Taking a Stand by Rand Paul

Author:Rand Paul
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2015-05-26T04:00:00+00:00

Civil asset forfeiture, offender-funded justice, and other policy-driven law enforcement abuse must be stopped in its tracks. The FAIR Act and other legislation I’ve introduced goes a long way to doing just that. But more needs to be done, and it needs to be done from the top down. There is a simple answer to government overreach. It is called the Constitution.

10

Economic Freedom

When government picks the winners and losers we usually end up with the losers.

When I spoke at the Detroit Economic Club a few months back, I opened my talk by telling the story of the little girl who wrote a letter to God asking for a hundred dollars. When the postman saw the letter he thought it was cute and decided to address it to the president. The president’s secretary read the letter and told her boss about it. The president, too, thought the letter cute and told his secretary to send the little girl a $5 bill and a note signed by him.

When the girl opened the letter from the White House she looked curiously at the five bucks. Her parents had taught her well. She sat down to write a thank-you note.

“Thanks, God, for the money,” the note began. “But next time don’t send it through Washington. They stole 95 percent of it.”

At the time I spoke there, Detroit had entered into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history—over $1.3 billion. Once home to nearly 2 million people, only 700,000 remain in Detroit, and unprecedented urban decay surrounds many of them. According to Detroit’s Blight Removal Task Force, as of this writing, more than a third of the city’s buildings are condemned and headed for demolition.

Since the day I spoke there, Detroit has come through its bankruptcy and, thanks in no short measure to the people who live there, has begun to valiantly fight its way back. Yet too many poor and disadvantaged individuals continue to struggle with little hope of breaking the bonds that keep them marginalized.

I promised the people of Detroit to come up with a plan to help those who have lost hope. My plan will not only help Detroit. It will help depressed areas across the country.

Those are not just empty words.

The answer to the problems Detroit and other places like it face is right in front of our noses, if we only open our eyes.

American cities, towns, and rural communities that are mired in blight and unemployment already possess the best natural resource available: the residents who live there, people who are willing to work, people who are willing to start new businesses, and people unwilling to exist on a free ride.

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