DIGG THIS

Transcript of a speech by Charles Goyette at the Ron Paul Revolution March, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., July 12, 2008

It is good for one to be free, and we would cherish liberty even if she traveled alone, but she does not. Because Prosperity and Peace are both the companions of Liberty.

War, on the other hand, the spirit of destruction, is the destroyer of Prosperity and Liberty. Should any wonder, then, that Americans are losing both their freedom and their well-being?

We gather together as the vanguard of a movement to reclaim our Liberty, Peace, and Prosperity. And we come here to Washington to be seen in a place the world watches.

Here surrounded by the monuments that evoke a dim recollection of our beginnings, of the time our founding generation was aflame with love of Liberty. One can almost still hear the now soft whisper of their words that set our American freedom in motion:

"We hold these truths to be self evident…"

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…"

"…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

These are the words that gave life to our ideals; that set free a nation; that inspired mankind.

"Secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

"We pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

But there is more to be seen in this government city than the monuments of our noble past. For here, too, are the halls of the power-seekers, the vote buyers and the permanent government made up of both Republicans and Democrats that perpetuates itself with welfare and warfare. These are the mausoleums of waste and bankruptcy.

You marched passed such a monument, the 1.6 million square feet of the Department of Energy building on Independence Avenue. Look back here on your right, and think back to the roots of the present oil shock. When we spoke, during the lead-up to Bush's elective war, about the fear premium this adventure would put on the price of oil, about the massive transfer of wealth from the American people to the governments of Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez, and to the petroleum sultans, sheiks, shahs, we received a two word answer: "NEVER MIND!"

And when we talked about the years of saber rattling and the certainty of oil breaking $100, the two wings of the Washington Party answered in one voice: "SHUT UP," they explained.

Now while you dig in your front pocket to pay $4 a gallon or more to be here today, the Department of Energy you passed on your march from the Washington monument is taking 25 billion dollars a year from your back pocket. And what does it do with your billions? Does it explore the remote and dangerous corners of the earth and discover any oil? Does it take enormous risks and suffer substantial losses to locate energy? Recover it, refine it, transport it to your neighborhood? Just how much gas does it put in your tank for its 25 billion dollars? Not a drop!

Now John McCain wants to give you a gas tax break for your summer driving, a few cents a gallon to buy your votes with your own money in November. But in the meantime, he crosses the country, back and forth and to and fro, beating his chest for another NeoCon war that will send oil to 400 or 500 dollars per barrel. He'll have you paying $15 dollars a gallon at the Superpumper… if they have any gas to sell… But you'll save pennies a gallon this summer.

This is the flim flammery we got from George Bush, who bought his popularity with tax rebate checks of a couple hundred dollars each. How cheaply the people sold their affection. And how many times over we have paid at the pump and at the grocery store, and in the value of our savings, with the Bush dollar that has lost at least 40 per cent of its buying power since the checks were put in the mail. Not to mention that the money to cash those checks had to be borrowed from overseas, so that your little children can be debt slaves to the Chinese when they grow up!

Take note of the overseers of this destruction of the dollar, as you pass the Federal Reserve Building on your way back home. It is a temple befitting the gods of antiquity. There sit the enablers of the wars of empire, for without them those wars would not be waged. Right down there, ironically enough, on Constitution Avenue.

All about us are the palaces of the permanent party in Washington, the whited sepulchers of waste: they've destroyed the dollar and lied to you about caring for the retirement money you've sent their way over a lifetime. It is squandered. It's gone.

These are the halls and the homes and the haunts of the foreign meddlers, of foreign aid and foreign wars.

At last count, the Pentagon had over 700 bases in 130 countries. 1.4 million people on active duty; another 1.4 million in reserve capacities. Military spending of 1 trillion a year! Just the Department of Defense Budget of 623 billion dollars is more than all the rest of the world's war spending combined! And Barack Obama wants to increase the military.

During the Bush years we have invaded two countries; gave a silent wink and a nod for the invasion of a third. And now we are on the brink of a yet another NeoCon war, a new war without authorization from the people's representatives. "I haven't made up my mind," Bush said on the eve of the Iraq War. As though in America, the people no longer rule? Does the Constitution say anything about a "decidifyer" who gets to "decidify" these things? It is time to say "No More!" The president consults with foreign heads of state about future American wars, but has he consulted you? This President is spending $400 million to foment war with Iran. Did your congressman tell you in a newsletter, in a townhall, perhaps in the neighborhood, the grocery store? In church? It is time to say "No More!"

The permanent party in the palaces of power, and the halls of waste, is out of control. It is as though the household staff is in mutiny. They are peeping toms, illegally spying ever more brazenly on their masters; they waste the household’s wealth and savings. They know no boundaries, but run roughshod hither and yon, alarming the neighbors. The downstairs servants are stealing the silverware and the upstairs help doesn't report it because they share in the plunder. It's time for the people to turn them all out. Not to replace them with more of the same, but to send them all packing. The people must reclaim management of their own affairs: We must take charge again of our lives: of our money and medicine and education. We must reclaim our Liberty, our peace and prosperity.

That means no more foreign wars, no more central banks to finance those wars, no more central planners, no more bailouts and billions for the bankers. No more worthless, irredeemable paper money, no more foreign aid, no more foreign wars. No more telling the people how to live, or looting us with lies about trust funds that don't exist. No more stealing oil, which is cheaper to buy anyway, no more indebting our children with trillions borrowed overseas, no more telling our elderly where they can and cannot buy their medicine, and what the can and cannot do to relieve their pain.

No more. No more. No more. That is lesson from their failures. "No more." That is the message to take back home today. "It is time to say no more!"

Join me. And spread this Revolution in every city and state in America by saying: "No More!"

In every town and village in the land we will shout: "No More!"

On every avenue, street, and cul de sac, free people together with one voice: "No More!"

And finally, a word to acknowledged our great debt to and gratitude for Ron Paul! For his long hard fight, for the years in Washington he was marginalized and ignored, for all the times he was the lone vote in Congress, even while the leaders of the Permanent Party were laughing at the Constitution and calling it an anachronism. For not taking taxpayer paid junkets or spending every office dime he could grab, and for not helping himself to the Congressional pension plan. For his integrity, decade after decade, in public life. For his uncommon respect for and knowledge of the Constitution; for a grasp of economics that could have prevented the deluge that approaches now, and that could see us through it and back on the road to prosperity in short order, if only the people had understood. But most especially for his civility, his tirelessness, and the inspiration he has been to us all here and millions of others with us today in spirit, who, like us, love Liberty, and want to restore her and her companions, Peace and Prosperity!

God bless Ron Paul! God bless you! And God bless our Liberty!

July 17, 2008

Charles Goyette [send him mail] is the morning talk show host on Talk Radio 1100 KFNX in Phoenix, AZ.

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