingness to speak honestly and directly at all times. The detractors tend to concede all of those points and then say, “Have you seen the other things the man wants to do?”

Well, now we finally have a definitive list of what those other things are. Over at the blog Orcinus, they’ve put together a list of bills Ron Paul has sponsored or co-sponsored in his long legislative career. It gives you a great sense of what a President Paul would do on some of the issues that aren’t being highlighted in the current debate.

Some of the included are:

H.R.777: To prohibit any Federal official from expending any Federal funds for any population control or population planning program or any family planning activity.

H.R.2597: To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception.

H.J.RES.80: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing the States to prohibit the physical destruction of the flag of the United States and authorizing Congress to prohibit destruction of federally owned flags.

H.R.2962: A bill to repeal all authority of the Federal Government to regulate wages in private employment. [Abolition of the minimum wage.]

H.R.1789: To restore the inherent benefits of the market economy by repealing the Federal body of statutory law commonly referred to as “antitrust law”, and for other purposes.

H.J.RES.46: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to deny United States citizenship to individuals born in the United States to parents who are neither United States citizens nor persons who owe permanent allegiance to the United States.

H.R.2424: To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act.

H.R.1146: To end membership of the United States in the United Nations.

If there are Ron Paul supporters who are familiar with all this, good for them. Everyone ought to be so familiar with the candidates they support. And I’m not a Ron Paul critic; I’ve admired and repeatedly defended him. But every single Ron Paul supporter needs to read this full list and then state if he or she still wants Paul to win the presidency. Let’s get it on.

Update: Glenn Greenwald has essential reading on Paul’s flag burning position. Thanks to Greg in the comments.