Sen. Rand Paul, in response to a question about how the federal government should treat abortion, said the country can’t survive without a religious foundation.
Quoting the British theologian Os Guinness, Paul said, “Liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint.”
Here’s the full exchange:
WALLACE: Thank you, senator. Senator Paul, in may, in may on the campaign trail you, said you didn’t get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let’s say, wants to make abortion legal, that you’re okay with that, and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder?
PAUL: I think abortion is always wrong. I’ve supported a variety of solutions. Both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the life at conception act which would say that the 14th Amendment would defend an individual, even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself, requires a virtue, requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Os Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There’s a lot packed into that statement, but the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government’s not always going to save us and it’s not always going to come from government. If we don’t know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way, I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, we are at a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction.