Mr. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. US House of Representatives State: GA District: 2nd Party: Democrat

2429 RHOB Washington, DC 20515-1002 DC Phone: 202-225-3631 DC Fax: 202-225-2203 [Website] [Contact]

Senators:

Mr. Saxby Chambliss US Senate State: GA Party: Republican

416 RSOB Washington, DC 20515-1 DC Phone: 202-224-3521 DC Fax: 202-224-0103 [Website] [Contact]

Mr. Johnny Isakson US Senate State: GA Party: Republican

120 RSOB Washington, DC 20515-2 DC Phone: 202-224-3643 DC Fax: 202-228-0724 [Website] [Contact]

 
Posted by EternalVigilance on 01/19/10

C4L Regional Conference was a place for discussions, questions, and speeches about the "idea" of freedom, which brought us all together. It also included opportunities to share our reasons for being personally enamoured with that idea, and how we each choose to express that love of freedom in our own lives.

In other words we all attracted to the "what", and find unity and action in the "what",  but unfortunately for some, they felt uneasy, angry or suspicious about the "why".

You see, asking "why", or considering "why" presumes a purpose. A purpose presumes the existence of axioms that set your goals, govern your behavior, and allow for self evaluation that attempt to explain the "why".

But where we could feel the emotions in the pit of our stomachs churning during each discussion, question, or speech was about the personal statements about the origin and location of those axioms: Generally speaking, either coming from inside a personal "you", or coming from outside from a personal "God".

Turns out that the conference should have had been subtitled "A Conference About What Freedom Is, Which Makes Us Happy, But Not a Conference for Why Freedom Is, Because That Will Makes Us Mad."

Freedom, like a bright light bulb illuminating a porch on a summer evening, will attract a variety of insects to it.

From our perspective as human observers we can use this metaphor to conclude that, without ever having met each other previously, it's obvious these insects have all reached the same conclusion that the light on that porch is something they absolutely must reach.

They may not understand, or even need to understand that it's just a lightbulb, and not the natural light shining from the canopy of heaven, be it the stars above, the sun, or the moon.

Nor that it wasn't put there to attract them specifically, by name or by personality type, but to attract all those seeking (back again to our perspective as observers) freedom, which is our light.

Why you believe in freedom, and what you intend to do with it, is the equivalent of realizing at this conference that identical moths (just like you) have not congregated around the light bulb, but that other species of moths are there with you (not quite like you).

And because some say things during discussions, questions and speeches (from your personal perspective) that remind you of blood sucking mosquitoes, around your light bulb, this "why" thing is really chapping your hide.

And so, I say, you might as well reach inside the house and turn off the porch light, because if you (of all people to do it!) are going to ignore what unifies you, what brought you together, what strengthens you, and what is going to make you work together to light the world, as you all flutter around your this idea, your this freedom, and your this light, because you don't like someone else's "why", then I'm sorry to say, you have no idea, no clue whatsoever, how to free anyone, much less yourself.

Millions of different "whys" around your light bulb - how dare they. Just toss the miracle of all of you showing up in the same place out the window because you were offended. That doesn't sound very mature, or very smart.

Could this be why children throwing tantrums, or juveniles posturing could be interpreted as potential adults who have yet to learn that true freedom begins with the constructive excercise of self control, the discipline of self knowledge, and the benefit of thinking critically?

One does not need the tyranny of a despot outside of you depriving you of freedom, if there is already a tyrant within you depriving you of its understanding and it's fruits.

The enemies of freedom are aware of this tyrant within. That incapacity, which outlines the gaps in your understanding, to introduce division. And when you don't think they are doing it to you from the outside, you are doing it to yourself to the detriment of all from within yourself.

Is it therefore possible to arrive at the same mature and informed conclusion that human freedom is self evident, whether one obtains the germ of that idea and forms that conviction from one's own reason, or from a "God"?

If you answer yes, then there is hope that you will not ignore or switch off the light that attracted us all to the fun, exciting porch that was the Sheraton, Atlanta. You have arrived at a place in your heart and mind where it finally hits you that it doesn't matter which seed plants the tree of freedom in someone else.

As long as the fruit it bears does not lead to freedom for it's own sake, as a child in rebellion pursues, but to freedom that perpetuates the self-evident miracle of life (which is one and the same as freedom), it doesn't matter if your neighbor sees the fingerprints of God on the fruit, or if you see your own.*

My perspective, and I think I'm permitted to express it here, is that they are one and the same. The latter being the image of the former.

If you should answer no, then write me, because keeping you is more important than losing you.

*This outlines the "how".

 
Posted by treylaramore on 11/11/09

I got an email today - I'll let you read it for yourself.

The best part is not only are you invited, but they encourage you to bring signs!!! (and they don't require the signs to agree with public health care *hint hint*)

I'm pretty sure you know what to do next...

You are invited to attend a celebration and thank you with Congressman Bishop. He will hold a rally at each of his offices to celebrate the passing of the House bill for Health Care (H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Health Care for America Act.").

Please contact friends, supporters, organize caravans -bring ballons, cards, signs and people to celebrate health care and the public option!

Albany- Tuesday: 4:45 P

ALBANY OFFICE
235 Roosevelt Avenue Albany Towers, Suite 114 Albany GA 31701
Phone: (229) 439-8067 Fax: (229) 436-2099

Columbus- Thursday: 4:45 P

COLUMBUS OFFICE
18 Ninth Street, Suite 201 Columbus, GA 31901
Phone: (706) 320-9477 Fax: (706) 320-9479

Thomasville- Friday: 4:45 P

THOMASVILLE OFFICE
137 East Jackson Street, Thomasville, GA 31792
Phone: (229) 226-7789 Fax: (229) 226-7860

 
Posted by Heather D on 11/10/09

Over the weekend we witnessed the continued assault on our Constitution, and liberty in general, when the Democrat majority in the House rallied their troops, twisted (or nearly broke) some arms and passed "The Affordable Health Care for America Act". If you are anything like me, you sat glued to your television set, intently watching C-Span, knowing in the pit of your stomach that Speaker Pelosi would never have brought the bill to the floor if she did not have the votes to pass it.

Some in this country want to believe that the assault on our rights will be stopped simply by replacing the Democratic majority with Republicans. These well-meaning Americans do not understand that establishment Republicans of today are merely Democrat-lite. They preach limited government out of one side of their mouth, yet vote for bigger government and less freedom, seeking more power for themselves and satisfying their most generous donors, dismantling the Constitution in the same manner as the Democrats that they claim to stand in opposition to.

One shining example of this is Senator Lindsey Graham, who has launched a very public war against Ron Paul, Ron Paul Republicans, and in reality, any Republican who supports the Republican platform, rather than paying lip service to it. Senator Graham recently teamed up with Senator John Kerry in an Op-Ed proclaiming the need for cap and trade policies, despite the fact that the bill would serve no real purpose other than to transfer wealth to a few and further destroy an economy that is already imploding. After a public outcry over this, it remains unclear where Senator Graham stands on this dastardly bill, but you can be certain that the danger of this legislation becoming law is still very real.

Taking this example (which is just one of many) into account, what are liberty-loving Americans who bleed red, white and blue supposed to do?

Believe it or not, the assault on our liberties did not begin 9 years ago with George W. Bush as president. It did not begin under Bill Clinton, John Kennedy or even Woodrow Wilson. Indeed, our very first president presided over the country when the first assault occurred when he signed the "Whiskey Tax" into law. Then Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, justified the tax "more as a measure of social discipline than as a source of revenue". In other words, this was a SIN tax, meant to punish those who participated in activities that some felt were socially unacceptable. This sin-tax rightly infuriated American citizens, having just lost blood and treasure fighting to be a free people, and they revolted in what is known as "The Whiskey Rebellion".

While it is disheartening to know that it took such a short time for the trampling of our rights to begin, the "Whiskey Tax" served to put the people on notice; when Ben Franklin warned that we had "a Republic if (we could) keep it", he truly meant that as a people, we had to be ever vigilant about guarding our rights.

Much time has passed since the first attacks on our rights were launched, and the passage of time has not been a friend to liberty. The further we got from our founding, the less involved the people became, until many readily and eagerly accepted the loss of freedoms as being a necessary evil. In fact, many do not recognize what is happening today as being a loss of freedoms at all; rather, they believe that they are powerless to "do" for themselves and could not survive without the benevolent hand of government to intervene on their behalf.

The loss of liberty at the hand of a power-hungry government is not new, but the reawakening of the American public is something that has not happened to the degree that it is today in a VERY long time. The key to winning any war is to go into every battle well-armed, and make no mistake, we are truly involved in a war for the hearts and minds of our countrymen, and for the survival of our Republic. We must understand that it has taken over 200 years for us to get to the point we have arrived at today, and the damage is not going to be undone overnight. There will be battles won and battles lost, bad bills passed and the wrong people elected to office along the way. While these losses cause pain to those of us who are dedicated to bringing our country back to it's Constitutional roots, we can not let the losses demoralize or stop us.

This war has many fronts; neglecting even one of them not only makes our jobs harder, it makes winning nearly impossible. Petitioning our elected officials on legislation is one important function that we must not neglect, but that act alone will not advance the cause of freedom. We must educate ourselves and our neighbors about the Constitution and demonstrate to them how a particular bill is in violation of the law of the land, and at the same time, we must offer them solid solutions to the problems we face.

We cannot focus on federal issues and candidates to the exclusion of state and local issues and candidates. Remember, "all politics is local" and it does no good to attempt to reform a federal government run amok while ignoring the bodies closer to home that have been infected by the same disease.

We must stop "fighting City Hall" and focus on BECOMING City Hall. In many cases, changing out the "cast of characters" is our only real option, and while running for office may not be glamorous, or anything (you) may have desired to do in the past, we ignore this important "front" at our own peril. Our Founders envisioned a citizenry that would keep our elected officials honest and compliant with the Constitution by voting the bad eggs out of office, and at this point in time, there are far more bad eggs running than good ones. To ignore the need for liberty candidates at all levels of government guarantees that those seats will be filled by the same old tax-and-spend lawless breed that has infected our country and brought us to the point we find ourselves at today.

We must be more visible than our adversaries. The Tea Parties and Town Halls are a great start, but we can't stop there. We must attend City Council and County Board meetings, sit in the audience during legislative sessions, and personally visit legislator's offices often; in short, we must be a constant thorn in their sides.

Rather than constantly "chasing the ball" and trying to prevent bad bills from becoming law, we must be a part of lobbying for good bills to become law, allowing us to nullify the attempts of legislators to further erode our freedoms. At the federal level, HR 1207 is a shining example of bills we should fight for, and at the state level, we need to address states rights legislation that will nullify federal laws that overstep the dictates set on the federal government by the Constitution.

If we are to win elections and possess the ability to influence our neighbors, we have no choice but to get involved in local politics. Whether you choose to work with the Democrats, Republicans, LP, CP or some other party is entirely up to the individual, but simply showing up at the polls to vote every couple of years limits you to having a vote ONLY on issues or candidates that others have chosen FOR you.

In order to win our freedoms back, we must be committed to leading the way. Ignoring any front in this battle will greatly impair our ability to win. The passage of "health care reform" in the House was disturbing, but the war is not over yet. Recall Samuel Adams famous words, "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

 
Posted by treylaramore on 10/29/09

     Sanford Bishop Jr., the Blue Dog Democrat representative from our very own 2nd Congressional District in Georgia agrees with H.R.1207 and a full Audit of the Federal Reserve.  As the most recent congressman to support H.R.1207 from the state of Georgia, Bishop joins the ranks of the other 11 members of the House of Representatives and Both Senators from the state to call for full transparency in the actions of the Federal Reserve; thereby leaving one lone Democrat, Representative Jim Marshall from Georgia's 8th District, to oppose the legislation.

    Bishop gave his support on October 27th, signaling his agreement with 75% of the American populace as shown in a recent Rasmussen Reports poll. His support is a victory and great step forward for all those C4L members and 2nd District citizens who spent countless hours calling, mailing, faxing his office for support then hand delivering over one thousand signed petitions in person to his several district offices.

     The Campaign For Liberty and the members of Georgia's Second Congressional District should all be very proud of this accomplishment pushed forward by their support and actions.  We need not forget to thank Congressman Bishop for his support. 

     This, however, is just the beginning.  We must not lose focus or drive to perform the actions that are needed from here on out.  We must use this victory to inspire us to keep working towards our goals to spread the message of Liberty and transparency in a constitutional government; in fact, I'm pretty sure one Representative Jim Marshall will be hearing that very message soon enough.  Perhaps, like 75% of Americans, and all his fellow Representatives and Senators from the state, he will agree.  

 
Posted by jannal1 on 07/25/09

This is a great article to read after the house passes of the Cap and Trade bill. Small victories.

http://www.gachamber.com/article-Jul-8-2009-23269-Major-Victory-for-Business-in-CO2-Regulation-Case.html