From Paul’s introduction to Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution After 200 Years:
America is no longer a bastion of freedom, prevailing ideology, grounded in economic ignorance and careless disregard for individual liberty, is nurtured by a multitude of self-serving, power-seeking politicians spouting platitudes of compassion for the poor who are created by their own philosophy. Reelection is paramount in the minds of most of those who represent us, while freedom and constitutional restraint of power are considered old-fashioned and unwise (pg.1).
Samuel Adams, at the time of the Constitutional Convention, accurately warned: Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt (pg. 2).
Both liberals and conservatives give lip service to limited government ideas, but only to serve some special view of government that they might endorse, rather than to promote consistently the principles of freedom (pg. 2).
The latter part of the twentieth century has permitted the acceptance of the idea that “society” owes everyone a living (pg.3).
Political leaders today are more interested in opinion polls than they are in the Constitution and freedom principles (pg.3)
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson revolutionized foreign policy, dramatically changing our traditional belief in neutrality to one of perpetual meddling in the affairs of every nation throughout the world (pg.4)
The year 1913 certainly was a banner year for the anti-constitutional movement. The Sixteenth Amendment, the Personal Income Tax, and the Federal Reserve Act were all passed. The central bank monopoly guaranteed the destruction of our gold dollar. The recessions, depressions, and inflations of the twentieth century can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve (pg.5).
Living for immediate material benefits has replaced concern for long-term freedom principles necessary to guarantee peace and prosperity for the next generation (pg.6).
Gambling when done by free citizens without government control is said to be a vicious crime against the state that must be stopped before it destroys the families involved. And yet a government lottery has on numerous occasions in this century been used to decide which 18ı year-ıolds will be placed on the front lines of no-win, undeclared, unconstitutional, immoral wars like Vietnam and Korea. Is it any wonder that young people often are confused and angry and lack long-term goals for the future when their fate can be casually determined by overwhelmingly powerful forces (pg.7)?
Another recent trend reflects a decaying, sick society. Government agencies are bribing citizens to turn in others to law enforcement agencies. Children are encouraged to turn in their parents, employees their employers, and friends their neighbors. Spying for the government is a despicable act and something that should never exist in a free and just society (pg.8)
Common sense is no longer recognized as something we should expect people to use. Common greed is now the norm in a society that accepts the welfare ethic as a constitutional standard (pg.10).
We cannot live forever off the wealth of a previous generation and we cannot enjoy the benefits of liberty if we neither understand nor defend that liberty. If it is true that every generation must earn its freedom, the obligation of this generation is overdue (pg.11).
