Find out more about Utah's government at congress.org State legislature page State Constitution Elections Office website

Lowell Nelson [Message] Highland, UT 84003

Welcome to the Campaign for Liberty in Utah!

November 2009

Getting a Local Coordinator in every Precinct in Utah!

We need Local Coordinators whose job is to capture their voting precincts (their own turf). And we need County (or House District) Coordinators whose job is to identify Local Coordinators. Let's examine both roles more closely.

LOCAL COORDINATORS

The primary sphere of activity for an active member of the Campaign for Liberty is his own precinct:

1. Determine your voting precinct by visiting the Lt. Governor's web site.

2. Email your name and your precinct to your county coordinator (or to your state coordinator if you don't have a county coordinator).

3. Create an account on the Campaign for Liberty web site. Become a dues-paying member, and sign the nondisclosure agreement to become a Local Coordinator.

4. Identify liberty-minded citizens (neighbors) in your precinct who will be willing to attend the caucus in March and support you.

5. Attend a caucus training session to learn how a caucus works, what is expected of a delegate, and how to get elected.

6. Attend the March 23, 2010 caucus, and get elected as a delegate to the state and/or county conventions.

Local Coordinators are responsible for educating their precincts, keeping them informed, and recruiting for the Campaign for Liberty. This might entail canvassing (to distribute pamphlets, office-holder voting records, news articles, etc.), inviting people to events in person or by telephone, etc.

COUNTY (or HOUSE DISTRICT) COORDINATORS

A secondary sphere of activity for an enthusiastic member of the Campaign for Liberty is his own county (or his house district, in a more populous county):

1. Determine your house district by visiting this web site.

2. Email your interest in coordinating C4L activity in your county (or house district) to your county coordinator (or to your state coordinator if you don't have a county coordinator).

3. Become a dues-paying member of the C4L ($35), and sign the nondisclosure agreement to become a Local Coordinator.

4. Identify liberty-minded citizens in each precinct in your county (or district)--citizens who will be willing to attend the caucus in March.

5. Host caucus training sessions to help others learn how a caucus works, what is expected of a delegate, and how to get elected.

6. Coordinate your efforts with your county coordinator and/or other house district coordinators.

The primary role of a County (or House District) Coordinator is to identify, organize, and lead Local Coordinators in the county (or house district). Names and contact information of C4L members living in each county (or house district) will be made available to County (or House District) Coordinators, who can then contact these members about being Local Coordinators. Utah Campaign for Liberty Training materials will be provided so that County (and House District) Coordinators throughout the state can provide essentially the same information in the training sessions they host.

OVERALL OBJECTIVES

The Utah Campaign for Liberty is endeavoring to accomplish the following:

1. Identify a Local Coordinator in each voting precinct.

2. Identify a House District Coordinator in each house district in Utah.

3. Identify a County Coordinator in each county in Utah.

4. Identify a Regional Coordinator for each congressional district in Utah.

5. Be fully organized ("staffed") by the end of January 2010.

6. Encourage local coordinators to meet, plan, train, and mobilize during January, February, and March.

7. Encourage local coordinators to attend their precinct caucuses on Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at 7:00 PM.

8. Encourage local coordinators to get elected as state and/or county delegates at their precinct caucuses.

9. Encourage state and county delegates to nominate liberty-minded candidates in their respective party conventions.

NOTES

A precinct contains no more than 1250 registered voters. It is geographically small (several hundred households, usually). Typically, a precinct contains only a dozen or more citizens who are interested in politics.

A house district contains about 20 precincts, on average. There are 75 house districts in Utah. There are 29 counties in Utah.

PLEA

If you want to help in this awesome Campaign for Liberty, become a Local Coordinator or a County (or a House District) Coordinator. Create an account, pay your dues (that may be the best $35 investment you will ever make), and sign the non-disclosure agreement.

More background on the Campaign for Liberty for you first-time visitors to this site:

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.

NEW! Contribute Directly to the Utah C4L!

https://www.campaignforliberty.com/contribute.php?for=UT

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.

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).

Utah C4L November 2009 Activity Report Posted by Lowell Nelson

Posted 11/17/09 Last updated 11/17/09

Utah Members of the Campaign for Liberty:

We are now embarking on an exciting phase of our campaign. We are identifying liberty-minded citizens throughout the state who are willing to coordinate Campaign for Liberty efforts in their counties (or legislative districts). We are preparing for the March 2010 precinct caucuses. Please visit the state web page for more information.

MONTHLY MEETINGS

We have discussed the importance of monthly meetings before. There is simply no substitute for the networking, recruiting, and training that occurs during these monthly meetings. Casey Anderson wrote a very helpful blog on the subject, which I heartily recommend. At these kinds of meetings, we can introduce ourselves to one another, make new friends, discuss Utah's caucus/convention system, plan local activities or participation in national activities, hear a guest speaker, etc.

C4L members in Cache County held a meeting last week, and C4L members in Iron County held their meeting last Saturday. C4L members in Utah County are organizing themselves by house district, and will be holding meetings soon, too.

Have you attended such a meeting this month? Do you know of such a meeting in the next week or two? They work best if people have a couple week's notice, and if they hear from you three times beforehand (two weeks in advance, one week in advance, and one or two days in advance as a reminder). Find a location (a home, a private school, or a public library, for example), and schedule a meeting there in a couple of weeks. Invite family, friends, and colleagues. Tell me about it so I can help you invite people to it. I am also willing to come speak, or to recommend others who can speak to topics of interest. Don't wait for someone else to do this.

There are 75 house districts in Utah. Hence, there ought to be 75 C4L meetings each month--one in each house district. But until 75 citizen-activists step forward to host these meetings, that is just a pipe dream. So maybe we have only a dozen such meetings in November.... Maybe this number doubles in December, and then again in January, and then again in February.... That is do-able.

One topic that ought to be discussed in these meetings is the caucus/convention system: preparing for caucus, getting elected as a delegate, attending the county or state conventions, etc. I have a four-page handout on this topic, and am evaluating other material (such as video instruction) for our use. If we want to retake our government, we must first retake our parties. This is done by electing liberty-minded citizens to represent us in conventions where the nominees are selected to represent the various parties on the General Election Ballot. Only those who are delegates get to participate in the convention nomination process.

STATISTICS (as of October 31, 2009)

There are approximately 3121 members of the C4L in Utah, 624 of whom have C4L accounts. Of those with accounts: 120 are dues-paying members (42 of which have enrolled in the Local Coordinator program), and 504 are (free) accounts.

173 of the current members created accounts in October of 2008, 48 in November, 37 in December, 36 in January, 69 in February, 54 in March, 48 in April, 21 in May, 26 in June, 34 in July, 29 in August, 32 in September, and 17 in October. A member who has not created an account cannot log into the C4L website and take full advantage of what it has to offer.

504 (or 81%) have logged into the C4L website, and 120 (or 19%) have never logged in.

148 are in Congressional District 1, 220 are in CD2, and 256 are in CD3.

TRAINING

If you have never logged into the C4L web site, please log in (let me know if have any trouble). If you do not have an account, please create one. The site has an ever-changing array of information and helpful networking tools.

If you have logged into the C4L web site but not paid dues, please consider doing so. Your donation of $35 helps to defray the costs of the Campaign for Liberty. This amount is purposefully small, relative to the awesome good that is being done by the Campaign.

If you have paid dues, but have not enrolled in the Local Coordinator program, please do so (on the web site) so you can go through the Local Coordinator Boot Camp! That will equip you with the information and training you need to move forward more effectively for the Campaign for Liberty.

If you have enrolled in the Local Coordinator program, please continue through the Boot Camp. This is not something you can do in a single sitting probably, but is a worthwhile undertaking that will require thought, effort, and research. And when you are done, you will have an invaluable resource (reference) on which you can rely as you advance the Campaign for Liberty in your precinct, and in your county, house, senate, and congressional districts.

CHALLENGE

Working together, we must reclaim the liberties we have lost, defend those that remain, and encourage our public servants to adhere to the Constitution and restore the Republic.

Please reach out and invite good, constitution-loving citizens to join the Campaign for Liberty. The summer is over; it is HARVEST time now. Please visit with TEN good people this month, and get at least ONE to join the Campaign for Liberty.

We need to identify 1725 Local Coordinators--at least one for every precinct in the state of Utah--by March of next year. That means we need over 400 a month for the next four months!

THANK YOU for all you are doing to promote good governance!

Yours in Liberty,

Lowell Nelson
Interim State Coordinator, Utah
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
Recruit, Equip, Train, Mobilize

Reflections of a Veteran Posted by GCWood

Posted 11/12/09 Last updated 11/12/09

I am fortunate to be a member of the Veterans of Foreign War and the American Legion. These fine organizations are inspiring for me due to their members. I served on active duty for 16 years and did so during some times in our history where man battled man so I am eligible for membership but the veterans of these organizations, as well as so many others outside these groups, served in the heat of battle rather than in support of battle.

I was never called on to raise a gun, take aim at another human, and fire. I was never called to rescue those who fell from our adversaries attacks. I was never called to carry home the remains of a brave veteran so their family could find some form of peace. Others I know, honor, and care for tasted this end of serving our country on active duty but this was not my calling, my duty, nor my time during my service to our nation. However, I took an oath I stand by today and would have served, I simply was not called upon...until now.

No, our military has not sunk to such a level they are recalling old, worn out management engineers who can barely walk. Our Constitution needs fighters right now, it is under assault. For those that may not know the oath of enlistment (yep, enlisted swine here, Salute!) here it is;

"I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. "

Look at the order of allegiance outlined carefully. First is the Constitution, then an agreement to obey the President of the United States and finally the officers appointed over me. If an officer or the President gave an order counter to the regulations, UCMJ, or the United States Constitution it was not my first duty to obey it but rather support and defend our documented contract for how we will live with each other in our country and in our states. It is this duty, with the help of God, I am referring to being called to action now, along with every citizen who cherishes freedom and believes in our heritage.

The war raging for the freedom to live under our Constitutional Republic is escalating. There are enemies in our government that want to subvert freedom for equalized security. Lucky for my fellow citizens this war will not require me to raise my rifle; my aim is not what it used to be. This war requires me to raise my voice, my vote, and my neighbors awareness. This battle will be fought precinct by precinct in every local, state, and federal election over the next 6 years. Our defense of our Constitutional future begins in earnest right now as we prepare for another major enemy attack in 2010.

Politically connected, faction controlled, special interest candidates will be lying for votes and we must be ready. Knowledge, passion, and persistence will be necessary...as will numbers! Good, God fearing, Oath Keeping candidates will need to be recruited and supported. Boots on the streets will be required. Victory will be hard but it WILL BE! Samuel Adams reminds us today, "It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."

________________________________________________________________

What can you do? Attend this Saturday's 'Delegate Training'

UTAH 912 and UTAH TEA PARTY RALLY!

WE WILL SHOW YOU HOW YOU CAN REPRESENT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD AS A DELEGATE AND VOTE IN THE UTAH STATE AND COUNTY CONVENTIONS! NOW YOU CAN FINALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

When: Saturday, 14 November 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. to Noon
Where: Utah State Capitol (Inside in the Rotunda)
What: Neighborhood Call to Action! Exciting speakers! ***Delegate Training***

Come listen to keynote speaker Congressman Jason Chaffetz discuss the conservative principles that helped him win the election and how YOU too can REALLY make a difference.

The Pretention of Freedom-a poem i wrote this July Posted by photosarmy35

Posted 11/11/09

The Pretension of Freedom, the vision to fight
to take up a battle, fight for the right
there's only one problem,
who's wrong and who's right?
You should be able to tell,
a difference so great, that not even a dog could make that mistake
There is no question or doubt in your mind,
to who you are, to which is your side

Standing for truth in their lives they have died
watching us now from the other side
We're giving our freedoms, were loosing the fight
we're not standing up for the right,
in the eternal battle for sight,
to choose between wrong and right

God gave us a vision, he gave us our might,
to be a great nation to honor his light
But what have we done, condemned his great name
cast him out, and gave him the blame
for all our problems, for our mistakes.
God gave us our law, and our law we mistake
for our captor, something to be changed,
Only one problem- God does not change.
To change the law, we made it our friend,
willingly giving our freedoms so great, to make us safe?
I think we've made a mistake.

God gave us his promise, his promises keep
He'll bless this great land and make it not weak,
if we but would listen, and live like we should
and stood up for all that we could
for all that is right, for all his great light,
for all that has made this nation shine so bright
So let the stars on our flag not now grow dim,
nor fall from the sky, let us honor him.

God gave us a promise, a promise with two sides,
if we did not live like we should, our freedoms would start to slide.
And when we have none, we'll look around for someone to blame
but no one is to be found,
just merely one name.
Then looking down with tears in our eyes, we'll ask God to recognize
But when He says "are you free"?
We then will say "are you kidding me"?

"Then you are not mine,
I made my people free so that they could worship me,
so go your way, you always have,
There is no one to blame but thee.
I keep my promises, I keep them well,
did you live like you should have?
Or could you even tell,
the difference between my people and his"?

and with his finger he'll point to the man,
the man that is holding your chains.

We say that we're free but to whom are we lying?
We know something's wrong, but who is not trying
To shrink from the torture, to hide from the pain?
That comes when we give up our fame, in a cause to defend His great name?
God blessed this great land, he have it a name,
He have it it's law, which must be obeyed
For truth is not silent, it always must win,
Whos side are you on in the end?
In the cause for our freedom He's already won,
Now it's our turn to show what he's done.

by-Lauriejo Skeem, age 16

'Experts' Try to Expain Away the Success of Alternative Medicine Posted by roserty

Posted 11/10/09

As the battle rages on over health care reform, one thing continues to threaten drug and insurance company profits: self-care with time-tested remedies.  Through much help from the government, the drug companies have convinced many Americans that their products are the only methods that can help, but they can't stop Americans from going out into their backyard and yanking up the weeds that can actually cure health problems.  Though they continue the intellectual onslaught against natural remedies, more and more people are turning to herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, and other alternative methods for help.

What can they expect?  With a few exceptions, drugs help little and have strong side effects while natural remedies work better than drugs with few if any side effects.  They can only fool those who aren't willing to give the alternative remedies an open-minded try.  Besides, common sense will tell you that we wouldn't even exist if modern medicine were the one and only way to treat health problems since it is fairly new in our world's history.

The experts can continue to slur truth all they want, but they will fail to explain to me why drugs make my baby cranky (or even sick!) while herbs give her relief 90% of the time.  The placebo effect?  Ha!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_he_me/med_unproven_remedies_placebo

The 28 Principles of Liberty: Principle 18 Posted by CharityAngel

Posted 11/01/09

"The Unalienable Rights of the People are Most Likely to be Preserved if the Principles of Government are Set Forth in a Written Constitution."

The one weakness of the Anglo-Saxon common law, was that it was unwritten. Due to the fact that the whole people were aware of the principles, they seemed to be indifferent to writing them down. According to Dr. Colin Rhys Lovell, this was customary until they converted to Christianity. Prior to that, it was unwritten and considered immutable.

It was the Norman conquest that taught the Anglo-Saxons in England a bitter lesson. A majority of their treasured rights disappeared through the flood of blood and oppression. They did regain them very slowly over a period of time, a few centuries, and gradually were written down. In A.D. 1215, King John virtually had a sword held to his throat, due to the national crisis, and signed the Magna Charta, which set forth the traditional rights of the freemen as well as the feudal barons who had been serving under King John.

During that same century, the model parliament came into being which compelled the King to acknowledge that principle of no taxation without representation. Later, in 1628, Charles I was pressured into signing the People's Petition of Rights and the English Bill of Rights was signed in 1689 by William and Mary.

Through the centuries, the British have tried to manage the political affairs with no written constitution and relied on these few documents as a source of reference. They did prove very helpful to the Founders, but they felt that the structure of government should be structured in a more permanent and comprehensive form. So, the tradition if a written constitution in modern times is completely American in principle and practice.

The first written charter for America was the Mayflower Compact of 1620. If became more comprehensive when Thomas Hooker and his associates adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639. The charter makes no reference to the British Government nor the Crown, but the source of its authority as "We, the people."

Montesquieu said that the writing of a statute or a charter is "oftentimes better regulated by many than by a single person." The Founders agreed with this idea and considered it wise to filter it through the wisdom and experience of many delegates assembled in a convention rather then leaving it to the genius of some individual.

James Madison stated, "It is not a little remarkable that in every case reported by ancient history in which government has been established with deliberation and consent, the task of framing it has not been committed to an assembly of men, but has been performed by some individual citizen of preeminent wisdom and approved integrity. Minos, we learn, was the primitive founder of the government of Crete, as Zaleucus was of that of the Locrians. Theseus first, and after him Draco and Solon, instituted the government of Athens. Lycurgus was the lawgiver of Sparta. The foundation of the original government of Rome was laid by Romulus, and the work completed by two of his elective successors, Numa and Tullius Hostilius. On the abolition of royalty the consular administration was substituted by Brutus, who stepped forward with a project for such reform, which, he alleged, had been prepared by Servius Tullius, and to which his address ontained the assent and ratification of the senate and people. This remark is applicable to confederate governments also. Amphictyon, we are told, was the author of that which bore his name. The Achaean league received its first birth from Achaeus, and its second from Aratus."

It is always difficult to operate through a committee, a group, or a convention as the Founding Fathers did. The final product was far stronger then any individual alone could have written it. And time has also proven the incredible value have having a written document for reference, a standard, rather then relying on a few scattered statutes as the fundamental law of the land.

The 28 Principles of Liberty are adapted from W. Cleon Skousen's Book 'The 5000 Year Leap' and are brought to you by Fragrant Smoke.