Posted by rcadby on 03/23/09
Last updated 03/24/09

We're on a roll at the top of a hill which can only accelerate. How fast depends on the slope which we can control.

The CFL is a well put together platform that is up to us to use as best we can.

In the Knoxville area (Oak Ridge), there's a really great group called the Tennessee Liberty Alliance (http://TNLiberty.org/). Their events have been a huge success. Get in touch.

Also, a great Ron Paul spin-off for college agers is the Young Americans for Liberty (http://wwwYALiberty.org/). They have grown to over 125 chapters in just the last few months with a few in the southern TN Valley. It would be great to get Maryville and Knoxville cookin' (Help?).

Chattanooga is a hot-bed of activity for CFL and the newly formed Republican Liberty Caucus of TN (RLCTN.org), but we need to expand northward, especially in Knoxville.

A brand new web site calendar for event notices (http://www.Gather4Liberty.com/) needs administrators (Help?). It's for all liberty-like-minded groups. (Contact me).

Posted by rcadby on 01/10/09

Example: Drivers License, a right or a privilege?

I was amazed to see the 'latest' definitions of "privilege" found at

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=privilege

which seemed to indicate that current use of the term includes "immunity" for government officials. I was shocked, actually. Check it out.

You see, I'm a septuagenarian and grew up in a world much different than today's. I basically was allowed, through lucky circumstance, to be independent and responsible for myself. So, I get pretty rebellious when 'authority' intrudes into my everyday life to protect me from myself. In my view, it is a poison that permeates my peace of mind. I mean, why can't I drive down the road without constantly looking out for cops in the bushes?

I've picked the drivers license example for this blog because it is almost the perfect item to talk about how much tolerance we should have of governance over our daily lives. It may sound simplistic and overreacting, but driving is much like riding a bike and, once you've learned how, you certainly don't need a 'guardian' for the rest of your life to keep you safe while riding.

Also, a drivers license is considered by most States a "privilege" granted by law and used as a requirement to control way too many other activities gravitating now toward a National ID......which is a much more far reaching and serious extension of "privilege" encroaching on civil liberties.

So, here's my simplistic approach on the drivers license:

1) Anyone who wants to drive should be able to do so without a State granted privilege.

2) Instead of a huge database that includes all drivers there could be a database that only includes those who are prohibited or are suspended for 'cause' due to endangerment/damage/injury affecting another's person or property. This list should be tiny by comparison, accessible only to local law enforcement and properly purged.

Too simple? Too many what ifs? This will result in increased accidents/injuries? I don't think so any more than I think more guns will kill/injure more people.

My Dad taught me defensive driving. I've driven for over 6 decades with zero accidents. Exceptional? Not necessarily. Part of the point of this argument is that we have become so dependent upon signs, signals and 'authority' that, and there are statistics to back this up, many of these controls contribute to insufficient attention resulting in 'the other guy did it' or our own irresponsible action.

I would even go further (to the extreme) to say that signs/signals are there to 'advise/caution', not as prevention or protection. Imagine, through the proper attitude and education, that we all took responsibility for ourselves looking out for other careless folk. All sorts of stress reduction would occur...less injuries, less hassle with the 'law' and certainly more peace of mind.

My bottom line question for this issue is: Do we really need every behavioural aspect of our lives to become a government granted privilege?

Posted 01/10/09 Dr Drumright Kansas City, MO

I have thought about this topic a lot. You would need to eliminate the safety net of insurance and radically reduce liability laws to get back to personal responsibility on the roads. Insurance is a for profit industry that encourages irresponsible behavior on the roads and in our daily lives.

Posted 01/12/09 sweetliberty San Rafael, CA

Insurance is not a safety net, it's a scam.

Posted 01/13/09 rcadby Etowah, TN

I agree with both Dr Drumright & SweetLiberty. Insurance is yet another pay to play scam between companies and government that require it by law. At one time, the State of FL allowed drivers to self insure (run bare) or put up a bond. That wasn't good enough for the insurance companies' bottom lines, so it was disallowed. And, unless insurance companies go along with expensive regulatory requirements, mostly designed by them, and controlled by State insurance Czars, they can't sell in the respective States. So, we end up, because of government 'safety nets', with the most expensive and least affordable policies and certainly not a free competitive market.

Posted by rcadby on 10/29/09
Last updated 10/29/09

I just sent the following to the TN GOP State and Davidson County Executive Committees:

IMHO, y'all are not listening. Let's start with a little background.

The Republican Party has lost its way. They have strayed a long way to the left. Many within the party don't even understand that our form of government is a republic and not a democracy for the re-distribution of wealth. And, quite a large percentage are not honouring their oaths to the Constitution.

Both parties have gone down the road of "go along to get along" and far too many have allowed themselves to become corrupted by the pressures from the lobbies the entrenched powerful beauracracies.

Add to all of the above the unwise dependencies upon grants, entitlements and now give-away bailouts and the people who are paying attention, as well as the taxes, have a bleak future of debt and are getting pretty upset, for good reasons don't you think?

When you hear from people like Matt Collins who speaks out 'against the grain' it is someone who is reflecting the views of a growing number of folk who simply want compliance with the supreme law of the land, i.e. the Constitution. Y'all aren't doing anyone any favours, especially the GOP, by retaliating with punitive actions in order to stifle changes to the system which is quite a bit responsible for the mess we're in.

If you've read this far without beating your spouse or kicking your dog, please think about thickening your skin a bit and trying to listen to the message without killing the messenger(s).

Bottom line: 50 + 3% bought into some really bad "changes" that may very well destroy our country. At present,the only 'hope' is in changing the GOP back to being Republican. I hope you agree.

If you add yourself to http://BizCardClub.com/ you can selectively email GOP Executive Committee members singly or in groups (you must log in for group email creation). I've added the State and Davidson County EC contact data to the BizCardClub site with their State Group Key = tngopec and Davidson County Group Key = tngopdav

Let's let them know how we want the GOP to act "Republican". Matt, the Davidson CFL Coordinator, is taking the heat for the cause of Liberty. Let's back him up.

.....Ron

Posted by rcadby on 10/23/09

We had the honor of witnessing a true patriot, Sheriff Mack, in Knoxville hosted by East TN Research Institute. Click his pic to visit his web site. Also, please take the time and invest a little for getting a copy of his book to your local sheriff.

While your at it , pay your local sheriff's office a visit and see if he takes his oath of office seriously.

Impress upon your sheriff how we depend on his office to have the final authority to trump Federal abuses of power like home invasion, forfeitures, etc. without due process.

Yes, he has that power.

Posted 10/23/09 mybug67 Huntington Beach, CA

I saw sheriff Mack 2 months ago, go see him talk. He will open your eyes of what the sheriff can say to the FEDS!!! Just go and see for yourself.

Posted 10/23/09 Debbie Granite Falls, NC

Hi Ronald, I saw Sheriff Mack at ETSU in Johnson City, TN last week. I encourage everyone to read his book and please make sure your local sheriff gets a copy of "The County Sheriff - America's Last Hope" . Is your sheriff a constitutional sheriff? http://www.sheriffmack.com/ 1-911 the sheriff project

Posted by rcadby on 05/17/09

All of 20 showed up at the McMinn County Wamp for Governor stump including himself, 3 minions and fawning Repbulican Party officials (at least 3). The bowing and scraping was a bit nauseating......:=). It amazes me how much 'rock star' status counts. That left only 3 (including me) who asked pertinent questions.

As an aside, Wamp is a people-savvy campaigner who quickly sized me up putting the vocal label on me as the 'libertarian fellow'... not far from the mark... after my pointing out the positive side of Republicans losing their way straying from the Constitution would to encourage replacemnt of incumbents.

Anywho, I tried pinning him down re State sovereignty, but alas he foiled the attempt by ridiculing the Texas Governor's threat to cecede from the union drawing chuckles from his admirers. I couldn't pin him down re REAL ID nor opposing being GPS'd by the census bureau by chasing them off. He took that opportunity to express his belief that the State should require specific ID to keep illegal aliens out of TN, a strongly perceived and politically exploited threat, avoiding any comment on the onerous NAIS threat to our farmers, but sympathizing with me re those 'taking pictures' on my property.

He's still 'hunting' and pecking for issues that will garner the most support and, at this meeting, he floated the ideas of more prisons and getting kids to be able to read by 3rd grade.

Wamp's justification for more prisons came from a Memphis statistic that they had 140 people who had been arrested 100 times still walking the streets, never mind the fact that the US has more inmates per capita than any other country in the world and nearly half of them are there for drugs that 'harmed' only themselves (I didn't broach that 'libertarian' subject).

An amusing response came from one of Wamp's campaign 'associates' when asked what he thought about Rand. "Rand?"....Rand Paul..."Who's that?"...talk about wearing blinders.....