Ron Paul Visits Rock Hill
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 2:16PM By Josh Lindower
Special to The Johnsonian
Congressman Ron Paul made a quick campaign stop in Rock Hill yesterday afternoon. The ballroom and hallway of the Holiday Inn near the Rock Hill Galleria were filled wall-to-wall as people showed up on short notice.
The Pennsylvania native and Texas Congressman spoke for around fifteen minutes among cheers for his policies and boos for his competitors. His speech laid out his plan to reduce government spending by $1 trillion in his first year of presidency. Part of his plan includes shutting down TSA(Transportation Security Agency), eliminating a number of cabinet departments and cutting foreign spending.
Paul plans to cut foreign aid and end all wars that were not officially declared by congress. Along with these cuts, he plans to close the remaining overseas military base and hinted at a second base in South Carolina to contain the troops returning from combat.
In removing our presence overseas, Paul also plans to limit the role that the United States plays in both NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the United Nations. Paul claims that ending our attention abroad will allow us to fix our issues at home.
Despite cutting the TSA and removing our military presence abroad, Paul still insists that national security will not be threatened.
Anderw Zerfass, an avid supporter of Ron Paul and a Winthrop graduate, supports Paul because “he is more concerned about the citizens that are affected by the government.”
Zerfass was one of many Winthrop students to attend the meeting on short notice, but not all Winthrop students are happy with the message.
Travis Harnage, a history and political science double major, said “Ron Paul’s small government ideas don’t fit into a world where international politics play such a large role in our everyday lives.”
With the primary just three days away, Paul has a number of stops to make in South Carolina. The busy Congressman has already stopped in Rock Hill, Greenville and Myrtle Beach where he picked up an endorsement from a popular coastal senator.
