Welcome to the Idaho Campaign for Liberty website.
The Campaign for Liberty mission is "To promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity."
This month, on Saturday, March 27th, Ron Paul will be coming to Idaho!!
Join us for any or all of the following events:
Campaign for Liberty events are being planned throughout the day.
12:30 - 4:30 PM - C4L State Conference
How to win your campaign for PC
How to build your local organization
Breakout session by region
Statewide and congressional candidate speakers
Legislative panel discussion on state sovereignty and sound money featuring 8-10 legislators
5:00 - 6:30 PM - Private Reception with Ron Paul honoring Ralph Smeed
The Campaign For Liberty, Idaho Freedom Foundation and Idaho Rights Foundation invite you to a private reception that will provide the opportunity for personal question and answer time with Representative Ron Paul. Buy tickets.
During dinner Ron Paul will present the Idaho Freedom Foundation's Friend of Freedom Lifetime Achievement Award to a great defender of liberty and Idaho's favorite curmudgeon, Ralph Smeed, for his relentless fight against statism and his tireless quest for market solutions.
Tickets for this special event are only $100. The first 60 also get a VIP Ticket to attend An Evening With Ron Paul at the Morrison Center at 7:00 PM! Buy tickets.
7:00 PM - An Evening with Ron Paul at The Morrison Center
After Party - "Rally for the Republic Revisited" at the Main Street Bistro - 609 West Main Street in Boise Anyone and everyone who would like to mingle, meet and re-connect with fellow Patriots is encouraged to meet at Main Street Bistro after Dr. Paul's presentation until ??? (2:00 am closing)
Please help promote this fabulous opportunity with everyone who needs to learn more about Liberty! Just post and pass along the following links:
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for never voting for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.
Campaign for Liberty events are being planned throughout the day.
12:30 - 4:30 PM - C4L State Conference
How to win your campaign for PC
How to build your local organization
Breakout session by region
Statewide and congressional candidate speakers
Legislative panel discussion on state sovereignty and sound money featuring 8-10 legislators
5:00 - 6:30 PM - Private Reception with Ron Paul honoring Ralph Smeed
The Campaign For Liberty, Idaho Freedom Foundation and Idaho Rights Foundation invite you to a private reception that will provide the opportunity for personal question and answer time with Representative Ron Paul. Buy tickets.
During dinner Ron Paul will present the Idaho Freedom Foundation's Friend of Freedom Lifetime Achievement Award to a great defender of liberty and Idaho's favorite curmudgeon, Ralph Smeed, for his relentless fight against statism and his tireless quest for market solutions.
Tickets for this special event are only $100. The first 60 also get a VIP Ticket to attend An Evening With Ron Paul at the Morrison Center at 7:00 PM! Buy tickets.
7:00 PM - An Evening with Ron Paul at The Morrison Center
The Idaho Constitutional Tender Act is in the American tradition of checks, balances, separation of powers, free markets, individual freedom, transparency, and limited government. However, it is not in our tradition to concentrate power in a cartel controlled by a few individuals. This is especially true with money. The Federal Reserve System (Fed) is a price-fixing banking/government cartel, shrouded in secrecy. The Fed fixes the price (interest rates) of our money at any level they choose. Cartels and price-fixing are outlawed in all other industries. Yet, the Fed is authorized (and encouraged by their apologists in business and government) to issue money at highly discriminatory interest rates to non-bankers outside the cartel. Price fixing distorts the marketplace and diminishes competition.
Cozy Relationships and Systemic Temptations
The relationship among politicians, regulators, and bankers (and the corporations that grow up around them) is too cozy and self-serving. Unrestrained centralized control of money supply, federal or state, will eventually corrupt the issuer. As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The systemic temptation to print money out of thin air is too much for anyone or any small group to consistently administer without corruption seeping into the process. The American people are left to pay for all lapses in judgment, miscalculations and malinvestments, as witnessed by the recent bailouts. Foreign banks were bailed out for reasons the Fed refuses to divulge, even to members of Congress. Is the Fed helping the Greece bailout? Congress, the Fed's so-called regulator, can't find out.
Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, addressed this systemic problem on March 6, 2010:
"The upshot is that the government's promise to represent the public is false. Even if it wanted to, it wouldn't have the information required to do the job. The irony is that in presenting itself as the guardian against "systemic risk," the regulators present the largest systemic risk of all. It's the Federal Reserve after all that brought us the Great Depression and damaging inflationary booms and bust ever since.
So what can we do? A real program aimed at the people's well-being would take decision-making away from the government-banking cartel and put the financial industry into a free and open market, where competition would discipline bankers and decentralize decision- making. No small group would be in a position to make economy wide mistakes and then get bailed out by their friends in high places. Only in the free market is there accountability. Profits would be private, but so would losses."
Unfair Practices and the Hidden Tax
The power to issue unlimited amounts of money out of nothing and charge interest on the balance is patently unfair to the citizens of this country.
Here is another example: unfair taxation. These are actual prices (rounded for simplicity) of a home bought and sold in USDs and the equivalent gold price at the time of the buy or sell
1950 Buy 10,000 USD & nbsp; 285 Gold Ozs.
2010 Sell 318,000 USD & nbsp; 285 Gold Ozs.
& nbsp; 308,000 Taxable Profit 0 Taxable Profit
As you can determine, the capital gains tax is fraudulent because it is based on devalued money, not a tax on real appreciation in home value. If honest money (gold) had been used to buy and sell there would be no capital gains tax.
In addition, the home priced in USDs has an increase in property taxes, not because the property value has gone up, but because the USD value has gone down; whereas, if the home were priced in gold ounces it would never have an increase in property taxes (based on an assessor's valuation in gold) because gold retains its original value over time.
The Idaho Solution: HB 622
By adopting a parallel and voluntary gold and silver money system, Idahoans will have the opportunity to avoid these unfair practices and systemic problems.
The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) has destroyed the value of our currency by continually inflating money supply. The Fed never decreases supply; it only lowers the rate of growth. This steady long-term debasement of our currency is significant; the U.S. Dollar (USD) has declined over 95% in buying power, since the creation of the Fed. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Fed, has no intention of changing this policy. He said he would drop money out of helicopters, if necessary.
Intermediate Booms and Busts
In order to cover their failed monetary policy, the Fed makes gallant and bold attempts to solve immediate "business cycle" problems by printing more or less money. These "learned" manipulations of money supply, not only fail, but they make matters worse. Money supply growth rate manipulations by the Fed are the direct cause of inflations and deflations (booms and busts).
Thomas Jefferson was Right
In 1913, the rationale to establish a central bank was to protect us from these problems. This excuse is no longer remotely believable...the Fed, central banking, fractional reserves, and fiat money have failed. It is time to restore constitutional free market tender to the people of Idaho for lawful and practical reasons. Thomas Jefferson was adamantly opposed to a central bank issuing or controlling money supply, private or government:
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802) 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
Producers Are the Issuers of Money
The Declaration of Independence refers to "...the laws of Nature and of Nature's God..." as the people's entitlement. Constitutional gold and silver tender is money created and supplied by nature and nature's God with unique attributes that make it perfect for use as a medium of exchange. Persons or businesses (miners) take the raw metal from the land, which makes them the "issuer" or "money supplier." Congress has limited powers to coin money, establish value, weight and measure. As Bill Denman, a member of this task force, said, "Coining money is simply a mechanical stamping process, which has absolutely nothing to do with issuing money."
Coinage Act of 1792
Our founding fathers provided the public with a U.S. Mint to assay and coin metals; and then, "...deliver them to the persons to whom the same ought to be paid." These "persons" were the money suppliers, who, upon receipt, spent the newly minted coins into circulation.
Limited Steady Supply
Will the public flood the market with gold and silver? No. Gold and silver have a limited natural supply and high production costs, which is why gold and silver make an excellent currency and store of value, i.e., the metals retain their buying power.
A Natural Balance of Supply and Demand
New discoveries of gold and silver are also in balance with the historic growth rate of the gross national product, which negates the danger of price inflation: too much money chasing too few goods. We cannot print gold and silver. This natural attribute protects the average man from periodic increases and decreases in money supply growth rates by a central bank, which robs him of his savings.
Gold Saved is Gold Earned
This Ben Franklin principle (a penny saved will be rewarded with a penny earned), is vital to our economic and political survival as a free nation. While he was President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Lawrence Roos said that inflation, an increase in money supply, is a hidden tax: "It is a tax that is neither subject to voter approval nor directly associated with voter-approved government spending decisions. Our founding father would have called such arrangement 'taxation without representation' and, indeed, it is truly that. Hidden financing has enabled the government to expand its role substantially without a specific mandate from the electorate."
HB 622 Will Protect the Average Citizen
The average citizen is neither versed in monetary matters nor does he understand how he can protect his savings from Fed changes in M1, M2, and the Monetary Base. The complexities of modern day securities markets are used to enrich members of the banking cartel that are on the front end of Fed largesse. What is left for the individual? HB 622 is our solution.
80% of the actions you take to achieve your values will give you 20% of the effect you where looking for. Yet 20% of the action you take will produce 80% of the effect you where looking for. This is called the 80-20 rule. It can be applied to many aspects of your life. 80% of the actions you take in the day will provide you with 20% of the bread you need to survive tomorrow. 20% percent of the actions you take will provide you with 80% of that bread. 20% of the customers at my work provide the store with 80% of the income, and vice-versa. When looking to achieve a goal it is best to find that 20% of what needs to be done and do it. That 20% will provide you with 80% of your goal. That 20% is known as the Big 20. And its counterpart the small 80. One may spend all day thinking, talking, planning, stocking as to finish some job, but the Big 20, the action needed, actually doing the job has not been started and no effect will be noticed because their has yet to be a cause. The freedom movement has been relentless in its ambition to execute the small 80. We have held protest, written are representatives, voted, talked to our neighbors, yelled at people on the internet, yet for some reason this revolution seems to be stalling. Stalling somewhere around - oh I don't know - 20% effectiveness. The time has come to tackle that Big 20. I'm not just saying that. The time I speak of is next week. The 15th to the 19th. The time has come, literally! Next week is the last week you have to file for Precinct Committeemen. This is the Big 20, but as of now few are stepping up to the plate. You can hold all the protests and make all the signs in the world and it will not make a lick of difference because our enemy holds the party. It will be a long time before we get a chance like this again and I'm afraid this revolution will falter if it sees that all its effort, energy, excitement, and youthfulness had achieved only a measly 20% effect. This E-mail will be going out to many but it is directed at YOU. I'm speaking to you now. You had seen what was wrong with the world. You had been awakened from your sleep to find yourself in an America you did not recognize and a world in which you could no longer permit yourself to ignore. You stood up once, proud of the fact that you where taking on the whole world because you knew that your cause was just, and your actions moral. You had seen a rebirth of the philosophy of Liberty. You did not sacrifice your time or money to campaigns as others did. This was not a sacrifice for you. Liberty had lit a fire under your ass, and you valued the achievement of your newfound goal more then time spent on other things or the money in your pocket. You along with this movement burnt thought the small 80 so fast it looked as if we could not be stopped. But those on top of any industry or nation understand the 80-20 rule and live by it. They direct their attention and energy strictly towards the Big 20. They did not fear us at first because we had seemed to miss it. And many of us had not understood why so much action seemed to stall out - around 20% I'm asking you now, I'm begging you to help us with the last 20%. The Big 20. We cannot quite now when we only have such a little way to go. We have one week to file a person in every precinct for precinct committeemen. This is the Big 20. The people in charge of the Republican party are not those who hold office, or those on the radio. The precinct committeemen rule the party from the bottom up. Such a small amount of effort is required of you for such a large impact on policy. All you have to do is file. It costs no money. Then if you win, And you will, simply show up to a one hour meeting once a month except in November. All you have to do is show up and vote. Don't tell me you don't have time. If you say you have done so much and can't do any more then stop writing letters, stop going to tea party's, stop all of it and make this the one and only thing you do to advance liberty. It will have a greater effect then all the other things you could do combined. You will be confronted at the party meetings. You will have to stand up once again for what you know is right. I'm asking you all to stop hiding behind your computer screens and show up. This is when the tables turn, this is when the game changes, this is what all the effort, energy, and passion that filled your days over the last few years had been leading to. This is the weapon we need to win the war. Electing this movement to represent the base of the GOP is our means of survival, do not abandon it. Its true that we all get worn out once and awhile. Some more then others but that's life. What makes it easer is having allies to come to your aid. Know that you will not be alone in this. You will have friends willing to help you with any question you may have, any worry or concern. Your allies need You now more then ever. Do not leave them to the wolfs. Come to there aid. Its true that you did not ask for this. I did not see my self ever doing anything along these lines but I recognized a threat to my existence and I choose to destroy it. You also at one time recognized that threat. It has not gone away. The monster is still coming and will continue to come whether you choose to recognize it or not. Turning a blind eye to the problem now will not wipe clean that problem. It will wipe you clean when it reaches you. I'm not asking you to act against your best judgment but only to see clearly that your best judgment would not let you abandon this cause. If simply ignoring the problem in government or anything for that matter was a solution then we would be problem free and the generation of the 60s would be known as the worlds greatest to live. No, You cannot have your cake and eat it too. The absence of action, cause, participation will no more create effect then the printing of money will create wealth.
Now is the time. Do not abandon your means of survival. Do no leave your allies to die. No longer refused to recognize the problem as if your blindness is a solution. Please, you must file for PC. You must not give up when we are so close. Let me help you. Chase RehnChaserehn@gmail.com1 208 720 3316
Did you know it is the sworn duty of every state legislator to support the U.S. Constitution? Some current occupants of the Idaho state legislature do not see it that way. Here are the rules:
Article 6, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states: "...members of the several state legislatures...shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution..." And, Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1 states: "No state shall...coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts;..." And, Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution of the State of Idaho states: "...the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land."
Hubris Will Destroy Our Country
Legislators who believe the Constitution is a "living breathing document" that can be arbitrarily ignored, please, read what Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., a constitutional scholar, stated on February 21 of this year. "Any time senators and representatives treat constitutional limitations on their prerogatives as some kind of contemptible joke; they are in effect committing perjury."
The "Expert" Syndrome
Others will say they consider the issue too complicated and it should be left to the "experts." Because this rationalization for non-action is often heard, at the risk of sounding offensive, I want to make clear what is at stake. The 'experts" in this case are the ones with a vested interest: the bankers, mercantilists, and career politicians. I mean no disrespect, but it is past time for lawmakers to start educating themselves and doing what is right for the people and the country. Bill Denman, a member of our task force, said, "Since there are fundamental principles involved, we don't have to rely on...the opinions of experts to resolve the 'gold versus paper money' or the 'government control of money' issues."
Orwellian Doublespeak
The American people are saddled with legislators that disdain their oath and refuse to pick-up the constitution and read it. Paragraph two of this paper is not that complicated; it simply lists those fundamental principles, referred to by Mr. Denman. Legislators think they are above the rule of law, but they are not. "Lawbreaking is lawmaking" and "unconstitutional money is legal tender" are memes (themes) that remind us of George Orwell's world of 1984. These concepts should not be in our world.
Constitutional Gold Abandoned Illegally
On the federal level, in 1971 the Federal Reserve System (Fed) officially abandoned the constitutional gold and silver mandate. Years of mismanagement of money supply by the Fed depleted our gold reserve backing. We could no longer honor redemption requests (namely, France wanted to exchange their paper USD for gold bullion). Today, the U.S. Dollar (USD), called legal tender or the Federal Reserve Note, has no gold or silver backing, and yet congressmen claim everything is perfectly legal, because they say it is.
Consequences
This failure to support the greatest constitution ever written in the history of man has abused and outraged the people. Today we face the consequences: big government enabled by central banking, a failing fractional reserve system funded by dishonest fiat money controlled by a few, and a deeply troubled economy.
The public has been very curious about the Idaho Constitutional Tender Act currently being considered in the Idaho Legislature. The House Ways and Means Committee called it, "A very interesting bill." Here are some answers to questions raised.
Question: Will I have to carry gold and silver in my pocket? Do store managers have to give change in gold and silver coins? How would they know the silver or gold content, the true bullion value, in each coin?
Answer: HB 622 calls for the electronic exchange of gold and silver (specie) ounces, not a cash exchange of coins. No coins need be carried. The exact bullion content is valued by electronic specie exchanges, not the store managers.
Question: How does the public determine the worth of each piece of gold and silver? Isn't that too difficult for daily transactions?
Answer: The exchanges would resolve the different weight and bullion content of coins (per ounce valuations). When an exchange does evaluations all day long, every day, it is not complicated at all. Only .999 fine troy ounces and fractions thereof are credited to customer accounts, not individual coins. Only electronic ounces, validated by the exchange, are tendered for debt, not individual coins.
Question: I don't understand what you mean by gold and silver (specie) being priced at market prices? Wouldn't constant changes in price make it too complicated? Isn't specie too volatile?
Answer: Both specie and the U.S. Dollar (USD) are traded on the futures exchange and both are subject to market price fluctuations, minute by minute. The fact that you do not see these fluctuations in your daily USD prices is because you think in USDs. In reality, the USD has been in a long term downtrend (95%) vs. gold and silver since 1913. The average person does not see the short term rises and larger declines in the price of the USD because the USD is all he knows and understands. Once specie is restored, goods and services priced in specie will not steadily rise in price like the USD. Gold and silver pricing will be less volatile than current inflationary pricing we have with the USD. We have to change or widen our mindset to understand; if everything were priced in specie, it would be easy to see the level pricing that would occur. It is the USD price that constantly rises.
Question: Why should I give up the convenience of plastic?
Answer: Yes, most people have already adopted plastic or electronic transfers of USDs for many payments and receipts. We already live in a cashless society and that is why the time is right for Representative Lenore Barrett's electronic gold and silver proposal. HB 622 frees the marketplace from government control. Exchanges are free to issue plastic gold or silver cards (plastic is actually a euphemism for an electronic transaction). The Automated Clearing House (ACH), the Electronic Payments Network (EPN), and PayPal all use electronic transfers. No one need carry any gold or silver in their pocket.
Question: Why the hassle? It is all too strange.
Answer: Is freedom too much hassle? Being forced to use a failed currency is what is truly strange and the real hassle. Adopting a parallel money system to allow freedom of choice may hassle authoritarians, but not the public. This is a private money system. It is not mandatory. No one would be forced to use gold and silver. HB 622 is a voluntary cashless alternative to counteract inflation to keep more of your assets. If it is too much hassle, then don't use it.
310 Main Street Lewiston, ID, 83501 (208) 743-1388 (208) 743-0247
Voted against HR 1: ["The Scamulus Package"] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Voted for HR 1388: ["Obama's Camps"] Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act [More info]
Voted for co-sponsoring HR 1207: The Federal Reserve Transparency Act [More info]
Voted for HR 1256: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act [More info]
Voted for HR 2346: 2009 $106B War Supplemental [More info]
Voted against HR 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 [More info]
Voted for H.R. 3435: Another $2 billion for clunkers [More info]
Voted against HR 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009
Voted for HR 2647: Imperialism Authorization Act of 2010 / Hate Crimes Creation Act [More info]
Voted for co-sponsoring HR 2194: Expanding Economic War with Iran [More info]
Voted for restoring the gutted HR1207: The Federal Reserve Transparency Act [More info]
Voted for HR 2847: Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes [More info]
Voted for HR 4061: Cybersecurity Act of 2009 [More info]
Dr. Mike Simpson ID-2nd (R)
2312 RHOB Washington, DC 20515-1202 DC Phone: 202-225-5531 DC Fax: 202-225-8216 [Website] [Contact]
410 Memorial Drive Suite 203 Idaho Falls, ID, 83402 (208) 523-6701 (208) 523-2384
802 West Bannock Suite 600 Boise, ID, 83702-5820 (208) 334-1953 (208) 334-9533
1341 Fillmore Street #202 Twin Falls, ID, 83301 (208) 734-7219 (208) 734-7244
Voted against HR 1: ["The Scamulus Package"] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Voted for HR 1388: ["Obama's Camps"] Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act [More info]
Voted for co-sponsoring HR 1207: The Federal Reserve Transparency Act [More info]
Voted for HR 1256: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act [More info]
Voted against HR 2346: 2009 $106B War Supplemental [More info]
Voted against HR 2454: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 [More info]
Voted for H.R. 3435: Another $2 billion for clunkers [More info]
Voted against HR 2749: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009
Voted against HR 2647: Imperialism Authorization Act of 2010 / Hate Crimes Creation Act [More info]
Voted for co-sponsoring HR 2194: Expanding Economic War with Iran [More info]
Voted against HR 2847: Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes [More info]
Voted for HR 4061: Cybersecurity Act of 2009 [More info]
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Campaign for Liberty. [?]