November 12, 2007

Ron Paul’s Legislative Record Must Be Considered

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We’ve had a LOT of debate in our comments section between Ron Paul supporters and Ron Paul detractors. Supporters tout his positions on the war in Iraq and the war on drugs, and his willingness to speak honestly and directly at all times. The detractors tend to concede all of those points and then say, “Have you seen the other things the man wants to do?”

Well, now we finally have a definitive list of what those other things are. Over at the blog Orcinus, they’ve put together a list of bills Ron Paul has sponsored or co-sponsored in his long legislative career. It gives you a great sense of what a President Paul would do on some of the issues that aren’t being highlighted in the current debate.

Some of the included are:

H.R.777: To prohibit any Federal official from expending any Federal funds for any population control or population planning program or any family planning activity.

H.R.2597: To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception.

H.J.RES.80: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing the States to prohibit the physical destruction of the flag of the United States and authorizing Congress to prohibit destruction of federally owned flags.

H.R.2962: A bill to repeal all authority of the Federal Government to regulate wages in private employment. [Abolition of the minimum wage.]

H.R.1789: To restore the inherent benefits of the market economy by repealing the Federal body of statutory law commonly referred to as “antitrust law”, and for other purposes.

H.J.RES.46: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to deny United States citizenship to individuals born in the United States to parents who are neither United States citizens nor persons who owe permanent allegiance to the United States.

H.R.2424: To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act.

H.R.1146: To end membership of the United States in the United Nations.

If there are Ron Paul supporters who are familiar with all this, good for them. Everyone ought to be so familiar with the candidates they support. And I’m not a Ron Paul critic; I’ve admired and repeatedly defended him. But every single Ron Paul supporter needs to read this full list and then state if he or she still wants Paul to win the presidency. Let’s get it on.

Update: Glenn Greenwald has essential reading on Paul’s flag burning position. Thanks to Greg in the comments.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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