[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 12801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515

                 CURRENT CONDITIONS OR JUST A BAD DREAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Could it all be a bad dream, or a nightmare? Is it my 
imagination, or have we lost our minds? It's surreal; it's just not 
believable. A grand absurdity; a great deception, a delusion of 
momentous proportions; based on preposterous notions; and on ideas 
whose time should never have come; simplicity grossly distorted and 
complicated; insanity passed off as logic; grandiose schemes built on 
falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; evil described as 
virtue; ignorance pawned off as wisdom; destruction and impoverishment 
in the name of humanitarianism; violence, the tool of change; 
preventive wars used as the road to peace; tolerance delivered by 
government guns; reactionary views in the guise of progress; an empire 
replacing the Republic; slavery sold as liberty; excellence and virtue 
traded for mediocracy; socialism to save capitalism; a government out 
of control, unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law, or 
morality; bickering over petty politics as we collapse into chaos; the 
philosophy that destroys us is not even defined.
  We have broken from reality--a psychotic Nation. Ignorance with a 
pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. Money does not grow on trees, 
nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating 
deficits.
  We're now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people's money, 
exorbitant taxation, deficits of trillions of dollars--spent on a 
failed welfare/warfare state; an epidemic of cronyism; unlimited 
supplies of paper money equated with wealth.
  A central bank that deliberately destroys the value of the currency 
in secrecy, without restraint, without nary a whimper. Yet, cheered on 
by the pseudo-capitalists of Wall Street, the military industrial 
complex, and Detroit.
  We police our world empire with troops on 700 bases and in 130 
countries around the world. A dangerous war now spreads throughout the 
Middle East and Central Asia. Thousands of innocent people being 
killed, as we become known as the torturers of the 21st century.
  We assume that by keeping the already-known torture pictures from the 
public's eye, we will be remembered only as a generous and good people. 
If our enemies want to attack us only because we are free and rich, 
proof of torture would be irrelevant.
  The sad part of all this is that we have forgotten what made America 
great, good, and prosperous. We need to quickly refresh our memories 
and once again reinvigorate our love, understanding, and confidence in 
liberty. The status quo cannot be maintained, considering the current 
conditions. Violence and lost liberty will result without some 
revolutionary thinking.
  We must escape from the madness of crowds now gathering. The good 
news is the reversal is achievable through peaceful and intellectual 
means and, fortunately, the number of those who care are growing 
exponentially.
  Of course, it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that I'm 
seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I 
hope so. But just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for 
revolutionary changes in the not-too-distant future.

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