Liberty Maven

In a wonderful interview the Wall Street Journal’s “Real Time Economics” blog discusses Ron Paul’s ultimate goal of ending the Federal Reserve system. Paul is again at his best when he is educating the people. He puts the nature of our monetary system is layman’s terms in this interview in a very effective way. He makes it accessible to all. He may not advocate Universal Health Care, but he certainly advocates Universal Monetary Education.

So without the Fed, there wouldn’t be as much credit.

Yeah, it would be different. If you were selling me a car and the car was worth $10,000 and I didn’t want to pay cash, you could take credit from me. You’ve got to have something to measure it by. What is a dollar? We don’t even know what a dollar is. There’s no definition for a dollar. There’s never been a time in law that said a Federal Reserve note is a dollar. That’s the basic flaw. There’s no definition for money. We’ve built a worldwide economy on a measuring rod that varies every single day. That’s why it was fragile, and that’s why it collapsed. There was no soundness to it. So that’s why you have to have a stable unit of account.

If you live in a primitive society, you’d trade goods. And if you wanted to advance, then you would trade a universal good, which would be a coin. But we’ve become sophisticated and smart and say, ‘Oh, you don’t have to go through that. We’ll just print the money. And we’ll trust the government not to print too much, and distribute it fairly.’ That’s often just a total farce. People are realizing that it is.

Read the entire Q and A at the Wall Street Journal.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.” — George Stephanopolous, accidentally speaking truth on behalf of President Clinton during Clinton’s first term

When we last reported to you on August 11 the bill had 48 co-sponsors in the House. Good news! Now it has 51!

Unfortunately, the companion bill in the Senate (S. 1319) is still stuck at 21 co-sponsors, but perhaps we can change that.

We think letters to Congress from DC Downsizers have played a big role in recruiting all of these co-sponsors. We know of no other organization that is pushing this bill at all, let alone as much as we have. Let’s keep pushing.

First, check the lists below to see if one or more members of your Congressional delegation is already co-sponsoring this legislation. Then, use our Educate the Powerful System^sm to write a letter to your delegation, thanking or requesting participation, as the case may be.

Here’s the list of House co-sponsors of HR 450 . . .

Bachmann, Michele [MN-6] — Barrett, J. Gresham [SC-3] — Bilbray, Brian P. [CA-50] — Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-9] — Bishop, Rob [UT-1] — Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] — Rep Boozman, John [AR-3] — Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] — Conaway, K. Michael [TX-11] — Culberson, John Abney [TX-7] — Davis, Geoff [KY-4] — Deal, Nathan [GA-9] — Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] — Forbes, J. Randy [VA-4] — Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] — Franks, Trent [AZ-2] — Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] — Gohmert, Louie [TX-1] — Goodlatte, Bob [VA-6] — Heller, Dean [NV-2] — Herger, Wally [CA-2] — Hoekstra, Peter [MI-2] — Hunter, Duncan D. [CA-52] — Johnson, Sam [TX-3] — Kline, John [MN-2] — Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] — Mack, Connie [FL-14] — McCaul, Michael T. [TX-10] — McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] — McHenry, Patrick T. [NC-10] — Miller, Jeff [FL-1] — Moran, Jerry [KS-1] — Myrick, Sue Wilkins [NC-9] — Neugebauer, Randy [TX-19] — Olson, Pete [TX-22] — Paul, Ron [TX-14] — Poe, Ted [TX-2] — Posey, Bil l [FL-15] — Price, Tom [GA-6] — Roe, David P. [TN-1] — Ryan, Paul [WI-1] — Sessions, Pete [TX-32] — Smith, Lamar [TX-21] — Terry, Lee [NE-2] — Thompson, Glenn [PA-5] — Wamp, Zach [TN-3] — Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] — Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] Tiahrt, Todd [KS-4] Rep Wilson, Joe [SC-2] Souder, Mark E. [IN-3]

Here’s the list of Senate co-sponsors for S. 1319 . . .

Barrasso, John — Brownback, Sam — Bunning, Jim — Burr, Richard — Chambliss, Saxby — Crapo, Mike 7787 — DeMint, Jim — Ensign, John — Enzi, Michael B. — Graham, Lindsey — Grassley, Chuck — Hutchison, Kay Bailey — Inhofe, James M. — Isakson, Johnny — Kyl, Jon — McCain, John — McConnell, Mitch — Risch, James E. 7787 — Thune, John — Vitter, David — Wicker, Roger F.

Use DownsizeDC.org’s campaign for the Enumerated Powers Act to send your letter to Congress.

My two Senators are already co-sponsors, but my House Representative is not, so here’s what I said in my personal comments:

“I applaud my Senators, McCain and Kyl, for co-sponsoring this bill, and urge my Representative, Ms. Giffords, to join them by co-sponsoring the House version, HR 450. I view support for this bill as evidence that you want to walk-the-talk of your oath to serve, protect, and defend the Constitution.”

You can send your letter to Congress here.

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Rand Paul appeared for a 30 minute call-in segment on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this morning. Many topics were discussed. Check it out below in the 3 part playlist.

httpvp://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C2662CC908756A00

The morons who are adding the “N word” to the end of “You Lie!” need to simmer down. Yes, that means you Jimmy Carter.

Following Joe Wilson’s outburst during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress I suggested he was merely representing his constituents. I also suggested that he’s probably a liar too, but not many picked up on that. They were too interested in discussing how disrespectful it was for a man to yell two words at the President during his address, two words that probably should have been three words: “We all lie!”

But what I’m most miffed about is all these charges of racism going around. There’s nothing about what Joe Wilson said that was racist.  Those jumping to conclusions about race are instigating racism instead of helping prevent it. Now Jimmy Carter says he believes that Wilson’s comment was “based on racism.” Well I suppose that settles it.

The bottom line is that it is not in any way racist to disagree with the President on health care or any number of issues. Why does having a black President turn so many into race-card-playing Al Sharptons? If this is the way it is 9 months into Obama’s Presidency I’m really starting to worry how this country will be 2-3 years from now.

Here’s a tip. Unless the person disagreeing with Obama is wearing a white hood, is burning a cross, or actually says or writes something that is racist, put your race card back in your pocket where it belongs. If you don’t, you are perpetuating racism by “crying wolf” when there is no “wolf” to be found.

The most recent Rasmussen approval rating for Obama is at 50%. That means that 50% disagree in some way with Obama. Do you seriously believe that in 2009 half of America is racist? I’d suggest seeing a therapist if you do.

Instead of  straw-man-jumping directly to racism in your counter-arguments why not argue the actual issue? If you don’t then you are only reinforcing that you have no counter-argument.

Jimmy Carter is setting a very bad example. Do the opposite.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “There are some bills we don’t need to read, we already know how we’re going to vote.” – Rep. Henry Brown

Does DownsizeDC.org agree or disagree with this statement? The answer may surprise you . . .

As originators of the Read the Bills meme, we consider this a sign of progress. It means that public pressure in support of our idea is both working and growing. Now, if only the Democrats and Republicans in Congress would stop using our idea to grandstand, and would instead pass DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act (RTBA)!

But the debate over which side has read the healthcare bill more carefully raises a question: should members of Congress who intend to vote AGAINST a bill still be required to read every word of it?

We think it would be helpful for them to do so, especially when it comes to debating why the bill should be defeated, but we don’t think those who intend to vote NO on a bill should be required to read it.

No one needs to justify opposing a bill that will invade your life, your liberty, or your property. Opponents don’t have to prove they know every clause and subsection.

One bad clause may be sufficient to put down the bill and go vote against it.

The onus is always on those who support a bill to justify it.

This gives us an opportunity to clear up a common misconception among members of Congress . . .

Several of them think that DownsizeDC.org’s RTBA would require all members to read every word of every bill that comes to a vote. It doesn’t. It only requires those who vote in favor of a bill to have signed an affadavit affirming they have read the bill, or heard it read.

Those who oppose a bill because they think its key points are bad, aren’t asked to sweat the details.

The RTBA’s purpose is to force a bill’s supporters to have a basic knowledge of what it is they’re passing. This basic knowledge can only come from reading the bill. This simple requirement would . . .

* Prevent politicians from blithely supporting bills just because they sound like they have good intentions
* Require politicians to take responsibility for their vote — they could no longer hide behind the excuse that they “didn’t know that was in the bill”
* Make politicians more concerned to make sure that a nice-sounding bill won’t have unintended consequences

We therefore agree with the Quote of the Day above — at least in one sense. If Representative Brown already knows he’s going to oppose a bill, the RTBA won’t require him to read it. But he, and all members of Congress, must read every bill they intend to support.

Use our Educate the Powerful System to tell your Congressional employees to pass DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act.

Use your personal comments to tell them that, contrary to their possible misconception, the RTBA only requires them to read bills they support, not bills they oppose. Also remind them that if they pass the healthcare bill without reading it first, they will pay a steep political price.

You can send your letter to Congress here.

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Judge Andrew Napolitano takes on Obama, Health Care reform and how it relates to the commerce clause in the Constitution in an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today.

James Madison, who argued that to regulate meant to keep regular, would have shuddered at such circular reasoning. Madison’s understanding was the commonly held one in 1789, since the principle reason for the Constitutional Convention was to establish a central government that would prevent ruinous state-imposed tariffs that favored in-state businesses. It would do so by assuring that commerce between the states was kept “regular.”

The Supreme Court finally came to its senses when it invalidated a congressional ban on illegal guns within 1,000 feet of public schools. In United States v. Lopez (1995), the Court ruled that the Commerce Clause may only be used by Congress to regulate human activity that is truly commercial at its core and that has not traditionally been regulated by the states. The movement of illegal guns from one state to another, the Court ruled, was criminal and not commercial at its core, and school safety has historically been a state function.

Applying these principles to President Barack Obama’s health-care proposal, it’s clear that his plan is unconstitutional at its core. The practice of medicine consists of the delivery of intimate services to the human body. In almost all instances, the delivery of medical services occurs in one place and does not move across interstate lines. One goes to a physician not to engage in commercial activity, as the Framers of the Constitution understood, but to improve one’s health. And the practice of medicine, much like public school safety, has been regulated by states for the past century.

Read the full article here and be sure to tune in to the Judge’s now daily show, Freedom Watch, which runs Monday through Friday. The show is posted each evening at Foxnews.com/FreedomWatch and FreedomWatchOnFox.com. Today’s guests are Ron Paul, Tom Woods, and Walter Block.

Ron Paul appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning to promote his new book “End The Fed” (although he didn’t really get a chance to do so) and the general state of economic affairs America. Joe points out how right Ron Paul was when he predicted the economic crisis in 2003.

This is another great educational appearance by Ron Paul. As one of the Youtube commenters stated, “This is the one video that needs to be forwarded to your family members.”

Joe asks Ron Paul, “What did you know in 2003″ that no one else knew? Check the video out below for Ron Paul’s answers.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Quote of the Day: “In the general course of human nature, a power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.” — Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) Source: Federalist Paper 79

* One form of counterfeiting is technically legal, and the other illegal
* The local counterfeiting ring steals from local merchants, whereas the Federal Reserve steals from everyone, for the benefit of those who get the new dollars first

Whenever the FED creates new dollars the value of every dollar you hold diminishes. It may take a while for this loss to be felt, but the longer the new dollars circulate the more likely it is that you will feel the loss, and the more likely it is that bubbles will result . . .

. . . followed by recessions.

Apologists for the FED assert that legalized counterfeiting is the cure for recessions. We assert that it is the cause of them.

Last Fall the FED began implementing its supposed legalized counterfeiting cure on a massive scale. Here are the numbers (in billions) showing the massive rise in the quantity of dollars . . .

2008-08-01   847.472
2008-09-01   908.020
2008-10-01  1,132.509
2008-11-01  1,441.067
2008-12-01  1,663.932
2009-01-01  1,712.081
2009-02-01  1,562.251
2009-03-01  1,646.934
2009-04-01  1,752.744
2009-05-01  1,774.892
2009-06-01  1,684.038
2009-07-01  1,673.100
2009-08-01  1,706.099

We want to call your attention to the numbers for May through August. The FED has promised that it will withdraw the new dollars it has created just as soon as the economy recovers. There were signs that they were attempting to do that at the end of May, and the downward trend continued through July. But now August has come and gone and the money supply has grown again.

Please also notice that the price of gold has spiked above $1,000 an ounce. We’ve always been skeptical that the FED would be able to reverse its counterfeiting binge. It appears the gold market is skeptical too. If our worst fears are realized then we are all in big trouble.

Look at that list of numbers again. The money supply has basically doubled over the past year. If this money remains in circulation then the value of your savings will tend to be cut in half, as will the purchasing power of your paycheck. Can you afford that?

It gets worse. If we’re correct that legalized counterfeiting causes recessions, we may yet face an economic downturn equal to the increase in the money supply.

Worse still, we know from the example of the 1970s that it’s possible to have both recession and price inflation at the same time. This too could be in your future.

What can you do about it? Some think we need to end the Fed’s ability to counterfeit. We agree. But there’s an easy way to do that, and a hard way. We prefer the easy way.

That’s why we continue to focus our efforts on three crucial bills NOT YET RE-introduced by Congressman Ron Paul . . .

* The 15-word “Honest Money Act” that would repeal the 41-word legal tender law.
* The 104-word “Free Competition in Currency Act” that would repeal the government monopoly over the creation of coins for use as currency.
* The 193-word “Tax-Free Gold Act” that would prohibit federal and state taxes on precious metal coins and bullion.

These three simple bills would allow you to hold your wealth and conduct your business in forms of money other than Federal Reserve Notes. This would create a free market money system and pave the way for the end of the FED.

We want to point out to you that every new fact we provide to you is another opportunity for you to write a letter to your Congressional employees, and ask for what you want. Please take advantage of this opportunity.

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System to ask your representatives to introduce the “Honest Money” bills.

Use your personal comments to tell your Congressional employees that you don’t want to be forced to hold your wealth in dollars that are constantly devalued by the FED’s relentless legalized counterfeiting. We recommend that you cut and paste the numbers from above showing the explosion in the size of the monetary base.

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Robert Higgs smacks another home run in his latest commentary. He lists a few lessons that he learned through his own protests and political demonstrations of the Vietnam war and seeks to pass on that knowledge to us today.

In lesson two he notes that it takes all kinds to make up a demonstration.

Lesson number two is that the people in the demonstrations are there for all sorts of reasons, despite what one might suppose from their announced issue(s) as signified by signs, banners, and group statements. I often bemoaned the lack of seriousness in many of the antiwar demonstrators with whom I marched. A great many of the younger ones seemed to be there mainly because demonstrating against the war was, literally, a sexy thing for a college student to do: at the demonstration, one might meet someone suitable for a not-very-subsequent sexual liaison—in plain language, participating in a demonstration served as a reasonably promising avenue to getting laid. Beyond this quite understandable motivation, however, people had all sorts of other reasons for participating.

Some fancied themselves radicals out to overthrow the government. Others were worried that children, grandchildren, or other relatives and friends might be drafted, shipped to Vietnam, and killed. Some of us actually cared about the countless hundreds of thousands of Asians being slaughtered by U.S. forces for no good reason. Although we were all against the war in some way, our ways varied widely. The participants in most demonstrations, including the recent one in Washington, no doubt have this same heterogeneous quality. In a protest, however, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The recent 9/12 DC and Tea Party demonstrations will certainly make most of us feel better but how much will it really change things? Higgs makes some other great points in his column including why he chooses to no longer participate in such demonstrations. Read the rest of it now.

Also, if you happen to be in the general vicinity of George Mason University on October 5th you can eat some free pizza and hear Robert Higgs lecture as part of the Economic Liberty Lecture Series at the school. Details are posted by the Future of Freedom Foundation, a co-sponsor of the series.

It looks like Peter Schiff is prepared to announce his own run for Chris Dodd’s Connecticut Senate seat on Thursday.

Peter Schiff has raised more than $1 million for a U.S. Senate bid he has yet to formally announce. But that could come on Thursday, when Schiff said he will state his decision on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show.

Schiff has an uphill battle, but he hasn’t really done much campaigning or fund raising yet is very close in the few polls that have been released. The GOP primary field is crowded and while many are focused on Dodd the primary must be won first.