“Well, there’s always that possibility that, that time will come.” he said. “I believe in that.”
In a radio interview earlier this week, U.S. congressman Ron Paul saidit may become necessary for citizens to resort to physical oppositionif the government continues to erode civil liberties and commitinternational acts of aggression.
Asked by radio show host AlexJones if he believed in the use of violence or other physical action tooppose an unjust government, Paul, a one-time presidential candidatefor the Libertarian Party and a contender for the Republicanpresidential nomination until he dropped out of the race earlier thisyear, answered in the affirmative.
“Well, there’s always that possibility that, that time will come.” he said. “I believe in that.”
Paul then cited Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian spiritual leader who lednonviolent demonstrations to promote the independence of India fromGreat Britain, and Martin Luther King, who used the same nonviolenttechniques on behalf of the American civil rights movement in the1960s, as examples of physical protest.
“When the state goes offtrack, you usually do have to stand up,” he said. When to do so, hesaid, is “an individual personal decision.”
Paul was interviewed by telephone from the Houston, Texas hospital where his wife, Carol Paul, is a patient.
Onother matters, Paul said tickets for the Rally for the Republic, aSeptember 2 event in Minneapolis, Minn. of which he is a chief sponsor,have been selling well. He said he expects to address the gathering inspite of his wife’s poor health and hospitalization. His wife recentlyemerged from 12 days on a respirator, and her condition is improving,Paul said.
On the economy, Paul said he did not expect animprovement any time soon. “We’ ve only had 25 percent of thecorrection that is necessary” Paul said. “I think it’s going to getmuch worse.”
Paul compared the American economic situation toJapan’s downturn in the late 1980s. “Japan still essentially hasn’trecovered,” he said. The current economic downturn, said Paul, “couldlast a decade or longer.”
“What they’re doing” is justprolonging the agony, Paul said, referring to the bailout of investmentbanks and other measures initiated earlier this year by the FederalReserve, the nation’s central bank. Paul said the Fed’s easy moneypolicy was like continuing to give a drug addict a fix, which he saidmakes the patient feel better, “but the patient dies.”