Quote of the Day: “It is the competition of profit-seeking entrepreneurs that does not tolerate the preservation of false prices . . .” — Ludwig von Mises, “Human Action” 3rd edition, pages 337-338

* A majority oppose the bill — 53% to 42%
* That’s down 5 points from two weeks ago and 8 points from six weeks ago

The intensity numbers are even better — 44% strongly oppose the proposal while only 26% strongly favor it.

This intensity is being demonstrated in the rebellion members of Congress are facing at town hall meetings. While we dislike the rude tactics some citizens are using, we completely understand and agree with the anger.

One thing driving this is the spreading realization that the so-called “public option” is really a Trojan Horse that will lead to a “single payer” system . . .

* The “public option” is tax-subsidized government insurance that would charge lower premiums than private companies could afford to match — that’s the whole point of the tax subsidy
* This would eventually drive private health insurance out of business, leaving us with a “single payer” government system
* The so-called “single payer” would really be ALL taxpayers, because taxes would fund all health care
* In other words, public-option equals single-payer equals socialism

But here again, the news is encouraging . . .

Rassmusen reports that a whopping 57% oppose a single-payer system, while only 32% favor it.

And here’s the best news of all . . .

51% percent fear government health care more than they do the insurance companies.

We’ve long felt that public hatred of insurance companies is the main source of support for increased government involvement in health care. But now people seem to be realizing that the real reason to hate the insurance companies is because of . . .

The United States of Corporate Welfare

Big health care interests have used the coercive power of government to erect thickets of Corporate Welfare Regulation, to reward themselves, punish their competitors, and harm consumers.

Cato Institute scholar Michael Tanner provides startling examples of how these regulations have strangled competition between health insurance companies, allowing 30% of the market to be controlled by just 1 company in 299 out of 313 of the largest metro areas.

So the problem isn’t that insurance companies charge too much and pay out too little under free market conditions. Indeed, the profit margins of the health insurance industry rank only 86th among American industries!

Instead, the problem is that government regulations retard competition and consumer choice, leading to inefficient service and false prices.

We don’t need a 2,000-page bill that re-engineers our entire health care system. Instead, the first thing we need is a 1-page bill that restores competition between insurance companies by allowing you to sidestep the corporate welfare regulations erected by state-governments.

This is something the federal government can do using its Constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause.

A rebellion is underway, and we DC Downsizers need to give that rebellion a direction, not only by opposing the Trojan Horse health care bill, but also by promoting positive reforms that will restore consumer choice.

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System (sm) to send your Congressional employees a letter on our campaign to “Make Health Insurance More Affordable.”

Tell Congress to give you a 1-page bill that allows you to buy health insurance regulated by the state of your choice.

If you want, you can use your personal comments to paste-in some of the poll results listed in this Dispatch.

To stay on pace to exceed the 50,802 messages Downsizers sent to Congress last month we must send 2,636 messages today.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast YOUR ARMY is growing, please check out the Keeping Score Report below my signature.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

We’ve grown by 34 net new members since Wednesday. This brings us to 3,484 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,833 — 83% of the way between 27,000 and 28,000!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge — it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using our secure online contribution form.

Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN AUGUST: Gary J Leidy, David Bergland, Gary T Gorski, Don J Crites, 3 unlisted — 7 total. FROM JULY: Barbara Greenhouse, Henry Wood, Donald B. Fox, Mickey Adams, Mary E Sullivan, Raul A., Michael Jones, Alan Farrar, Emma Flores, Michael S Gerlica, John C Matthews, Cheston E Unnewehr, Val Grayson, Arlene Aquino, Susan Varey, Chris Sengenberger, John DiLiberto, 3 unlisted — 20 total.

Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN AUGUST: James Marranca, Kay Samalin, David Hyatt, Douglas Steinschneider, Lily Riker, Nicholas C. Beason, Mr. Marlin, Edward J. Krieger, Lynnette Thompson, 6 unlisted — 15 total.FROM JULY: Robert Lonaberger, Lucy Cole, Donald E Forward, Steven J Lavelle, Karen Glasgow, Brian Keith, Susan Thomas, Chelsea Moller, Michael Herman, Bonnie Hofer, Anita Binns, Brian O’Neill, Richard E Camp, Travis Walston, Donald Grahn, Sonja Thompson, 16 unlisted — 32 total.

If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute at the Foundation’s secure contribution form.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quote of the Day: “Even in the best economic times, you won’t find an investment with a greater payoff than what these companies have been getting.” — Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of The Center for Responsive politics

In case you’ve forgotten . . .

* T.A.R.P. stands for Toxic Asset Relief Program
* The T.A.R.P. was supposed to spend $700 billion buying so-called toxic assets from institutions that were supposedly too big to fail, but . . .
* After Congress said yes to this proposal the Treasury Department instead used the funds to buy stock in major banks
* In other words, The Toxic Asset Relief Program ended up having nothing to do with toxic assets

It get’s worse. According to Wikipedia . . . .

“On February 5, 2009, Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel, told the Senate Banking Committee that during 2008, the federal government paid $254 billion for assets that were worth only $176 billion.”

And even worse . . .

“During 2008, the companies that received bailout money had spent $114 million on lobbying and campaign contributions. These companies received $295 billion in bailout money.”

Thus, our quote of the day. Spending $114 million on lobbying to gain $295 billion dollars from the taxpayers is a hell of a deal. Many thoughts flow from this . . .

* Those who told us that strong campaign finance laws would curtail corruption were wrong
* Those who tell us we need Big Government to control evil corporations overlook the fact that big corporations want big government, because they benefit from it, and largely control it
* The same kind of lobbying and corporate control is behind the scheme for increased government involvement in health care
* And the $800 billion stimulus bill was another heaping helping of corporate welfare too

Sadly, this isn’t a new development. President Obama and the Democratic Congress are just continuing the policies of President Bush and the Republican Congress . . .

* Go back and scratch beneath the surface of Bush’s prescription drug program and you’ll find that it was mostly a corporate welfare scheme for Big Pharma.
* In addition, T.A.R.P. was passed under Bush and the Republican Congress.

As long as partisan loyalists continue to believe that their particular political party, and their particular political savior (be it Obama, Bush, whoever) is somehow different, we’ll continue to be victims of the same insanity. And at some point we might as well change the country’s name to . . .

The United States of Corporate Welfare

Here’s the bottom line . . .

* If you want to stop the looting then you need to be heard to the same extent as the Big Corporate lobbyists.
* We created DownsizeDC.org to bring that about.
* But it isn’t something we’re going to achieve in a Big Bang.
* It’s going to happen bit by bit and day by day — because that’s how real change usually happens.
* In fact, that’s how the United States of Corporate America was created in the first place.

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System (sm) to send your Congressional employees another message opposing corporate bailouts.

Tell them you object to the Congressional Oversight Panel’s report calling for T.A.R.P. to finally be used to buy toxic assets. If the past is any guide then these assets will be bought at above market prices, and will just be one more heaping helping of corporate welfare.

You can use DownsizeDC.org’s “No Bailouts” campaign to send your letter.

To stay on pace to exceed the 50,802 messages Downsizers sent to Congress last month we must send 2,598 messages today.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast your army is growing, check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

We grew by 10 net new members yesterday. This brings us to 3,450 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,799 — nearly 80% of the way between 27,000 and 28,000!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge — it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using our secure online contribution form.

Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN AUGUST: Gary J Leidy, David Bergland, Gary T Gorski, Don J Crites, 2 unlisted — (6 total)   FROM JULY: Barbara Greenhouse, Henry Wood, Donald B. Fox, Mickey Adams, Mary E Sullivan, Raul A., Michael Jones, Alan Farrar, Emma Flores, Michael S Gerlica, John C Matthews, Cheston E Unnewehr, Val Grayson, Arlene Aquino, Susan Varey, Chris Sengenberger, John DiLiberto, 3 unlisted — 20 total.

Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN AUGUST: Kay Samalin, David Hyatt, Douglas Steinschneider, Lily Riker, Nicholas C. Beason, Mr. Marlin, Edward J. Krieger, Lynnette Thompson, 6 unlisted — (14 total)   FROM JULY: Robert Lonaberger, Lucy Cole, Donald E Forward, Steven J Lavelle, Karen Glasgow, Brian Keith, Susan Thomas, Chelsea Moller, Michael Herman, Bonnie Hofer, Anita Binns, Brian O’Neill, Richard E Camp, Travis Walston, Donald Grahn, Sonja Thompson, 16 unlisted — 32 total.

If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute using the Foundation’s secure contribution form.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Below you will discover the Liberty Maven rankings for BJ Lawson on the Paul-O-Meter, where candidates and current lawmakers can be rated on how closely they are in line with Dr. Ron Paul on the issues. To learn about the Paul-O-Meter methodology please see this article. You may also assign your own rankings or request a candidate be added to the system.

Continue reading to see if BJ Lawson truly deserves the moniker “Ron Paul Jr.”

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – Lawson does not have a voting record; therefore per guidelines the score is a 3. Score: 3
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – Lawson supports instituting competing currencies, and badmouths the Federal Reserve any chance he gets. He doesn’t advocate abolishing it, like Ron Paul, but does advocate more transparency and accountability. Score: 4
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Lawson is a non-interventionist and advocates a safe and immediate withdrawal from Iraq.  Score: 5
4. Taxes – Supports efforts to transition to a point when income taxes are unnecessary. Supports some flavor of consumption tax, but has concerns about the Fair Tax. Score: 4
5. Government Spending – Lawson supports a balanced budget amendment and ending deficit spending. Score: 5
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – Lawson says “no thanks” to the Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, Real ID, and FISA just like Ron Paul. Score: 5
7. Immigration – Lawson is against amnesty for illegal aliens and points out that we need to end the welfare/economic incentives that encourage illegal immigration. Score: 5
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Lawson is very close to Ron Paul here. He supports the 2nd Amendment and concealed carry laws, but is not completely explicit on ancillary gun control issues like trigger locks, background checks, and waiting periods. Score: 4
9. Internet Regulation – Lawson does not support federally regulating Internet gambling. Lawson has stated that he supports Net Neutrality which is not something Ron Paul supports because he views it as more regulation. Score: 2
10. Adherence To The Constitution – Lawson calls the Constitution the “rule book” for our country. Score: 5
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – Lawson rarely, if ever, invokes religion in his rhetoric and policy positions. Score: 5
12. Environment – Lawson advocates utilizing the court system and property rights as a defense for the environment just like Ron Paul. However, he also favors a Carbon tax which Ron Paul does not support. Score: 4
13. Energy Policy – Lawson supports drilling wherever necessary and also recognizes that it isn’t the only solution. He does not speak out against Nuclear power and suggests we use all means to obtain more energy. Score: 5
14. U.S. Sovereignty – Lawson does not seem to ever mention the NAU, but does mention protecting U.S. sovereignty. That is not good enough to score points though due to the stringent guidelines for this item. UPDATE: We received word from the Lawson campaign that he is 100% opposed to the NAU, therefore we update his score. Score:5
15. War On Drugs – Lawson advocates ending the war on drugs, leaving drug regulation to the states, and pardoning non-violent drug offenders just like Paul. Score: 5
16. Education – Lawson advocates getting rid of the Department of Education and advocates more choice and home schooling. Score: 5
17. Welfare Programs – Lawson advocates gracefully reducing welfare programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He also advocates ending corporate welfare. Score: 5
18. Abortion – Lawson is pro-life and will leave the decision of legalizing or prohibiting abortion to the states per the Constitution. Score: 5
19. Health Care – Lawson is a Ron Paul twin on health care. He is against any nationalized plan and advocates free market approaches and returning medical decisions back to doctors and patients rather than health insurance companies. Score: 5
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Lawson hands out pocket Constitutions during his campaign events. He is a very visible candidate campaigning throughout his district in North Carolina. There is no questioning his dedication to the liberty message. Score: 5

William “BJ” Lawson’s final Paul-O-Meter Score: 91 out of 99 possible points.

It is hardly surprising that Lawson achieved such a high score. It is certainly safe to say that BJ Lawson can be honestly called “Ron Paul Jr.”. There were a handful of issues where Lawson could score higher, but the information was either not out there or was too difficult to find. NOTE: We have updated Lawson’s score by +5 (giving him a 91 instead of an 86) because his campaign has informed us that he is 100% against the NAU.

Lawson is a Ron Paul supporter’s best bet to get a liberty-loving Constitutionalist into Congress. We should all pretend we live within Lawson’s district and do everything in our power to help get him elected.

If you disagree with our ratings or would like to rate other candidates and lawmakers feel free to do so on the Paul-O-Meter site. All current representatives (both Senate and House) are in the system, as well as many user-submitted candidates running for office throughout America. Each candidate now also has their very own Paul-O-Meter rating page that can be linked to from all around the web.

Sarah Palin In The Land Of McCain's Oz

It is now time to rate the vice presidential candidates on the Paul-O-Meter. We start with John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin. The perfect strategic pick for McCain, Palin has little history. She’s been Governor of Alaska for less than two years, but now that McCain’s handlers are pulling Palin’s puppet strings it is difficult to see a difference between the two.

Here we examine Palin on 20 issues to see how she stacks up to Ron Paul. Hopefully this will help some see the lips through the lipstick.

If you’d like to see more ratings or rate Palin or any other candidate or lawmaker head on over to Paul-O-Meter.com and explore the possibilities.

If you want to delve into the question of whether Palin truly is similar to Ron Paul read onward.

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – Palin is a bit wishy washy on her liberty voting record. She supported the infamous “Bridge To Nowhere” first and then changed her position when it became the popular thing to do. She does to a certain extent try to follow the Constitution, for instance she refused to sign a bill from the Alaskan state legislature stating that the Real ID will not be funded in Alaska. She let the signing period expire which ended up making the law pass. So she didn’t exactly stand up for liberty in that case. Score: 3
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – Palin hasn’t mentioned this issue thus far. She seems to be taking the same position as McCain so it is hard to tell where she stands on the issue. In any case, she is certainly not like Ron Paul who calls for abolishing the Fed and legalizing competing currencies. Score: 0
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Palin has stated several times her support of going into Iraq before even being chosen as VP. She now has adopted John McCain’s foreign policy of intervention, the polar opposite of Ron Paul. Score: 0
4. Taxes – She supported lowering taxes in Alaska, but did raise the sales tax. As VP she’s taken John McCain’s promise to lower taxes on businesses to promote job growth. This is tinkering from a Ron Paul perspective. She does not support repealing the 16th amendment nor a consumption tax. Score: 1
5. Government Spending – She was a champion of curbing spending in Alaska and is continuing the same lines as VP. She hasn’t mentioned reducing the national debt, but has echoed John McCain on earmark reform. Score: 2
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – Palin is not quite a friend to Privacy and Civil Liberties. She created “FBI Day” in Alaska to “support fighting global crime”. No word from her on FISA or the Patriot Act. Similar to Ron Paul, she has stated that she doesn’t support hate crime. Because she allowed Alaska to vote to not fund the Real ID she deserves at least a point or two. Score: 2
7. Immigration – It’s very difficult to find Palin’s stance on immigration. According to Laura Ingraham though who talked with Palin, she disagrees with McCain on “comprehensive immigration reform” which supports amnesty. If true, she is more like Ron Paul on illegal immigration than John McCain. Score: 3
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – She is a large advocate of the Second amendment and supporting the repeal of the DC gun ban. Score: 5
9. Internet Regulation – Palin hasn’t stated anything publicly about internet regulation specifically. There is conjecture that she may support Net Neutrality based on other legislative actions, but that is unreliable. She has promised to not expand “gambling” in Alaska saying it is harmful to society so it is certainly probably she would be for UIGEA which virtually bans online gambling. Given the lack of information we must guess at the score. Score: 2
10. Adherence To The Constitution – She has voted against her own personal views in Alaska because the bill was unconstitutional. At least with respect to Alaska and her view on gun rights she seems to be a Constitutionalist. Her statements on privacy and civil liberties, though, call into question her stance on the Fourth Amendment. Score: 3
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – Palin publicly declared that U.S. involvement in the Iraq war was the “will of God”. She also has injected religion into her speeches and statements quite regularly. This is quite opposite to Ron Paul. Score: 0
12. Environment – She has spoken out against John McCain’s “cap and trade” proposal. She has voted against endangered species legislation in Alaska. She seems to be closer to Ron Paul on this issue than John McCain. Score: 4
13. Energy Policy – She is a strong advocate for drilling in ANWR and off the U.S. coastlines. She seems to be right in line with Ron Paul here. Score: 5
14. U.S. Sovereignty – Palin doesn’t seem to have ever mentioned the NAU nor the threat to U.S. Sovereignty. Score: 0
15. War On Drugs – Palin is a drug warrior like McCain. She doesn’t support legalizing medical marijuana. Score: 0
16. Education – She doesn’t support abolishing the Department of Education, but she does support school choice and home schooling. Score: 3
17. Welfare Programs – Palin supports Social Security reform, but is quite short on specifics. It seems she refuses to give a straight answer on this topic. Score: 0
18. Abortion – She is a mirror of Ron Paul on the abortion issue. Score: 5
19. Health Care – She seems to echo Ron Paul on health care. She supports competition and putting decisions back in the hands of doctors, not bureaucrats. Score: 5
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Palin doesn’t have a liberty message on most topics, revealing that her being a “libertarian” is a complete misnomer. Therefore she doesn’t deserve much of a score here. Score: 1

Sarah Palin’s final Paul-O-Meter Score: 44 out of 99 points.

Those that call Palin “libertarian leaning” are simply mischaracterizing her positions. She’s no libertarian, leaning or otherwise. She is a low fat neo-conservative. She always supported the Iraq War. She is a drug warrior. Obama’s much criticized statement that John McCain in choosing Palin was trying to put “lipstick on a pig” therefore has another meaning. McCain is trying to put “libertarianism” on a “neo-conservative”.

Hopefully, the mindless masses will see what’s behind McCain’s curtain before the end of the movie.

McCain and his expert campaigners have selected someone who the Ron Paul faithful singled out as a potential running mate for Dr. Paul should he magically win the GOP nomination. She has a great conservative record of cutting spending and demanding ethics in government although she is no stranger to alleged ethics violations herself. She is greatly similar to McCain in that light. McCain was part of the Keating 5 Savings and Loan scandal in the 1980’s. He seems to have an expertise in getting people to ignore such things by championing reform of the very things he’s accused of abusing. Palin has a much shorter history of such things, but she has “welcomed the investigation” of herself after being accused of similar nepotism.

On the policy front there are decidedly non-McCain-like Palin positions. She is a very strong proponent of drilling in Alaska, while McCain is still clinging on the protection of ANWR. She has spoken out against “cap and trade” while McCain has made it a key element of his platform. When the Alaskan legislature voted to not fund the implementation of REAL ID Act, Governor Palin acquiesced by not vetoing nor signing the bill. The effect being that Alaska has now rejected the federally mandated REAL ID. The ACLU even praised Palin for her inaction. McCain is a vocal supporter of REAL ID and an assortment of  federal legislation that pretends there is no 10th amendment to the Constitution.

There is very little information about where Sarah Palin stands on foreign policy. Though whatever it was, her previous stance on foreign policy matters little now. This is perfect for McCain’s manipulation of her puppet strings. She will no doubt now be a vocal supporter of “the surge” and continued occupation of “Iraq” and other countries who “harbor” terrorism. With her acceptance as McCain’s VP she has now joined the neo-conservatives in supporting a foreign policy of preemptive war, occupation, and interventionism.

However, there is some potential good with her selection. It arguably could demonstrate that McCain has seen the kind of support Ron Paul received and is trying to move more to the “Old Right” (or more towards libertarianism ever so slightly). Perhaps he is trying to mitigate Bob Barr’s spoiler potential. These arguments are quite a bit of a reach. Palin is no libertarian, but she certainly has a history of supporting more libertarian notions than McCain. I suspect her future statements will reveal her as straying further from the libertarian mindset.

In the end McCain’s selection is an extremely good politically motivated strategic move. I can just hear the McCain camp now discussing the positives of Sarah Palin: “She’s a woman…  She’s staunchly pro-life… She’s a maverick like our candidate… She’s about as much of a DC outsider as there is… She’s a well loved social conservative…”, and so on.

William Kristol, the premier neo-conservative New York Times columnist and editor of The Weekly Standard strongly pushed for Sarah Palin to be McCain’s VP choice back in June. Perhaps the actual “Neocon Of Oz” is Kristol himself. Maybe he’s the real puppeteer here, pulling McCain’s and now Palin’s strings towards his idea of the American Neo-conservative empire. Gods help us.

Quotes of the Day:

NINTH AMENDMENT: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

TENTH AMENDMENT: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Subject: More progress on the “Enumerated Powers Act”

The “Enumerated Powers Act” would force Congress to cite its Constitutional authority for every law it passes. When we last reported to you in late July this bill had 52 co-sponsors in the House, and had just been introduced in the Senate by Tom Coburn, gaining a whopping 22 co-sponsors almost immediately.

Progress has slowed since then, but there is another new co-sponsor in the House. Representative Pete Sessions of Texas came on board on July 23, 2008, just a couple of days after we last contacted Congress about this bill. Maybe some of you made the difference with Mr. Sessions, so let’s keep pushing . . .

* If your Rep. or one or more of your Senators is a co-sponsor, please thank them (we’ve provided a list of co-sponsors below my signature).
* If one or more of your elected representatives is not on the list, ask them to please become a co-sponsor

You can send your message here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Here are the co-sponsors in the Senate . . .

Sen Allard, Wayne – 6/19/2008
Sen Barrasso, John – 6/19/2008
Sen Brownback, Sam – 6/19/2008
Sen Burr, Richard – 6/19/2008
Sen Chambliss, Saxby – 6/19/2008
Sen Cornyn, John – 6/19/2008
Sen Crapo, Mike 7787 – 6/19/2008
Sen DeMint, Jim – 6/19/2008
Sen Dole, Elizabeth – 6/19/2008
Sen Ensign, John – 6/19/2008
Sen Enzi, Michael B. – 6/19/2008
Sen Graham, Lindsey – 6/19/2008
Sen Grassley, Chuck – 6/19/2008
Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey – 6/19/2008
Sen Inhofe, James M. – 6/19/2008
Sen Kyl, Jon – 6/19/2008
Sen McCain, John – 6/19/2008
Sen Sessions, Jeff – 6/19/2008
Sen Sununu, John E. – 6/19/2008
Sen Thune, John – 6/19/2008
Sen Vitter, David – 6/19/2008
Sen Wicker, Roger F. – 6/19/2008

Here are the co-sponsors in the House . . .

Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] – 3/6/2007
Rep Barrett, J. Gresham [SC-3] – 12/5/2007
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] – 3/6/2007
Rep Bilbray, Brian P. [CA-50] – 3/5/2008
Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] – 3/6/2007
Rep Boozman, John [AR-3] – 4/24/2007
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 2/13/2008
Rep Burgess, Michael C. [TX-26] – 6/9/2008
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] – 3/6/2007
Rep Cannon, Chris [UT-3] – 2/25/2008
Rep Conaway, K. Michael [TX-11] – 3/6/2007
Rep Cubin, Barbara – 3/5/2008
Rep Davis, David [TN-1] – 3/27/2007
Rep Doolittle, John T. [CA-4] – 3/5/2008
Rep Duncan, John J., Jr. [TN-2] – 3/7/2007
Rep Feeney, Tom [FL-24] – 4/24/2007
Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] – 3/6/2007
Rep Foxx, Virginia [NC-5] – 3/6/2007
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] – 3/14/2007
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] – 3/6/2007
Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] – 3/6/2007
Rep Gohmert, Louie [TX-1] – 3/6/2007
Rep Goodlatte, Bob [VA-6] – 9/7/2007
Rep Heller, Dean [NV-2] – 8/1/2007
Rep Hensarling, Jeb [TX-5] – 12/12/2007
Rep Herger, Wally [CA-2] – 3/6/2007
Rep Hoekstra, Peter [MI-2] – 12/4/2007
Rep Johnson, Sam [TX-3] – 12/4/2007
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] – 3/31/2008
Rep Kline, John [MN-2] – 12/12/2007
Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] – 3/6/2007
Rep Mack, Connie [FL-14] – 12/12/2007
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] – 3/6/2007
Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] – 3/6/2007
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 3/6/2007
Rep Musgrave, Marilyn N. [CO-4] – 12/12/2007
Rep Myrick, Sue Wilkins [NC-9] – 3/6/2007
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] – 3/6/2007
Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] – 10/25/2007
Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2] – 3/12/2007
Rep Price, Tom [GA-6] – 3/5/2008
Rep Roskam, Peter J. [IL-6] – 6/3/2008
Rep Sali, Bill [ID-1] – 12/5/2007
Rep Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [WI-5] – 5/15/2008
Rep Sessions, Pete [TX-32] – 7/23/2008
Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21] – 4/23/2008
Rep Souder, Mark E. [IN-3] – 4/9/2008
Rep Stearns, Cliff [FL-6] – 5/23/2007
Rep Tiahrt, Todd [KS-4] – 4/24/2008
Rep Walberg, Timothy [MI-7] – 3/9/2007
Rep Wamp, Zach [TN-3] – 4/4/2008
Rep Weldon, Dave [FL-15] – 5/1/2007
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] – 3/6/2007

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

You can get in the action too by rating the candidates using our Paul-O-Meter polling application here.

Listed below is our own ratings for Cynthia McKinney.

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – McKinney has voted in a Ron Paul “way” on three issues: foreign policy, the drug war, and free trade. On almost every other issue she borders on complete socialism. Score: 1
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – McKinney would like to “nationalize” the Federal Reserve and “taking the economic middleman out of coinage and currency”. This is the opposite of the free market ideas Ron Paul espouses. Score: 0
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – McKinney may be more like Ron Paul on this issue than any other candidate. She wants to get our troops out of Iraq, switch to a non-interventionist foreign policy, and remove our troops from bases overseas. Score: 5
4. Taxes – McKinney is very much in favor of a progressive tax system. She would institute new taxes across the board. This is the opposite of the Ron Paul approach. Score: 0
5. Government Spending – McKinney is for dramatically expanding the role of government with numerous new programs to “take care of us.” Again, this is the opposite of the Ron Paul approach. Score: 0
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – McKinney is pretty close to Ron Paul here but in some cases like same sex marriage she doesn’t support leaving it to the states. She prefers federally recognized marriage. Score: 4
7. Immigration – She supports amnesty and voted against the border fence. Score: 1
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – McKinney supports all possible and potential gun control laws. This is the opposite of Ron Paul. Score: 0
9. Internet Regulation – McKinney supports Net Neutrality and regulating the Internet. Score: 0
10. Adherence To The Constitution – With all of the new federal programs, taxes, and departments McKinney is pretty far from adhering to the Constitution. Score: 0
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – McKinney is catholic, but never seems to mention it within her rhetoric. She successfully divorces her religion and policy. Score: 5
12. Environment – McKinney is the opposite of Ron Paul here. She supports new government programs to help with global warming and other environment problems. Score: 0
13. Energy Policy – McKinney doesn’t support drilling off of our coasts. She has said, “Leave the oil in the soil.” She wants to regulate energy prices. She is against nuclear energy. This is decidedly not like Ron Paul. Score: 0
14. U.S. Sovereignty – We could not find any statement from McKinney on the NAU or U.S. Sovereignty. Score: 0
15. War On Drugs – McKinney is mostly like Ron Paul here. She wants to end the war on drugs and free non-violent drug offenders, but she doesn’t support just leaving drug enforcement to the states. Score: 4
16. Education – McKinney fully supports the Dept. of Education and federally funding education programs unlike Dr. Paul. Score: 0
17. Welfare Programs – McKinney advocates for increasing many of the federal welfare programs instead of ending them like Ron Paul. Score: 0
18. Abortion – McKinney is pro-choice and is completely the opposite of Ron Paul here. Score: 0
19. Health Care – McKinney supports nationalized health care. Score: 0
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – McKinney doesn’t have a liberty message like that of Ron Paul and furthermore she doesn’t get much media attention at all. Score: 0

Cynthia McKinney’s final Paul-O-Meter score: 20 out of a possible 99 points.

McKinney finished about where we expected. What we found most interesting is how extreme she is on certain issues, almost like she is Barack Obama’s own liberal conscience. Yet she is very much in line with Ron Paul on foreign policy and free trade, and maybe drug policy, but little else.

That concludes our Presidential candidate ratings. Stay tuned for an upcoming article with our own summation of the results of both our own ratings and of your ratings submitted via the Paul-O-Meter web polling application.

You can join in the rating fun by using our web based Paul-O-Meter application here. Feel free to check it out and submit your own ratings for all the Presidential candidates.

Find our own ratings for Ralph Nader below.

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – Nader doesn’t have a voting record so per the guidelines he gets a 3. Score: 3
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – Nader wants to reform the Federal Reserve to become more transparent, but he doesn’t support competing currencies nor the gold standard. Score: 2
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Nader is quite close to Ron Paul here. He advocates a swift withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and regularly speaks out against a preemptive war strategy. He also advocates for closing military bases overseas. Score: 5
4. Taxes – Nader loves taxes it seems. He advocates for a progressive tax and would like to add a bunch of new taxes to our existing ones. This is nothing like Ron Paul’s anti-tax position. Score: 0
5. Government Spending – Nader is quite opposite from Ron Paul on government spending. He wants to create many new government programs and increase spending domestically. He does however agree with Ron Paul on one thing: Reducing the military budget in many areas, especially overseas. Score: 1
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – Nader is against Real ID, the Patriot Act, and FISA. He is not for leaving same sex marriage to the states though. Score: 4
7. Immigration – Nader has stated support for specific provisions that could be termed amnesty. He also has said that immigrants do not come here for welfare, which is the opposite of Ron Paul. They do agree on one point though: The border fence is a bad idea. Score: 1
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Nader supports the Brady Bill, trigger locks, banning certain weapons, and the strict enforcement of existing gun laws. You can’t get more unlike Ron Paul than that. Score: 0
9. Internet Regulation – Nader has called for instituting a UN like organization for regulating the Internet in an effort to “protect” consumers. Ron Paul’s position could not be further away. Score: 0
10. Adherence To The Constitution – Nader’s new programs rarely meet the Constitutional test. Score: 0
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – Nader rarely if ever mixes religion with his rhetoric and policies. Score: 5
12. Environment – Nader and Paul are on opposing sides on this issue. Nader believes the Kyoto treaty doesn’t go far enough. He supports higher taxes for environmental abusers rather than letting the free market and court system weed polluters out. Score: 0
13. Energy Policy – Nader is against more drilling of our own natural resources. He is also against building more nuclear power plants. Score: 0
14. U.S. Sovereignty – We could find nothing suggesting Nader is against the North American Union nor if he ever even mentioned it. Score: 0
15. War On Drugs – Nader is almost exactly like Ron Paul here. He supports ending the war on drugs, freeing non-violent drug offenders from prison, and decriminalizing marijuana. Unfortunately, he also advocates for new federal programs for prevention so we can only give him a 4. Score: 4
16. Education – Nader supports more federal intervention in education, not less like Ron Paul. Score: 0
17. Welfare Programs – Nader is the opposite of Ron Paul on federal welfare programs. Score: 0
18. Abortion – Nader is pro-choice, unlike Dr. Paul. He is also expressly against leaving abortion to the states. Score: 0
19. Health Care – Nader advocates for a socialized national health care system. Score: 0
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Nader does not have a proper liberty message equal to Ron Paul, but he does almost own one on a few select issues. He also tends to get an decent share of media attention when compared to the other third party/independent candidates. Score: 1

Ralph Naders final Paul-O-Meter score: 26 out of a possible 99 points

The final rating surprised one of our raters because the score was higher than John McCain’s score of 25. Another one of us thought Nader’s score would be up in the 30’s. As it turns out Ralph Nader is quite supportive of many new government programs and is about as anti-business as they come. In our opinion his policies would be horrible for the one issue that is shaping up to be the most important of this election: the economy. Ralph Nader is no Ron Paul, that is for sure.

Tune in next time when we rate our final Presidential candidate, Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney. We can barely contain our excitement.

It is now Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin’s turn to be spun through the Paul-O-Meter. So far we have rated Barack Obama, John McCain, and Bob Barr. Will Chuck Baldwin beat Bob Barr’s current high score of 88? Read on to find out.

For a detailed description of the Paul-O-Meter look here.

NEW: If you’d like to rate the candidates on the Paul-O-Meter please do so on our Paul-O-Meter user rating application here.

Continue reading to see our ratings for Chuck Baldwin.

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – Baldwin does not have a voting record so by default he gets a 3. Score: 3
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – Baldwin wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and has advocated for a return to the gold standard. Baldwin’s Communications Director states that Chuck supports competing currencies. Score has been modified to a 5 (see comments for details). Score:5
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Baldwin calls for an immediate return from Iraq and switching to a non-interventionist foreign policy just like Ron Paul. Baldwin’s Communications Director states that Baldwin has advocated for bringing our troops home from military bases stationed overseas. Score has been modified to a 5 (see comments for details). Score:5
4. Taxes – Baldwin is perfectly in line with Ron Paul on tax policy. He wants to repeal the 16th amendment and replace it with nothing. No flat tax and no consumption tax. Score: 5
5. Government Spending – Baldwin is exactly like Ron Paul on government spending. He mentions specific departments he would abolish and continually advocates returning our government to its Constitutionally limited size. Score: 5
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – Baldwin is identical to Ron Paul here. He is against FISA, Real ID, and the Patriot Act. He would leave the definition of marriage to the states. Score: 5
7. Immigration – Baldwin mimics Ron Paul on this issue. He speaks about removing incentives and lashes out against amnesty. He allows for the possibility of a border fence, but isn’t that keen on the idea. Score: 5
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Baldwin echoes Ron Paul here as well just about perfectly. Score: 5
9. Internet Regulation – He is against Net Neutrality and has said he opposes federal regulation of the Internet. However, he was given an ‘F’ by the Poker Player’s Alliance for his stance on online gambling and he was not forthright with his answer in a recent interview about regulating online gambling. Score: 4
10. Adherence To The Constitution – Baldwin speaks regularly of restoring the Constitution and obeying the rule of law. Score: 5
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – Being a member of the Constitution Party it is difficult for Baldwin to score high here. Baldwin being a pastor also doesn’t help. In most of his writings and speeches he mentions religion or relates policy to it. This is unlike Ron Paul. Ron Paul rarely mentions religion on the campaign trail. Score: 1
12. Environment – Baldwin is directly in line with Dr. Paul here. He believes global warming is a cyclical act of nature and he advocates using property rights and the court system to handle environment disputes. Score: 5
13. Energy Policy – Baldwin advocates for drilling in ANWR and off our coastlines. He advocates building more Nuclear Power plants. Score: 5
14. U.S. Sovereignty – Baldwin regularly speaks out against the North American Union and advocates for strong U.S. Sovereignty. Score: 5
15. War On Drugs – Baldwin says we need to “rethink” the war on drugs, but he hasn’t advocated ending it. Instead he suggests sealing the border as the solution to our perceived drug problems. He hasn’t advocated freeing all non-violent drug offenders either. These are not in line with Ron Paul. He has however, suggested that medicinal marijuana use be best regulated by the states. Score: 3
16. Education – Baldwin is perfectly in line with Ron Paul here. He advocates abolishing the Department of Education and advocates for school choice and home schooling. Score: 5
17. Welfare Programs – Baldwin advocates for phasing out of Social Security just like Ron Paul. Score: 5
18. Abortion – Baldwin is a twin of Ron Paul on this issue. Even though he is personally pro-life he would support Ron Paul’s “Sanctity Of LIfe” act which would overturn Roe vs. Wade and leave all abortion regulation to the states. Score: 5
19. Health Care – Baldwin is exactly like Ron Paul here. Wants to leave medical decisions to doctor’s and patients. He does not support any kind of government run national health care system. He wants to restore free market competition to health care. Score: 5
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Baldwin certainly has a liberty message; however, his ability to spread it by getting coverage on main stream media outlets is severely lacking. Score: 2

Chuck Baldwin’s final Paul-O-Meter Score: 88 out of 99 possible points

It was extremely difficult to find Baldwin’s positions on some of the issues. His new web site doesn’t have an “issues” page and many of his columns do not outline his positions in detail. We were surprised to learn he has not come out as a strong advocate for ending the “war on drugs” like Ron Paul has done. We could have easily given him a 2 on that issue. He has criticized the drug war so that earned him some points there. Likewise, we could have given him a ‘0′ or a ‘1′ on his ability to spread the liberty message, but he has such a strong message that earned him some points there.

If our readers can point us to direct quotes that refute some of the things we were able to find through our research we will happily adjust the score accordingly. For instance, with monetary policy we could find nothing about Baldwin advocating for competing currencies like Ron Paul. Also, on the foreign policy issue we could not find any direct quotes from Baldwin on removing our troops from our bases stationed overseas. (NOTE: Baldwin’s Communication Director responds to these questions in the comments. We have adjusted his score accordingly.)

Stay tuned for next time when we measure stalwart independent Presidential candidate Ralph Nader.

NEW: Now you can submit your own ratings using our new Paul-O-Meter web polling service. Check it out here.

Our rankings for Bob Barr are below.

1. Liberty-based Voting Record – Barr voted for the Patriot Act and for the Iraq War Authorization back in his days in Congress. Those two votes alone should earn him a zero here, however he has denounced those votes and worked towards repealing portions of the Patriot Act almost immediately after passage. Score: 1
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – Barr was interviewed on Glenn Beck’s radio show and denounced the Fed and stated that if he could wave a magic wand and make it go away he would. He says nothing of competing currencies like Ron Paul. Score: 4
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Barr is virtually identical to Ron Paul on this issue. He advocates for a safe immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and switching to a non-interventionist foreign policy. He also advocates bringing our troops home from South Korea, Europe, and Japan. Score: 5
4. Taxes – Barr advocates radical tax reform similar, but not quite exactly in line with Ron Paul. Barr advocates for repealing the 16th amendment and replacing the income tax with either a low flat tax or perhaps a consumption tax (like the FairTax), but he has made clear he has reservations about a consumption tax. Score: 4
5. Government Spending – Barr is identical to Ron Paul on limiting government spending. He advocates for getting rid of earmarks. He also details federal departments he would phase out or abolish such as the Department Of Education and the Department of Commerce. He always couples his lower taxes rhetoric with also cutting spending. Score: 5
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – Barr is a Ron Paul twin on this issue. He supports repealing the Patriot Act. He is against the recent FISA bill. He is against the Real ID Act. He is for leaving same-sex marriage to the states. Score: 5
7. Immigration – Barr is against any kind of fence on the border. He is for reducing government incentives for illegal immigrants to come to the U.S. He has a voting record of being against amnesty, but lately he has been non-committal regarding amnesty. Score: 4
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Barr is almost perfect on gun rights. He lauded the recent Supreme Court Heller decision and has a very pro-Second amendment voting record. He has wavered though, on a limited number of gun control provisions. Score: 4
9. Internet Regulation – There is not much out there about Barr on this issue, but he has worked with the ACLU on protecting data privacy. He has a record of voting against specific internet regulations.  Due to his record it is likely that he is against Net Neutrality like Ron Paul. Score: 4
10. Adherence To The Constitution – Barr has transformed from a compassionate conservative to a Libertarian. He advocates federalism on issues he personally disagrees with. His continued criticism of the Patriot Act and FISA along with his fight for bringing back habeus corpus suggest he is now identical to Ron Paul on Constitutional issues. Score: 5
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – Barr rarely mixes religion with his politics. He has been critical of those who do. Score: 5
12. Environment – Barr is identical to Ron Paul here. He is skeptical of global warming and advocates utilizing the courts and property rights rather than government regulation to handle environmental disagreements. Score: 5
13. Energy Policy – Barr advocates for allowing drilling both in ANWR and off our coastlines. He is a strong supporter of nuclear power. Score: 5
14. U.S. Sovereignty – Barr spoke out against the potential for the NAU during his interview with Glenn Beck on television. He sounded just like Ron Paul on the issue. Score: 5
15. War On Drugs – Barr has been criticized for his drug warrior past by some Libertarians, however; he now is a strong advocate for ending the war on drugs and decriminalizing marijuana. However, he has only hinted at pardoning non-violent drug prisoners. Score: 4
16. Education – Barr advocates abolishing the Department of Education. He promotes the idea of school choice and is an advocate for home schooling. Score: 5
17. Welfare Programs – Barr does not directly advocate ridding ourselves of Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. He does promote the idea of strong reforms and allowing for private accounts. Much of what he has directly said about welfare programs could be construed as “tinkering”. Score: 3
18. Abortion – Barr is similar to Ron Paul on abortion. He’d like to see Roe vs. Wade overturned. He wants to leave it up to the states though he is personally pro-life. Score: 5
19. Health Care – Barr is against socialized national health care. He would like to get government regulation out of the health care industry and return the free market. He believes this will lower costs and put health care decisisons back into the hands of doctors and patients. This is exactly like Ron Paul. Score: 5
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Bob Barr is alone at the top among the third party/independent candidates at spreading the liberty message. He has been on CNN, ABC, FOX News, The Colbert Report, countless radio stations, and the media appearances keep coming. He also actually has a liberty message to spread. Score: 5

Bob Barr’s final Paul-O-Meter Score: 88 out of 99 possible points

It is true we at Liberty Maven are Bob Barr supporters and we even had some disagreements on how to rate Barr on certain criteria. In one case we marked him down (Welfare Programs) and in another we marked him up (Health Care). In all cases we tried to solely focus on how close his current positions are in line with Ron Paul’s current positions. We could not overlook his poor voting record where he earned a 1. In the end when one looks squarely at the issues, Bob Barr is about as close to Ron Paul as you can get.

The next candidate has a chance at scoring even higher than Barr on the Paul-O-Meter. He fully and officially endorsed Ron Paul and has take a very similar stance on many of the issues. He is Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin. Look for his rating next week.

Read on for John McCain’s scores on the issues.

1. Liberty-based voting record – McCain certainly has some horribly anti-liberty votes, but he’s been “ok” on both gun rights and health care. Certainly not perfect but the case can be made that he’s fairly similar to Ron Paul on those issues. Score: 1
2. Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – McCain’s view of the Fed is at complete odds with Ron Paul’s view. McCain has praised the Fed for it’s rate cuts and suggests the institution is doing a good job regulating the “markets”. Score: 0
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – John McCain’s now infamous ‘100 years’ comment says all we need to know about this issue. Score: 0
4. Taxes – McCain proposes more “tinkering” tax proposals than the outright repeal Ron Paul proposes. He doesn’t have a good record on lowering taxes. He voted against the Bush tax cuts twice even though he now says he is for making them permanent. Score: 2
5. Government Spending – McCain preaches for cutting “pork barrel spending” and earmarks continually, but he rarely gets specific about what departments and programs he would eliminate. He has said he would balance the budget and reform certain programs, but there is simply no details on how he would do such things. He purposefully stays away from cutting military and defense spending. Because of his lack of specifics it is difficult to believe he will actually reduce spending much, if at all. Score: 2
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – McCain supports FISA, fully supports the Patriot Act, and fully supports the Real ID Act. Even though during the primary campaign he spoke out against torture, he voted for allowing it to continue. His score here is painfully obvious. Score: 0
7. Immigration – McCain was a main proponent of the immigration bill that angered so many Americans in early 2007. It instituted a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants. That is completely at odds with Ron Paul. These days McCain has backtracked a little on his immigration position. He, at least, is calling for securing the borders like Ron Paul, but he does so in a very generic fashion. One wonders if he actually believes in doing so. Score: 1
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Like Ron Paul, McCain supported repealing the DC gun ban and believes it is an individual’s right to bear arms. However, he has continually led efforts to undermine those rights by regulating gun shows, requiring trigger locks, and supporting extending Brady Bill restrictions to pawn shops and gun repair shops. He’s far from a pure Second Amendment proponent like Ron Paul. Score: 2
9. Internet Regulation – McCain is against Net Neutrality like Ron Paul. He also says he will ban Internet taxes permanently. He does not seem to much care to talk about online gambling. The Poker Player’s Alliance gave him a grade of ‘D’ on the issue. Score: 3
10. Adherence To The Constitution – McCain has an unconstitutional voting record. He rarely references the document in his speeches. He votes against the principles of the Constitution all the time. He voted for the Iraq war authorization, Patriot Act, and FISA. Score: 0
11. Religion vs. Public Policy – McCain actually shines on this one. In fact, on the campaign trail he sometimes changes his own religion on the fly, as has been documented. He rarely utilizes religious sentiments in his speeches. He effectively separates religion and policy like Ron Paul. However, he has sought relationships in the past with John Hagee and Jerry Falwell in efforts to garner support from the religious right. Score: 4
12. Environment – McCain is a huge proponent of more government regulation over environmental issues. He strongly supports implementing a “cap and trade” system. This runs completely counter to Ron Paul’s position. Score: 0
13. Energy Policy – McCain is against drilling in ANWR, and used to be against drilling off of the U.S. coastlines. He now supports drilling off the coastlines. Like Ron Paul he wants to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce demand. He previously was an outspoken critic of ethanol subsidies, but during his primary campaign in Iowa he spoke favorably of them. Score: 2
14. U.S. Sovereignty – Like most candidates McCain doesn’t talk about the North American Union. Score: 0
15. War on Drugs – McCain regularly ignores questions about the decriminalization of marijuana during his town hall meetings. He does not advocate for ending the war on drugs nor for releasing non-violent drug offenders from prison as Ron Paul does. Score: 0
16. Education – McCain is wishy-washy on No Child Left Behind. He seems to believe that it doesn’t go far enough. He certainly doesn’t advocate getting rid of the Department of Education. He is the opposite of Ron Paul on this issue. Score: 0
17. Welfare Programs – He is not advocating phasing out Social Security or other welfare programs. He is calling for reforms though. He supports personal accounts for Social Security. He supports changing the medicare prescription drug benefit to only cover low income beneficiaries. Still, this is a far cry from being like Ron Paul. Score: 1
18. Abortion – McCain believes in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. He also believes abortion should be left up to the states. This is in line with Ron Paul. Score: 5
19. Health Care – John McCain is against socialized medicine at the national level. However, a quick glance at his health care issue page reveals he’s not too close to Ron Paul on government intervention in the health care industry. McCain lists all sorts of federal government programs and incentives to further meddle in the health care industry. Score: 2.
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message – Simply put, John McCain doesn’t have a liberty message to spread no matter how much media attention he gets. Score: 0

John McCain’s final Paul-O-Meter Score: 25 out of 99 possible points

After Barack Obama’s score of 17, this is about where we expected McCain to end up. What was most eye opening to us was that his health care plan is a clear attempt to win over people that believe that everyone has a right to health care. Also his perceived strength on cutting government spending is unfounded. On many of his positions he tries to play both sides and it is difficult to know where he actually stands on the issue. This is not a shock coming from a life long politician. In the end it is no surprise that McCain doesn’t hold a candle to Ron Paul on the issues.

Tune in next time when we light up the Paul-O-Meter for Libertarian candidate Bob Barr.

Today we begin rating the Presidential candidates with our rating for Barack Obama. The Paul-O-Meter will give us a total score on 20 criteria. The closer a candidate gets to 100 points the more that candidate is like Ron Paul. For each criteria we will give the score and a short justification for that score. Read the results for Barack Obama below.

1. Liberty Based Voting Record – Obama has a rather leftist voting record yet he votes for unconstitutional Iraq war spending and now says he will vote for the warrant less wiretapping FISA bill. Score: 0
2. The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy – The Fed is not even mentioned on Obama’s campaign site. The only articles regarding Obama and the Federal Reserve are by people lamenting that he hasn’t said word one about the Federal Reserve. Score: 0
3. Foreign Policy and Iraq – Obama advocates removing our troops from Iraq within 16 months. However he has an exception that makes one wonder if he means “all” the troops. From his issues page on his website: “if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda.” This is far from a non-interventionist foreign policy like Ron Paul. He also will not remove troops from other U.S. occupied countries. Score: 2
4. Taxes – Obama said he would repeal the Bush tax cuts, one of the few good things Bush did in his Presidency. He will raise taxes on the wealthy and lower taxes on middle and lower income families and individuals. He also advocates making the tax system simpler for certain income earners. Score: 1
5. Government Spending – Obama certainly advocates for reducing the national debt and curbing earmarks, but he also advocates creating so many new government programs that his debt and earmark reduction rhetoric is rendered meaningless. Score: 0
6. Privacy and Civil Liberties – He continually speaks out about restoring Habeus Corpus like Ron Paul. Obama voted for reauthorizing the Patriot Act. He supports the REAL ID Act. He plans to vote for the latest FISA bill in the Senate. He stated that he would leave same sex marriage up to the states even though he personally is against it. Score:2
7. Immigration – Obama supports a convoluted version of amnesty for illegal immigrants. He has voted for the creation of a border fence, but also has voted against amendments to extend it. His rhetoric on ending the incentives for illegal immigrants to come here echoes Ron Paul in some ways, although he focuses on making companies accountable for hiring illegal workers. He speaks nothing of ending birthright citizenship like Ron Paul. Score: 2
8. Gun Control and Second Amendment – Obama tries to triangulate around this topic by paying lip service to having a right to own guns, but always with a caveat that the government has a right to restrict them. He supported the DC Gun Ban and was disappointed with the recent Heller Supreme Court ruling overturning the ban. Score: 1
9. Internet Regulation – Obama voted for the SAFE Port act which contained the ban on online gambling. He also strongly advocates for “Net Neutrality” unlike Dr. Paul. Score: 2
10. Adherence To The Constitution - Obama regularly speaks about restoring Habeus Corpus and he has advocated for states rights on certain issues, but the larger part of his platform runs counter to the rule of law in the Constitution as strictly interpreted by Ron Paul. Score: 1
11. Religion vs. Public Policy - Few candidates have been put under religion’s microscope as much as Obama in this election. In just about all cases he has answered the critics by advocating separating his religion and his politics similarly to Ron Paul. He has certainly had to defend his religous beliefs as much, if not more than Mitt Romney. Score: 4
12. Environment - Obama and Ron Paul could not be further apart on environment isssues. They disagree on how to handle global warming. Obama favors more government regulation and Paul wants to leave it up to the market and court system. Score: 0
13. Energy Policy - Obama is against drilling in ANWR and domestic drilling off of our shorelines unlike Paul. He advocates renewable energy but does so by implementing new government programs and regulations whereas Paul would leave it to market competition. Obama and Paul are opposites on energy policy. Score: 0
14. U.S. Sovereignty - Obama was asked specifically about the NAU and it’s threat to U.S. sovereignty, his reply was that he saw no evidence of it even existing and that there was no “conspiracy amongst” the governments of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Score: 0
15. War On Drugs – Obama is a bit like a typical politician in speaking about this topic. He never outright advocates for stopping the drug war. Instead he talks about “shifting our focus to prevention.” He is certainly not as forthright about the issue as Ron Paul. Score: 2
16. Education – Obama proposes more than a dozen new programs at the federal level to help fix America’s education problems while Ron Paul advocates obeying the Constitution and abolishing the Department of Education and returning the role of public education back to the states and localities. Score: 0
17. Welfare – Obama and Paul are on opposite ends of welfare reform. Paul advocates a graceful move towards ending welfare programs like Social Security. Obama advocates strengthening Social Security through higher payroll taxes. Score: 0
18. Abortion – Obama is pro-choice and would work to protect a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion at the federal level. This completely contradicts Ron Paul’s position to get the federal government out of the abortion debate and leave the decision to ban or allow abortion to the states. Score: 0
19. Health Care – Obama believes health care is a right to all Americans. Ron Paul does not and questions where such right exists in the Constitution. Obama supports a national health care plan while Dr. Paul supports getting the government completely out of health care so the forces of the free market can help lower costs. Score: 0
    
20. Ability To Spread The Liberty Message - Obama has probably more ability to spread a liberty message than any other candidate in the race, yet his platform runs completely counter to Ron Paul’s message of liberty. Obama advocates raising taxes, futher redistribution of wealth, and countless new federal government programs. There is no Ron Paul-style liberty in that message. Score: 0

Barack Obama’s Final Paul-O-Meter Score: 17 out of 99 possible points

(Remember only Ron Paul can score a 100 on the Paul-O-Meter)

This was a brutal exercise. Obama doesn’t even come close to Ron Paul on the issues. He scored far lower than we expected. We incorrectly assumed he would score much higher on the privacy and civil liberties issue. His highest score was on the Religion vs. Public Policy criteria with a 4. If the results of this Obama Paul-O-Meter reveals anything it is highly unlikely that many Ron Paul supporters will be voting for Obama in the general election.

The next candidate to be dragged through the Paul-O-Meter will be presumptive Republican nominee John “The Chameleon” McCain. Following McCain we will begin tackling the third party/independent candidates.

Soon you will be able to submit your own scores for each of the candidates.  Stay tuned!