Maybe we ought to consider a Golden Rule in foreign policy: Don't do to other nations what we don't want happening to us. We endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us?
No one talks about the real ethics disaster in Washington. It's that many members of Congress will listen to any argument against a bill except for two: that it's not moral or that it's not Constitutional.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the ethical failures in Congress regarding the importance of morality and constitutional integrity in decision-making.
Ron Paul's quote critiques the political landscape in Washington, suggesting that lawmakers often disregard fundamental ethical considerations when debating legislation. He argues that members of Congress are open to various arguments opposing a bill, yet they seem to dismiss those grounded in morality or constitutional adherence, highlighting a concerning trend in political discourse where ethics are sidelined.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for moral considerations in legislative discussions.
More from Ron Paul
All quotes →Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
If we are not even free anymore to decide something as basic as what we wish to eat or drink, how much freedom do we really have left?
I wish I could say I was shocked at the reports the NSA is secretly spying on the private phone calls of millions of Verizon customers. However, this is a predictable result of a government that continues to erode our liberties while promising some glimmering hope of security.
They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change.
When one person can initiate war, by its definition, a republic no longer exists.
Similar quotes
The Irish Republic must be made a word to conjure with - a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom.
Herbert Hoover once ran on the slogan, 'Two cars in every garage'. Apparently, the Republican candidate this year is running on the slogan, 'Two families in every garage'.
Foreign policy is an explicitly amoral enterprise.
See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.
The failure of the Russian Socialist Republic will be the defeat of the proletariat of the whole world.
The world has to have zero tolerance for naked dictatorship.