“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
“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.”
At no point would I vote for limits of any sort on the right to bear arms as a federal congressman. There is simply no authorization in the Constitution that delegates this power from the people and the states to United States Congress. States and localities can decide details for themselves based on state constitutions, local preferences and the US constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.
As for my personal view, I have spent several years of my life in China, which bans guns, and this changed how I personally view this issue. There are four exceptions to China’s rule, and the first three naturally belong to the State. The power to use force against citizens is retained by the armed forces, the police, and the banks’ security personnel who transfer the paper currency.
Rand Paul was kind enough to participate in an email interview with us earlier this week. Tomorrow he celebrates his father’s birthday with a money bomb of his own. Organized by grass roots supporters and dubbed the “Run Rand Run” money bomb, it aims to raise $1 million for his Senate campaign.
Yesterday a new scientific poll was released showing that Rand Paul trails the establishment GOP candidate by only 11 percentage points. Rand showed up with 26% to Trey Grayson’s 37%. This is a very strong showing for an anti-establishment candidate challenging a career politician. There are still 9 months to go before the May 2010 GOP primary in Kentucky. This poll proves the viability of Paul. Grayson now has to prepare himself for a dogfight. A lot can happen in 9 months.
Here is our short interview with Rand Paul from earlier this week.
LM: Starting off with a bit of a personal question, what was it like growing up in the Ron Paul household? Was he as strict with his children as he is with following the Constitution?
Rand Paul: All the kids were into sports. My older brother was a nationally ranked swimmer and my younger brother played baseball in college. I swam for a non-scholarship program at Baylor. My earliest memories are of discussing politics with my father’s friends. I always gravitated to the adult conversation.
Rand Paul followed up his radio interview with Glenn Beck last week with a television appearance yesterday. They discussed health care and even offered up a few free market reform ideas.
Back in May of 2007 I wrote the following words about Ron Paul following the first GOP Primary Debate:
Ron Paul seems to have the views I (mostly) agree with, but I’m convinced he is the wrong messenger.
Much of what happened after I wrote that pushed me down a path of hope but to this day I still feel Ron Paul leaves a lot on the table when it comes to thinking on his feet and framing his arguments for general appeal. Then again part of his appeal to me and for many others is his brutal honesty.
Unfortunately no matter how right he is there are many people who will always see him as “that crazy Ron Paul guy.”
The only way to combat that sentiment is to frame the same positions in a more appealing way and not actually be Ron Paul.
Enter Rand Paul. All I’ve seen and heard from Rand Paul thus far makes me believe he can succeed where his father could not (winning over more “mainstream” Republicans). His interview yesterday with Glenn Beck gives us further proof of this ability.
I apologize for the obvious headline. I couldn’t resist. It’s beginning to look like Peter Schiff may run against Chris Dodd in 2010. The Schiffathon, a money bomb held yesterday and continuing today has helped Schiff’s exploratory committee raise over $750,000 dollars in total for his potential campaign thus far.
Once the $750k was reached a small thank you message was displayed on his website and a new goal of $850k was created. While the sum of money isn’t as great, it is reminiscent of those huge money bombs for Ron Paul back in the primary season of 2007 and 2008.
Given the amount of enthusiasm for Schiff running against Dodd along with the fund raising it is hard to believe Peter won’t officially declare his candidacy at some point soon. An announcement either way may come around Labor day weekend according to Schiff.
There’s a lot to be unhappy about this week if you believe in individual liberty and free markets.
Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. She was confirmed and it wasn’t even close, as expected. Souter is out and Sotomayor is in. It seems like a wash to me. The next Supreme Court appointee will be the more interesting one.
The Cash For Clunkers program gets added funds. The Senate approved 2 billion more dollars we don’t have to destroy cars that get poor gas mileage and subsidize the purchase of cars that get better gas mileage. For those that don’t “feel” like understanding economics, John Stossel demonstrates why this program is yet another wasteful boondoggle. Did you know that you can buy a brand new Hummer with your neighbor’s money?
An amendment to the additional money for the Cash for Clunkers program by Senator Coburn would have permitted dealers to donate the traded clunkers to charities and the poor. I say would have because the amendment was defeated by the Democrats. I was under the impression the Democrats cared about the poor? It appears they care about appeasing the environmental lobbyists more.
In response to the massive opposition to Obama’s health care plan the White House has taken another page out of Woodrow Wilson’s playbook. In a modernized version of Wilson’s American Protective League the White House would like you to report “fishy” media content that disagrees with Obama’s health care plan. Feel free to report this article. The email address is flag@whitehouse.gov.
This morning Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul appeared on CNN discussing health care, Rand running for Senate, and other topics. Watch the appearance below.
Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate yesterday on the Neil Cavuto show. There were reports he would announce on the Glenn Beck show but that didn’t work out. He also appeared on Happy Hour on the Fox Business Channel along with Peter Schiff and Judge Napolitano discussing why he’s running as a Republican vs. an Independent as Cody Willard wishes.
He is also scheduled to be on with Glenn Beck this morning on Beck’s radio show.
If the Republican Party wants to regain its prominence among what my mother likes to call “real people” in America they should look no further than Rand Paul. The notion of a reborn Republican Party is a bit of a “Catch-22″ though. These days the establishment Republicans are still clinging to their neo-conservative foreign interventions of offense and their legislation of morality. Rand Paul represents the anti-establishment which seems to becoming more and more what the “real people” want. As we suggested last week it appears Rand Paul will officially announce his run for Senate later today on the Glenn Beck show.
FRANKFORT — Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul is expected to announce his Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday on a national television news show.
Paul, who has been exploring a U.S. Senate bid for several weeks, is to appear on Glenn Beck’s show on the Fox News Channel at 5 p.m. Wednesday and will hold a media conference call at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, said campaign manager David Adams.
Rand Paul’s father was painted with the fringe brush by his fellow Republicans during his 2008 Presidential campaign. All indications at this point are that the Republicans are about to make the same mistake again. The establishment is supporting and funding Rand’s likely opponent Trey Grayson. Could succeeding in raising a million dollars in a single day change all of that?
Chris Dodd’s days may be numbered. That is, if Peter Schiff and legions of his supporters have anything to say about it.
Peter Schiff has been contemplating a run for Dodd’s seat in the U.S. Senate representing Connecticut. Dodd is up for re-election in 2010 and is on shaky ground after his unwavering support of establishment DC politics.
Peter Schiff has become known (justifiably) as the guy who predicted the economic crisis. His assertions were mocked and ridiculed back in 2005/2006 when he had the audacity to suggest that the U.S. housing market was ready for a collapse.
Now that he’s been proven right people have been clamoring for him to run against Senator Dodd. He’s taken the first step toward that end by forming an exploratory committee in order to gauge the true interest in his potential campaign. That interest will be determined by the number of digits following the dollar signs donated to his exploratory committee. Yes, that means you need to part ways with some money if you want Schiff to run for office. It is the brutal truth that it takes money to win, especially in such a high profile election.
[UPDATE (by Mike Miller): If you donate to Peter Schiff's exploratory committee, and it turns out that he does not run for office, your donation will be returned to you.]
The Peter Schiff money bomb has been set for August 7th, 2009. The website is Schiffathon.com. The details from the site:
This will be a week long promotion to gain support. On August 1st 2009 RevolutionBroadcasting.com will be hosting a Jerry Lewis style telethon that will feature many great guests well known to the patriot movement. The Schiffathon leads up to the official moneybomb on August 7th 2009, please pledge to show your support for Peter Schiff and his bid for US Senate against Christopher Dodd in 2010.
So please prepare yourself to donate on August 7th if you’d like to have a chance at getting a friend of Ron Paul (politically and personally) into the Senate. For an excellent Peter Schiff video check out this one promoting the money bomb.
Obama has more or less dictated to America that there will be health care reform whether we like it or not. Well, those of us paying attention don’t like it one bit. Most of us agree that something must be done to make health care more affordable and thereby make it available to the huddled masses, the un-huddled rich 1%, and the semi-huddled in between. There could not be further disagreement about how we accomplish it.
Most on the Left argue from emotion:
“It doesn’t matter if it’s not Constitutional, people who are sick need help.”
Those on the Right attempt logic:
“Passing health care reform as the Democrats wish will only bankrupt America more than it already is.”
The Bill of Rights numerates our natural rights as human beings. It does not grant us rights. The last time I read the Bill of Rights I did not see any mention of health care as a natural right. In fact, access to health care is no more a right than access to food. That may be cold, but it is the truth.
Liberty Maven
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