The Iowa caucuses were a mixed bag for Texas candidates. Ted Cruz topped the Republican field, but three hopefuls who grew up Texan cratered – Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul. Paul suspended his campaign later in the week. The day before that happened, his father, former Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul, was in town to speak at UT-Arlington.
Interview Highlights: Ron Paul…
…On why his son Rand had a poor showing in the Iowa caucus:
“Conditions are different right now and unfortunately, people are scared and are much more willing to listen to people who have magical answers – ‘I’m going to take care of you, just listen to me and we know the answers’ – there’s a lot of demagoguing going on, so it’s not easy to present the case of liberty where people assume the responsibility for themselves.”
…On the misuse of the term ‘liberty’:
“[Politicians] are nowhere close to understanding what a society would be like if you followed the non-aggression principle. You couldn’t aggress against an individual and you can’t use the government to aggress against an individual and they all do. They throw that word around. It’s a misuse of words, whether it’s out of ignorance or knowingly doing it for political advantage.”
…On bipartisanship and working with Bernie Sanders:
“There are some things that Bernie and I overlap on. He and I could work together to go after corporatism and corporate welfare, even though he’s a Socialist, we could agree on things.
You don’t want Republicans pretending, ‘oh, I’m for enough welfare, I can work with you,’ and the Democrats saying, ‘I know what the progressive views are, but that seems extreme,’ so they come and they merge in the middle and we have the radical middle. I think that’s very dangerous. Nobody works on principle”
…On the kind of gridlock that’s good for Congress:
"What if the Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate and have another John Boehner, a [Mitch] McConnell and then you get [Ted] Cruz? It’d be better to have some progressive in there. It’d be much better for the country long-term because of partisan competition and power, you will hope to have gridlock."
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman and ran for president three times during his political career.
