Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.[2] His nickname "Dr. No"[25] reflects both his medical degree and his insistence that
he will "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution."[34] One scoring method published in the American Journal of Political Science[159] found Paul the most conservative of all 3,320 members of Congress from 1937 to 2002 (wherein "conservative" is defined by a strict reading of the Constitution, rather than its common definition).[160] Paul's foreign policy of nonintervention[161] made him the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate to have voted against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002.
He advocates withdrawal from the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty. He supports free trade, rejecting membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization as "managed trade". He supports tighter border security and ending welfare benefits for illegal aliens, and opposes birthright citizenship and amnesty;[162] he voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. He voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, but suggested war alternatives such as authorizing the president to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists.
Paul adheres deeply to Austrian school economics; he has authored six books on the subject, and displays pictures of Austrian school economists Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises (as well as of Grover Cleveland)[47] on his office wall.
He regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes;[26] he cast two thirds of all the lone negative votes in the House during a 1995–1997 period.[25] He has pledged never to raise taxes[163] and states he has never voted to approve a budget deficit. Paul would abolish the individual income tax by scaling back the federal budget to its 2000 spending levels;[92][164] he would also rely on excise taxes and tariffs.
He would eliminate most federal government agencies as unnecessary bureaucracies. Paul also sharply opposes inflation as a longterm erosion of the U.S. dollar's purchasing power due to its lack of commodity backing. Paul "wouldn't exactly go back on the gold standard",[165] but instead has pushed to legitimize gold and silver as legal tender and to remove the sales tax on them.
He advocates gradual elimination of the Federal Reserve System for many reasons, such as believing that economic volatility is decreased when the free market determines interest rates and money supply, and being aware of its allegedly unconstitutional and secret origins.[166] He favors allowing workers to opt out of Social Security to "protect the system for everyone".
Paul strongly supports Constitutional rights, such as the right to keep and bear arms, jury nullification, and habeas corpus for political detainees. He opposes the Patriot Act, federal use of torture, presidential autonomy, a national ID card, domestic surveillance, and the draft. Citing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, Paul advocates states' rights to decide how to regulate social matters not directly found in the Constitution.
Paul calls himself "strongly pro-life",[167] "an unshakable foe of abortion",[168] and believes regulation or ban[169] on medical decisions about maternal or fetal health is "best handled at the state level".[170][171] (He says his years as an obstetrician lead him to believe life begins at conception;[172] his pro-life legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade for ethical reasons and to get "the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters." [173] Paul believes that Secularism in America is a "war against religion, chipping away bit by bit at our nation’s Christian heritage."[174]
He opposes federal regulation of the death penalty,[170] of education,[175] and of marriage, and he would revise the military "don't ask, don't tell" policy to focus on disruptive sexual behavior (whether heterosexual or homosexual).[176][177] A free-market environmentalist, he asserts private property rights in relation to environmental protection and pollution prevention. He also opposes the federal War on Drugs, desiring the states to decide whether to regulate or deregulate drugs such as medical marijuana.[178][179] He agrees that marijuana is only illegal because it can't be taxed. Paul pushes to eliminate federal involvement in and management of health care, which he argues would allow prices to drop due to the fundamental dynamics of a free market.[180] He is an outspoken proponent for ballot access and numerous election law reforms which would allow more voter control.[181]
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