If you revere the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the principles of liberty upon which this country was founded; but see a national government exceeding its constitutional bounds with an interventionist foreign policy, a fiat monetary system, burdensome regulations, suffocating taxes, and irresponsible spending; then please join Texas Congressman Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty. Dr. Ron Paul is a true statesman, a "Champion of the Constitution," a Thomas Jefferson of our generation.
The Campaign for Liberty needs you! Citizens like you help to govern the county, state and national parties. Party delegates make the rules, influence their peers, and choose candidates for the General Election! In every step of the process, it is essential that liberty-minded activists are engaged, active and numerous. Please sign up now with the Campaign for Liberty!
Thoughtfully consider how you can help to restore the Republic, preserve what freedoms we have, and reclaim those we have lost. Thomas Paine once said, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." Decide now to DO SOMETHING in the Campaign for Liberty. Decide now to devote some time each day or week in the cause of freedom. Decide now to be a person of influence in your precinct.
In these web pages, you will find educational material well worth reading, activist tools well worth your time, and a Precinct Leader Training Program well worth your efforts. Yes, this campaign will require time and effort. As Ron Paul said, "Elections are short-term efforts. Revolutions are long-term projects." But it will be worth it. Your neighbor cannot do it all. I cannot do it all. No single person can guarantee our liberties. However, many good citizens throughout the country, each doing a little, CAN have the impact necessary to sustain freedom and guarantee our liberties.
In this campaign, we shoulder a four-fold mission: recruit, train, equip, and mobilize.
Recruit. We must recruit our fellow citizens to join us in this effort. There are about 1725 precincts in Utah. We need at least one leader in each precinct, and preferably two or three. Invite your civic-minded friends to join this campaign. (They can browse this web site without joining.) If they agree with what they find here, then they will be inclined naturally to join. We would like to have 100 such Precinct Leaders by the end of June, 2009.
Train. Once you have joined the Campaign for Liberty, become a Precinct Leader, and begin the PL Boot Camp (web pages that help you to understand how politics works here in Utah). You will not be able to complete the Boot Camp in a single sitting. It will require time and effort. Once completed, however, your research will become a gold mine of information you will be able to reference at will as you stand up for liberty in this campaign.
Equip. This web site will equip you to be an effective activist. It is an infrastructure that enables us to prepare for various activities that will promote liberty. It helps us coordinate our activities. It helps us to share information and encouragement. If you notice that something is missing here, please let me know, and I will work to make it available (or show you where it is :--).
Mobilize. When your help is needed, you will be invited (usually via email or by general announcement on this web site) to help. It may be to attend a rally, host a book club, walk your precinct, attend a political meeting, or talk to a legislator. Whatever it is, I hope you will embrace the opportunity with enthusiasm. And if you feel as though you are not doing enough, then organize something in your neighborhood, community, or county, and promote liberty.
A number of good people already are making good things happen--throughout the state. Please join us. Be a part of it. Make history.
Other Upcoming Events
Monthly Meetings. If you have not been invited to attend a meeting in your county (or your house district if you live in a populous county), please schedule a meeting and invite others to attend. Schedule your meeting a couple of weeks out, then invite everyone three times (via email, say): once two weeks in advance, again one week away, and then again a day or two before your meeting. I would be happy to attend your first meeting if you like.
There are a number of municipal (public) offices to be filled by election this year. Primary elections were held on September 15. You should interview each of the (General Election) candidates to determine whether s/he deserves your vote. You should ask hard questions, like whether s/he will adhere to the Constitution and to the principles of liberty that will best secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. If you find a candidate deserving of our support, spread the word.
Respectfully,
Lowell Nelson, Interim State Coordinator, Utah C4L
Housekeeping
These (state) C4L pages are updated several times a week in one way or another. Various calendar events, news items, blog entries, and so forth are added, updated, or removed. So please visit this site at least once each week. The main C4L web page changes daily.
If you have something of interest to other Campaign for Liberty members in Utah, please let me know. If I agree, I will be happy to share it via these web pages.
Some people have mentioned that this web site runs faster in Firefox than in Internet Explorer. If you are navigating this site with IE, and you find it slow going, then please try Firefox (or another alternative browser).
Calendar
11/22/09 12:00 PM End the Fed Rally
Be a part of a nation-wide rally to END the FED!
Let's spread the word about this. Get students involved-- spread the word around campuses. Make signs, handouts, DVDs with spliced anti-FED video, etc. Tell your friends and family. Involve the media.
When the federal government passed the first massive bailout bill, I gave up entirely on trying to sway them. While the efforts on the part of Campaign for Liberty to convince our legislatures to pass the Audit the Fed bill have been encouraging, I believe that for the most part, our federal government has run amoke and cannot be restrained easily even by large groups of individuals. However, our government was set up to give the greatest power to the individual as possible. We do not need to rely on our federal government to make the right choice regarding health care. We can ask our state governments to protect us instead.
Instead of wasting my energy on large efforts to stop the federal government from passing health care legislation, I am directing my energies toward my state government and asking them to protect me from the effects of this bill. My first step is to send a letter to my representatives asking them to sponsor a resolution negating the effects of the federal health care bill. Here is the letter I sent:
"As you know, the federal government is preparing to pass a health care bill that would dramatically change our health care system. This massive bill contains many provisions that would limit and even destroy many of our God-given rights.
"I have learned that it is useless to fight our federal government. As an individual, I have very little power to sway them. Even as part of a group, they seem to be insulated from public opinion, as demonstrated by the passing of the bailout bills. However, our country is set up in a way that allows the states to protect their citizens when the federal government makes laws that are unconstitutional and tyrannous.
"You can protect us from this bill by submitting a resolution in the state legislature stating that Utah is exempt from federal meddling in its health care system. I urge you to begin drawing up a resolution immediately. I and many of my fellow Utahns in my lobbying group, campaignforliberty.com will support your efforts. Thank you for considering my suggestion."
I sent one to my house representative and my senator and a similar one to the governor. I will put everything I can into this effort because I know it stands a much better chance of realization than anything I can do on the federal level. Please help me in this effort, fellow Utahns! We don't have to take federal intervention laying down!
It wasn't too many decades ago that the dollar was, as the saying went, "as good as gold". It was a truism, almost too obvious for mention because everyone understood the dollar's essential attribute, namely, that it was redeemable into gold upon demand.
This redeemability was a fundamental building block that explained why the dollar had value and was readily accepted and used as a means of exchange in the purchase and sale of goods and services. The dollar did not require legal tender laws or other forms of government force for it to circulate as currency. It circulated freely by choice in place of gold, as a substitute for it because gold was too valuable to use in transactions day-to-day as currency. Gold was lost from abrasion as coins wore out over time, but paper could easily be replaced at little cost when worn.
But redeemability in practice actually meant far more than just the right everyone had to exchange their paper currency into gold coin. It imposed an essential discipline on the Federal Reserve and indeed, on the whole federal government. It was a dependable governor that throttled dollar creation because paper currency could only be printed if there was gold in reserve to back it. If the redeemability was removed, the unyielding, externally imposed discipline would go with it.
This point was well understood. After redeemability was ended by Franklin Roosevelt moments after assuming office in 1933, many thoughtful observers began to warn that an important safeguard on the quality of the currency and a necessary restraint on the growth of government had been lost. These warnings continued for years, particularly by those knowledgeable about gold. As but one example, a four-term Congressman from Omaha named Howard Buffett, who was the father of Wall Street legend Warren Buffett, in a speech on May 4, 1948 said: "Our finances will never be brought into order until Congress is compelled to do so. Making our money redeemable in gold will create this compulsion."
Rep. Buffett's admonition unfortunately fell on deaf ears. What's worse, the financial mess he spoke about pales in comparison to the disarray of the federal government's present finances. Because there has been no discipline for decades on the creation of dollars, too many dollars have been created. If the federal government wants to spend money, it is the primary responsibility of the Federal Reserve to make sure that politicians get all the dollars they want, regardless of the impact on the federal government's overleveraged and rapidly deteriorating balance sheet.
Despite its pretentious claims and pompous rhetoric, the Federal Reserve does not exist to fight inflation or encourage full employment or regulate banks. It has achieved none of these aims, which is obvious from the fact that inflation, unemployment and bank failures are recurring, if not perennial problems.
Regardless why it was created or the initial intentions established for it, in a fiat currency world the Federal Reserve exists for only one reason - to create all the dollars the federal government wants to spend. The Federal Reserve does this job very well. Even as we have seen federal deficits soar into the stratosphere over the past couple of years, the federal government always has as many dollars as it wants to spend. However, these deficits cannot last forever, which is one of the key points made in a speech last week<>http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20091019a.htm< > by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
He threw down the gauntlet - again, because he has made this point before. Namely, politicians cannot continue spending at present rates. "The United States must increase its national saving rate. Although we should deploy, as best we can, tools to increase private saving, the most effective way to accomplish this goal is by establishing a sustainable fiscal trajectory, anchored by a clear commitment to substantially reduce federal deficits over time."
Like much of the rhetoric from policymakers, it sounds good. But it never translates into meaningful action. Maybe Mr. Bernanke is trying to distance himself from the dollar's ongoing problems and put the blame on Congress and the President by highlighting that they are failing to maintain a "sustainable fiscal" policy. But like Alan Greenspan who is now trying to re-write history and put the blame for the housing bubble on anyone but himself, the reality is that Mr. Bernanke cannot totally blame politicians.
He could do what Paul Volcker did, and raise dollar interest rates to send a message to the market that he will not allow the dollar to be destroyed. But that is not likely to happen. There has been no indication that Mr. Bernanke will raise interest rates anytime soon, much less raise them to the level needed to convince the market that he intends to preserve the purchasing power of the dollar.
Sadly, the dollar is no longer as good as gold. It is now only as good as the empty rhetoric of politicians and central bankers.
This video of what is going on with HR 1207 by Ron Paul shows that we still need to contact those on the Monitary Policy Sub-Committee who will be working on this legislation and very possibly attempting to water it down before it appears before the entire Committee (the House of Reps).
Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
Rep. Melvin L. Watt (NC), Chairman Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (NY) Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO) Rep. Brad Sherman (CA) Rep. Al Green (TX) Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (MO) Rep. Keith Ellison (MN) Rep. John Adler (NJ) Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (FL)
Rep. Ron Paul (TX), Ranking Member Rep. Michael N. Castle (DE) Rep. Frank D. Lucas (OK) Rep. Jim Gerlach (PA) Rep. Tom Price (GA) Rep. Bill Posey (FL) Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ)
Here are the members that need to be urged not to water this piece of legislation down to have the greatest benifit from this transparency.
Call the capitol switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask for these members offices, or feel free to comment on this blog post with their direct numbers.
The 28 Principles of Liberty: Principle 17 "A System of Checks and Balances Should be Adopted to Prevent the Abuse of Power"
After John Adams had sold the people on the separation of powers, it must have been shocking to him to see that they wanted to make the separation so complete that it would have made the system unworkable.
The individuals who took a puritanical view opposed the adoption of the Constitution because they wanted the separation complete and absolute. They missed the most important part, and that was that they were to be separate in their functions, but subject to the checks and balances of the other two departments in case it became abusive in performing those functions.
James Madison spent 5 of the Federalist Papers numbers, 47 to 51, explaining why the separation of powers should not be absolute, but should make allowances for a built-in system of checks and balances. He conceded that keeping the three departments separated was fundamental to the preservation of liberty.
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
The purpose of checks and balances is a constitutional control in the hands of each department of government to prevent any usurpation of power by another department or abusive administration of the power granted to it.
The failure to use the checks and balances effectively has resulted in allowing the judiciary to create new laws by pretending to be merely interpreting old laws. Failure to use checks and balances has also allowed the President to make thousands of new laws, instead of congress, by issuing executive orders. It has allowed the federal government to invade the reserved rights of the states on a massive scale. It has allowed the legislature to impose taxes on the people never contemplated by the Founders, or the Constitution. Each department of the government has the responsibility to rise up and protect its prerogatives by exercising the checks and balances which have been provided, and even more so, the people have the responsibility to be the watchmen over their representatives and elect ONLY those that will function within Constitutional boundaries.
James Madison said, "As the people are the only legitimate foundation of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter under which the power of the several branches of government is derived, it seems strictly consonant to the republican theory to recur to the same original authority whenever an one of the departments may commit encroachment on the chartered authorities of the others."
How do the people protect themselves? Madison sought many different avenues and found that the only protection was within the machinery of checks and balances provided in the Constitution as written.
The three departments are independent, yet reliant on each other to fulfill their functions, so they are mutually dependent. Their resulting system was far more complex then Montesquieu. Here are their provisions:
1. The House of Representatives serves as a check on the Senate since no statue can become a law without their approval.
2. The Senate also serves as the check on the House of Representatives since no statue can become a law without its approval.
3. A President can restrain them both by using his veto to send back a bill not meeting his approval.
4. The Congress has on the other hand, a check on the President by being able to pass a bill over his veto with a 2/3 majority of each house.
5. The legislature also has a further check on the President through its power of discrimination in appropriating funds for the operation of the executive branch.
6. The President must have the approval of the Senate in filing important offices of the executive branch.
7. The President must also have the approval of the Senate before any treaties with foreign nations can go into effect.
8. The Congress has the authority to conduct investigations of the executive branch to determine whether or not funds are being properly expended and the laws enforced.
9. The President has a certain amount of political influence on the legislature by letting it be known that he will not support the reelection of those who oppose his program.
10. The executive branch also has further check on the Congress by using its discretionary powers in establishing military bases, building dams, improving navigable rivers, and building interstate highways so as to favor those areas from which the President feels he is getting support by their representatives.
11. The judiciary has a check on the legislature through its authority to review all laws and determine their constitutionality.
12. The Congress, on the other hand, has a restraining power over the judiciary by having the constitutional authority to restrict the extent of its jurisdiction.
13. The Congress also has the power to impeach any of the judges who are guilty of treason, high crimes or misdemeanors.
14. The President also has a check on the judiciary by having the power to nominate new judges subject to the approval of the senate.
15. The Congress has further restraining power over the judiciary by having the control of appropriations for the operation of the federal court system.
16. The Congress is able to initiate amendments to the Constitution which, if approved by three-fourths of the states, could seriously effect the operation of both the executive and judicial branches.
17. The Congress, by joint resolution, can terminate certain powers granted to the President such as war powers without his consent.
18. The people have a check on their congressmen every two years, on their President every four years, and on their Senators every six years.
The Founders Device for Peaceful Self-Repair
In other nations that copied our constitution, they forgot to incorporate adequate checks and balances. Instead, when a usurper takes over, they must use an army and result to machine guns and bombs to get them out. What the founders wished to achieve in the Constitution of 1787 was machinery for the peaceful means of self-repair when the system when out of balance.
During Watergate, this peaceful process was used. The Congress threatened to impeach, and the President who used his high office for purposes that were outside his scope of authority and the ramifications of legal conduct, he resigned. There was no command of the army to allow him to stay in power; it was a quiet and peaceful transition. This was the primary purpose of the United States Constitution, to have a peaceful means in order to repair distortions of power. While it requires more patience then the use of force, its outcome is much more certain.
The 28 Principles of Liberty are adapted from W.Cleon Skousens book The 5000 Year Leap and are brought to you by Fragrant Smoke.
I'm wondering what the C4L people's opinions of the Proposition on the Salt Lake ballot is. Relevant information to allow for an informed decision on the issue would be greatly appreciated.
Poll: Are you For or Against Propostion 1 on the 2009 Salt Lake ballot?
"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. [?]
