by Jacob Nestle
Ron Paul is known for his frequent and extensive predictions. While he’s been wrong before, he’s usually right. Without a doubt his prophetic side should be paid close attention to. His predictive speech made to Congress on April 24, 2002 is the most dramatic example of this. Here are the five most dramatic areas he was right well over a decade ago:
5. Rebuilding the Middle East, the Rise of Jihadism and the Arab Spring:
In his 2002 speech Paul said that “I predict US taxpayers will pay to rebuild Palestine, both the West Bank and the Gaza, as well as Afghanistan. US taxpayers pay to bomb these areas, so we will be expected to rebuild them.” Boy, was he right. American taxpayers have been paying millions of dollars to tear down and then build up the Middle East.
Paul claimed that “Current Israeli-United States policies will solidify Arab-Muslim nations in their effort to avenge the humiliation of the Palestinians…” Further, he said “Some of our moderate Arab allies will be overthrown by Islamic fundamentalists.” He was wholly correct. According to Ruthven, of the eleven countries where action was taken and many more where protests took place, only Tunisia has had any success in establishing legitimate government. Fundamentalists took over the rest.
4. Europe’s Meddling:
As the last decade and a half has taught us clearly, sticking ourselves head-first into the Middle East is a good way to get ourselves into yet another Vietnam situation. But we’re not the only ones: Russia uses the Middle East to make itself, or more specifically Vladimir Putin, seem strong. Believe it or not, Paul predicted the current power struggle as well: “… some European countries will clandestinely support the Muslim countries…” and our response to the European Union and the United Nations both will be to ignore them, as he also predicted.
3. Dramatic Government Spending Increase:
“The Congress and the President will shift radically toward expanding the size and scope of the Federal Government,” Paul said, and boy was he right. The USA PATRIOT Act, which took effect just five months before Paul’s speech, was the beginning. Once those floodgates were opened, they could not be stopped. “This will satisfy both the liberals and the conservatives,” indeed. According to this nifty website, military, Social Security, unemployment, labor, Medicare, and health spending totaled over 76% of government spending in fiscal year 2015. That’s insane. In fact, it’s 2.89 trillion dollars by itself. That’s more money than the government spending – every last cent – in 2002.
2. The Police and Welfare State:
This one speaks for itself. “Police powers will grow, satisfying the conservatives.” How many conservatives have you seen protect Law Enforcement Officers at all costs? There are good people in the police forces. That does not mean that they are all good. It is one thing to respect authority and another to kowtow. Further, “… the welfare state, both domestic and international, will expand, satisfying the liberals.” No kidding, Ron. Consider the liberals satisfied.
Or, actually, don’t. Neither group is genuinely satisfied. You can call Paul, in a way, wrong about this one. Neither the liberals nor conservatives will be satisfied no matter how much money is wasted. The police would have to be the second-best military in the world (second only to, of course, America’s actual military) to satisfy the conservatives. We’d have to be a total socialist society to satisfy the Progressive Left, as typified by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
1. The Constitution has Become a Piece of Paper:
I’m a lover of the Founders. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, John Jay, and Thomas Jefferson – those are my guys. They’re rolling in their graves.
This is the most important of my predictions. Policy changes could prevent all of the previous predictions from occurring. Unfortunately, that will not occur. In due course the Constitution will be steadily undermined and the American republic further weakened.
He was right, though the seeds of unconstitutionality were sown long before him. These days it seems like Constitutional literacy is the afterthought of our representatives. Populism, the thing they were trying to beat with the Constitution, rules. Your best bet is to read up. Start with the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Maybe even run for office. There has to be an uprising of people who are aware of these things and then learn even more. Not only should we learn, we should apply our knowledge. That’s how we’ll fix this.