Recently by Bob Bauman: The War on Your Financial Privacy Continues

And when man faces destiny, destiny ends and man comes into his own.

Those words were uttered by the late André Malraux, French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman, but they certainly apply now to my friend and former congressional colleague, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

If proof were needed of that truth, one need only glance at todays New York Times front page.

There, under the cynical headline Rep. Ron Paul, G.O.P. Loner, Comes In From Cold is a lengthy article that chronicles Rons ascension in the new Congress to the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy which oversees the Federal Reserve as well as the currency and the valuation of the dollar.

After years of blocking him from a leadership position, Rep. Pauls fellow Republicans have elevated him to what could become a highly visible platform for exposing Ben Bernanke and the Feds squandering of trillions of declining paper dollars. They did so, despite the reported opposition of a number of Wall Street bankers who apparently fear Paul  as well they should.

End the Fed

Ron Paul has strong views on the issues. He has written a book called End the Fed; he embraces the Austrian school of economic thought, which holds that the government has no role in regulating the economy; and he advocates a return to the gold standard.

End The Fed Ron Paul Best Price: $2.18 Buy New $5.68 (as of 09:55 EST - Details)

Sounds damn good to me!

That The Times, the declining mouthpiece of the American Left, would give such prominence to one whose presidential candidacy they routinely have vilified, is at least an acknowledgement of the power of Pauls influence  as well as the national groundswell that is the Tea Party Revolution.

Many of the new Republicans in the next Congress campaigned on precisely the issues that Ron Paul has been talking about for 40 years: forbidding Congress from any action not explicitly authorized in the U.S. Constitution, eliminating entire federal departments as unconstitutional and checking the power of the Fed.

A Positive No

In 1973, when I was first elected to the U.S. House, my late colleague and good friend, John Ashbrook of Ohio told me: Bob, 99% of the time in the House you cant go wrong by voting no.u201D

During his 20 years in Congress, Ron has staked out the lonely end of 434-to-1 votes against legislation that he considers unconstitutional, even on issues as ceremonial as granting Mother Teresa a Congressional Gold Medal. His colleagues have dubbed him Dr. No, but his wife insists that they have the spelling wrong: he is really Dr. Know.

Rep. Paul wasted no time in assuming his new role in the House. In a statement on his web site he made plain his future plans:

Since the announcement that I will chair the congressional subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, the media response has been overwhelming. The groundswell of opposition to Fed actions among ordinary citizens is in the tremendous interest shown by the financial press. The demand for transparency is growing whether the political and financial establishment likes it or not. The Fed is losing its vaunted status as an institution that is somehow above politics and public scrutiny. Fed transparency will be the cornerstone of my efforts as Subcommittee Chairman.

Freedom Alliance

By the way, if you had been a member of the Freedom Alliance, which I chair, you would have had full audio access to an interview I did last month with Ron Paul. Ron had many interesting things to say about numerous topics and was very candid in revealing he may well run for president again in 2012.

The Times notes: Aides, supporters and television interviewers now use words like vindicated to describe him  a term Mr. Paul, a 75-year-old obstetrician with the manner of a country doctor, brushes off.

I dont think its very personal, he said in an interview in his office on the Hill, where he has represented the 14th District of Texas on and off since 1976. People are really worried about whats happening, so theyre searching, and I think they see that weve been offering answers.

The right answers, I might add.

Reprinted with permission from the Sovereign Society.

Robert E. Bauman is a former Member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland, (19731981). He is also a former federal official and state legislator; Member, Washington, DC Bar; Graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (1964) and the School of Foreign Service (1959), Washington, DC. Robert currently serves as legal counsel for the Sovereign Society.

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