The reason Bob McDonnell beat out Creigh Deeds in Virginia was not because McDonnell represents some new style small government Republican. McDonnell won because Deeds made campaign mistakes. McDonnell made none. Deeds lost the race more than McDonnell won it.

The same is true for the New Jersey race. Corzine, a former chairman at Goldman Sachs, easily became a scapegoat for a failing economy and political corruption. So, he lost.

What Tuesday’s election results really demonstrated was a lack of conviction for either Democrats or Republicans. When the political spectrum shines red, then blue, then red, then blue, over and over again something tangible comes to light:

America is not rooting for either party to win. America is rooting for the underdog.

After 8 years of Clinton, George W. Bush was the underdog. In 2004, Bush was still the underdog largely due to his perceived strength (however false it was) in fighting “those who attacked us on 9/11″. That quickly soured so much that by 2006 the Democratic Party was the underdog so they won control of Congress. If Bush was up for re-election himself in 2006, he’d have lost.

The 2008 election cemented the underdog theory with America getting the chance to elect the first African American President. McCain, largely a Bush twin, had no chance.

Tuesday’s election results demonstrated that the Republicans are now, once again, the underdogs. This bodes well for them in the 2010 election and it could carry over to the 2012 Presidential contest. Of course, that depends on who has the perceived power at that time.

The point of this “underdog theory” is that we are not happy with the blue nor the red team. When the time comes we just want to take away power from whichever team has it.

For liberty champions this eternal game is growing extremely tiresome.

When everyone buys into the two team league yet no one wants either team to finish in first place, isn’t it time to expand the league?

It just so happens that there is a liberty-loving team already in place ready to be added to the league. Here are their names:

• Rand Paul
• David Hedrick
• Adam Kokesh
• Peter Schiff
• Ray McBerry
• Chris Simcox
• Debbie Medina
• Bill Hunt
• RJ Harris
• John Dennis
• David Ratowitz
• Jake Towne
• Randy Brogdon
• Robert Broadus
• Collins Bailey
• Jaynee Germond
• Bob Parker
• Bill Connor
• Peg Luksik

These are the candidates being celebrated today on the anniversary of Ron Paul’s 5th of November money bomb. To learn more about these candidates please check out ThisNovember5th.com. If you find a candidate you like, then please don’t hesitate to support that candidate with a generous donation.

These are the real underdogs and outcasts. Let’s help make them winners and keep them winning.

This is wonderful news and hopefully will fuel the fire so that Rand can end up with an easy victory in May. Keep on fighting!

The details are here.

No, I’m not talking about the voting machines. What I’m talking about is this:

This is what we find at the top of Kentucky’s State Board Of Elections web site. Rand Paul’s opponent in the primary is the Chairman of the Board of Elections. I’m not familiar with Kentucky law, but I can only assume that this position is automatically filled by the Secretary of State.

Trey Grayson is Kentucky’s Secretary of State.

By pointing this out I’m not suggesting that Grayson will commit some kind of voter fraud and “adjust” the election result numbers to his own benefit. In fact, I doubt he could get away with it. What I am suggesting is that if Grayson ends up winning by a small margin things could get quite ugly. Accusations from the more “vocal” Ron Paul / Rand Paul supporters would likely follow, perhaps even a lawsuit or two.

In the era of ACORN, hanging chads, and Senator Stuart Smalley, isn’t it a good idea for Grayson to take some kind of pre-emptive action (don’t neo-cons love doing that?) to clarify his duties regarding the election?

I’m not saying he should resign or anything drastic. Publishing an open letter in a Kentucky newspaper notifying voters of the election night counting procedure is a good start. The open letter should also include a sworn and signed statement that Grayson will not interfere with the election results in any way.

Rand Paul, to his credit, has not even remotely suggested that there will be any impropriety by Grayson regarding the election results. The big government, “end justifies the means”, establishment Republicans are behind Grayson. This fact alone is enough to stir up the “vote fraud” pot.

Throw in that Grayson is the Chairman of the Kentucky Election Board and you have all the “proof” you need for many to question the validity of the election results.

This could be exacerbated if Grayson beats Paul by a small margin, a rather likely scenario with Rand Paul raising so much money and gaining support with each handshake.

What do you think Grayson should do about this conflict of interest, if anything?

It would be very difficult for me to not support Johnson if he were to run for President in 2012. As of right now, In my view he is the best positioned candidate to carry forward the message of liberty within the Republican Party. He may not be perfect on specific issues here or there, but Ron Paulians would be hard pressed to find another Republican candidate with his record and political viability. He served as a Governor for eight years. He didn’t raise taxes as Governor once. He promoted private business and free markets over government corporatism and regulation. Finally, and perhaps most pertinent, he enthusiastically endorsed Ron Paul for President.

There has been very minimal evidence for a Johnson 2012 bid until now. Jason Pye at UnitedLiberty.org reports that Johnson has formed a PAC and is set to release a book in December entitled “Seven Principles For Good Government”.

A few web sites have been set up by supporters in an effort to coax Johnson into running for President such as JohnsonForAmerica.com.

With this latest news it appears that Johnson is warming up to jump in the fray. I can see it now at the first GOP primary debate sometime in 2011:

Fox News Debate Moderator: Governor Johnson, you’ve been an outspoken critic of the drug war and support the decriminalization of marijuana. These positions don’t seem like Republican positions. This raises questions about your electability. Do you have any sir?

Gary Johnson: Who am I, Ron Paul?

Let us hope so, but this time, let us hope he wins.

by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

In a small bit of Washington irony, a government panel convened this week under the guise of ensuring ‘expressive freedom’ on the Internet, while at the same time the Obama Administration put Fox News on notice that ideological rectitude would be a prerequisite for White House engagement.

This heightened wrangling with the media comes at a time when ordinary Americans are rapidly becoming disillusioned with the major parties. Their disgust is evident in innumerable web discussion sites that, for many, have replaced the major media outlets as the primary source of information. In its focus to keep control of the conversation, the Administration is seeking to disguise the fact that the ‘change’ Mr. Obama promised in the election is unlikely to materialize.

Wishful thinking of the Nobel committee aside, what we have seen thus far from Obama is simply more of what had been delivered by the prior administration.

Obama renewed our military commitment to the quagmire that is Afghanistan. But he is hesitating now that the United Nations has uncovered fraud in the recent presidential elections there. Whether or not one believes the war is winnable, this type of hollow chest-pounding did not help anyone under G. W. Bush, and will not under Obama.

Domestically, Obama has re-enforced the doctrine of ‘too big to fail,’ which essentially involves ’socializing’ the costs of reckless Wall Street failures while ‘privatizing’ the gains made through their use of taxpayer funds. As a result of this policy, elite investment bankers are now seeing bonuses that rival those at the bubble’s peak. As an answer to Bush’s publicly funded rescue of GM and Chrysler, Obama gave some $10 billion to the very trade union that had brought Detroit to its knees. In the first nine months of his Administration, Obama has increased the Treasury debt by some 20 percent to almost 100 percent of GDP, or a staggering $12 trillion dollars.

Even facing the vast $104 trillion of additional, ‘off-balance sheet’ government obligations, Obama is pushing ahead with a new Health Bill. This is not even a populist measure, as most Americans are sensibly standing in opposition to this attempt to bankrupt their country. The legislative momentum is wholly provided by a small ideological core of Democrats at the expense of the greater good, a pattern set by Bush and his zealous Republican base.

It is becoming clear, even to Democrats, that Obama doesn’t aim to implement better policies, but to make the public feel better about the same old policies.

Unfortunately for the President, America is a free enterprise, capitalist and right-of-center country that does not take naturally to socialist policies. What is so concerning is that rather than learning this lesson, the White House is trying to silence the voices of opposition.

It is widely accepted that a free press will foster a healthy and vibrant cross section of views. While it is clearly susceptible to hyperbole, Fox News has nevertheless been instrumental in exposing the radical, socialist and even communist backgrounds of a surprising number of advisers and unelected officials close to the President. Their efforts in this regard have served the public.

These revelations about left-of-center tendencies would not have been damaging if the public were indeed in a mood to be led by leftists. If that were the case, the Administration would have dismissed Fox News as a network for conservatives to gripe to themselves. Perhaps the official uproar indicates Obama has noticed that some 50 percent of the Fox News audience is composed of Democrats and Independents.

Certainly, no credence can be given to the official position that the Administration is opposed to deliberate bias. On the other side of the aisle, MSNBC is just as partisan as Fox News, and in many ways functions as the media arm of the Democratic National Committee. Yet the President does not spar with that network. Perhaps he is attacking Fox News in response to MSNBC’s dismally low ratings, proof that the latter network really is just a forum for socialists to gripe to themselves.

At its core, this issue transcends left-right bickering. Politicians across the spectrum are feeling increasingly threatened by an unregulated media. The media is more accountable to the public than politicians, as ratings are measured in real-time, not election cycles. Fox News is benefiting from the reality that Americans believe in limited government, lower taxes, unhampered enterprise and personal responsibility. Although both parties pay lip service to these ideals, their actions reflect a clear belief in more control, less freedom and bigger government. This has led to a deep voter frustration and disenchantment with the two major parties.

It’s common sense that if the President wants to regain voters’ trust, the answer is to listen to their concerns. If investors are moving their wealth overseas, the answer is to become more competitive at home. This feud with Fox News shows that the President has not yet heeded this advice, and, really, would rather not hear it.

For a more in-depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar, read Peter Schiff’s 2008 bestseller “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets” and his newest release “Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse.” Click here to learn more.

More importantly, don’t let the great deals pass you by. Get an inside view of Peter’s playbook with his new Special Report, “Peter Schiff’s Five Favorite Investment Choices for the Next Five Years.” Click here to dowload the report for free. You can find more free services for global investors, and learn about the Euro Pacific advantage, at www.europac.net.

Originally published October 20, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/abolish-the-federal-department-of-education-1

Last night with the Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies, I was part of a panel answering questions on public education with the Concerned Citizens of Bethlehem Area School District. The BASD has been plagued with financial troubles stemming from OTC derivatives purchases, and previously I gave an educational presentation to this group on financial derivatives.

After the lecture from LBCCS founder Paul Fiske who related how our founding fathers viewed education, Ryan Burgett, chairman of LBCCS and I (as a member of LBCCS) took questions and there was one question I was unable to answer without a projector, which was the breakdown of spending by the federal Department of Education, which is below or can be viewed online here. I also gave a short synopsis of the history and issues I have with this Department.

For the first 177 years in American history, there was no federal Department of Education, which was reserved to the states and localities to handle as they saw fit. This was also in agreement with the Constitution of the United States, which does not provide any justification whatsoever for federal power over education; in fact, the 9th and 10th Amendments make such action both unconstitutional and illegal.

This changed in 1953 when Republican President Dwight Eisenhower created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Prior attempts by Presidents Harding and Roosevelt had failed. This department has another black mark as it is the only one created solely by presidential authority without the permission of Congress.

The powers of this department continued to grow until Democrat President Jimmy Carter, envisioning a “compassionate” federal government, spun off the Department of Education (known as ‘ED’) in 1979. For close to the next 20 years, one of the major distinctions between the Republican and Democratic parties was concerned this department. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan was in favor of abolishing the department, he was not able to do so. As recently as 1996, the Republican Platform read:

“Because we trust our fellow Americans, rather than centralized government, we believe the people, acting through their State and local elected officials, should have control over programs like education and welfare - thereby pushing power away from official Washington and returning it to the people in their communities and states… We support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding or privatization of agencies which are obsolete, redundant, of limited value, or too regional in focus.”

Under Democrat President Bill Clinton, ED continued growing from spending of $32 billion in 1992 to $38 billion in 2000. However, ED received its fastest growth under Republican President George Bush II. From 2000 until 2008, Bush II more than doubled the budget, from $38 billion to a maximum of $100 billion spent in 2006 with spending plans like “No Child Left Behind.”

ED lowlights in 2008 included:

• $68.5 billion spent by the Department of Education in total
• $24 billion spent on post-secondary education, including many loans to college students
• $38 billion spent on elementary and secondary education
• $5.6 billion spent in what can best be described as ‘R&B’ – research and bureaucracy

Now, spending lots of money on education may seem like a good thing to the uninformed, but there have been no tanglible results over the past couple decades, if anything the exact opposite. Why is this so? Well, besides the wasteful spending on bureaucracy, a few points:

1. Similar to health care best being dealt between doctors and patients, education is best handled on the local level between parents and teachers. Both health care and the education of children are very important. Remember that when a Washington bureaucrat’s authority over the spending of funds is required, it is the child who suffers.

2. Federal mandates on education has the effect of stifling local diversity and choking off competition. What we want is a healthy competition of “50 laboratories” from state-to-state and between local areas, not a universal “one-size-fits-all” education. The more self-rule and autonomy by local communities provides local diversity and overall greater satisfaction for individual families.

3. The redistribution and control of federal funds (and certainly also on the state level) to localities makes local areas subservient to bureaucrats, even though, in most cases these are the exact same funds the taxpayer paid in to the federal and state governments. More local autonomy over funds increases both the efficiency and self-ownership over the spending of these funds.

4. It is also far easier for a parent to hold a local school board official accountable if this official is entrusted with all of the necessary responsibilities. Local communities that wanted to spend more on education could do still so, through either local taxation or – if one thinks outside the box for just a moment – fundraisers, fairs, and PTAs.

5. While Perkins Loans and Pell Grants for the purpose of college education seem like the greatest invention since sliced bread, their overall effect is to put bureaucrats in charge of the decisions in who receives which loans. Ever hear a parent complain about the cost of their kid’s college tuition? By flooding the market with credit, these government programs lead to colleges to both charge more and also become less efficient on fund allocation. [Note: The money-printing of the FED (inflation) is another root cause of rising tuition costs, to learn more read here.]

The Department of Education is one of many federal departments that, if they were to be abolished and disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, almost no one would notice. The bureaucrats all would have to seek healthy new jobs providing goods or services in the private economy. The grant and loan programs could all be halted and existing accounts closed out.

A final point in closing: one should keep in mind that ED’s budget of $68 billion dollars is sufficient to pay for the entire core federal government. We could pay for all of these federal government departments: the US House, US Senate, the White House’s staff, the Supreme Court, FBI, and the federal court system. Hmmm…   just another reason why we don’t need a federal income tax.

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com, www.NolanChart.comand www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions is available at TowneForCongress.com.  [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.

Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

Originally published Sunday, October 18, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/press-release-congressional-candidate-jake-towne-stimulus-plan-ineffective-in-the-lehigh-valley

BETHLEHEM, PA – US Congressional Candidate Jake Towne related Thursday to a group of Moravian College students that the government’s stimulus plan simply isn’t working in the Lehigh Valley. He also covered the basic economic reasons behind the failure and a better alternative.

While economic planners predict the end of downturn in Q4 2010 and the creation of 3.675 million jobs, Recovery.gov demonstrates that only 0.030 million jobs have been “created/saved” since the plan began in Q1 2009. Only 495.2 jobs are reported as “created/saved” in all of Pennsylvania. including zero Lehigh Valley jobs and $0 spent. Out of the $2.05 billion allotted to Pennsylvania, only 0.15% has been allotted to the Lehigh Valley, or $3.2 million.

To date, Recovery.gov reports zero Lehigh Valley jobs “created/saved” and $0 spent. The allotted funds for the $3.2 million are:

• $154,817 allotted to Advanced Environmental Solutions for soil and groundwater contamination testing

• $1,129,049 to the City of Allentown for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing

• $737,917 allotted to the City of Allentown for Community Development Block Grant

• $687,480 to the City of Bethlehem for Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing

• $449,326 to the City of Bethlehem for Community Development Block Grant. Funds allocated to provide lighting on 4th Street and a 12-foot pedestrian and bicycle path on a former railroad line.

Another way to look at the statistics is that the total cost of the stimulus plan – at $1.1 trillion divided by the American population comes to spending roughly $3,500 dollars per person. The amount allocated in the Lehigh Valley to-date comes to less than $5 per person.

Towne also related that there may be political reasons for not spending the money in the area, such as the time necessary to form the new bureaucracies to control the funds, the usual inefficiency and red tape, concentration of funds near Washington, and also to influence the future re-election cycle of the President and his party. However, he stressed that the problems of excessive spending will simply NOT be cured by more spending.

Raised in Nazareth, Jake Towne is running an independent private citizen against Mayor John Callahan of Bethlehem and the multiple-term incumbent, Representative Charles Dent of Allentown. His novel yet simple idea for a system of open, accountable, transparent government called ‘Our Open Office’ can be found at TowneForCongress.com, as well as the text of the lecture. Towne is extremely concerned about the integrity and future of the dollar, the absence of the Constitution’s rule by law in society, the loss of civil liberties, and reckless warfare and welfare state spending. Details can be found on his website as to his solutions.

Towne for Congress is endorsed by Retake Congress and 9/12 Candidates, and Towne will appear on the FOX show ‘Freedom Watch’ with Judge Napolitano later this month. The campaign, in cooperation with five other liberty candidates running for United States Congress, issued its first online ad campaign last week and is listed at www.ThisNovember5th.com for a fundraising event that is billed as the largest single day multi-candidate fundraising event in history. Towne will be a keynote speaker at the Constitution rEVOLution Tea Party in Philadelphia on November 22 which is being held simultaneously at major cities nationwide.

Contact: Campaign Manager Jessica Roth

Email: TowneForCongress@gmail.com

Website: TowneForCongress.com

Moravian Lecture:  http://towneforcongress.com/economy/lecture-why-the-stimulus-plan-will-fail-and-a-better-alternative-1

Our Open Office: http://towneforcongress.com/mission/our-open-office

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com and www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions is available at TowneForCongress.com.  [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.

Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

“Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it’s realized that our liberties and our wealth are in jeopardy.” – Dr. Ron Paul

Originally published October 16, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/liberty-candidates-2010-the-year-of-hope-1

Ever wonder what happened to that sense of hope and change that most of the voters in the United States were swept up by last fall?

America does need “hope.” America does need “change.”

However, the mainstream Republican and Democratic party machines are both repeating like bad records – “more spending, more taxes, more war, more debt.”

If you flip the record, all you hear is “less liberty, fewer jobs, less prosperity.”

Why doesn’t America consider a sound money and slashing federal spending?

Why doesn’t America consider auditing and cutting back the powers of the ruinous FED?

Why doesn’t America consider destroying the IMMORAL and UNNECESSARY federal income tax?

Why doesn’t America consider a different foreign policy – where there is third choice besides bombing or economic sanctions? Why not replace the blowback our foreign policy has resulted in with a little love and peaceful trade?

Why doesn’t America replace its civil liberties that were stripped during the unconstitutional USA PATRIOT Act, which blasphemes the very concept of individual liberty?

Why doesn’t America consider replacing our “crony corporatism” system with a truly free market?

And, above all, WHY DOESN’T AMERICA MAKE ITS POLITICIANS ACCOUNTABLE TO THEM???

These images are not intended as an anti-Obama ad, but rather as a statement in the power of the individual. The hope for our futures will not come from following any single man!  It is only by thinking for ourselves, and realizing that all hope for change lies inside each of us, and the key to unlock the change rests in each of our minds.

To download the image, please right-click, select “Save Image As…” and save to your desktop and use however you like. We make the suggestion that all Facebook supporters use this image for their profile picture for awhile. Its message is powerful and simple enough to reach many who do not realize that there is something dreadfully wrong with America, and only together can we bring into being a revolution in thought.

Remember, the truth persists and illuminates, even if there is no one to utter it.  Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

The campaign gives its sincere thanks to Erik Gumbrecht for the concept and Ernest Ibarra, Jr. for the graphic design.

Restore the Republic! Re-legalize the Constitution!

Jake Towne, Candidate for US House PA-15  TowneForCongress.com

Dr. Mike Vasovski, Candidate for US House SC-3 VasovskiForCongress.com

Paul Lambert, Candidate for US House AL-6 VoteLambert.org

Jaynee Germond, Candidate for US House OR-4  Germond2010.com

William Kern, Candidate for US House NJ-1, KernForCongress.com

RJ Harris, Candidate for US House OK-4 RJHarris2010.com

Each of the above candidates have the answers to the above questions.

Towne for Congress addresses them with the below links.

• Campaign Principles
• Sound Monetary Policy and the FED
• The Federal Income Tax
• The Wars Abroad
• Corporatism and Bailouts
• Accountability through the novel yet simple Our Open Office plan
• Health Care

Jake Towne for Congress – Hope and Change Ad

Originally published September 20, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/the-open-office-an-open-letter-to-congressman-dent-1

Dear Congressman Dent -

I have noticed from my correspondence with you that you do not have time to reply back, or spend time with me personally to cover the issues I have highlighted to you. I have even gone to the admittedly rather extreme effort of attending five of your town halls and handing my eight (8) open letters to you in person, as well as sending them by email and phone (in addition to many other letters).

Again, my key concern is I have no idea where you stand on monetary policy, and as this dollar crisis unwinds I am quite concerned that you are doing absolutely nothing to help the residents of our district and our country.   In fact, the actions you are taking are having the exact opposite effect of helping.  Ranging fromyour recent approval $50+ billion in foreign aid spending (much of it military aid to countries such as Egypt, Israel, Guatemala, Jordan, Indonesia, and many, many others) to many other votes for rampant Big Government spending (like your vote last week to spend $4.125 for government sponsored research on car technology in HR 3246), your continued silence on this issue makes me conclude that you certainly do not stand for a sound money as I do.

However, in some ways, your lack of response is understandable as you do have about 700,000 residents in our district to serve. Therefore, let me offer to you my idea to help you solve this problem. The idea is called “Our Open Office” and here are its’ key benefits:

• Citizen Empowerment

  • Each resident has a real public voice – to comment, vote, debate, and criticize

  • Each constituent will have a way to publicly demand I address their ideas and concerns by submitting bills online

  • Citizens can summon me to an “On Demand” town hall by reaching a threshold level on topics they feel I am not addressing timely enough or to their satisfaction

  • By incorporating the feedback of specialists in different fields and interests, particularly with the bill submission ability, our office will be far more efficient with better ideas than other districts because our work force will be larger and more specialized. Those “working” outside of my office will be working voluntarily on issues that have the highest priority for them, empowering the individual citizen.

• Accountability and Transparency

  • All residents can receive a monthly report from my office detailing each house floor vote taken, each bill introduced, and each bill co-sponsored. Feedback from the forum will be summarized into this report. Most importantly, I, the representative, will be forced to outline WHY I voted each way.

  • My office’s budget report will be publicized and readily available on the website so citizens can see how their tax dollars were spent.

  • Empowering citizens to public discourse and enabling open, visible criticism and dissent of my actions makes me more accountable to the people.

Our Open Office consists of four simple parts. Here is how is works:

The first part is the Online Public Feedback & Debate Forum. Each resident of our district can create a login if they choose. A public moniker is chosen, which can be their real name or nickname by their choice. Comments from registered voters are flagged with an icon to denote their importance. Residents can sign up for email notifications on all issues, or just the issues they care most about.

Each House bill that is coming up for vote will have a webpage denoted for it. Residents can vote for or against bills, and leave comments or debate in the space below. Phone calls received at the office are tallied along with letters on the same page so everyone can see at a glance what the current opinion is.

Residents can also join topic-oriented forums and create debates on subjects they wish to discuss.

Those without internet access may visit the local office to use a terminal, request the current status or dictate comments manually when they call in by phone. Written letters and emails will be shared in the forum if the resident gives permission to share it.

The second part of Our Open Office is monthly reports. Each month a written monthly report will be issued by my office. It will include my position on each House floor vote, each bill co-sponsored, and each bill introduced. Most importantly, it will also include my reasoning so if residents disagree they can understand why. I will refer to the Forum’s public feedback as well, especially if cases occur where I voted in one direction and the Forum’s opinion was in the opposite direction. The office’s financial budget reports will also be included in these monthly reports.

The next part of Our Open Office is the online bill submission service. Each resident can exercise their right to petition the government and can suggest new legislation. The only requirements are that the drafter must provide justification for the bill and must either cite one of the powers of Congress in the Constitution or, if revoking a current law or act, its unconstitutionality. Once the resident’s bill proposal is submitted publicly, I am forced to publicly reply. I may either agree to introduce the bill, contact the drafter for more information or modification, submit the bill to the Forum for feedback, or reject the proposal. If rejected, I must disclose why.

I am very excited about the bill submission idea as it could allow us to multiply our office’s output many times. We may even need to organize ourselves to sell our ideas to citizens in other districts and organizations to get these bills passed, instead of relying on corrupt lobbyists and partisan deal-making.

The last part of Our Open Office is on-demand town hall discussions. Town halls will be offered in either teleconference format while Congress is in session and in local meeting areas when Congress is not in session. There are two formats – open Q&A sessions or a specific issued discussed followed by Q&A afterwards. However, residents will also have the ability to summon me, their servant, to a town hall on an issue that I fail to address quickly enough by reaching a certain threshold limit in the forum. These town halls will be in addition to frequent video and written updates from the office.

I would like to conclude with resident feedback which has been resoundingly positive. Many have even told me, “That’s exactly what I would do if I were elected.” The vast majority of people in our district are fed up with economic ruin the Establishment has caused with their havoc on economic and civil liberties. Almost everyone believes their representatives are no longer accountable to them, and they are correct. This concept will cure this ill!!!

Congressman Dent, you can find the full text of this proposal and download a presentation on this idea here. If you have further questions on this idea, you may leave a comment in the space provided below the article and I will answer it as soon as I can.

I am available for consultation either privately or publicly as I have spent a lot of time refining the idea and I have great ideas on the specifics of how this system should look like. This will also save me a lot of implementation time after my upcoming election in November 2010, and I would like to get it done “Right the First Time.” If you are not interested, I would be curious as to know why. Thank you for your time.

Your fellow citizen,

Jake Towne

P.S. -  Again, if you have the time only to reply to one issue, PLEASE reply to me concerning your stance on monetary policy and the Federal Reserve. I remain highly concerned that by your approval of the Banker Bailout of 2008 and your inaction and Big Government spending during the past five (5) years in Congress to make any effort to salvage the integrity of the nation’s currency, the dollar, you have played a role in the eventual and likely demise of our monetary system.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on September 4, 2009, where I requested you to explain why you voted for HR 2749 which would, in my opinion, serve only to extend the government-sponsored cartelization of over our food supply.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on August 9, 2009, where I pointed out that health care legislation you support will have the same end effect as the current Democratic plan.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on July 21st, 2009, asking why you voted to give away $50 Billion in foreign aid, including $2 billion in military aid to Israel.  I believe almost everyone in our district would agree with me that spending our tax dollars domestically would be better than frittering away them on economic and military aid abroad.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on July 7th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to read the bills before voting to pass them.

I have yet to receive any reply to the Open Letter addressed to you on June 26th, 2009, in regards to your thoughts on sponsoring a bill that would require Congress to only pass bills that address just ‘One Subject at a Time.’

On June 4th, I sent you a note concerning the constitutionality of using of taxpayer funds on the nation’s health care and asked a simple question in regards to HR 2516, the Medical Rights Act, a bill you co-signed. Could you please reply to this question?

On May 7th, I sent you a note requesting your thoughts on the Federal Reserve (specifically whether you would support abolishing it, and if not, why) and our nation’s monetary policy. As requested above, could you please reply and inform me of your stance on the FED and monetary policy?

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Jake Towne isrunning for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties.  Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com andwww.CampaignForLiberty.com.  A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions, TowneForCongress.com has recently opened. [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As always, unlike the NFL, the author grants full permission to allow any accounts of, rebroadcasts, retransmissions, repostings of this article to your blog or anywhere else in order to promote the Restoration of our Republic.

Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

Summary of Articles and Bibliography for Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution (8/7/2009)

You’re the First to Know

Dear Friend,

Well, it looks like you have made a difference.

Based upon the unbelievable support that I have receieved from 10,000 supporters like you, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring to challenge Chris Dodd for the honor of representing the state of Connecticut in the United States Senate. I will announce my candidacy on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show on Thursday, September 17 at 8:15am eastern time. Sorry for the short notice, but its important to honor commitments and keep these things under raps until the day the news breaks.

At this time last year I could not have imagined that that I would be making such an announcement today. I had never intended to become a candidate for public office. But these are extraordinary times. Our economy is falling apart in front of our eyes and Washington seems intent on making the wheels come off even faster. At a time when we desperately need adult supervison, the economically illiterate are running the show. As I love my country, it now seems clear that I must try to do something to help. The emotional and material support I have received from across the country has made the decision much easier.

So today it begins. As I’m sure you are aware, the rules in politics bear only scant resemblance to those which govern polite society. As a result, I am wading into strange waters, and I’m sure strange things will happen. But I promise to maintain my composure and give it my best shot. Based on the support that I have received thus far, I fully expect to be facing down Chris Dodd in the general election just 14 months from now.

As my campaign takes flight, I appreciate the patience and trust that you have shown. To commit time and money to a long shot candidate for high office is a hard choice. I hope to repay that trust with a first class campaign.

I look forward to your feedback and your continued support.

Thanks again,

Peter Schiff