Liberty Maven

D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

Quotes of the Day:

NINTH AMENDMENT: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

TENTH AMENDMENT: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Subject: More progress on the “Enumerated Powers Act”

The “Enumerated Powers Act” would force Congress to cite its Constitutional authority for every law it passes. When we last reported to you in late July this bill had 52 co-sponsors in the House, and had just been introduced in the Senate by Tom Coburn, gaining a whopping 22 co-sponsors almost immediately.

Progress has slowed since then, but there is another new co-sponsor in the House. Representative Pete Sessions of Texas came on board on July 23, 2008, just a couple of days after we last contacted Congress about this bill. Maybe some of you made the difference with Mr. Sessions, so let’s keep pushing . . .

* If your Rep. or one or more of your Senators is a co-sponsor, please thank them (we’ve provided a list of co-sponsors below my signature).
* If one or more of your elected representatives is not on the list, ask them to please become a co-sponsor

You can send your message here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Here are the co-sponsors in the Senate . . .
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The final Presidential candidate we will be rating on the Paul-O-Meter is the Green Party’s nominee, Cynthia McKinney. For a description of the Paul-O-Meter see this article. We have previously completed ratings for John McCain, Barack Obama, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, and Ralph Nader.

You can get in the action too by rating the candidates using our Paul-O-Meter polling application here.

Listed below is our own ratings for Cynthia McKinney.

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It is now Ralph Nader’s turn to be viewed through the Ron Paul colored glasses of the Paul-O-Meter. The Paul-O-Meter rates the candidates on how closely they resemble Ron Paul on the issues. For a complete description and methodology of the Paul-O-Meter please see this article. Thus far we have rated Barack Obama, John McCain, Bob Barr, and Chuck Baldwin.

You can join in the rating fun by using our web based Paul-O-Meter application here. Feel free to check it out and submit your own ratings for all the Presidential candidates.

Find our own ratings for Ralph Nader below.

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UPDATE: Chuck Baldwin’s Communications Director posted a comment clarifying his position on a few of the issues. This has modified Baldwin’s overall score. Read the comments for more details.

It is now Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin’s turn to be spun through the Paul-O-Meter. So far we have rated Barack Obama, John McCain, and Bob Barr. Will Chuck Baldwin beat Bob Barr’s current high score of 88? Read on to find out.

For a detailed description of the Paul-O-Meter look here.

NEW: If you’d like to rate the candidates on the Paul-O-Meter please do so on our Paul-O-Meter user rating application here.

Continue reading to see our ratings for Chuck Baldwin.

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It is now Libertarian candidate Bob Barr’s turn to be spun through the Paul-O-Meter. We rate the candidates on 20 criteria to see how closely they match up with Ron Paul on the issues. Thus far we have rated Barack Obama and John McCain. Read all about the Paul-O-Meter here.

NEW: Now you can submit your own ratings using our new Paul-O-Meter web polling service. Check it out here.

Our rankings for Bob Barr are below.

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In the next installment of our Ron Paul Paul-O-Meter effort to rate the Presidential candidates we hold John McCain to the Ron Paul liberty fire. Previously, we rated Barack Obama. For details about the Paul-O-Meter see the description.

Read on for John McCain’s scores on the issues.

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A few days ago we introduced the Ron Paul Paul-O-Meter. For a description and overview of the Paul-O-Meter, please read the article here.

Today we begin rating the Presidential candidates with our rating for Barack Obama. The Paul-O-Meter will give us a total score on 20 criteria. The closer a candidate gets to 100 points the more that candidate is like Ron Paul. For each criteria we will give the score and a short justification for that score. Read the results for Barack Obama below.

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Who needs a Ron Paul endorsement when you have the Paul-O-Meter?

Everyone knows the perfection of Ron Paul. He is already a living legend. All future candidates are damaged goods simply because they are not Ron Paul. There is only one Ron Paul. So to see how other candidates measure up to his perfection we are introducing the “Paul-O-Meter”.

The Paul-O-Meter ranks candidates on a scale from 0 to 100 depending on how closely they are in agreement with Ron Paul on chosen criteria. Since no candidate can possibly equal Ron Paul, the highest score on the Paul-O-Meter attainable for candidates other than Ron Paul is 99. To simplify the ranking, each candidate will be graded from 1 to 5 on each of the 20 criteria. The 20 criteria are listed below, along with a short description for each.

NEW: Now you can submit your own ratings using our new Paul-O-Meter web polling service. Check it out here.

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Civil Libertarianism - a strain of political thought that emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority.

Some ardent libertarian minded Ron Paul enthusiasts have chosen to not support Bob Barr in his effort to attain the Libertarian nomination for President. For the most part this seems to be about a lack of trust. Comparing every candidate to Ron Paul is like comparing an HDTV signal to a standard definition signal. No matter how much you fiddle about with the TV settings the picture will never look as rosy, crystal clear, and 3D-like as Ron Paul. I respect those purist Ron Paul supporters, but give Barr a break.

It is certainly true that Barr has a bit of a checkered past. Assuming he gets the Libertarian nomination (which is apparently not a foregone conclusion), he will be on the ballot. Ron Paul will not. On the issues in 2008 Bob Barr and Ron Paul are twins. Not many will argue that. The arguments are all about Barr’s congressional voting history and the fact that he once worked for the CIA. I can understand those that point to his voting history on such gems as the Patriot Act and the Iraq war authorization. Not supporting Barr solely because he once worked for the CIA befuddles me. That is merely reaching for an excuse.

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The ideological Ron Paul math can be summed up with the following expression:

Ron Paul(Foreign Policy) + Ron Paul(Economy) = The Solution

Ron Paul’s position on foreign policy is consistent with his position on economics. He preaches non-intervention overseas and the deregulation of markets. His positions are interesting in that they steadfastly refuse to contradict each other. Likewise, He is pro-life and against the death penalty. Many other Republicans contradict their pro-life view by supporting the death penalty.

His is a true non-interventionist position. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have a faux non-interventionist position. They make the colossal mistake of thinking that pulling out of Iraq is enough non-intervention. Ron Paul correctly and consistently points out that Iraq is only part of the entire foreign policy portrait. Obama and Clinton do not preach non-interventionism because they don’t believe in the principle. They will not bring our troops home from Germany or Korea. They advocate repositioning troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. This is hardly any real “change” from George W. Bush. Chances are neither would even follow up on their promise to bring our troops home from Iraq. Certainly, some new excuse to keep troops there can be manufactured when the time comes.

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