In 2005 Judge Andrew Napolitano gave an interview to Reason Magazine’s Nick Gillespie promoting his new book (at the time) “Constitutional Chaos“. In the interview he outlines the progression of liberty lost in America.
His explanation demonstrates the incremental steps taking us from freedom towards tyranny. The next time someone attempts to argue with you about having to sacrifice liberty for safety point them to this interview.
Reason: What’s your case against the USA PATRIOT Act?
Napolitano: Let’s put aside all of the procedural problems with enacting it. Forget about the fact that there was no debate. Forget about the fact that most members of Congress didn’t even have an opportunity to read it. It is a direct assault on at least three amendments to the Constitution: the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment. The PATRIOT Act legitimates the notion that if we give up certain freedoms, the government will keep us safer. I reject that notion from a moral and legal point of view. I also reject it from a practical point of view. It doesn’t work. The government doesn’t need our freedoms to keep us safer. No one–no lawyer, judge, or historian–can point to a single incident in American history where national security was impaired because someone insisted on their right to free speech or their right to privacy or their right to due process.
The PATRIOT Act encourages what the government calls “national security letters”–basically, self-written search warrants. It violates the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits self-written search warrants. The PATRIOT Act and two of its predecessors, the Foreign Intelligence Security Act of 1977 [FISA] and the Electronic Privacy Act of 1986, authorized the government to obtain search warrants by bypassing [longstanding tradition in] the courts. Today an FBI agent investigating a person need only satisfy her or himself that the person under investigation is a threat to national security. The agent doesn’t have to demonstrate evidence to a judge.
The Judge can authoritatively articulate our loss of liberty better than anyone and that includes Ron Paul. It is a shame he is beholden to FOX News and cannot show bias about candidates he supports. It is pretty obvious that he is a Ron Paul supporter after his rousing introduction of Ron Paul last year, calling him the “Thomas Jefferson of our day”.
He deserves a medal for doing his radio show along side neocon torture supporter and warmonger Brian Kilmeade without choking him.
Bob Barr appeared on FOX News yesterday with Neil Cavuto and discussed the Georgian conflict, his spoiler role (of course), and debate access. Once again Barr gets the libertarian message out there. It is a bit of wishful thinking on his part about getting access to the debates, but it is something that must be pursued no matter how unlikely it is to happen. Watch the interview below.
This morning Bob Barr appeared on CNN “American Morning” and discussed his attempts to get into the Saddleback Church’s Presidential forum last Saturday evening. The interviewer asks him some of the same questions. Barr doesn’t disappoint. He promotes the ideas of small government libertarian ideas with the best of them. Check out the 4+ minute video below.
Andrew Bacevich is interviewed by Bill Moyers and you need to see this. Bacevich goes deeper than the “war for oil” argument. He touches on many topics related to the American foreign policy of empire. He is promoting his new book “The Limits Of Power: The End Of American Exceptionalism“.
Take some time and watch this compelling interview and spread it around to others. Don’t just ignore this please. Watch it. You need to see it. Everyone does.
In the latest press release from the Bob Barr campaign Barr minces no words in condemning the call by the Bush administration and others on Capitol Hill to send an expensive aid package to Georgia to help them rebuild after their hostilities with Russia.
“The Bush administration is talking about pumping aid into the damaged Georgian economy, after that nation’s short war with Russia,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. “The conflict between Georgia and Russia was tragic, but it’s time officials in Washington stopped treating the Treasury Department like an ATM for the world. The deficit rose last month after Uncle Sam had to bail out several failed banks and the total federal deficit this year is going to run about $400 billion. It’s time to say enough!”
“The U.S. spent $21 billion on foreign aid last year, not counting money for Iraq,” explains Barr. “Over the years Washington has shipped hundreds of billions of dollars overseas, with much of it wasted. The Third World remains poor, only with a larger debt. Indeed, U.S. aid programs often subsidized socialist and undemocratic regimes.”
“The Saakashvili government in Georgia made a foolish mistake by initiating hostilities in its breakaway province of South Ossetia,” notes Barr. “American taxpayers should not have to pay for that mistake. After all, they already are paying $10 billion a month for the administration’s mistaken invasion and occupation of Iraq. They cannot afford to pay the price for other people’s wars as well,” says Barr.
“Instead of increasing foreign aid, the U.S. government needs to cut the amount of taxpayer money that it sends overseas,” insists Barr. “Most important, it is time to start saying no more. No more international welfare clients. No more foreign governments treating America as a cash cow. We need to put our own fiscal house in order rather than constantly bail out irresponsible governments around the world.”
It is comforting to know that Barr is quick to point out what the press and the Bush administration seem to want to sweep under the rug: Georgia instigated this conflict. Even if the Russian response was disproportionate that fact remains.
Isaac M. Morehouse posted an article over at the Ludwig von Mises Institute discussing the fallacious argument that the government can “create jobs” with expensive programs, in the sense that these programs create wealth:
State projects may create jobs, but the proper question is, do they create wealth? The state could easily reduce Michigan’s unemployment to 0% by mandating that every unemployed citizen shovel dirt on some state project without pay. Employment alone is not a good indicator of economic success; overall wealth is. Even if state spending can “create jobs,” creating jobs alone does nothing for our state’s overall prosperity or standard of living.
The question then becomes, do state projects, as the ad claimed, “boost our economy”? The answer is no.
Change the political environment. Recruit more DC Downsizers. Share this message with others.
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
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.
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.
Much has been argued on both sides of the recent Georgian - Russian conflict. Over at a favorite read of mine Antiwar.comJustin 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.
Liberty Maven
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