Topic: Ron Paul
Battle lost, but not the war The battle to put Ron Paul in the White House may appear to be lost, but the war to reassert Constitutional government has just begun. What are the options for the Revolution's immediate and long-term counterattacks?by USAF Vet Dan
(Libertarian)
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Success or failure?
When you look at the big picture, Ron Paul's presidential candidacy is liberty's biggest victory of the past 100 years. Issues that were previously relegated to backroom whispers were brought into the forefront of public discussion. Hundreds of thousands of eyes were opened to issues like the Federal Reserve fraud and the abandonment of the Constitution on countless levels. Ron Paul sparked the Revolution and his presidential candidacy was the first shot fired in the war to reassert a lawful federal government. In the process of "containing" Ron Paul's candidacy, the main stream media was forced to show their hand by their blatant manipulation of a presidential election. Even people who didn't jump on the Revolution's bandwagon recognized this appalling action. The MSM's collusion with the elite puppet masters has been exposed. From now on, it's a completely different ballgame. America will be forever in Ron Paul's debt for accomplishing that which many never dreamed was possible.
How can anybody call that a failure?!?! Sure, it would have been wonderful if Dr. Paul were the next occupant of the White House. But now a true revolution has begun. The questions are what direction will it take and what specific counterattacks are up for consideration.
Who to vote for in the general election?
As I see it, there are only two options. The first is to vote for Ron Paul as a write-in candidate. While it is safe to assume that this will not result in the inauguration of President Paul, it would serve to send a message to the world that the Revolution has only begun. Beyond that, I cannot see any advantages.
The other option is to vote for a third party candidate. For many reasons, the logical choice would be the Libertarian Party candidate. The Libertarian Party is, by far, the best established third party in America. They have consistently secured ballot access in more states, put more of their candidates in office, and arguably have more public recognition than any other third party. Additionally, their platform generally is the closest to Ron Paul's platform. A vote for the Libertarian Presidential candidate would make essentially the same "revolutionary" statement as a write-in vote for Ron Paul. Beyond this is the intrinsic benefit of bolstering this third party's future ballot access. In many states, ballot access requirements are linked to past electoral performance. The more votes they get, the easier it is to get on future ballots.
I hope that Ron Paul, when the time is right, will encourage one of these two options so that members of the Revolution will stand as one. In the absence of such encouragement or future developments (i.e., Boom Boom McCain choking on a carrot), I intend to promote the Libertarian candidate.
Beyond the vote
There are many effective strategies that can be used to win the war. While I pray that Ron Paul will continue to lead the Revolution, in his absence, the decentralized activists will make their own decisions and "the cream will rise to the top". I'm sure there are more good strategies than I'll describe, but the following are what I see as having the most merit.
Sew the seeds of liberty
The more of "us" that there are, the more effective we will be in pursuing our goals. Regardless of which strategy(ies) we employ, we should continue to attend MeetUp groups, house meetings, anything to help continue the process of educating our fellow Americans. This also helps us to organize which is essential if we are to achieve our goals. This ties into the next strategy on my list.
Expose bad legislation
We need to form organized teams to review pending federal legislation and ferret out hidden provisions that usurp our Constitutional liberties. Once identified, action alerts need to be issued throughout the ad hoc organization to expose the provisions and trigger phone blitzes to defeat the bad legislation. Publicizing this information in local news papers, radio talk shows, etc., will help spread the word as well as wake up more Americans about the Constitutional crisis that exists in our country.
The inversion of the power triangle.
As intended by the founders of our nation, the People possessed the most power. Beneath them were the states, and at the bottom was the federal government. Beginning with the passage of the 17th Amendment almost 100 years ago, this power triangle was inverted. Prior to the 17th Amendment, senators were appointed by the states as opposed to being elected by the popular vote. This provided for a stratified system of governance whereby the People were represented by the House of Representatives, the states were represented by the Senate, and the federal government was represented by the Executive Branch. Many (including myself) contend that the 16th and 17th Amendments, along with the Federal Reserve Act, were related. And so was the beginning of the loss of our liberty.
A repeal of the 17th Amendment would be helpful but only in conjunction with the next strategies. However we must, at all costs, avoid amendment via constitutional convention lest we lose our Constitution in the process.
Government from the bottom up
It goes without saying that we should develop and support Constitutionist candidates who can join Congressman Paul in turning the tide at the federal level. But since the strangle hold that the elite machine has on the top of this inverted power triangle diminishes rapidly at the state level, and even more so at the local level, we need to slate candidates for these positions as well. At these levels of government, it is much easier to elect honest statesmen who respect the Constitution. But how can electing a state senator or county board chairman stem the lawlessness of the federal government? There are a number of ways but one seems to offer more promise than any other strategy discussed thus far.
10th Amendment Resolution / Act
Back in the 1990's, an activist partner and I (via our organization, the Council on Domestic Relations) started the 10th Amendment Resolution / Act movement. The resolution was passed in 26 states. Let me explain with a little background.
Some of you are old enough to remember the federal requirement for a 55 mph speed limit (imposed after the Arab oil embargo in the 70's). Some years later, states like Arizona, Montana, and a few others with long, barren interstate highways, decided to raise their speed limits. The Feds responded with, "if you do, we'll withhold your federal highway funds". Whose funds? In essence, we gave them our tax dollars only to have them dole them back to us with their restrictions. Why not keep those funds at the state level and dole them to the federal government with the states' restrictions instead? That was the birth of the idea and the movement. Here's how it works.
Passing the resolution is the states' way to put the federal government on notice that they are in violation of the Constitution. The intrinsic value was embodied in the philosophy that "by the inch, it's a cinch... and by the yard, it's hard". The Resolution is much easier to pass than the Act because it has no force of law. It starts the momentum required to get the Act passed which is the next step. We never got that far as we ran out of money. "Patriots" were not so numerous back then!
This Act requires that all federal tax payments (income, excise, etc.) have to be paid into that state's federal tax escrow account. The taxpayer is in the clear because of the state law and because virtually everyone in the state will be complying. The federal government could not put the entire state population in jail!
A copy of the Resolution can be seen here. Back then, one of our "partners in crime" was Colorado State Senator Charles Duke. He wrote an overview on how to implement the Resolution.
When our efforts started to become successful, the neocons stood up and took notice. They tried to derail our efforts by starting up a bastardized "me, too" version of the Resolution. They enlisted the services of Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and Nebraska Governor Ben Nelson to push for a Conference of States (COS) under the guise of reasserting state's rights. You can read a bit about that here. It was interesting that, as soon as we ran out of money and had to abandon our pursuit of this strategy, the COS effort stopped as well.
I believe the time is right to reactivate this effort. Never have there been as many Americans who desire a return to Constitutional government. This is a strategy the Paulites can sink their teeth into.
Come Hell or high water
I'll resist the urge to give one of my "rah rah" speeches but it is only appropriate to end this article with a firm affirmation that giving up is not an option. We have a better chance today than ever to win this war. As you can see by the strategies I've suggested, it will take a lot of time, effort, and money to achieve ultimate victory. But nothing less than victory is acceptable. And the cost of this victory is minor in comparison to the sacrifices of life and fortune made by our forefathers.
If you think these ideas have merit, then I encourage you to post a link to this article wherever possible. Now is the time to coalesce the forces of the Revolution lest they fragment and fade into the pages of Liberty's history.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of USAF Vet Dan only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. USAF Vet Dan is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
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Liberal media wants McCain to win the GOP nomination.
They know he can’t beat Obama or Clinton. Especially not combined. And Huckabee is unelectable on the coasts…so a McCain/Huckabee ticket kills the GOP. Gleeful MSM reporters, everywhere!
LOL!
Dr. Paul is strategically consistent with his philosophy:
1. Lean, mean government, matched to the task at hand — ditto for this campaign. 2. We the people must ultimately choose our leader — the burden is on our shoulders, as it has always been. 3. He espouses a limited form of government (ground up) — so why would we look to campaign headquarters for direction (top down)?
If we want liberty, it is incumbent upon us to act. Freedom equals personal responsibility.
4. Think how much press Dr. Paul’s “What a year this has been…” just bought him: punched right through the media blackout. Suckers. 5. This is our opportunity to reach out to Romney & Huckabee supporters — with respect and friendliness — and encourage them to join us… 6. Reach out through your nodes of influence over the next few months and EDUCATE people in your sphere. We can burn and distribute our own damn DVDs. It’s not headquarters’ responsibility. Plenty of material on YouTube. 7. I look forward to Dr. Paul in any future debates with Reps or Dems. Heh. 8. At some point GOP strategists will realize they are fighting a losing battle without Dr. Paul — without us — because (unlike Donald Luskin) my vote can’t be bought.
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