Texas Rep. Ron Paul Heads for a Lucrative Retirement

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, after a last, abortive run for president, is retiring from his seat in the United States Congress. But the 77-year-old politician and advocate for small government is not going to have a relaxing retirement.

Paul signs with a speakers' bureau

According to the Washington Times, Paul has signed with the Greater Talent Network to arrange for speaking engagements. Starting in January, Paul will be paid handsomely to spread his message of smaller government at home and an isolationist foreign policy. Fees have not been disclosed, but they could be upwards to $50,000 a speech, plus travel expenses. In effect, Paul will be practicing what he has often preached, free market capitalism, by selling what he used to give away for free.

Ron Paul: The Film

Paul recently created a stir with what amounted to a farewell address on the floor of Congress in which he summed up his views on government, human freedom, and foreign policy. The speech, with some backup documentation, has been folded into a just over one-hour movie now available on YouTube, dubbed "Ron Paul: The Film." It may be the last address Paul will give for free,

Ron Paul on the fiscal cliff

As Paul prepares for a lucrative retirement, he has not been quiet on the issues of the day. In a YouTube video he recently uploaded, Paul opened his mind on the so-called fiscal cliff. He suggested that the fiscal cliff is a congressionally manufactured crisis that will culminate at the last moment with a deal that will not address America's fiscal crisis. He decried the idea of raising taxes and suggested cutting spending on everything from what he termed corporate welfare to foreign military operations. If anything, Paul suggested that a more sensible approach would be to cut taxes and spending while limiting government to its constitutionally mandated role.

Rand Paul as Ron Paul's heir disputed

In the meantime, as Paul heads for retirement, his followers are mulling over who might be his political heir. While the obvious answer might be his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, it is not a view that is universally shared. According to the Hill, Sen. Paul was criticized by a former Ron Paul staffer for voting for imposing sanctions on Iran, something that Rep. Paul opposed. Another piece in the Hill referred to Sen. Paul as a "shoot-from-the-hip politician" apparently as opposed to his father, who was described as having "devoted a generation of hard work and deep thought to achieve a well-deserved reputation."

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

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Texas Rep. Ron Paul Heads for a Lucrative Retirement