SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said Congress needs to scale back spending for social and defense programs out of recognition that government has grown too intrusive and expensive.

Speaking to 200 people Monday at The Family Leader Presidential Lecture Series on the campus of Dordt College, Paul said the nation’s founding fathers wanted a noninterventionalist foreign policy. He said America can’t continue to be the “policeman of the world” because it is costly and ultimately hasn’t made the nation more secure.

“I don’t think we are safer for a minute,” Paul said.

Paul said too many social programs have been created through a broad interpretation of the general welfare clause in the U.S. Constitution. He said that has meant the government now has programs helping people buy homes.

“We’ve had this explosion in the size of government and debt and spending,” Paul said.

Social Security, which provides retirement payments for elderly Americans, should be scaled back, Paul said, but not abolished. If people can’t take of themselves, he said, “we don’t deserve the liberty.”