“Know ye not, Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?” – Lord Byron
Last night at a local candidates’ night I gave the below speech, though the bracketed paragraphs were cut out due to time limitations. The event was co-sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Tea Party and Lehighton Tea Party. My Republocrat competition – for the second event in a row – failed to show up.
During the past 6 years, the official national debt has nearly doubled from $7.6 to $13.5 trillion. Per the US Treasury, the unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare is $107 trillion dollars, which is nearly $400,000 for every man, woman, and child. What has the taxpayer gotten in return?
During the past 6 years, the number of service members killed in Afghanistan has risen from 160 to 1,311.
During the past 6 years, unemployment locally has doubled from 5 to 10%. The number of people living on food stamps has increased from 25 to 41 million which is nearly 1 in 8 Americans.
Now over 3 in 4 Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a figure which has about doubled since 2006. What has the taxpayer gotten in return?
We must stop the endless debt. I have pledged to balance the budget each year, and I have called upon my competitors to join me, and they have chosen to not do so.
Many thanks to Dan, Jane, Clayton, and John for volunteering as zombies, cameramen, editors, directors, etc. to make this entertaining video!!
The campaign’s second revision of a 30-second radio ad is here. Thanks to a one-day September online money bomb, several thousand dollars were raised and this ad was placed on the local airwaves. Thanks to Adam Temple of A.R.T. Productions for helping create this radio ad!
Today is the anniversary of the September 17, 1787 ratification of the Constitution of the United States. While the federal government no longer even pretends to follow the Constitution, I would like to write for a moment on the second-most important safeguard the founders tried to leave us. (The most important safeguard being sound money, which by itself greatly inhibits rash war-making, as beautifully illustrated in this clip.)
On the front page of today’s Morning Call was an article on the mosque to be located near Ground Zero in NYC. Below is a video statement and transcript of those remarks. My comments were misinterpreted slightly, and I absolutely do not speak for all Muslims – just myself – but the fact remains the reporter just wasn’t able to fit in my full thoughts on the matter, so the below is mainly to elaborate.
In New York, several blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center, an Islamic center and mosque is being considered. As a federal representative, it is my duty to defend the Constitution and the natural right to religious freedom as protected by the First Amendment. This freedom has its roots in how America was first settled by European religious outcasts. (Photo courtesy Rosino)
Below is the rough transcript of some remarks I made at the campaign’s successful fun-raiser at the American Sandwich Company in Coopersburg on June 6, the 66th anniversary of D-Day. More details on the fundraiser in tomorrow’s post. The event began with a moment of silence for veterans, especially the 5,490 soldiers who have died so far in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Today we face a D-Day of a different sort, and while there is still war, the causes are economic. At the last Towne Hall, I presented “The Economy in Pictures” where I demonstrated that unemployment is >>17%, 1 in every 8 Americans is on food stamps, the FDIC that “insures” bank accounts is hopelessly insolvent, and the true national debt is really $120 Trillion – when the $13 trillion in US treasury debt is added to the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare - a vast sum that is best put into personal terms as $400,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. At this point, even if the government were to tax 100% of each citizen’s dollars and properties, there still would not be enough to theoretically pay off this debt.
The plan the country should follow is very similar to an engineer solving a problem, or a doctor treating a bleeding patient. First we must contain the problem, then determine root cause, then take corrective actions. The steps are easy and simple enough, though this doesn’t mean Congress will follow them. Let me recap.
Yesterday, June 4, I delivered some remarks at a protest and march organized by the Friends of George Donnelly. The irony that June 4 is also the same day as the Tiananmen Square Massacre was not lost on me. From my time spent abroad in China, those who know me are well aware my candidacy is also an attempt to ensure that liberty is not stripped from the American people as has been done in communist China. Tyranny knows no boundaries.
Donnelly was arrested by federal marshals while videotaping their actions in front of the federal courthouse in Allentown in May. While I did not comment directly on this tragic case – some details here – a rough transcript of my remarks are below. A report by WFMZ-69 is linked below.
These days government intrusion into our lives never seems to stop. The government is like an out-of-control wild bull in a rodeo. You might be able to avoid getting gored most of the time, but one day that bull is going to be quick enough to gore you.
Ron Paul has inspired so many to take the leap into politics. Jake Towne is one of the inspired. Jake has been providing insight through his writing here at Liberty Maven for longer than he’s been a candidate for U.S. Congress. In an era when “politician” is the dirtiest word in the English language Jake stands out as an anti-politician politician. Through his writing and speaking you can feel and see his supreme dedication to liberty.
He’s running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th district. His “open office” idea is one that every single lawmaker should adopt. He errs on the side of freedom on every issue and he deserves every liberty-lover’s support.
Check out his excellent newly re-designed Towne for Congress web site and consider supporting him with a donation.
America’s monetary situation is becoming fairly ridiculous. This Monday, the Wall Street Journal carried “Will Nickel-Free Nickels Make a Dime’s Worth of Difference?” on its front page. The article shares the government’s dilemma that minted each $100 box of nickels costs very close to $200, and that the metal content of the coin is worth more than the face value of 5 cents. The penny, which was already debased from almost 100% copper to 2% copper in 1982 also costs more to mint than its face value. The pre-1982 pennies are now worth over double their face value.
The nickel’s mass is 5 grams and consists of 25% nickel and 75% copper. It is the only US coin to never have been devalued by using cheaper metals since it was first minted in 1866. At that time, both the penny and nickel were worth far, far less than their face value, but were used as placeholders for gold and silver coins. America’s dimes, quarters, half-dollars were all 90% silver up until 1964 when the silver content became worth more than the face value. Today’s dimes, quarters, and half-dollars are nickel plating – done on purpose to resemble silver – sandwiched over a cheap copper core.
While the WSJ hems and haws between substituting wood, plastic, aluminum or zinc in the coins, one of the issues with “toy money” or devaluing the coin currency is that it could cause a psychological trigger as citizens realize Congress and the printing operators at the Federal Reserve intends to pursue its permanent monetary policy of inflation, which is a hidden, insidious tax on all Americans who hold dollars. Read More »
HR 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009, passed the House last week by a vote of 223-169. If the bill passes the Senate and is signed by the President, this will authorize a two-stage public vote on the future political status of Puerto Rico (application to Congress for statehood, independence, or continue current status as a territory). As your future Congressman, I will do my best to provide my views to you on how and why I would have voted on all House floor bills, which is more accountable than the incumbent in most cases who has no intention of following the Our Open Office plan I have proposed. As always, feel free to leave your comments below. (Here is a video of my comments.)
As with most congressional decisions these days, this decision is not only somewhat hasty and not transparent to the public, but irresponsible as the most critical decisions that need to be made involve massive cuts to federal spending, a withdrawal of overseas military personnel, and a new strategy to address suicide terrorism. America must act now to avoid a currency crisis and to avoid the upcoming chaos to government-sponsored safety nets of Medicare and Social Security.
Regardless of the results of any vote in Puerto Rico, Congress must vote to approve statehood per the Constitution. However, there is a list of questions and comments that I take issue with. Read More »
“She was so old that she dried up quickly in the sun… But the silvershoes are yours, and you shall have them to wear.” – the Witch of the North, from Frank Baum’s 1900 “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (p. 6/72)
Well, Technicolor changed the unforgettable color of Dorothy’s shoes from silver to ruby red, but Baum’s work had multiple interpretations, including an allegory for sound money. The silver shoes danced on the “yellow brick road” made of solid gold to the Emerald City of Oz, where everything seen was faked through green classes (the greenback or dollar) run by the little man behind the screen (the FED/Congress).
After watching the Chinese develop a voracious appetite for gold and silver over the last year before I left China to return home and run for U.S. Congress, one of the strange things I noticed after returning stateside was the non-stop newspaper and TV ads for unwitting citizens to bring in their gold and be paid a fraction of their worth. It was so bad that even The Onion picked up and satirized the whole event, suggesting the US government could pay off the national debt by selling our gold for irredeemable dollars. Read More »
Liberty Maven
During the past 6 years, the number of service members killed in Afghanistan has risen from 160 to 1,311.
America’s monetary situation is becoming fairly ridiculous. This Monday, the Wall Street Journal carried “
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