Liberty Maven

Quote of the Day: “In seeking the needle of terrorism, we have built the biggest haystack in history.” – Zachary Katznelson

Ten years ago this month, Congress passed the so-called Patriot Act without taking the time to read or debate it. It was signed into law on October 26, 2001. This tenth anniversary is the perfect time to call for its repeal.

That’s why I wrote the following letter. We encourage you to write a letter of your own, or copy or borrow from this…

The Patriot Act should never have been passed. Ten years later, it should be repealed for at least four reasons…

First, the Patriot Act attacks the First Amendment…

* Americans can be investigated for what they read and write, and what websites they’ve visited
* The Feds can “gag” my bank, my librarian, and my Internet Service Provider, preventing them from telling me if I’m under investigation

Second, it undermines the Fourth Amendment… Read More »

Quote of the Day: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” – The Book of Revelation 13:17

The House is considering H.R.2885, the “Legal Workforce Act.” This bill MANDATES that ALL employers use the “E-Verify” employment verification system. We strongly oppose this bill. It is REAL ID on steroids.

Many reading this have spent years fighting successfully against REAL ID. It seems a shame to lose the battle now simply because the politicians have finally found something — immigration — that scares enough people to make us submit.

We understand that some people who say they want to shrink the federal state just as much as we do, still support E-Verify. They claim this new dictate is needed to combat illegal immigration. We seem to be “heretics” in this case because we believe… Read More »

Stung by bad publicity, the TSA is making “reforms.” One of them is to give frequent fliers a “choice”: give up even MORE of your privacy for greater convenience!

Isn’t this just more evidence that the TSA should be ABOLISHED, instead of reformed?

I wrote a letter telling Congress to do just that, and I invite you to do the same.

You may borrow from or copy this letter… Read More »

Quote of the Day: “It was bad enough when the TSA agents would go through your underwear in your luggage. Now they’re going through your underwear while you’re wearing it.” –Jay Leno

The Texas House unanimously passed a bill holding Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agents accountable for touching people’s private parts without probable cause. In response, the Department of Justice threatened to ground flights in Texas. DoJ’s threat caused the bill to die in the Texas Senate.

It’s possible the bill will be revived in a special legislative session. While we support the purposes of this bill, we believe the best solution is for Congress to just get rid of the TSA altogether.

That’s why I sent the following letter to my Representative and Senators. We encourage you to send a letter as well, and you may borrow from or copy this . . . Read More »

Quote of the Day: “The problem isn’t the abuse of power, it’s the power to abuse.” — Michael Cloud

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging people to call the White House TODAY, and urge President Obama to veto any Patriot Act renewal that doesn’t contain civil liberties protections.

We agree. This is a good opportunity to remind the President that he promised to reform the Patriot Act when he was a candidate.

You can learn more at the EFF website, and we borrow some language from here in our letter below.

But we need to maintain our pressure on Congress too . . .

* Tell Congress you want them to REPEAL the Patriot Act outright
* Any renewal must contain the strongest possible civil liberties provisions

Please tell Congress what you want.

The hardwired message says, “Repeal the Patriot Act. Do NOT renew any of its provisions.”

You may borrow from or copy these additional comments . . . Read More »

DownsizeDC.org was the first organization to protest the REAL ID Act, six years ago.

Thankfully, countless other groups took up the charge, and secured nullification in 24 state legislatures.

Because of all that pressure, the Dept. of Homeland Security is once again extending the deadline for states to implement REAL ID.

Let’s build on the momentum. Tell Congress to kill REAL ID.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .   Read More »

I expect that a hundred years from now, everyone will be using a computer. Things such as pen and paper, typewriters and even some of the earliest computer models will be in thousands of museums across the globe waiting to be viewed by eye-wide children, untrusting skeptics and “serious” professionals. Even in 2011, I was surprised, flabbergasted and enticed after learning about a recent professor. What makes him such an enigma? He doesn’t use a computer.

The computer and by extension, the internet, has played an intricate role in expanding liberty. Wikipedia, founded by an Objectivist, has put the life of many influential libertarians from Lao-tzu to Ludwig Von Mises as well as their life’s work on an easy to read internet encyclopedia. The Cato Institute informs followers of their crusades over social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. During the 2008 Presidential Election, Representative Ron Paul made headlines for his record-breaking money bombs, millions of dollars raised by individuals over the internet. These “series of tubes” have blessed our movement immeasurably. But with every blessing, there is a curse and this curse often takes the form of internet search forums including Spokeo.com.

Read More »

Quote of the Day: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” – Fourth Amendment to the Constitution

Forty-five days after 9/11, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act without reading it. This new law was supposed to protect you from terrorism, but it has really left you unprotected against lawless federal agents.

The Patriot Act contains numerous violations of the Fourth Amendment. It gives federal agents vast new powers that have been abused to investigate innocent Americans.

In 2001 and 2006 concerned members of Congress urged expiration dates on some of the Patriot Act’s most controversial powers. Regrettably, Congress has constantly renewed those powers, despite a multitude of FBI abuses. Last year, the extension was passed with just a voice vote!

Now, another expiration is at hand — February 28, 2011. Unfortunately, Rep. Mike Rogers, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has introduced H.R. 67 to renew the provisions for another year.

Read More »

The Internet managed to revolutionize our lives without the involvement of busy-body politicians. Instead, the Internet is entirely regulated by non-State institutions, incentives, and rules. These free market forms of regulation actually work, unlike most State regulations. The politicians find this hard to tolerate, so they’re constantly looking for excuses to meddle.

That’s why DownsizeDC.org is introducing our Hands Off the Internet campaign.

If you like what the free market version of the Internet has done for you, then please take action to protect it from interference by The State.

In the coming weeks and months we’ll use this campaign to address specific issues. But Congress should also be told right now where you stand on the issue as a whole. That’s why we’re asking you to send a letter to your Representative and your two Senators telling them that you value Internet freedom.

The hard-wired letter says . . .

Please oppose any attempts to undermine Internet freedom.

You may borrow from or copy these additional remarks, or write something of your own . . . Read More »

“Repeal the Real ID Act” is DownsizeDC.org’s oldest active campaign.

That’s because REAL ID – which is a de facto national ID card – lays the foundation for a future police state.

That’s why so many people have fought against it so hard for so long. And thanks to that resistence REAL ID still hasn’t been implimented, six years after it became law! A big part of this is because of your pressure.

And now there’s more good news . . .

There’s a silver lining in the monstrous, 1,926-page appropriations bill (H.R. 3082). This bill rescinds funding for a REAL ID “hub.” The House already passed the bill, and the Senate will consider it as soon as TODAY.

This hub would have created a centralized ID verification system, where states share driver information with each other. Without this hub, REAL ID suffers a fatal blow.

That’s why we’re asking you to tell Congress to support this cut in REAL ID’s budget, and to repeal REAL ID altogether.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . . Read More »