A quick google search shows that Ron Paul wrote against the Department of Homeland Security when it was created, promised in a 2007 presidential debate he would abolish the DHS, and wrote or ghost-wrote a column in 2015 suggesting it's pointless.
https://www.antiwar.com/paul/paul56.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/u...cs/06text.htmlThe administration and Congress put the finishing touches on the monstrous Homeland Security bill last week, creating the first new federal department since the Department of Defense at the end of World War II. Laughably, the new department has been characterized as merely a "reorganization" of existing agencies, even though I notice no department was abolished to make up for it! One thing we can be sure of in this world is that federal agencies grow. The Homeland Security department, like all federal agencies, will increase in size exponentially over the coming decades. Its budget, number of employees, and the scope of its mission will EXPAND. Congress has no idea what it will have created twenty or fifty years hence, when less popular presidents have the full power of a domestic spying agency at their disposal.
The frightening details of the Homeland Security bill, which authorizes an unprecedented level of warrantless spying on American citizens, are still emerging. Those who still care about the Bill of Rights, particularly the 4th amendment, have every reason to be alarmed. But the process by which Congress created the bill is every bit as reprehensible as its contents.
Ironically, many in Congress who usually champion limited government were enthusiastic supporters of the largest federal expansion in 50 years. Twenty years ago President Reagan revitalized conservatives across the country by appealing to their Goldwater roots, promising to slash the size of government and eliminate whole departments. Yet the promise of a smaller government went unfulfilled, and today Congress passes budgets even larger that those of the Clinton years.
Of course the Homeland Security bill did receive some opposition from the President's critics. Yet did they attack the legislation because it threatens to debase the 4th amendment and create an Orwellian surveillance society? Did they attack it because it will chill political dissent or expand the drug war? No, they attacked it on the grounds that it failed to secure enough high-paying federal union jobs, thus angering one of Washington's most powerful special interest groups. Ultimately, however, even the most prominent critics voted for the bill.
The lesson learned from the rush to create a Homeland Security department is that the size and scope of government grows regardless of which party is in power. The federal government now devours a whopping 40% of the nation's GDP, the highest level since World War II – and a massive new department can only make things worse. The Homeland Security bill provides a vivid example of the uncontrolled spending culture in Washington, a culture that views the true source of political power – your tax dollars – as unlimited.
http://www.campaignforliberty.org/cl...-security-good (It should be noted that the headline is "Department of Homeland Security: What is it good for?"MR. WALLACE: Congressman Paul, your answer is to cut both taxes and spending. You say that you would eliminate the IRS, the CIA, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Homeland Security, Medicare. (Cheers, applause.)
MR. : (Laughs.)
MR. WALLACE: I know that you used to want to end the FBI. I’m not sure whether you still support that idea, sir.
MR. : No.
MR. WALLACE: Perhaps you can tell us. But if you get rid of the CIA, let alone the FBI, how would President Paul have any idea, any intelligence of what our enemies, foreign and domestic, are up to?
MR. WALLACE: Perhaps you can tell us. But if you get rid of the CIA, let alone the FBI, how would President Paul have any idea, any intelligence of what our enemies, foreign and domestic, are up to?
REP. PAUL: Well, you might ask a better question. Before 9/11, we were spending $40 billion a year, and the FBI was producing numerous information about people being trained on airplanes to fly on but not land in, and they totally ignored them. So it’s the inefficiency of the bureaucracy that is the problem. So increasing this with the Department of Homeland Security is spending more money, doesn’t solve the problem. Yes, we have every right in the world to know something about intelligence gathering, but we have to have intelligent people interpreting this information. (Cheers, applause.)
But, you know, just going for increasing presidential powers, as has been discussed, is rather disturbing to me. This whole idea that we’re supposed to sacrifice liberty for security -- we were advised against that. Don’t we remember that when you sacrifice liberty for security, you lose both? That’s what’s happening in this country today. (Cheers, applause.) We have a national ID card on our doorstep. It’s being implemented right now. We have FISA courts, we have warrantless searches, we’ve lost habeas corpus, we’ve had secret prisons around the world, and we have torture going on. (Bell.) That’s un-American, and we need to use the power of the presidency to get it back in order in order to take care of us and protect this country and our liberties.