Ron Paul joins Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday to discuss his rise in the mainstream presidental polls (to #3 on the latest Gallup) and the hot issues of the day. It is impossible not to notice how these interviews have changed. The normally belligerent neocon host was respectful as Ron smoothly and convincingly stated his positions.

Since this interview coincided with the media hysteria about Hurricane Irene, Wallace first asked Ron why he was opposed to FEMA. As the representative of a Gulf Coast district, Ron knows full-well the damage the weather can do. Indeed, he says: “It has the worst reputation for a bureaucracy ever. It hinders local people keeps people away from their homes. It’s a system of central economic planning that is deeply flawed…..and it’s broke.”

Ron also rips the US intervention in Libya. He schools Wallace about the consequences of our destructive foreign policy. When asked about Gaddafi, Ron reminds him that “we’ve been very bad at picking dictators around the world. We may be delivering al-Qaida another prize.”

Regarding Austrian economics  which Ron is actually asked about  he describes his solution for a healthy economy as, government u201Chands off, free markets, property rights, no bailouts, and sound money.u201D The Fed has caused endless problems with its policy of keeping interest rates artificially too low for too long. It has to stop monetizing debt.

When asked if he’s in it to win it, Ron says Yes  but he wants to take a different approach  Not to seek power, but to seek to diminish it, to diminish dependency on government. People are waking up and saying “Ron Paul is right,” he notes. Darn right!

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