Liberty Maven

The recent Washington Post feature article about Bob Barr cements the suspicion many liberty seekers have regarding the delusionary hope for fairness for third party and independent candidates. It doesn’t matter that a candidate has the credibility of serving in the House of Representatives for eight years. All that matters is that he is not Obama or McCain and therefore must be stopped.

This treatment apparently is not even limited to third party and independent candidates. The media’s marginalization of Republican candidate Ron Paul reinforces that being a true “maverick” instead gets you the “extreme” or “crazy” label even if you are a member of one of the two major parties. The incredulous and almost laughable treatment of Ron Paul during his primary campaign inspired what became one of the most read articles here at Liberty Maven.

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My comment on Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty after reading David Nolan’s and Walt Thiessen’s recent Bob Barr pieces.

Originally published August 17th, 2008 by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution at http://www.nolanchart.com/article4520.html

You can reach Walt Thiessen’s article “Unreality at the Barr Campaign” from this link http://www.libertymaven.com/2008/08/15/a-scathing-review-of-the-barr-campaign/1489/

You can reach David F. Nolan’s article “The Barr Campaign at Halftime” from this link http://www.nolanchart.com/article4505.html

Dear libertarians, constitutionalists, and any other Ron Paul supporters,

I am writing because I think some of us do not realize the situation we are in.  We are struggling against what Ron Paul likes to term “the Establishment.”  We also need to be very wary of attrition.  First, we need to recognize that it is paramount to keep ourselves together and politically active.  Second, we need to patiently erode at the popular support for the Establishment and if possible flood the “hearts and minds” away from it.  Third, this Establishment is a hurricane that is destroying the freedom, money, jobs, economy and even the very lives of We the People.  That is what is trying to wear us down, and we need to bare our teeth into this storm, keep snarling our rejection back at it, and keep growing.

Don’t Get Lost!  Stay Together, Stay Politically Active

Principle-wise, this stuggle could also be termed a ‘war of attrition’ is no different from the colonists in the first American Revolution, no different from any other guerilla war of any minority versus a majority, of any battle of the weak against the strong.  We most likely number somewhere between the 83,000 at the Campaign’s website and the million-odd who voted for Ron Paul in the presidential primaries, but do not bet the farm on such a high figure.

Imagine Ron Paul as our general if you will.  He has planted his flag on this small hillock of Freedom called www.campaignforliberty.com.  We there all stand by him and his ideas of liberty and are basically throwing snowballs at passer-bys.  Some we whack in the face and they fire back. Some though will say, boy that stung! and perhaps become aware of some truth behind this Establishment and then join us.  Our job is to turn this little hill into a mountain, and eventually set off avalanches.  This is goal of the Revolution.

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In the typical faux liberty laden USA Bob Barr’s lawsuit claims against the Saddleback Church forum were denied. From CBS news in Los Angeles:

SANTA ANA, Calif. A federal judge Friday denied Libertarian presidential hopeful Bob Barr’s bid to be included in a presidential forum in Lake Forest with Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama or stop the event as a violation of federal campaign law.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter refused to issue an order on behalf of Barr and Wayne Root, his vice presidential running mate, that would disrupt the Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion scheduled to begin Saturday at 5 p.m. at Saddleback Church.

“Plaintiffs will lose out on a fair amount of exposure and the opportunity to express their views in a popular forum,” Carter conceded. “On the other hand, halting this event would deny the other candidates the opportunity to be heard and would deprive the public of an opportunity to see the candidates and hear their views.

“Forcing Saddleback to include another candidate at the last moment could cause serious logistical problems and take away from the presentations of other candidate,” Carter said. “This might well disrupt the planned presentation.”

Carter said Barr and Root “will have many other opportunities in the coming months to express their views and make their candidacy known.”

This is hardly a shock but sooner or later one of these fights will be won; therefore, it is important to continue the fight. Some called this effort a “waste”. Imagine if the Judge happened to be libertarian leaning. I’m told some of them do exist (See former Judge Andrew Napolitano).

The purist libertarian critics of Barr are attacking him for utilizing the court system in an attempt to block the Saddleback Church Presidential Forum where McCain and Obama were invited and Barr was excluded. This libertarian applauds Barr for this fight. He is utilizing their own rules against them, even if he himself wants those rules overturned. It is true that the church is a private organization and can invite whomever they want to such an event. However, Barr’s fight is based on current election law.

“It is our opinion that the Saddleback Church forum failed to publish any pre-established, objective criteria for inviting candidates to the event,” says Russell Verney, Barr’s campaign manager. “Because of Saddleback’s apparent failure to comply with campaign finance laws, the exclusion of Bob Barr appears to be an illegal, corporate, in-kind contribution to Senators Obama and McCain.”

Federal election laws stipulate that an event such as the one Saddleback Church is hosting must provide pre-established and objective criteria for inviting candidates.  A failure to do so can be considered an illegal campaign contribution.

I’m not sure Barr has much hope for winning this case, but it is rather interesting that he is using their own two party duopoly rules against them. He is merely requesting that the rule of law be enforced. Read the full Barr press release on the case and the LA Times coverage.

Much has been argued on both sides of the recent Georgian - Russian conflict. Over at a favorite read of mine Antiwar.com Justin Raimondo calls great attention to the fact that Georgia attacked South Ossetia first. He also points out that Georgian President Saakashvili didn’t exactly come to power democratically no matter what is said on the matter. He is the foil for the current anti-Russian “narrative” from the main stream media in the US.

Both the Russians and Georgians make “information warfare” claims of each other. It seems to me both of their claims are true. Georgia attacked South Ossetia for their goal of independence. Russia used that attack as an excuse to wage all out war with Georgia. A curious interview occurred on the FOX News channel where a 12 year old girl (and her mother) both had harsh words for Georgia for bombing South Ossetia. It was almost as if Vladimir Putin himself controlled puppet strings attached to the girl and her mother. The truth we may never know, but it is a perfect example of the word warfare inherent in this conflict.

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Over at NolanChart.com, Walt Thiessen has written a critical article on Bob Barr’s Libertarian campaign for President.  It is a negative article that I, unfortunately, mostly agree with.  Thiessen makes three major points:

1. Although some polls put Bob Barr in the 6% range in June, all polls now put him in the 1-2% range.
2. Measuring up to Ron Paul’s, Barr’s fundraising is comparatively non-existent.
3. Barr has “failed to win over the party faithful”, and has failed to adequately explain his support of unconstitutional bills in his past.

I agree with him on the first 2½ points, but when he and other people continue to say that Bob Barr has done nothing to alleviate the concerns of those who question his part, I strongly disagree.  In every interview I’ve seen where people question his past support for the Patriot Act, the Drug War, etc., he has admitted his mistake, and explained how he seen the light and actually worked hard to reverse these things.  What else can the man do?  Only time will tell whether or not he is sincere or just being political expedient, but that’s not part of this argument.  Bob has worked tirelessly for the past 5 years against the Patriot Act and it’s successors, FISA, and has even joined up with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Marijuana Policy Project in support of medicinal drug use.  What else can the man do to alleviate concerns? If you simply choose not to trust him, that’s one thing.  But to say that he’s done nothing is simply ludicrous.

Thiessen concludes by predicting Barr will get less votes in November than Badnarik’s 397,000 in 2004, which I feel is quite astonishing.  I certainly hope this won’t be the case.

Read the article at NolanChart.com here.

Doug Wead will be speaking at Ron Paul’s Rally For The Republic. He was a special assistant to President George H. W. Bush. He is writing a series of stories in his blog related to Ron Paul leading up to the rally. All of them are wonderful. The August 10th entry is entitled, “Ron Paul: The Prophet“. In it Wead is astounded that someone in the House Of Representatives was prophetic regarding the events of September 11th a full year before it occurred.

So it comes as a bit of shock to encounter an honest thinker, and one in government!  And to find one in the United States House of Representatives, where the members are perpetually politicking for re-election, is astounding.

But listen to this. Fully a year before the events of September 11, 2001, Ron Paul expressed his alarm at American foreign policy arrogance, particularly how it was increasingly seen in Islamic countries.

“The cost in terms of liberties lost and the unnecessary exposure to terrorism are difficult to determine, but in time it will become apparent to all of us that foreign interventionism is of no benefit to American citizens, but is instead a threat to our liberties.”  - Ron Paul (spoken in the year 2000.)

He followed this up with his August 12th article, “You’re Next: Ron Paul’s warning“.

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Operation Brimstone and the Georgian War may combine to form WWIII. The Dogs of War are running amok. Do you care?

Originally published on August 12, 2008 by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution at http://www.nolanchart.com/article4481.html

Dan Alba’s latest “‘Russia v. Georgia’ and the Media Spin Machine” did a great job exposing the American media spin on our world’s newest war in South Ossetia started by Georgia (not to be confused with the state with the tasty peaches). In this article I want to warn again of war with Iran, and of a possible WWIII and nuclear holocaust.

[Simultaneously, despite wars continuing or starting up in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Georgia region, today in Beijing our fearless leader and alleged murderer George W. Bush was videotaped relaxing, laughing, hugging, and slapping the bodacious bottoms of two lovely bikini-clad beach volleyball players from California.]

In July, I highlighted that House Concurrent Resolution 362 would enable war against Iran in the form of a total air, sea, and land blockade.  This bill passed the House and is now in the Senate as Senate Resolution 580, with 32 co-sponsors.  For those who would say such a blockade is NOT an act of war I remind you of the Union naval blockade of the South in the War of Succession, and the British blockades during the War of 1812, which led to the burning of Washington DC in 1814.

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Today’s article at the Ludwig von Mises Institute , written by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., discusses the tragic even 75 years ago during the Great Depression, thought it would be a good and proper thing to confiscate all monetary gold from American citizens.

It’s been 75 years since the federal government, on the spurious grounds of fighting the Great Depression, ordered the confiscation of all monetary gold from Americans, permitting trivial amounts for ornamental or industrial use. This happens to be one of the episodes Kevin Gutzman and I describe in detail in our new book, Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush. From the point of view of the typical American classroom, on the other hand, the incident may as well not have occurred.

A key piece of legislation in this story is the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, which Congress passed on March 9 without having read it and after only the most trivial debate. House Minority Leader Bertrand H. Snell (R-NY) generously conceded that it was “entirely out of the ordinary” to pass legislation that “is not even in print at the time it is offered.” He urged his colleagues to pass it all the same: “The house is burning down, and the President of the United States says this is the way to put out the fire. [Applause.] And to me at this time there is only one answer to this question, and that is to give the President what he demands and says is necessary to meet the situation.”

Continue reading the article here.

Today I received a message from the Maryland Libertarian Party asking for help getting Bob Barr on the ballot on Washington, DC.  If anyone can help out, please do:

Greetings fellow friends of liberty,

The situation in DC is dire. We only have eight days left to put Barr
on the DC ballot. We desperately need volunteers (even non-DC
residents can accompany us to collect signatures) and money to hire
paid professional petitioners to supplement our efforts. If we don’t
raise some quick cash the only candidates on the DC ballot will be
Obama, McCain, McKinney and, I think, the Socialist Workers Party
candidate–and possibly Nader who is also circulating them.

A chip-in is being set up now.

Also, Nancy is having another of her famous rooftop fundraising
parties on Saturday night!

We’re trying to get Bob Barr, Dick Heller–yes, THAT Dick Heller–as
delegate to Congress against Eleanor Holmes Norton (who will otherwise
be unopposed again) and former Ron Paul delegate candidate Damien Ober
for shadow senator all on the ballot in DC.

If we get them on the ballot and get 7500 in a race (as certainly
Heller would–the DC GOP is supporting him as an LP candidate!), then
the LP gets “major party” status!

Please bump our thread on RonPaulForums too:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=149988

Cheers,

Bradley
DCforHeller@gmail.com

Andrew Panken
240-498-4045