Liberty Maven

The “library records” provision of the so-called Patriot Act could also be known as the “gun records” provision, because it also allows the FBI to seize the forms you use to buy guns.

This infamous provision, Section 215, is a direct assault on your Fourth Amendment rights because it allows the FBI to obtain personal information about you, without a warrant and without your knowledge.

Section 215 is set to expire in May, along with two other provisions. But Congress will probably renew these provisions unless it hears from YOU.

Tell Congress to repeal the ENTIRE Patriot Act, and renew NONE of its provisions.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . . Read More »

Quotes of the Day

“No Intervention!” banner displayed by Libyan insurgents

“We have to get him ourselves.” – Libyan demonstrator

“Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her (America’s) heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. – John Quincy Adams, then-Secretary of State, 1821

We are inspired by the desire of the Libyan people to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi. Sadly, Qadhafi has reacted violently to their protests, and a civil war is now being waged.

We hope the insurgents are committed to freedom, and if so, we hope they will prevail.

But they must to do it without our help. This is THEIR struggle, not ours. As the letter below shows, a U.S. military presence may only undermine the insurgency, not help it.

The good news is that the Obama Administration has shown skepticism toward intervention.

The bad news is that the advocates for intervention are prominent and vocal.

To counter their pressure, we need more members of Congress to speak out in opposition.

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Quote of the Day: “He (the King) has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” – Declaration of Independence

Our name describes our goal. We want to downsize the Federal State. But the little states need dramatic downsizing too. For instance, Michael Hodges shows that . . .

* There would be 12.4 million fewer state and local employees if the number hired had remained proportional to population growth since 1946.
* The cost of state and local government went from 6% of GDP in 1946 to 18% today
* If state and local spending was proportional to 1946, the taxpayer would save $4,600 this year alone.

Even worse, all the extra spending at the state and local level seems to be buying you more corruption, more incompetence, and more abuse . . . Read More »

Quote of the Day: “Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.” – Javier Pascual Salcedo

There was a token piece of good news last month. President Obama ordered “a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.”

But meanwhile, unelected bureaucrats are continuing to propose NEW anti-competitive, job-killing, regulations.

That’s why we’re grateful that the spending bill the House passed last week de-funds:

* Obamacare
* Greenhouse gas regulations
* Net Neutrality

We proposed exactly this strategy last month, and the House is implementing it.

But this approach is subject to compromises as the House, Senate, and President negotiate a final budget deal. That’s why . . .

ONLY DownsizeDC.org’s Write the Laws Act will stop irresponsible bureaucratic rule-making once and for all. Please tell Congress to pass it.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . . Read More »

Yes, apparently freedom is still quite popular. Ron Paul’s pre-2012 candidacy money bomb was a huge success. Paul requested supporters fill up the coffers of his Liberty PAC and they did so in earnest. Paul’s PAC is now over $700 thousand richer, setting the stage for his eventual 2012 candidacy.

See the Liberty PAC website for the latest amount.

Yes, Ron Paul has won his second consecutive CPAC straw poll and as expected all the anti-libertarian, defense=offense, neo-conservatives (and Donald Trump, whatever he is) are dismissing the victory. They say it doesn’t mean anything. They don’t know what they are talking about, as usual. Of course it means something.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that Ron Paul will be the GOP nominee in 2012. Paul hasn’t even announced if he’s running yet. The victory’s meaning really has little to do with 2012 and much to do with the future direction of the Republican Party.

The organizers of CPAC sheepishly denounced their own straw poll prior to announcing Ron Paul as the winner. Appropriately enough, while they denounced the presidential preference question they gushed when talking about the results to the other questions in the poll. Yet the same people that voted for Ron Paul answered those other questions as well. Why did they not suggest that those results were skewed?

Yes, Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty made it easier for supporters to attend CPAC by offering discounted tickets and lodging packages. They did not “bus them in” as some suggested. The reason so many showed up at CPAC for Ron Paul is because they are true political activists. They are active, vocal, and dedicated to spreading the liberty message to those who are and aren’t willing to listen.  This is something the GOP has been missing for a long time.

It is mainly foreign policy differences that keep the old guard GOP from embracing these young Ron Paul activists. Perhaps if the rest of the Republican Party could ever understand the fundamental differences between…

1. preemptive war and national defense
2. isolationist and non-interventionist
3. anti-semitism and ending all foreign aid
4. blaming America and blaming American policy

…they could welcome Ron Paul and his supporters. The CPAC straw poll result suggests an effort should be made to understand and perhaps embrace these differences. After all, isn’t the ultimate Republican goal to defeat Obama in 2012? Seeing eye to eye with Ron Paul and his numerous activist supporters could go a long way toward that goal.

I have little hope this will happen, but in the long run it may not matter. Many of those young Ron Paul supporters are growing up, feeding on liberty, and will become office-seekers in the future.

The result of the CPAC straw poll does have meaning. It suggests the future is burning bright with the fire of liberty.

There are cerebral strategists and balls-to-the-wall activists in the tent of Ron Paul. Both were evident at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today. Prior to Rand Paul’s stellar speech the surprise speaker was Donald Trump. Many of us in the audience had come to get our seats to see The Rand instead of The Donald, and things got a bit ugly.

During Trump’s speech there were some vocal activists shouting out Ron Paul’s name, among other things. At one point when Trump mentioned there were no good GOP candidates the shouts of Ron Paul became too much for him. The video below shows what happened:

Yes, the out-of-touch celebrity with lots of money reacts by telling the crowd that Ron Paul has zero chance of winning. I immediately said something that was later echoed by Rand Paul, “Trump has an even less of a chance of winning than Ron Paul”. That was only the beginning.

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Let me begin by refusing to apologize for the inflammatory rhetoric in the title of this post because I’m not CNN’s John King. Once again, Ron Paul has re-introduced his Audit the Fed bill in the House. This time his son, Rand Paul, has introduced the companion bill in the Senate. It’s time to put your lawmaker in your cross-hairs and get them to target the Federal Reserve for an audit.

PC SPEECH JOHN KING STYLE DISCLAIMER: We do not condone literally putting your lawmaker in the cross-hairs of your gun or guns. We merely mean that you should become active and request that your lawmakers support a full audit of the Federal Reserve as outlined in these bills. We also do not mean to suggest you, Ron Paul, or Rand Paul, literally grab a double barrel shotgun and shoot it at the Federal Reserve building or any Federal Reserve employee or official. Ok, enough! Now read the damned press release below, please.

SPRINGFIELD, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Congressman Ron Paul and his son, Senator Rand Paul, today introduced companion legislation in both chambers of the United States Congress to require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.

The bills, both titled The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, but known better as “Audit the Fed,” are numbered H.R. 459 in the House and S. 202 in the Senate and continue the efforts championed by Ron Paul last year that won 320 co-sponsors before passing the House and 32 cosponsors in the Senate before falling short on a floor vote.

H.R. 459 starts the session with 56 original bipartisan cosponsors, while Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) are original cosponsors for S. 202.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011 would open up the Fed’s funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility to Congressional oversight and audit by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office. Additionally, audits would include discount window operations, open market operations, and agreements with foreign central banks such as ongoing dollar swap operations with European central banks.

Public polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports in December 2010 indicated that 74 percent of the American People demand transparency at the Fed and support a full audit as called for in the Audit the Fed legislation. In 2009 and 2010, Campaign for Liberty generated over 2.5 million grassroots contacts to federal lawmakers in support of Audit the Fed.

“The Federal Reserve and its loose money, easy credit policies are the culprit for so many of the dire economic problems we face. Americans continue to demand transparency at the Federal Reserve, and Campaign for Liberty is proud to lead the fight to make this legislation the Law of the Land,” said Campaign for Liberty President John Tate. “All across the country, grassroots citizens are uniting behind Ron and Rand Paul and will demand this audit, this year.”

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Ron Paul, never failed to mention the importance young people played in his hope for a better future for America. In every one of his speeches and interviews he would always use the words, “and especially the young people”. Paul has stated that it is a key strategy because young people tend to be more open-minded and aren’t so stubborn to cling to outmoded establishment beliefs. This is where the Young Americans for Liberty and their new initiative, “Year of Youth” can be essential.

The stated goal of the “Year of Youth” is:

…to identify, train, and mobilize thousands of youth activists for a massive wave of youth campaigns across America in 2012.

• IDENTIFY: recruit 25,000 constitutionalists
• TRAIN: teach 1,000 committed activists
• MOBILIZE: endorse 100 campaigns in 2012 (through a YAL affiliated PAC)

This is a lofty but totally worthy goal. Please take some time to check out the “Year of Youth” web site and help out the project in any way you can.

Unless Congress acts to fix their mistake, a paperwork tsunami will drown every business, including yours, and all of your favorite organizations, including Downsize DC.

This coming tsunami is the new requirement that every business must fill out 1099s forms for every company with which it spends more than $600. This new burden was a provision of the Obamacare bill.

Everyone hates it. Both parties CLAIM they want to repeal it, but they can’t agree about where to fit it in their tight schedule, or whether or not to “pay” for the lost revenue with spending cuts elsewhere.

Well, they SHOULD cut spending. But let’s be clear: There’s NO revenue loss to contemplate. The 1099 requirement will cut into profits. That would mean less, not more revenue for our bloated government.

Please tell Congress to stop delaying and to please repeal the 1099 requirement immediately.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . . Read More »