Don't Ask Me To Compromise My Principles For Political Gain Posted by Jeff Pedigo

Posted 11/06/10

I wrote some of my friends that I am starting a chapter of the Tennessee Libertarian Party in Williamson and Maury counties.
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One of them responded:

I really wish you wouldn't.

We can take over the Republican Party much easier than we can gain success with a 3rd party who doesn't even have ballot access.

I was a member of the LP for a while, and if they were viable then I would still be there. But they are not and being involved with them is a tremendous waste of resources.

Besides Ron Paul is running again in 2011 as a Republican and we need to be placed IN the GOP to be able to help get him the nomination. Being associated with the LP is the kiss of death for anyone who ever does anything in the GOP. Look at how they used to treat Ron and look at how they treated me.

You don't want to go there, I promise you that.

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Here is my response to my friend:

You know that I admire and respect you and your opinion.

What I saw with the mid-term election was a lot of centrists forced out of office in both parties, this is actually a good thing as they are only a belief or two away from the opposite of libertarian.  Left are extreme liberals and extreme conservatives, at least you know what you are dealing with.  However, I have never identified with extreme conservatism nor extreme liberalism. 

Ideologically, I am very libertarian.  I actually like to call my beliefs natural law but that is a discussion for another day.  I tried to work within the Williamson County Republican party but it really felt like a sell out to me, like I was doing something deceitful and dirty.  I also didn't like the way it operated.  Hell, I think Williamson County Republican party had chosen their nominee for governor as early as January 2009 they just had to wait for the process to reveal this.

I fell in love with politics and the current movement when I found a Ron Paul, a person that stands up for what the belief in and governs from his principles.  He is rare.

I want to take a page from his playbook and stand on my principles and that means I cannot support the R's or D's and I will have to join the fight for third party ballot access.  I will do this with the L's because their platform is much closer aligned with my belief system.

As far as a waste of time and resources, I think Ron Paul would disagree with you.   He would never call any of the hundreds of times he was the only NO vote a waste of time or resources.  He would respect me for fighting for my beliefs.

If Ron Paul does run, I really hope he wins.  I think the country needs a Ron Paul right now.

I'll leave you with a question, did Ron Paul ever act or vote based on how 'they' were going to treat him?

"l"ibertarian by heritage, "L"ibertarian by choice

Jeff Pedigo

President Obama's Press Conference regarding mid-term elections Posted by Jeff Pedigo

Posted 11/04/10

Cont'd from November 3^rd blog about President Obama's Press Conference regarding mid-term elections:

One of the comments that made me actually decide to blog on this press conference was this, "one of the things that I think has not been managed by me as well as it needed to be was finding the right balance in making sure that businesses have rules of the road and are treating customers fairly and -- whether it's their credit cards or insurance or their mortgages..."  He wants to manage your business by making sure you treat your customers fair!  What?  He wants special attention paid to insurance, credit and mortagages.  Wow, how about portion sizes and quality of taste, too?

Then he goes on to answer another question about his policies for getting the economy going again and he says this, "You're right that I made these proposals two months ago, but -- or three months ago -- but it was in the midst of a campaign season where it was doubtful that they were going to get a full hearing, just because there was so much political noise going on."

He uses the fact that he and others have been campaigning as an excuse that nothing is getting done, for 2 or 3 months.  That more than 10 percent of the time he has been in office.  We need a leader that doesn't make excuses, especially lame excuses.  The fact he has been campaigning is not a legitmate excuse for the economy to not be fixed.  I have an idea.  Term limits, that will limit the amount of campaign-as-excuse in the future.  Also how about a president that is committed to fixing the country rather than engaging in partisan politics. 

Where is that guy?  I'll campaign for and vote for him!

Jeff Pedigo

"l"ibertarian by heritage, "L"ibertarian by choice.

Happy Birthday to me Posted by Jeff Pedigo

Posted 11/03/10

I began my fiftieth year as a U.S. Citizen today.  I woke up proud of my country and looked forward to what my President would say in the wake of such an historic election.

The President, Barack Obama, started by acknowledging that, in our democracy, "power rests not with those ... in elected office, but with the people."

He acknowledged that people are concerned their voices are being "drowned out by a sea of lobbyists and special interests and partisan bickering." 

He also blames himself: "too many Americans haven't felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday. And as President, I take responsibility for that."  I hope it is so.

I heard, "The power rests with the people whose voices are being drowned out and he takes responsibility for that."

Then he went on to state a fact without supporting it, "There's a reason we have two parties in this country."   Well that fact alone is true but what is the reason?  It was not part of the Declaration of Indpendence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.  In fact, we don't even have an amendment that establish the two party system.  I believe that most if not all of the founding fathers cautioned against political parties.

Seventeen times the President said Democrats and Republicans or Republicans and Democrats as if that is all that there is.  I am not admonishing him for forgetting Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionals or any other party.  I am, however, concerned with his tone that only the elite "D"s or "R"s can solve the country's problems.  If he believes that then he really has missed the most important single point that November 2^nd election tried to make--The people are the power!

I am also cynical that this might be an unintentional oversight.  In fact, he started the speech with an early remark where he admits this fact, then he spends the rest of the speech ignoring his own statement.

When one reporter asked the President if voter could conclude that, "You're still not getting it?" He responded with this, We " . . . have made a series of very tough decisions, ... decisions that were right ... people started [feeling].. government was getting much more intrusive into people's lives than they were accustomed to."  Were accustomed to?  Does that mean we will grow accustomed to this?  This is scarey.

He continues this answer with, "The reason was it was an emergency situation.  But I think it's understandable that folks said to themselves, you know, maybe this is the agenda, as opposed to a response to an emergency.  We thought it was necessary, but I'm sympathetic to folks who looked at it and said this is looking like potential overreach. "  Potential overreach?  Isn't this the same White House that said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste?"

Later when asked about Republican opposition to health care law the President said, "Health Care Law... was the right thing to do."

I have already said a lot about the speech and I still have many of his remarks to review.  So in summary, Republicans rebuked the President by gaining 60 or more seats in the House of Representatives to gain a majority, they won dozens of Governorships and gained at least half-a-dozen Senate seats.  Many state legislatures have had power change hands to Republicans.  And the Presidents response, "There's a reason we have two parties in this country, to drown out the voices of the people, because it is the right thing to do."

Jeff Pedigo, Born November 3rd

libertarian by heritage, Libertarian by choice.

Get Freedom Watch on Cable TV! Posted by A Smith84

Posted 03/05/09 Last updated 03/05/09

Yesterday's episode of Freedom Watch w/ Judge Napolitano on Fox News online was excellent. The guests included Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, Cody Willard, Lew Rockwell, Larry Pratt, John Lott, and Dr. Rand Paul.

Be sure to tune in every Wednesday @ 2pm ET!!

The show's producer says the purpose of the online show is to prove to Fox News executives that there is an audience for this message. We want to get it on cable. Just imagine, this show with these guests on the Fox News Channel being broadcast to millions and millions of households. We have an opportunity to build grassroots support and accomplish just that!

Tell Fox News you want to see TRUE conservatives on cable every week! You can email them at yourcomments@foxnews.com or give them a call at 1-888-369-4762. You can visit the site at www.foxnews.com/strategyroom/. Below are clips from the show:

Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npCTWeSRwI

Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bqy8iwbVR0

Lew Rockwell, Larry Pratt, and John Lott: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iudiAaqMz7E

Larry Pratt and John Lott: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp9x_zghe-g

Dr. Rand Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzMX2zAH4i8

Dr. Rand Paul part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6fCSjPaBI