Buffett's dad was the Ron Paul of his day

by Philip Klein
Washington Examiner
Sep. 21, 2011

In recent days, the Buffett name has become synonymous with support for higher taxes, but a long time ago, it was associated with fierce opposition to federal taxation and big government.

Warren Buffett may be a committed liberal Democrat, but his father, Howard Buffett, was a four-term Republican member of Congress (1943-49 and 51-53), a John Bircher who fought FDR and warned that the expansion of government was eroding individual liberty.

"Today's situation is the result of an alarming and devious governmental intervention in the economic affairs of the nation for objectives not contemplated by the men who wrote the Constitution," Buffett lamented in a lecture excerpted in the December 1956 issue of the libertarian journal The Freeman. "Historically, in America the producer was protected by government in the enjoyment of the fruits of his labors. That protection of his property explains the glorious material progress already recounted."

In the lecture, Buffett went on to observe that, "The last 40 years have seen a gigantic expansion of political power over economic affairs by the federal government. This change is linked by many scholars to the passage of the income tax law in 1913."

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