RON PAUL Biography - Polititians

 
 

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RON PAUL

Name: Ronald Ernest Paul                                                           
Born: 20 August 1935 Green Tree, Pennsylvania, United States                       
                                                                                   
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is a Republican United States       
Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a physician, and a 2008 U.S. presidential     
candidate.                                                                         
                                                                                   
Originally from the Pittsburgh suburb of Green Tree, Pennsylvania, he studied at   
Duke University School of Medicine; after his 1961 graduation and a residency in   
obstetrics and gynecology, he became a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, serving       
outside the Vietnam War zone. He later represented Texas districts in the U.S.     
House of Representatives (1976-1977, 19790-1985, and 1997-present). He entered     
the 1988 presidential election, running as the Libertarian nominee while           
remaining a registered Republican, and placed a distant third.                     
                                                                                   
Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.       
He advocates a foreign policy of nonintervention, having voted against actions     
such as the Iraq War Resolution, but in favor of force against terrorists in       
Afghanistan. He favors withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization       
and the United Nations, citing the dangers of foreign entanglements to national     
sovereignty. Having pledged never to raise taxes, he has long advocated ending     
the federal income tax, scaling back government spending, abolishing most           
federal agencies, and removing military bases and troops from foreign soil; he     
favors hard money and opposes the Federal Reserve. He also opposes the Patriot     
Act, the federal War on Drugs, No Child Left Behind, and gun control. Paul is       
strongly pro-life, and has introduced bills to negate Roe v. Wade, but affirms     
states' rights to regulate or ban abortion, rather than federal jurisdiction.       
                                                                                   
While Paul was a leading 2008 presidential candidate in GOP straw polls, he saw     
substantially less support in landline opinion polls and in various early           
primaries. On December 16, 2007, Paul had the largest one-day Internet             
fundraiser in U.S. political history, raising over $6 million in 24 hours           
through an independently organized effort.