If you want the Supreme Court to hear this argument please make a tax-deductible contribution for this purpose to the Downsize DC Foundation.

Why this is important

Statism is the belief that politicians and bureaucrats should have broad powers to use force against citizens. In its most virulent forms Statism killed more people in the 20th Century alone than all of the individual non-governmental murderers in the history of the world, COMBINED!

Professor R.J. Rummel estimates the total murderous death-toll of Statism at about 170 million people!

Not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages, or the Flu epidemic of 1918, can approach these numbers, even if you combine the totals from those two epidemics and reduce the estimate for the total number of murders committed by governments.

But the terrible statistics for Statist murder still only tell part of the story. We must add to them the statistics for the mass theft, imprisonment, and torture committed by governments against innocent people. These measurements of State criminality are even more vast, so much so that they are literally incalculable.

The State, and the belief-system that fosters its criminality — Statism — are the great scourges of human existence, against which no other source of death and destruction can remotely compare.

Of course, in reaction to all of these blood-curdling facts the fool argues that such things could never happen in this country. The same foolish belief was held by people in Russia, Germany, China, Cambodia, and a hundred other places, before such things DID happen in those countries. But such naivety is also exposed by one other crucial fact . . .

Murderous and violent crimes by the State have already been committed by our government, on a massive scale. A partial list would include . . .

• Our government’s eviction of the law-abiding Cherokees from the South Eastern U.S., the confiscation of their property, and the “Trail of Tears” Death March to Oklahoma that followed
• Repeated massacres of Indian women and children by U.S. Army death squads throughout the 19th Century
• Two hundred years of State-enforced, multi-generational captivity for Africans, and the continual rape and torture that accompanied this enslavement
• One hundred years of State-enforced segregation of Africans over broad stretches of the United States, including the unofficial collaboration by police in lynchings and beatings against unarmed African-Americans
• The mass murder of Filipinos in a campaign of colonial subjugation following the Spanish-American war (which was supposedly fought against colonialism!)
• The internment of innocent Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II

The United States is indeed special, but not as special as blind, adolescent patriotism wants to believe. And what remains of our specialness is under relentless and increasing pressure. We have argued elsewhere that . . .

• President George W. Bush laid the basic infrastructure for a future police state, and that .
• President Obama has retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
• Some future crisis, or series of calamities, could deploy this infrastructure in a freedom-crushing, and perhaps even murderous way

What has made America special are the controls that our Founders erected against the kind of Statist thuggery so-loved by President Bush, President Obama, and nearly all politicians. It is true that these controls have always been incomplete, and have failed repeatedly, as in the examples cited above. But it is also true that . . .

They have worked better than any other system yet devised by mortal man.

To remain special, and to become more special, we must preserve and even enhance every protection we have against State criminality. Some of these protections could be thought of as a series of boxes . . .

• The ballot box
• The jury box
• The mail box (which DownsizeDC.org is using in its modern electronic forms because the ballot and jury boxes have become so corrupted)
• And finally, as a last resort, the cartridge (ammo) box

Cartridge boxes are what . . .

• Jews, Gypsies, Poles and Russians needed against the Nazi Statists
• Russians, Chinese, Cambodians, and countless others needed against the Communist Statists
• Filipinos and many other peoples needed against American and other colonial Statists

Cartridge boxes may also be what Americans need someday, against their own government, if current trends explode into the kind of mass Statist gangsterism that so many other societies have suffered.

Our Founders gave us the Second Amendment for exactly this purpose. They were not thinking of self-defense against individual criminals when they wrote the Second Amendment the way they wrote it, though they did not exclude that purpose. Instead, they were thinking about Statist thugs . . .

The American people were to be armed as a final defense against Statist aggression, both foreign AND DOMESTIC. There is a mountain of evidence to support this view, and we want to see the Supreme Court exposed to this evidence. Do you?

The Downsize DC Foundation is joining with Gun Owners of America and several other organizations in the MacDonald case, which challenges the handgun ban in Chicago — also being called by some, “Heller II.” With your help we will be the ONLY GROUP submitting an amicus curiae brief making the argument that the Second Amendment is much more than permission to have a handgun in your home.

If you want to see this evidence presented to the Supreme Court, please make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE contribution for this purpose. You can do so here.

Jim Babka, President
Downsize DC Foundation

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

Decorated Marine, Foreign Service Official resigns

We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer

The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see

The chaplains said that many soldiers had lost their desire to help Afghanistan. “All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,” said Captain Masengale.

Full Article

Speaking of Robert Higgs, he will deliver a lecture on Monday evening at George Mason University. The event is free and is hosted by the Mason Economics Club and the Future of Freedom Foundation. For more details see the FFF web site and scroll down to the events section.

…Hamilton looks pleasant enough in his portrait on our $10 bill, but he was an arrogant egomaniac.

Hamilton was a determined opponent of Jefferson’s laissez-faire philosophy at every turn. When it came to trade, he demanded high protective tariffs because he thought, in the mercantilistic tradition, that if a nation produced “its own” goods rather than purchasing them from “other countries” it would become stronger. Mercantilism was inseparable from economic nationalism — the foolish and destructive idea that political boundaries have great economic significance. (We still suffer grievously from this idiocy, of course.) Individual American consumers would be harmed by artificially high prices for items they might have bought less expensively from producers in other countries, but Hamilton was not concerned about the problems of individuals. His obsession was with “strengthening” the nation.

In the early years of the United States, Hamilton battled against Jefferson’s reading of the Constitution as placing severe limits on federal authority. To Hamilton and his Federalist allies, the wording of the Constitution, especially the enumerated powers of Congress, meant nothing more than an intellectual game of trying to invent interpretations that gave the government “inherent” powers that it was not specifically given. Contrary to the sensible, restrictive reading of the Constitution defended by Jefferson, Hamilton insisted that the General Welfare and Commerce Clauses were meant to give the federal government almost limitless powers.

Leef then goes on to discuss the traitorous presidencies of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and disasters in the form of the 17th Amendment, the income tax, and the Federal Reserve Act.  I highly recommend reading the entire article.

The Constitution imposes on the government numerous burdens that we as individuals do not have. For example, I can tell my nephew to keep quiet at the dinner table because I don’t like what he said about grandma, but the First Amendment prevents the government from keeping him silent on a street corner when he criticizes it. Similarly, I can give a gift to some of my nephews and nieces because they are great kids, but I don’t need to give gifts of equal value, since I can spend my money on gifts however I wish. But the government has some burdens here that individuals do not. The Constitution requires that the government treat all persons similarly situated in a similar manner. This is the essence of “Equal Protection,” which the Constitution requires of the states and the federal government.

Napolitano goes on to cite case-law in which the Supreme Court has ruled that states may not deny people the right to an education based on citizenship status, and undoubtedly  “an education is in the same class of social benefits as providing health care.”  He points out that Obama with all his collegiate accolades certainly must know this.

Can anyone really suggest that the Harvard Law School-educated University of Chicago-employed professor of constitutional law did NOT know the law when he contended that the Congress can keep universal health care away from illegals? He must have known that, short of amending the Constitution to re-define “persons” and “Equal Protection”, whatever the Congress makes available by way of social services to the general population, it must make available to all persons.

There is no question that under the present law, Congress simply cannot pick and choose which “persons” to whom it will afford social benefits and to which “persons” it will not. How could the president not have known that?

Read Judge Napolitano’s article at FoxNews.com.

I was lucky enough to acquire an advanced copy of the movie. It went straight from the mailbox into my DVD player. You are going to adore this movie. In fact, you are going to EVOL this movie.

Without revealing too many details (I don’t want this to be a spoiler) it covers all of the major grassroots events, efforts, and activists that were the essence of the Ron Paul Revolution. It begins right around the time Ron Paul announced his candidacy and culminates with the Rally for the Republic.

The creators utilize the “Walk4Freedom” (perfectly I might add) as an avenue to tie the “story” together. The story is told by the grassroots activists themselves, individuals such as Michael Maresco  (Walk4Freedom, Ron Paul Rider, Ride For Honesty), Lawrence Lepard (Full Page Ron Paul Ad purchaser and organizer), Trevor Lyman (Money bomb promotion, Ron Paul Blimp), and many others.

The campaign was assisted greatly by the ability of the Internet to disseminate information quickly. Michael Nystrom, founder of The Daily Paul, is showcased. Also, Bryan and Josh of RonPaulForums are featured throughout along with several others.

Also appearing are some pundits, politicians, and radio show hosts. These include British MEP Daniel Hannan, Tom Woods, BJ Lawson, Jack Hunter, Doug Wead, Tucker Carlson, and more.

Perhaps the most important thing about the movie is that it highlights how change can happen beginning at the grassroots level if the message is right. It effectively demonstrates how these “crazy Ron Paul people” aren’t so crazy after all. This is hammered home with what has happened in America since the end of Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign: the economic crisis, Obama’s march toward socialism, the trans-partisan effort to audit the Federal Reserve, and so on.

Near the end of the film Ron Paul is seen in a video message ending his campaign for President. He tells us it is not the end but the beginning.  Today, there are some indications he was right.

His son, Rand Paul, is clawing his way into a Senate race in Kentucky by running on a similar platform and utilizing his father’s network of supporters. There are many liberty-minded candidates running for office in various races throughout the country. These people were all inspired by Ron Paul’s campaign. The great ones open doors for their followers to be even greater. I think this will be one of Ron Paul’s heroic legacies.

If the future be bleak with Orwell’s (or is it Obama’s?) “1984″ vision, rest assured this documentary will be banned from existence and illegal to own. And being banned in such an environment is the highest honor bestowed upon any work of art. I hope this extreme is never realized but if such an evil time is on the horizon I will keep this movie safely hidden. Gold is to the preservation of monetary value as this movie is to the preservation of liberty.

In Obama’s world communities need organizing. In Ron Paul’s world communities organize themselves. This is the open secret of the Ron Paul Revolution. It is a microcosm of the principles that founded our country: No central planning, individuals govern themselves and trade with each other. Of course, it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly better than the path we are on today.

This is not just a story about the Ron Paul Revolution. It is a blueprint for a better America.

That blueprint is a lot like the Kevin Costner character’s message in the movie, “Field of Dreams”. Instead of “Build it and they will come”, Ron Paul’s voice tells him: “Offer freedom and they will come.”

This movie proves that they have come and they aren’t going to fade away anytime soon.

——————————————-

Order your own copy of “For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Withered Tree of Liberty” right now.

It is scheduled to start shipping on September 23rd.

Bulk orders are available at a significant discount. The film is 115 minutes in length. The final production DVD will be stuffed with bonus material as well. See the list of bonus material below.

• Walk4Freedom extended director’s cut
• Delivering the blimp flag to RP in DC
• Campaign finance with Brad Smith (this is fascinating)
• Iraq Veterans Against the War w/ Adam Kokesh
• R3volution truckstop
• Thomas Woods’ “Lectures On Liberty” from the RP BBQ
• The High Tide CFL version (with optional subtitles for the hearing impaired)
• Making of The High Tide
• Restore the Republic w/ Gary Franchi
• The Philosophy Of Liberty
• Original teaser and trailer

Pledge to donate now! Then be sure to DONATE on August 20th.

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.

LM: Who is your favorite Founding Father and why?

Rand Paul: Jefferson. Of all the founders, he seemed to be able to articulate the message of liberty and limited government best. Like many of us he was imperfect and I wish he had been more committed to liberty for all without regard to race. Jefferson also, was personally not so fiscally sound with his own finances. While I am repelled by Adams support for the Alien and Sedition Acts, I do admire his New England work ethic and personal frugality.

LM: Who is your favorite American President and why?

Rand Paul: same (as above)

LM: You’ve mentioned that you support term limits in recent interviews. Does this mean you support a Constitutional amendment to institute term limits or are you of the opinion that term limits should be a personal decision for each office holder? If you get elected, how many terms will you serve?

Rand Paul: I support both a Constitutional amendment and/or legislation if it could be done Constitutionally. Voluntary term limits have not worked because the good Congressmen kept the pledge and went home and the creeps broke their pledges and stayed. Also, only a very small percentage, maybe ten to fifteen, ever were elected with a voluntary pledge.

LM: Health care reform is the latest fight on Capitol Hill. Recently, the Obama administration has modified its position a bit on the “public option” by suggesting they’d be open to non-profit health insurance cooperatives. Is this compromise something you could vote for as a Senator?

Rand Paul: No

LM: Why or why not?

Rand Paul: I am opposed to the government deciding what kind of insurance policies are legal. I have a Health Savings Account, presumably this policy will not be approved by the government coop.

LM: What can you say to your potential constituents to ease their minds about the potential for Washington corrupting you as it has done to so many in the past?

Rand Paul: I am not a career politician. I will vote against pork barrel spending and happily return to my job as a physician if the electorate tires of that stance.

LM: On your web site’s issues page, you have some very strong words favoring gun rights and the 2nd Amendment. Would you vote for any kind of restriction on guns such as trigger locks, waiting periods, background checks, or closing the “gun loophole”?

Rand Paul: No

LM: Are you a gun owner?

Rand Paul: Yes.

LM: Your father has signed on to a bill (HR.2267) sponsored by Barney Frank. This bill, in essence, makes online poker legal, but regulates/licenses it at the federal level. Do you support such bills? What is your view on this bill and Internet regulation in general?

Rand Paul: I am opposed to Federal regulation or taxation of the Internet.

————–

If you are a liberty-loving American supporting Rand Paul truly is a no-brainer. With the publication of this interview we at Liberty Maven officially endorse his candidacy in the 2010 Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky.

With a little luck and a lot of money (please donate to his campaign!) we hope to be endorsing him in the general election this time next year.

Download audio file (jasonlewis-talks-rp-08122009.mp3)

The Left is attempting to minimize the dissent running rampant at “town halls” across the country. Now a chain email has been initiated by the White House to debunk what they call “lies” about health reform efforts. To this I ask what happens when these so-called lies turn out to be true? Haven’t we had enough denying economic reality? Supporters of this kind of health reform argue that it’s not a single payer plan and that the government’s public option will compete fairly with private insurance companies.

The truth is that at first it is not a single payer plan. The problem is that it constructs the framework and greases the wheels for a near future migration to single payer. It’s the typical incrementalism found in the Fabian Socialist movement.

Nancy and Steny held hands and denounced dissenters at town hall meetings as “Un-American”. The White House pushed them away with a stick.

And now for some random thoughts, tweets and quotes for the week:

• We need to free our dependency on foreign oil, but we mostly need to free our dependency on domestic government!

• We are teaching a new generation that hard work doesn’t pay… unless the recipient is the government.

• The Right stabs you in the face, the Left stabs you in the back. I want to support those that do not stab at all.

• Don’t play their game. Don’t argue for the right to dissent. Just practice it.

• Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. – Picasso

• Disciples be damned. It’s not interesting. It’s only the masters that matter. Those who create. – Picasso

• Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. – Harry Truman

And finally this weeks most appropriate quote:

Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive – John F. Kennedy

Have a lovely weekend!

First, here is some audio from Guntalk, a weekly radio show hosted by Tom Gresham of Guntalk.tv, a wonderful resource for all gun-owners.

Gresham reveals the details of the previous incorporation-related cases and a new development that could have a bearing on whether or not the Supreme Court takes up the question. Before it was a no-brainer for the high court to hear the case, but now the 9th Circuit Court appears to be trying their hardest to make it a “brainer”. Listen to Gresham lay it all out in the audio below.

Download audio file (gresham-on-incorp-08022009.mp3)

Originally, the Constitution and Bill of Rights were a set of restraints on the federal government. The states pretty much had free reign on the laws they could enact. The states were governing themselves prior to the ratification of the Constitution. Our Founders (for the most part) tried to avoid trampling on states’ rights to self-govern. The amendments passed following the Civil War, particularly the 14th, set the stage for the trampling to begin.

In the 1890’s a series of Supreme Court decisions (for the first time) held that most of the Bill of Rights was enforceable against state governments. Applying the Bill of Rights to the states is called “incorporation”. The question then becomes should the Bill of Rights be incorporated (or apply) to the states?  (more details on Incorporation).

Upon first learning of the incorporation concept I was confused and had some questions. Didn’t the 10th Amendment make incorporation a non-starter? Then again, if the Bill of Rights was set up to enumerate (and protect) our own natural (or God-given) rights then how could those first 10 amendments not apply to the states? I’ve come to learn that there are at least two parallel universes where these kinds of questions get answered. There is reality where normal people live and work, and there is law where every letter of every word gets analyzed into oblivion.

The Supreme Court has ruled that just about every one of our first 10 amendments applies to the states. The 2nd Amendment is not the only exception but it is in the extreme minority. The Heller decision last year paves the way for the Supreme Court to rule in favor of incorporating the 2nd amendment to the states because of the following wording found in the decision:

“We find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment. We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it ’shall not be infringed.”

Since the court recognizes that the right to bear arms is a pre-existing right, that it existed prior to the Constitution, it appears I found an answer to one of my questions. Yes, the 2nd Amendment does enumerate a natural human right. Of course, we already knew it did. Now it seems the Supreme Court knows it too.

I’m not one to favor letting the federal government stomp all over states’ rights, but given the 10th Amendment, and the plain truth that the Bill of Rights protects rights we already have as human beings, I’m strongly in favor of incorporating the entire Bill of Rights.

The problem is that our federal government ventures outside the scope of the Bill of Rights when wielding power over the states. That list includes conducting raids and arresting non-violent drug offenders in California even when state law says it is legal, coercing the states to abide by the federally mandated 55 MPH speed limit in the mid-1970’s by threatening to hold back federal transportation funds, and many others.

Recently, an amendment to force reciprocity on states to allow concealed carry permit holders to cross state lines legally while carrying failed in the Senate. This is one of those cases that would never even come up had we been following the 2nd Amendment as written. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t distinguish between concealing a gun and carrying it openly. This is why I supported the amendment even though it could be argued that it usurps some states’ rights.

I’m in favor of any law that makes an effort to enforce, in whole or in part, the Constitution of the United States of America. Such efforts give me hope that someday it will be the supreme law of the land once again.

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.

Here is the White House Health Care propaganda page. Am I being unfair labeling it as propaganda? Well here is Obama in 2003 arguing with himself.

Hmmm, that second video link seems “fishy”. Perhaps it should be reported. Obama’s America is becoming more scary by the day.

In happier news liberty candidates are readying themselves to lead the GOP to the promised land. Rand Paul officially announced his candidacy this week and has a money bomb planned for August 20th. Peter Schiff is gearing up and having what should be a big money bomb tomorrow: The Schiffathon.

There are some less well-known liberty candidates running in races across the country. A wonderful and hopeful new video presents them to the world:

All of these candidates deserve our support. It would be extremely nice to see a liberty candidate round table on Glenn Beck’s TV show with all of these candidates discussing the issues. Hint Hint Mr. Beck on Twitter: @glennbeck.

Here are the liberty candidates’ web sites again for doing your own research:

• Rand Paul – http://randpaul2010.com/
• Jake Towne – http://towneforcongress.com/
• R.J. Harris – http://rjharris2010.com/
• Adam Kokesh – http://kokeshforcongress.com/
• Jaynee Germond – http://germond2010.com/
• Mike Vasovski – http://www.vasovskiforcongress.com/
• Paul Lambert – http://votelambert.org/
• Peter Schiff – http://schiffforsenate.com/

And here are this week’s random thoughts, tweets, and quotes:

• U.S. health care is like a free market in the same way that Madonna is “like a virgin”. http://cli.gs/uSSS1

• They mixed up the names. Obamacare should be renamed Cash For Clunkers.

• ObamaCare doesn’t solve health care. It solves Social Security insolvency: a death penalty for the old.

• Calling your lawmaker today may keep the government doctor away!

• I live in the real world, not some conspiracy. Not a birther, nor a truther, just a guy looking to be free.

• I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery. – Unknown

• I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. – James Madison

• Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

• We are free, truly free, when we don’t need to rent our arms to anybody in order to be able to lift a piece of bread to our mouths. – Ricardo Flores Magon

And the quote of the week:

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves. – D.H. Lawrence

Have a great weekend and don’t forget to donate to Peter Schiff today and make the Schiffathon a success.

The power culture in DC ignores the Constitution because it is in their best interest to do so. Perhaps our founders were stupid for expecting a unit of law-making force and power (the government) to remain restrained by a document (the Constitution) that those (the citizenry) who are bound by the laws are supposed to enforce. No, it’s not perfect, but it has worked, more or less, for over 200+ years. The big question of the current generation seems to be how do we keep it from slipping away completely? Will America be America in 10 years? The writing on the wall says ‘no’, but it is our duty to do everything in our power to change that writing to say ‘yes’.

Michael Maresco has done more than most in this effort. Last week he completed his most recent journey across America via bicycle in an effort to raise awareness about America’s road from freedom to fascism. To me and many others he is the ultimate liberty hero. People like Michael give me hope. Please check out the site dedicated to his ride. Read through his travel log, look at the pictures, and be inspired by what you witness. He shows us all what is still great about America through the people he met and the places he’s seen. See LibertyRider.com.

Now a quick note on the name of this web site. I want to make it clear that I never intended to be dubbed THE Liberty Maven. I’ve been called that and I get uncomfortable every time it happens. The truth is that the domain name was available when we (Mike Miller and I) were trying to come up with a name for the site and it sounded good, so we got it. The intent of the name is to let everyone know that it is they who need to become liberty mavens. Having a country of liberty mavens is the goal. That goal may not be attainable, kind of like the “pursuit of happiness”, but always reaching for it is the important thing. I also want to thank you for continuing to read Liberty Maven. We don’t thank our readers enough. It is because of you that the site still exists and remains a passion for me and our other contributors. Thank you.

Now let’s talk about money bombs and 2010 elections. Peter Schiff needs to be  shown some love in the form of monetary contributions to his exploratory committee. If he’s going to run against Chris Dodd he’s going to need a lot of money. In light of that various freedom loving people have pooled together for a week long money bomb event dubbed the Schiffathon. It culminates with the money bomb day on August 7th. Check out www.Schiffathon.com for details. There is no better candidate to unseat Dodd than Schiff. Please show him that he has our support by donating on August 7th. His campaign website is www.SchiffForSenate.com. If Schiff should decide not to run all exploratory donations will be refunded.

Ron Paul’s son Rand is also readying himself for his own Senate campaign in Kentucky. He stated all along that if Jim Bunning were to not seek re-election then he would run. Well, this week Bunning announced he would not be seeking re-election so that obstacle is out of the way. I imagine we’ll find out fairly soon that Rand has officially joined the race. At this point it is just a formality. His primary opponent will be establishment-loving Republican Trey Grayson who has raised over $600k for his own exploratory committee. Rand has raised over $160k.

All eyes are going to be on Rand Paul’s own money bomb on August 20th, his father’s birthday. The goal is $1 million, which would be an amazing feat. If that goal is met it would likely cause a lot of press, probably even national press. It would also immediately make Rand Paul a formidable opponent of Grayson to more than just the Ron Paul faithful. Please pledge at RunRandRun.com to help him toward the $1 million. Rand Paul’s campaign site is RandPaul2010.com.

People always wonder, “what can I do to help bring change to DC?”. Well, donating to both Peter Schiff and Rand Paul is a great start.

And now some random thoughts, quotes, and tweets:

• The size of government keeps getting blown up like a balloon that people think will never pop. People are wrong.

• The government paid me to do it, but I worked for the Constitution. – Judge Andrew Napolitano

• Those who surrender Liberty for goverment health care deserve neither. – @RUQRU on Twitter

• Did you hear the good news? We’re in the middle of a jobless recovery. Apparently, it’s similar to a cropless harvest. – @aristoddler on Twitter

• Socialism turns innovative dazzling dreamers into lazy apathetic cynics. Capitalism makes dreams possible.

• It’s time to “Clockwork Orange” Congress. Make them deathly ill when they attempt to vote for more spending.

• Liquidity is a lot like liquid, it’s a lot easier to spill than to un-spill. – Peter Schiff

• If the government program you’re proposing is really such a good investment, why is it that only the government is willing to make it? – Harry Browne

And my own favorite quote of the week:

• Some people say Libertarians want anarchy. But anarchy is what we have now. Our cities aren’t safe, our schools are centers of violence and the politicians have turned the rule of law into a chaotic web of regulations and mandates. Libertarians want to restore order by removing the destabilizing influence of government. – Harry Browne

Have a freedom-filled weekend!