Quote of the Day: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — William Shakespeare
Subject: Not your usual post-election commentary
The media describes every election as historic, the most important in a generation, etc. When the voting is done they tell us a new era has dawned, that things will change, that nothing will ever be the same, blah, blah, blah.
One aspect of these claims is true, this time. It is both historic and meaningful that the United States has elected its first African-American president. We applaud and celebrate this. We think the significance of this event transcends mere symbolism. Otherwise, the election was what all other elections have been . . .
” . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Can we support this harsh assessment? Consider . . .
The election thoroughly repudiated the Republican Party. They lost the White House in a landslide, and got clobbered in Congressional races. We might assume from this, if elections really produced change, that many Republican policies of the last eight years will be reversed. We predict that almost none of them will be.
Today’s economic woes have overshadowed it, but the REAL ID Act is still a reality. And it’s still a danger to our privacy rights. Hillary Grachen over at Freedom Works spells out some of the real dangers of the REAL ID Act:
While one likes to assume that the government would never use this power for anything but good, we must remember that the government is composed of human beings. Melanie Scarborough writes on examiner.com that, “Perhaps the most alarming aspect of Real ID is that it transfers to the government ultimate control over citizens’ movements. The ID card of a citizen not in good standing could have a hold put on it, just like a credit card can. If your ID card is declined, you will be unable to travel, access your money, get a job, enter buildings, or go about the basic routines of life until you have restored favor with your government.” The government constantly justifies its over-controlling behavior with reasons such as security and thus it is easy for anyone to see how quickly our rights to privacy will disappear.
When I heard William “BJ” Lawson speak for the first time in person I said to myself, “This is the Ron Paul Republican who can win”. Then I checked out his opponent David Price and immediately thought, “I know Lawson can win.” At first glance, the problem is the heavily Democratic North Carolina district he is in, but if you dig a bit deeper, Lawson is the perfect candidate for a district of this kind. He is not your normal present day Republican. Lawson has the ability to attract those on all sides of the political spectrum much like Ron Paul did during his own campaign.
Below you will discover the Liberty Maven rankings for BJ Lawson on the Paul-O-Meter, where candidates and current lawmakers can be rated on how closely they are in line with Dr. Ron Paul on the issues. To learn about the Paul-O-Meter methodology please see this article. You may also assign your own rankings or request a candidate be added to the system.
Continue reading to see if BJ Lawson truly deserves the moniker “Ron Paul Jr.”
It is now time to rate the vice presidential candidates on the Paul-O-Meter. We start with John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin. The perfect strategic pick for McCain, Palin has little history. She’s been Governor of Alaska for less than two years, but now that McCain’s handlers are pulling Palin’s puppet strings it is difficult to see a difference between the two.
Here we examine Palin on 20 issues to see how she stacks up to Ron Paul. Hopefully this will help some see the lips through the lipstick.
“I was very protective as governor of my prerogatives in the federal system. One thing I never liked from the federal government were unfunded mandates, or the federal government telling me how to run Pennsylvania.” - Tom Ridge
SUBJECT: Real ID, Expensive and Unnecessary
The remarks above, by then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, were made in September, 2004. They seemed to rule out something like Real ID. But Ridge did go on to say that he was working with governors to develop some “basic standards” for drivers’ licenses, and that he wanted uniform identification for workers in security-sensitive fields.
But the drift of his comments suggested a collaborative process, not an unfunded mandate.
Ridge retired from public service shortly thereafter and was replaced by Michael Chertoff, co-author of the Patriot Act. The following May, the REAL ID Act was attached to a “must-pass” Iraq bill, and passed without debate.
John McCain continues his expertise in politics with the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. He also continues his quite Bill Clinton-like “wherever the wind blows” stances on policy. I don’t understand how John McCain can argue for his VP selection with a straight face when he says that she “can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for people who are counting on us.” McCain has been working in Washington for almost 30 years. He is partly responsible for the broken Washington he himself, and now Palin, aims to fix. The hypocrisy is rampant. Sarah Palin is nothing more than a pretty political puppet for McCain’s politics as usual.
McCain and his expert campaigners have selected someone who the Ron Paul faithful singled out as a potential running mate for Dr. Paul should he magically win the GOP nomination. She has a great conservative record of cutting spending and demanding ethics in government although she is no stranger to alleged ethics violations herself. She is greatly similar to McCain in that light. McCain was part of the Keating 5 Savings and Loan scandal in the 1980’s. He seems to have an expertise in getting people to ignore such things by championing reform of the very things he’s accused of abusing. Palin has a much shorter history of such things, but she has “welcomed the investigation” of herself after being accused of similar nepotism.
On the policy front there are decidedly non-McCain-like Palin positions. She is a very strong proponent of drilling in Alaska, while McCain is still clinging on the protection of ANWR. She has spoken out against “cap and trade” while McCain has made it a key element of his platform. When the Alaskan legislature voted to not fund the implementation of REAL ID Act, Governor Palin acquiesced by not vetoing nor signing the bill. The effect being that Alaska has now rejected the federally mandated REAL ID. The ACLU even praised Palin for her inaction. McCain is a vocal supporter of REAL ID and an assortment of federal legislation that pretends there is no 10th amendment to the Constitution.
This afternoon WashingtonPost.com had a Q&A session with Bob Barr. I found it somewhat annoying that he didn’t answer all the questions (or they weren’t included in the transcript) when someone asked a two- or three-part question, but nonetheless it could serve well for those not too familiar with Bob Barr. Oh, and the closet Libertarian purist in me cringed when he called for “some form of a consumption type tax” in lieu of the IRS and payroll deductions.
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:
Although some polls put Bob Barr in the 6% range in June, all polls now put him in the 1-2% range.
Measuring up to Ron Paul’s, Barr’s fundraising is comparatively non-existent.
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.
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
– attributed to Edmund Burke
Subject: We got a big response on the REAL ID campaign — it points the way to the future
Our message yesterday about the exchange between Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff and Governor Schweitzer of Montana got a big response. So many DC Downsizers tried to take action all at once that it overwhelmed our website. Some people had trouble sending messages as a result. We’ve fixed part of the problem, and our capacity is about to get better as we install our new servers.
This is a good problem to have. Thank you to everyone who took action yesterday.
The fight against the REAL ID Act points the way to the future. It used to be that the American people just rolled over and submitted every time Congress passed a bad law. No more. Now the American people are fighting back.
We must do the same thing with regard to the vote on the FISA warrantless spying bill that we lost recently. Congress may think the issue is settled, but we must make sure that it is not settled.
We are in negotiations with our coalition allies about the best strategy for overturning the warrantless spying law. Many of our allies are already taking action on the legal front, preparing to mount lawsuits. But there will be a grassroots strategy too.
We’re pushing the idea that we ought to pursue a broad-based legislative attack on all aspects of the Bush-era assault on the Constitution. We have a perfect vehicle to use for this approach, Congressman Ron Paul’s “American Freedom Agenda Act.” This bill was created by a number of progressive and conservative organizations and introduced by Ron Paul. This bill would . . .
* Repeal the “Military Commissions Act of 2006” and thereby restore the ancient right of habeas corpus and end legally sanctioned torture by U.S. government agents
* Restore the ”Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” (FISA) and thereby outlaw warrantless spying on American citizens by the President of the United States
* Give Congress standing in court to challenge the President’s use of “signing statements” as a means to avoid executing the nation’s laws
* Make it illegal for government agents to kidnap people and send them abroad to be tortured by foreign governments
* Provide legal protection to journalists who expose wrong-doing by the Federal government
* Prohibit the use of secret evidence to label groups or individuals as terrorists for the purpose of criminal or civil sanctions
We’re contemplating a number of new tactics to push this bill forward. These tactics would serve to put Congress on the spot, much as Governor Schweitzer put Secretary Chertoff on the spot. But the first step is to start a steady drumbeat of messages hammering members of Congress to become co-sponsors of the “American Freedom Agenda Act.”
Please start that drumbeat today, by sending your elected representatives a message. You can do that here.
Please also consider making a contribution to further our work. You can do that here.
Thank you for being a part of our growing Downsize DC army.
Liberty Maven
