Ron Paul (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

This past Wednesday Congressman Ron Paul of Texas gave his farewell speech to Congress with heavy words of what is needed to revitalize our liberties as men and women for freedom. At the same time the stock market has been contracting throughout the month with many financial analysts speculating  a stock market crash, or at the very least a minor market correction. The latter possibility could surpass the 2008 recession market correction where many people lost 30% of their 401k’s and portfolios. With European austerity protests and public disputes over how to handle Greece becoming more volatile,  the threat of tax hikes (fiscal cliff) under the Obama administration on dividends and capital gains further strangling the middle class, the question of whether the Fed is actually doing the U.S. a service with QE3? and the  recent news that 40 states now have filed for secession from the Union has to make you wonder what has brought us to this point? Ron Paul’s farewell speech reveals the state of the crisis we face pretty clearly.

Ron Paul said this in reference to the liberties our founding fathers warned us of losing.

“After over 100 years we face a society quite different from the one that was intended by the Founders.  In many ways their efforts to protect future generations with the Constitution from this danger has failed.  Skeptics, at the time the Constitution was written in 1787, warned us of today’s possible outcome.  The insidious nature of the erosion of our liberties and the reassurance our great abundance gave us, allowed the process to evolve into the dangerous period in which we now live.”

In regards to the ever burgeoning size of the Federal Government he comments:

Today we face a dependency on government largesse for almost every need.  Our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law, protecting and rewarding those who buy or coerce government into satisfying their demands. Here are a few examples:

• Undeclared wars are commonplace.

• Welfare for the rich and poor is considered an entitlement.

• The economy is overregulated, overtaxed and grossly distorted by a deeply flawed monetary system.

• Debt is growing exponentially.

• The Patriot Act and FISA legislation passed without much debate have resulted in a steady erosion of our 4^th Amendment rights.

• Tragically our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.

• The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us as the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flaunted. Once we are financially weakened and militarily challenged, there will be a lot resentment thrown our way.

• It’s now the law of the land that the military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges or a trial.

• Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large number in Washington.

• Supporters of sanctions, currency manipulation and WTO trade retaliation, call the true free traders “isolationists.”

• Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.

• Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.

• Central economic planning through monetary policy, regulations and legislative mandates has been an acceptable policy.