Find out more about California's government at congress.org State legislature page State Constitution Secretary of State website

Matthew Heath [Message] sebastopol, CA 95472

Welcome to the Bear Republic's Liberty Headquarters.  Our Liberty Movement will focus our political activism primarily on local politics. We will influence state and federal legislation through emails, calls and petitons; but, taking back our local governments is a neccessity for true representation.  This is how we can Save our Republic. 

Local Grassroots Development 

◊  Become a C4L Local Coordinator

          Take ownership of the Campaign for Liberty and its place in politics by paying your annual dues.  Then, become a local coordinator.  This crucial step allows for you to receive grassroots training; which provides an opportunity to understand your local political landscape while teaching you how to win.  This is accessible through the dashboard of all local coordinators. 

◊ Attend Meetings

          Attend local political parties, school boards, water boards, city/town councils, etc... .  Place your meeting's information on your county calendar on this C4L website

◊  Dress for Success

          It never hurts to be the best dressed in the room, but it does to be the worst dressed

◊  Leave wedge issues that will marginlize you at the door    

          Do not discuss social issues that have little or no relevance to governance or local issues

◊  Sit in the back and be quiet

          Act professionally and respectful.  Get to know the room by keeping your mouth closed and listening to everyone else talk.  A wise friend once told me......when you open your mouth and speak, you are giving ammunition to your opponents

◊  Get the local C4L members to attend with you

         Be successful in encouraging C4L members and friends to attend your meeting.  Begin by attending yourself and reporting back to C4L with a blog.  Blogs are read by alot of people and your enouraging words will persuade others to do the same.  Email and call to remind members about meeting time and place

◊  Get to know your local issues 

          Recognize the leaders in the room, and get to know them on a personl level through personal conversation.  Recognize local issues that you have in common, like taxes, property rights, civil liberties, water issues, etc..., and develop alliances with members

◊  Organize political activities around local issues

          Be a leader and organize political activities around these common local issues .  Walk your local streets with informational flyers, about these local issues, have informational booths at farmer's markets.  Report back your succcess to the members of your meetings, write a blog and tell C4L about it. 

          (for political parties:   work for the party, find those issues and candidates that your can agree with and focus your political activities on them.  You will earn the respect and trust of the established local party leadership for your organizing.  Work harder then anyone)

◊  Influence your local governance

         Be your local political activitists for the cause of Liberty.  When there are local issues, be known as the group that is willing to hit the streets and make a real diifference.  When ever there is an issue of importance, let the local establishment  know that there will be local grassroots organizing.  With a few local victories, you will have successfully influenced your local goverance.  With influencing local politics, you have established yourself as a local leader, your neighbors and friends will expect you to have information about local issues.  You will be expected to lead. You are now a political leader.  This is the key

          (for political parties:  when you become the precinct walkers and political activitists of your local party, you will have real influence on party politics.  The local party can only mobilize on issues that are in alignment with you and Liberty)

◊  A true leader makes more leaders

          Encourage others to do the same.  Find the other "go getters" and encourage them to organize in their local districts.  Compare notes with them, on what works and what doesn't work.  Learn from each others misstakes to build and forge stronger relationships

◊  Become a voting member in local governing bodies

          2010 is right around the corner.  Every political party seat in every county in California in June 2010.  Between the June 2010 and November 2010 election, seats on every board and committee will be up for election.   Get our folks on the ballot.  Your local county registrars office has the rules and regulations for candidates and elections.  The first step is to find out what seats are up for election, and find out the requirements for filing papers to get on the ballot.  

 Stay tuned for more information about requirements for election ballots...

A Million Dollars Per Stimulus Job Posted by Anthony Gregory

Posted 10/30/09

According to Reuters, "The Obama White House on Friday said it believed grants and loans from the $787 billion economic stimulus plan approved early this year had saved or created 640,329 jobs so far."

We don't know exactly how this was determined and how accurate it is. But consider that. The U.S. government spends over $700 billion and, even if we take its word at face value, manages to have "saved or created" fewer than 700 thousand jobs. That's more than a million dollars per job. Of course, true growth of the economy, true health in the private sector, would mean the creation of jobs that cause economic growth, and much of these jobs do not represent as much wealth as was poured into them. Real jobs make money. Government-created jobs come at a loss. Otherwise the government wouldn't need to get involved -- if they were profitable jobs, the market would sustain them. Only jobs that don't produce more than they consume have to be sustained through subsidy.

But who couldn't create or save a job for a million dollars? If you gave me $700 billion, I could create 700 thousand jobs, too. I'd just pay people a million dollars each to stay at home. The sad thing is, such a total waste could actually be less destructive to the economy than what our government's doing right now.

Legalization of Marijuana Posted by GeraldClift

Posted 10/18/09 Last updated 10/19/09

There are four initiatives to legalize marijuana in California all of which can be viewed at the Secretary of State's office.  Of these four only two are currently circulating petitions to get on the ballot in November 2010. 

The Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative is funded and circulated by Oaksterdam University and is the only initiative to have significant financial backing; as a result they also significantly lead in gathered signatures with a total of 120,000 out of the 433,971 required. 

The other Initiative circulating is called  the California Cannabis Initiative and is all volunteer without a major financial backer.  They have quoted their signature count at 10,000 through internal emails to volunteers.  Since each initiative is only given 140 days to accumulate the 433,971 needed signatures, at their current rate of signature gathering, the California Cannabis Initiative will not be able to qualify (they have been circulating longer than the Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative).

Ultimately I made my decision on the viability of Tax Cannabis 2010 (it's large volunteer support base through Oaksterdam alumni, financial backing, and impressive signature count that will make them qualify for the ballot well before they need to).  However there are certainly key differences in the two measures that others may wish to take into account.

Tax Cannabis 2010 is certainly a more conservative version of marijuana legalization which they claim is necessary to appeal to a broader voter base.  Tax Cannabis 2010 allows each person to possess only one ounce while the California Cannabis Initiative repeals all possession laws.  Being a defender of liberty, I certainly agree that we should repeal all possession laws regarding cannabis but the LAO (Legislative Analysts Office) has already voiced a potential constitutional challenge to vaguely removing all possession laws.  "That is because the measure in some cases makes general references to the other laws that are to be changed, rather than directly amending or striking out the specific existing laws relating to marijuana" while the Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative has received no potential constitutional challenges in the LAO's analysis.  Furthermore Tax Cannabis 2010 would argue that more moderate voters may vote against the measure without these restrictions on what a person can posses (a limit which many counties may likely increase on a county by county basis anyway).

Another key difference is that, while each measure legalizes statewide possession and growing, the Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative allows local governments to set up their own system of taxation and stores (should they wish to have marijuana stores) and the California Cannabis Initiative creates statewide regulations for stores and taxation of marijuana.  In that I personally believe local control on most issues is best (except those guaranteed by our Constitution such as the right to bear arms), I prefer the Tax Cannabis 2010 measure in this area; with competition of marijuana regulatory policies between various counties, I believe we can see much better systems at a small level than a statewide system made by the legislature could ever do with a "one size fits all approach."

Ultimately the one area where California Cannabis Initiative stands out is that it releases all current marijuana offenders in California's prisons and expunges marijuana criminal records.  The Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative made a very calculated decision after polling that they would ultimately receive much more opposition from the Prison Guard's Union (California's most powerful political organization) if they included removal of existing criminal records and release of marijuana offenders. It is an unfortunate political reality but some members of the legislature have hinted they will have a follow up bill in the legislature to help address this and other issues created by the legalization bill (similar to how the legislature passed SB 420 to clarify parts of Proposition 215 that weren't covered when California legalized medical marijuana).

I originally was a volunteer for the California Cannabis Initiative but after seeing both initiatives in action in their first month of operation, it is my recommendation that you support Oaksterdam's Tax Cannabis 2010 Initiative.  It has the money, the volunteer base, a healthy rate of signature accumulation, no constitutional challenges by the LAO, and gives more power to local governments on the marijuana issue.  They need volunteers now to help save money for the statewide ad campaign in the coming months.  To sign up to volunteer click here or the image below.

Ron Paul is the new face of leadership for this system Posted by dsmithey

Posted 10/14/09

My comments today are made in favor of a great nation; America is a country with a great Constitution. Every major issue of substance and controversy today is peripheral to the United States Constitution and its attendant bill of rights.

Our future is steeped in our heritage; the problems that challenge us now can be solved by learning from our past. This present generation must become the architects of a new world system, one that supports a sustainable political environment within the framework of the Constitution. I believe Ron Paul is the new face of leadership for this system; he holds the blueprint for reengineering the Republican Party within this context. It will look very much like the old Party we once knew.

California The Brown Act - Government Code Section 54950-54963 Posted by JahRed

Posted 10/09/09

This is the law that requires public access to meeting and requires the elected officials to let the public speak.

54950 In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.

The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.

We the People of California have not given up our Sovereignty to our Public Servants..

Use the Brown Act to get information from the Public Servants within California...

For a copy of these sections of the California Government Code click here

The Dollar Crisis Continued Posted by johndennis

Posted 10/06/09

(Shipbuilder )Thomas Andrews: The pumps will buy you time, but minutes only. From this moment on, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder.
Captain Ismay: But this ship can't sink!
Thomas Andrews: She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she *will*. It is a mathematical certainty. (Emphasis added) From Titanic (1997)

Recently, people have asked what exactly is the "threat to the American experiment in liberty." There are many of course. The attacks on our liberties range from health care (HR 3200) to civil liberties violations (loss of habeas corpus) to personal privacy (warrantless wiretaps) to forced labor (income tax). But the most serious threat to the national experiment in liberty known as America is the continuing destruction of the dollar.

As I posted on my Campaign for Liberty blog in March of this year, the dollar will weaken and, if we let the Federal government continue its policies, ultimately collapse. The levels of debt carried by the U.S. can never be paid back. And the Federal government's foreign creditors, whose savings are needed to sustain the lifestyle to which it has become accustomed, know it.

Continue...