Modern Era
Ron Paul
b. 1935 · Constitutionalism
Every unconstitutional bill is a vote against the republic.
As a physician turned congressman, Paul made a practice of voting against legislation he considered unauthorized, including appropriations within his own district, and refused to accept Medicare payments on principle. His campaigns revived the argument that the constitution's enumeration of powers is a limit rather than a formality, and brought antiwar, anti-Federal Reserve and privacy themes into a mass movement that outlasted the campaigns.
Why it matters for freedom
He brought the anti-war, anti-central-bank case into American electoral politics and refused the usual compromises.
Who they stood against
the Federal Reserve, the wars, and the surveillance state that grew under both parties