Progressive Action Score: 31A score of 31 means that Rep. Paul has acted to support 31% of a slate of progressive policies in the 109th Congress.
Progressive, forward-looking actions Rep. Paul has taken to merit a PAS of 31:Rep. Paul voted a firm "NO" against the Tyranny Act, H.R. 6166. Rep. Paul swore a solemn oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. Rep Paul honored that oath by actively opposing H.R. 6166, which directly attacks the Constitution, and through its attack upon the Constitution attacks the freedom of every American and every person living under American jurisdiction.
Shamefully passed into law, the Tyranny Act installs undemocratic executive committees without review to designate citizens and noncitizens alike as enemy combatants without standards for proof. It grants George W. Bush amnesty for his current violations of law. It allows the thoroughly untrustworthy George W. Bush supreme authority to decide whether an interrogation technique qualifies as torture. It allows hearsay evidence to be used to convict an accused person. It permits indefinite detention without review.
All of these provisions in the bill are unconstitutional. That makes this bill unAmerican. But Representative Paul acted with honor by standing up to this unAmerican bill. Had more members of Congress acted with the sense of honor displayed by Rep. Paul, our liberty would not now be in such peril.
The Patriot Act is a betrayal of the great American tradition of liberty because it encourages the government to spy on the legal, personal activities of Americans who have not broken the law. The Bush Administration is using that power to grab information out of commercial and public databases and assemble them into a single giant computer database through which the private affairs of every American citizen can be tracked by government officials. Although the Patriot Act reauthorization passed, Rep. Paul took a brave stand by voting NO, protecting traditional American liberties.
Section 102 of H.R. 418 authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to nullify any law she or he deems necessary to build roads and fences in the vicinity of a national border. Furthermore, Section 102 of H.R. 418 makes it legally impossible for any court or agency of the government to review the Secretary of Homeland Security's decision to nullify any law. In short, Section 102 places the Bush administration untouchably above the law.The Farr Amendment would have stricken this language, and only this language, from H.R. 418, making a vote for the Farr Amendment a vote for the rule of law. Thank you, Representative Paul, for voting "yes" on the Farr Amendment and supporting the rule of law.
Ron Paul has formally supported H.R. 1157, which would keep government agents from riffling through your bookstore receipts and library records without your permission or knowledge. Unlike others, Rep. Paul has shown true backbone, standing for privacy, for individual liberty, and against the Big Brother mentality that seems to be all the rage in Washington these days.
Ron Paul has cosponsored H.R. 1440, which would keep members of the Federal Communication Commission from using their appointed positions to censor cable, satellite or internet programs they consider to be indecent. These "narrowcast" programs are accessed only by those who specifically request them, so why should the government make it their business to keep people from seeing what they want to see? Thanks to Rep Paul for supporting this sensible, freedom-defending bill.
Progressive political actions that Rep. Paul could have taken but unfortunately chose not to take:- By voting "no" on the Scott Amendment, Rep. Paul voted to keep language in H.R. 27 that allows organizations to engage in government-funded religious discrimination in hiring. We had thought that bigotry was old hat, and that the separation of church and state was secure. With this vote, Rep. Paul has helped to weaken the constitution and bring bigotry back in style.
- To members of Congress, talk of patriotism comes easy. But what about action to preserve what is great about America? What about protecting the symbol of America, the bald eagle itself? On September 29, 2005, a slim majority of member of the United States House of Representatives voted for H.R. 3824, an attack upon the landmark law that brought the American bald eagle back from the brink of extinction. Without the Endangered Species Act, the American bald eagle would probably not exist any more, except on the backs of our quarters and as a graphic on Republican web sites promoting corporate pollution.
We've seen the American bald eagle fly, and we think that it is worth protecting. 229 members of the House of Representatives disagreed. They voted to seriously weaken the protection of endangered species like the American bald eagle. They did it for the sake of profits for big business. A NO vote would have represented a courageous stand for the Endangered Species Act. In a telling betrayal, Representative Paul failed to vote NO. For shame.
- Rep. Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 2412, which would provide more information to the public about contacts between lobbyists and politicians, and which would slow down the revolving door of politics in which politicians move into cushy corporate jobs after they retire in exchange for favors. What is Representative Paul's problem with ethics?
- Rep. Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 40, which would acknowledge the injustices of slavery and racial discrimination and establish a commission to study them.
- Rep Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 63, which would make Election Day a federal holiday to make it easier to get out and vote.
- Rep Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 759, which would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through market-based systems.
- Rep. Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 550, a bill which would sensibly require the establishment of a backup paper record of votes for those times when electronic voting machines fail. Why is Rep. Paul unwilling to protect the bedrock of democracy, Americans' faith that every vote counts?
- Rep. Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 952, which would put an end to the practice of "extraordinary rendition," in which Bush Administration officials send people into the custody of certain nations, knowing full well (some would say intending) that they will be tortured there. Extraordinary rendition is another stain on the moral clarity of the United States. It is a horrible irony that in a "War on Terror," the United States government would allow the use of terror as a tool. Why is Rep. Paul unwilling to stand against American complicity in the use of torture?
- We may think we live in modern times, but the U.S. Constitution still does not guarantee that individual rights shall apply equally to men and women. Without such a constitutional guarantee, all it could take is a rogue judge or an emboldened conservative Congress to take women's rights away by a simple majority vote. On the other hand, this nation is still encumbered with unfair legal notions that, all other things being equal, give mothers custody advantages over fathers. The current state of unequal protection is unfair to both women and men, and devalues our common underlying humanity.
Ron Paul has not yet cosponsored H.J. Res 37, which would amend the United States Constitution to simply state the following: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification." It's simple, it's obvious, and it's about time something was done to enshrine this principle in the Constitution for men and women alike. When will Rep. Paul step out of the Stone Age and take this important stand for equality?
- Rep. Paul has not yet cosponsored H.R. 567, which would preserve and protect the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from short-sighted, unnecessary development.
Contact Rep Paul by E-mail, Phone (at 202-225-2831), or Fax (at 202-226-6288) to ask why they have chosen not to take the progressive path in these matters.
| | Regressive Conservative Score: 31A score of 31 means that Rep. Paul has acted to support 31% of a slate of conservative, wrongheaded policies in the 109th Congress.
Regressive, destructive, and downright unAmerican actions Rep. Paul has taken that contribute to a RCS of 31:
Representative Ron Paul has decided to support H.R. 997, a bill that would declare English to be the official language of the United States, would mandate that official government business be conducted in English only, and presumptively declare that workplaces in the private sector follow these rules too. Look, just because Rep. Paul seems to have some kind of personal problem with brown-skinned "ethnic" people who speak a different language than English doesn't mean that such prejudice should be pushed on the rest of the country. The United States of America has always been a nation of multiple origins, multiple cultures and multiple languages. Legislating diversity away will not make it disappear. On the contrary, this legislation will only divide the nation into a privileged English-speaking clique and an untouchable caste of non-English speakers who are denied access to government, to civic participation, and even to the private workplace. This is not what America stands for. Shame on you, Ron Paul, for demeaning the standard of openness that has made this country great.
By voting for the Hostettler Amendment to H.R. 2862, Rep. Paul voted to keep a ruling of a federal court from being enforced. Why? Because a judge decided that a religious monument on the grounds of the Gibson county courthouse was an unconstitutional endorsement of one religion over others. Rep. Paul has apparently decided that any personally distasteful court ruling can be overturned, just because. That's not the rule of law. That's an arbitrary violation of the separation of powers. And, in this case, it allows pushy and vocal religious groups to shove their beliefs down everybody else's throats. That's not just wrong, it is downright unAmerican.
By voting "no" on the Scott Amendment, Rep. Paul voted to keep language in H.R. 27 that allows organizations to engage in government-funded religious discrimination in hiring. We had thought that bigotry was old hat, and that the separation of church and state was secure. With this vote, Rep. Paul has helped to weaken the constitution and bring bigotry back in style.
At a time when our budget deficit is soaring, George W. Bush and the Congress should be finding ways for the American people to fulfill their responsibilities to future generations. That means that we must pay our way: when Bush and the Congress propose and pass large budgets, they must provide for their payment as well. Yes, this means taxes. But while the Republican-controlled Congress is allowing the government's budget to spiral wildly higher, it irresponsibly suggests that we ought to cut taxes. And to make matters worse, the taxes they propose to cut are taxes paid by those who can by definition afford to pay them: the wealthy. Nobody has to pay a penny for anything up to a million dollars they get in income when a relative dies. But H.R. 8 would permanently eliminate income taxes on any unearned money over a million bucks that people receive as part of an inheritance. You and I won't get that kind of inheritance: it's the already filthy rich who will benefit. At this time of budget deficits, we shouldn't be cutting away these sorts of taxes. It's not fiscally prudent. It's radically regressive. By supporting this legislation, Representative Paul has decided to act in an irresponsible manner that is fiscally dangerous to us all.
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