Liberty Maven

Reason magazine is reporting that Ron Paul still hasn’t ruled out a 2012 Presidential run yet, according to Jesse Benton.

Last week, Campaign for Liberty press guy and Ron Paul grandson-in-law Jesse Benton was driving to a constituent event with his boss and the subject of 2012 came up.

“He hasn’t closed out the idea of another run,” said Benton today. “We have some time to decide whether he runs again, or whether he gets behind somebody else. But we don’t have tons of time. By the middle of 2009, the decision needs to be made.”

Interesting. The article also shows Benton’s opinion on a potential Gary Johnson 2012 bid. His argument uses Bob Barr as an example.

I asked about the rumor that former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson might jump into the race (unclear in which party yet). “If he were to decide that he wanted to do that, he’d be a great guy to take the reins. But I don’t think that what Dr. Paul captured was 100 percent transferable to anyone else. I think the Bob Barr campaign assumed that and it didn’t pan out.”

So it looks like we may know within the next six months or so if Ron Paul will be running in 2012.

The New York Times has published their first part of the Ron Paul “answers your questions” interview this morning. One of the questions was regarding running third party or independent after failing to get the GOP nomination. Finally, Dr. Paul explains what Jesse Benton sent us in an email a few days ago.

Q: Even before the primaries, you said you would not run in the general election. Why specifically did you not run?

A: I was running for the Republican nomination, and I would have run in the general if I had won. I had little interest in running third party due to the inherent biases against such efforts. I also signed legally binding agreements not run third party in 2008 if I failed to win the G.O.P. primary. That was the cost for ballot access in several states, 11 total I believe. So even I had wanted to, it would not have been possible to run in the general after I lost the primary.

In another interesting question (That I swear wasn’t submitted by me. Well, truthfully it was.) that Ron Paul sort of “punts” on is about his relationship with Bob Barr.

Q: Did Bob Barr’s failure to appear at your press conference endorsing the third-party vote cause a rift between you and him? Are you still friends with him?

A: That’s old news as far I’m concerned. I’m more interested in focusing on positive things Americans can accomplish moving forward.

He makes a fair point, but he didn’t answer the question. Then again, judging from his answer we can infer the truth. I’m reminded of the age-old axiom, if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, say nothing at all. I doubt there will be any future joint efforts toward liberty between Paul and Barr. Is it getting cold in here or is it just me?

Judging from some of the comments to the interview we still have a long way to go before people get it through their thick skulls that the government is not a substitute for parenting, hand holding, and individual responsibility.

Read the full set of questions, answers, and several inane comments here.

Ron Paul supporter Will Buchanan started walking on April 14th and hasn’t stopped yet. He took his first steps at Cannon Beach, Oregon and plans to finish his trek on the seacoast of New Hampshire. What other than a passion for liberty could possess a man? Buchanan’s aim is to raise awareness for the Free State Project and Ron Paul’s message of freedom.

In late 2007, we wrote about the Ron Paul Rider, Michael Maresco, riding his bike across the United States with the main goal of promoting Ron Paul’s freedom message and presidential campaign. Now we have Will Buchanan, the Ron Paul Walker, taking one step at a time toward liberty.

I’m continually amazed at the actions freedom loving people undertake to spread an idea, but what a wonderful idea it is. After rolling over in their graves at the recent destruction of liberty by our government, our Founders would point to these magnificent individual efforts and smile knowing that their version of America may be relegated to the shadows, but still exists. There is hope.

Buchanan, recently passed through Erie, PA and attracted some media coverage from the local FOX affiliate (Video Report Here).

It’s a long way from Cannon Beach, Oregon to New Hampshire – especially when you do it on foot.

With about 2700 miles under his belt, Will Buchanan is getting close.

He’s making his way to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project – a group of 20,000 libertarians who are moving there to try and create a libertarian state:

“Basically they feel government’s gotten too big and too intrusive. So they want to congregate in one area to try to make more of a difference and doing something on a local level rather than being spread out all over the country.”

You can retrace Buchanan’s footsteps every step of the way via his video blog of the trek at walkforliberty.com.

Gary Johnson

Make no mistake, Ron Paul lit the flames of liberty under a small but active percentage of the American populace about one year ago. At this point last year the Ron Paul faithful were drunk on hope after the first highly successful money bomb brought in millions of dollars in a single day. Now that Barack Obama is our President-Elect and Ron Paul is focused on continuing his freedom education and liberty activism effort through the Campaign For Liberty, talk of a 2012 Ron Paul Republican Presidential candidate has begun in earnest.

One of the most popular choices to carry forward the Ron Paul liberty torch is former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. There is certainly a lot to like about Gary Johnson and he may very well be the best choice for 2012. However, investigating Gary Johnson a bit deeper does reveal some cracks in his freedom armor. I don’t find these cracks significant enough for me to not support him, but then again I supported Bob Barr for President, so I’m used to “cracks”.

These cracks may cause some Liberty Maven readers to reject supporting him. We hope to rate Johnson on the Paul-O-Meter within a few days, so that will give a more complete picture of Johnson. Until then let us discuss some of his potential negatives to the cause of liberty and the viability of him running for the Republican nomination.

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Jeff Flake sees the glass as half full in his editorial regarding the GOP defeat in the Washington Post today. He suggests that Republicans go back to their first principles and reject the bloated spending of the Bush administration. To me that is easier said than done, and certainly easier said than believed.

What the Republicans need to embrace is a platform based on uncompromising liberty. They should all join Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty and make it the foundation of their new platform. Drastic? Perhaps. Sometimes desperate times call for drastic measures.

At least by putting Ron Paul up as a conservative future standard bearer of the GOP they immediately gain integrity. That is something not many people, even those who voted for John McCain, believe exists in the Republican Party today.

I applaud Flake for the ideas in his editorial, but it doesn’t quite go far enough.

Read it here.

Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty has put together countless resources for learning about the philosophy of liberty. There are recommended videos, essays, articles, and books all organized by subject matter. The high level subjects are: Economics, Sound Money, Foreign Policy, Constitution, and Civil Liberties.

The materials complement the recommended reading list included at the end of Ron Paul’s best selling book, “The Revolution: A Manifesto“. Many of the reading and viewing assignments are available online for free. Unless you consume books as quickly and easily as “my friends” rolls off of John McCain’s tongue it will take you a lifetime to read everything.

Additionally, I cannot recommend enough Chris Martenson’s “Crash Course” series of videos on his website also available for free. While Ron Paul is never mentioned in the “Crash Course” the material is directly related to Ron Paul’s teachings. If you do nothing else, then watch Martenson’s videos. He outlines in very easily digestible pieces how money is created, why we are in the economic situation we are in, and what may be coming in the not too distant future. It is a must for any liberty loving Ron Paul supporter.

The tuition is cheap and the material is too important to overlook. Enroll in Ron Paul University today.

You laughed at him. You made fun of him. You called him extreme, a gadfly, a kook, and many other trite terms of marginalization. His only crime was the truth in stark contrast to every calculated, vacuous platitude uttered by his Republican opponents. Now I can’t help but imagine Ron Paul sitting in his easy chair surrounded by gold and silver bullion smiling knowingly saying, “Who’s laughing now, bitches?!”

No, that isn’t Ron Paul’s style, as we learned from the debate where Paul whispered, “Make, fun buddy”, under his breath in reaction to yet another moronic insult emanating from somewhere between Mitt Romney’s sculpted sideburns. Ron Paul is a man deserving of integrity and respect at work in the sea of extreme buffoonery that is Washington DC.

Nothing illustrates such an assertion better than the last few weeks of having to listen to every pundit and politico tell us why we all had to fall in line behind a bailout bill that no one wanted to pass and no one was sure would work.  But the sky was falling and the wolf was around the bend so pass it we must. America, our government didn’t listen to us. We have no representation anymore. The last vestige of capitalism is nearing death. We are on the road to economic slavery.

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There aren’t many people opposed to the bailout who oppose it for the right reasons, but both Ron Paul and Bob Barr (whether they are still on speaking terms or not) do oppose it for the right reasons. Ron Paul has been utilizing his Campaign For Liberty mailing list and web site to urge his 100K plus activist supporters to contact their representatives in opposition to the bailout bill. Paul has also appeared on numerous media outlets in recent days beating the drum that no bailout means a year of recession and passing the bailout means a possible decade of recession.

Bob Barr has called it the “bailout from hell”. He released an anti-bailout campaign video and authored an article in the Huffington Post arguing against the out of control federal budget. Barr was given credit in the Politico for being more in line with the people on the bailout than Washington.

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Ron Paul was interviewed by Alan Colmes on FOX Radio this evening. They discussed the bailout and some rather detailed positions by Ron Paul on what can be done to help fix the economic problems we face. Of course, both Alan and Ron agreed that the good Doctor’s solutions are probably too fundamental to be implemented any time soon. Towards the end of the interview Colmes asks Ron Paul if he will run for President again. Listen below for the answer.

Listen to the the Ron Paul – Alan Colmes Interview [MP3]

FDIC Closes Bank #12 for 2008, Ameribank, a Small WV Bank Gets the Axe. Have you protected your family? Learn how.

by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published September 22, 2008 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article4954.html

In disbelief that with all the financial fallout last week there were no bank failures? Believe again, on Friday a FDIC team closed Ameribank, a small bank in West Virginia. The Associated Press reported “Ameribank ran into trouble because of “excessive growth” in the construction loans for property rehabilitation, mainly in low- and moderate-income housing markets, according to the federal Office of Thrift Supervision.” The bank had been “critically undercapitalized” for the past year.

This bank failure will cost the FDIC $42 million, just 0.1% of the FDIC’s remaining funds of somewhere in the mid-40 billions. However, $42 million is $42 million.

Be on the lookout for further failures. Is the day when YOUR bank goes under and the FDIC posts a page like this on its webpage? Washington Mutual in particular has notable recent issues with its share price and capital, but Citigroup, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and many others are also not doing well.

How to protect yourself?

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