Todd Hatfield Announces Campaign

I am pleased to let you know that I have announced my candidacy for the Idaho State Controller. I started my campaign Saturday at the Valley County Lincoln Days and Boise County's as well. I will be on the Lincoln Day circuit in your area also. My campaign encompasses the following: Your life - in defense of Life, Liberty and Property. Your future - regarding small business and the use of Idaho's natural resources to get Idaho "producing" once again. The Controller has an important seat on the Land Board, which affects such areas as grazing leases being usurped by special interest groups - this may take a Constitutional Amendment to protect the livelihood of ranchers. And, your money - putting the checkbook online because, after all, it's the people's money! I know that several of you have been working on this already and I would appreciate your input.

My background: I have an Accounting Degree, and have been a self employed, small business owner for 25 years. The last dozen as a Handcrafted Log Home builder, in McCall. My experience in logging and a good knowledge of the Department of Lands makes an easy fit for this Office. Recent Civic involvement has been achieved through 6 years on the Valley County Planning and Zoning (last 2 years served as Chairman). I was elected Precinct Committeeman in the last election cycle. In addition, I have completed a research project on Agenda 21 and how it is being implemented in Idaho.

My wife, Maureen has dedicated herself to my election as Campaign Manager. You may contact myself or Maureen at this address with any information that can be helpful regarding issues, helping with my campaign, scheduling speaking engagements, building a web page, fund raising, voter ID in your area, etc. I am not taking this lightly and with your help I know I can be elected by the citizens of Idaho. My work schedule has been rearranged so that I can campaign in earnest. My eldest son is an Infantryman with the 5th Stryker Brigade out of Ft. Lewis, WA. He has his boots on the ground in a foreign land, in thanksgiving for the sacrifices his grandfather and others have made to America. I am putting my boots to the pavement to do what I can for this great land we inherited.

I hope you will enthusiastically support my campaign.

Sincerely Todd Hatfield
208-634-0029

Call your Senator NOW!!

Today President Obama released his version of the Health Care bill to be debated in the televised meeting on Thursday. He has invited republicans to the meeting and the document claims that it incorporates several of the republican ideas.

Yet somehow it costs $200,000,000,000.00 more than the senate bill that cost about $200,000,000,000.00 more than the house bill. Now the bill is well over $1,000,000,000,000.00. Hopefully there will be no more revisiting of the bill or soon it will cost more money than ever existed.

It is very important to call your senator now and make sure they understand that voting for the Idaho Health Care Freedom act. The President and his cronies have essentially said they will pass health care one way or the other and the only way to protect ourselves from federal intrusion into our health care decisions is for the Idaho Senate to pass the health care freedom act and for the governor to sign it into law.

Rep. Hart’s Illegal Immigration Bill Dies in House State Affairs

BOISE - In a one hour Thursday morning hearing, the House State Affairs Committee heard testimony on House Bill 497 which would penalize businesses that employ illegal aliens. The bill was patterned after legislation first passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2007. Immediately upon passage, the Phoenix business community sued the state of Arizona over passage of the measure in Federal court. In 2008, the law was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The authority for the legislation comes from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, when Congress created an exception where states could deal with the employment of illegal aliens by denying business licenses to those employers who hire the illegals. According to Rep. Phil Hart, “This is a federal issue, but the feds have allowed states this narrow area of jurisdiction. And because we have a serious problem with illegals (aliens) in Idaho, I believe we need to use every tool that is available to us.”

The legislation took a three strikes you’re out approach. A business that was determined to “knowingly employ an unauthorized alien” would receive a warning. If a second violation occurred within a three year period, any business license could be suspended for up to ten days. And for a third violation in a three year period, any business license could be suspended for up to one year.

“We tried to balance the need to solve our illegal alien problem by removing the magnet of jobs that draws people to Idaho who are here illegally, while at the same time not being so punitive that we are closing down businesses,” said Rep. Hart.

Representative Lynn Luker of Boise made a motion to remove the employment and business license provisions out of the bill, leaving only the part of the bill that dealt with manufacturing and using false identification. That motion died on a 6 to 11 vote. Then Rep. Ken Andrus, a rancher from of Lava Hot Springs, made a motion that successfully killed the bill.

For the third time in three years, similar legislation brought by Rep. Hart has failed to advance out of committee. However, in addition to Arizona, Missouri and South Carolina have enacted similar legislation.

• House Bill 497
• Rep. Ken Andrus
• Rep. Lynn Luker
• Rep. Phil Hart

Home Birth Freedom Ends July 1st Unless We Act Now

The mandatory midwifery licensure law passed in the last legislative session goes into effect July 1, 2010, and is causing at least 22% of midwives to go under (mostly traditional midwives).

** Many Idaho families will lose access to a low-cost home birth with a traditional midwife.
** Many parts of Idaho, especially rural areas, will be left without any practicing midwives.

Representative Pete Nielsen is introducing legislation (RS165) to amend the new mandatory midwifery licensure law to make it a voluntary licensure, which will allow traditional midwives to practice as they always have - without drugs and without government regulations. RS165 will restore to the families of Idaho the freedom to choose the best maternity care for their unique circumstances.

RS165 will have an initial hearing in the House State Affairs Committee on Monday, February 22nd in room EW40 at 9:00am. The committee will decide if RS165 should become a bill and have a public hearing.

No public testimony is allowed at this initial hearing, but if a lot of people show up, it shows there is interest in this legislation. If you can only make it to Boise once, come to the public hearing when testimony is allowed at a later date.

ACTION ALERT

1. We need to bombard the entire House State Affairs Committee with emails asking them to support voluntary licensure. Be sure to include your name and Idaho address. You can copy and paste all the members' email addresses into one email:

tloertscher@house.idaho.gov, eanderso@house.idaho.gov, jstevens@house.idaho.gov, mblack@house.idaho.gov, kandrus@house.idaho.gov, cbilbao@house.idaho.gov, rlabrador@house.idaho.gov, lluker@house.idaho.gov, bcrane@house.idaho.gov, rmathews@house.idaho.gov, skren@house.idaho.gov, esimpson@house.idaho.gov, jpalmer@house.idaho.gov, mshepher@house.idaho.gov, esmith@house.idaho.gov, aps@house.idaho.gov, pking@house.idaho.gov, ehiggins@house.idaho.gov

2. We also need to email our own legislators again in both the House and Senate, encouraging them to save traditional midwifery. Every email counts! Always include your name and mailing address.

Who are My Legislators?
How to Contact My Legislators?

3. Please forward this action alert out to all your friends, family, and any groups or organizations you are a part of.

A Midwifery Report is available for more talking points; an easier-to-read version opens when you click print.

For freedom,

Mirelle Stevens, consumer of midwifery
mirellestevens@yahoo.com
(208) 478-8683

We Are Making Progress

Today the Health Care Freedom Bill cleared another hurdle in Boise by passing out of the Senate committee. It now will go to the floor of the Senate for passage. Call or e-mail your Senators and especially Pro Tem Geddes and insist he place this important bill on the Senate calender for passage. We are making a lot of progress on our legislative agenda this year.

Representative Dick Harwood has successfully introduced the Idaho Firearms Freedom Act" into the house.Please e-mail Rep. Harwood and thank him then e-mail or call your representative to have them pass this important piece of legislation also.

Both of these bills may face constitutional challenges from the Federal Government and the state has allotted $240,000.00 in anticipation the federal government telling us we are being bad children. If and when this happens we need to have our dialing fingers ready to put the pressure on Attorney General Wasden to make sure he presses the courts to make the correct decision.

Both of these measures are first steps in regaining our rights as a sovereign state and liberating the citizens of Idaho from Federal dominance.

We have many battles ahead in the years to come but we are making progress. Stay with us and we will be able to get control of our country again. Lets get ready for the 2010 election and make sure we get good constitutional candidates on the ballots at all levels of government. If you can get your name on the ballot for a precinct position in your county and get involved in the local party.

Keep checking back for further updates and keep the faith.

MoneyBomb for Liberty Candidates on Wednesday, Feb. 17 with Idaho's Chick Heileson

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Consider Giving a Gift to Advance Liberty on February 17

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The multi-candidate MoneyBomb is the next step in harnessing the power of the liberty grassroots on the Internet. As you know, a MoneyBomb is where concerned Americans come together on the Internet on a single day to give to their favorite candidate or cause.

On Wednesday, February 17 your friends at LibertySlate.com will be hosting a MoneyBomb for select Liberty Candidates for Congress. These candidates are our best hope to take back our country in 2010, so your most generous gift on February 17 will help them tremendously.

You can learn more about our slate of candidates at http://libertyslate.com/. The MoneyBomb website is http://libertyslatemoneybomb.com/.

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The best way we can have an impact on Washington D.C. from Idaho is by sending a champion of the Constitution to represent us in Congress. http://votechick.com/

Anyone who has been paying attention knows that our current congressman is a Big Government Republican, in spite of his rhetoric during an election year. He voted for the Bankster Bailout and a host of other irresponsible and unconstitutional legislation.
 

http://votechick.com/getinvolved.html

The Untold History of Nullification: Resisting Slavery

by Derek Sheriff

Last December, when Tennessee Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, said she would introduce legislation which would declare null and void any federal law the state deems unconstitutional, some people were horrified. Rep. Lynn was specifically targeting the health-care reform legislation that was pending at that time. But the reaction that many people had to her language was not an expression of their support for Obamacare.

Too many Americans hear the terms “states’ rights” or the word “nullification” and immediately think of racial prejudice, Jim Crow laws and school segregation. Honestly, if all I had to rely on was what I remember being taught in public school, I would probably tell you the history of it all went like this:

The theory of nullification was first invented in the 1800s’ by advocates of slavery. They used nullification of tarrifs as a test run in the 1820s. Of course, what they really had in mind was maintaining the institution of slavery against any possible attempt by the federal government to abolish it. Then America fought the Civil War in order to end slavery, but the ideas of states’ rights and nullification were later revived in the 1950s’ by belligerent white southerners in an attempt to block the racial integration of schools. The Civil Rights Movement started and the feds had to step in and force the southern states to treat everyone equally. THE END.

That’s a rough, abbreviated version of the narrative that was handed to me, but it gives you an idea of what many Americans think they know about states’ rights and nullification. Fortunately, thanks to people like Tom Woods, Thomas DiLorenzo, and many others, I know today that this was a gross misrepresentation of the classical liberal states’ rights tradition. Then again, (and it’s not my intention to be prideful here), I’m not like most Americans. And If you’re reading this, you probably aren’t either.

Civic Illiteracy

In 1798, Jefferson and Madison articulated the concepts of nullification and interposition in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which were passed in response to to the hated Alien and Sedition Acts. But the ideas which support nullification and interposition were actually expressed earlier during the ratifying convention of Virginia by the Federalists themselves!

Given the fact, however, that most Americans cannot even correctly name all three branches of our federal government, it’s probably a safe bet that they have never heard of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions or the fact that nullification was used to assist runaway slaves.

So should it really come as any surprise that many people in Tennessee recoiled in horror at Rep. Susan Lynn’s comments about nullification? Rep. Mike Turner of Tennessee’s 51st District responded with a sarcastic and condescending comment that probably expressed the sentiment of many Tennessee’s left-liberal elites:

“Susan Lynn is yearning for times gone by,” Turner said. “Maybe we could put the poor people back to sharecropping and slavery and let the people up at the big house have all the nice things. We’ve already had that fight about states’ rights.”

Lynn responded to Turner’s comment by saying:

“I can’t even imagine that’s a serious comment.”

Rep. Turner’s comments resemble some of the incredibly ignorant and / or vicious comments directed against today’s advocates of nullification that frequently appear in the bologoshpere. One particular blogpost I stumbled upon really embodies the either extremely ignorant or wholly deceptive attempt to associate today’s proponents of states’ rights and nullification with segregationists, white supremacists and domestic terrorists:

“Why is it that the extremist teabaggers are not called traitors even though they are basically calling for an overthrow of the democratically elected U.S. government? There latest stunt should seal it. They are calling for a long rejected theory called Nullification, and at least one treasonous..blogger and teabagger is pushing it.”

The Compromise of 1850 and How Abolitionists Used Nullification

In 1850, Congress compromised in order to hold the Union together against the divisive issue of slavery. Since the preservation of the Union (Northern control of the South’s economy), rather than the abolition of slavery was foremost in the minds of influential Republican bankers, manufacturers and heads of corporations, this compromise made perfect sense.

Part of this compromise was the passage of more stringent fugitive slave legislation that compelled citizens of all states to assist federal marshals and their deputies with the apprehension of suspected runaway slaves and brought all trials involving alleged fugitive slaves under federal jurisdiction. It included large fines for anyone who aided a slave in their escape, even by simply giving them food or shelter. The act also suspended habeas corpus and the right to a trial by jury for suspected slaves, and made their testimony non-admissible in court. The written testimony of the alleged slave’s master, on the other hand, which could be presented to the court by slave hunters, was given preferential treatment.

As would be expected, this new legislation outraged abolitionists, but also angered many citizens who were previously more apathetic. In 1851, 26 people in Syracuse, New York were arrested, charged and tried for freeing a runaway slave named William Henry (aka Jerry) who had been arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act. Among the 26 people tried was a U.S. Senator and the former Governor of New York! In an act of jury nullification, the trial resulted in only one conviction. “Jerry” was hidden in Syracuse for several days until he could safely escape into Canada.

The government of Wisconsin went even further and in 1854 officially declared the Fugitive Slave Act to be unconstitutional. The events that lead up to this monumental decision, which is a milestone in the history of the states’ rights tradition, is one of the best stories most Americans have never heard.

In 2006, H. Robert Baker, assistant professor of legal and constitutional history at Georgia State University wrote a book called, “The Rescue of Joshua Glover: A Fugitive Slave, the Constitution, and the Coming of the Civil War“. In its review of the book, The Journal of American History wrote:

“Terribly conflicted about race, Americans struggled mightily with a revolutionary heritage that sanctified liberty but also brooked compromise with slavery. Nevertheless, as The Rescue of Joshua Glover demonstrates, they maintained the principle that the people themselves were the last defenders of constitutional liberty…”

Joshua Glover was a slave in Missouri who managed to escape from his master. In 1854, with the help of the Underground Railroad, he made his way north, all the way to Wisconsin. There he found work at a mill in Racine, a community in which anti-slavery sentiment ran high. Unfortunately for Glover, his former master, B.S. Garland eventually managed to find out where Glover had taken up residence.

Accompanied by two US Marshals, the three of them took Glover by surprise. In spite of his resistance, Glover was subdued with a club and handcuffed. Thrown into a wagon, he was surreptitiously transported to Milwaukee, where he was thrown in jail. Glover’s abduction was discovered somehow or another, however, and in no time one hundred or so men landed by boat in Milwaukee.

The men marched towards the courthouse, which was adjacent to the jail, and crowds of people began to join their ranks or follow along as spectators. An abolitionist named Sherman Booth, who published a local daily newspaper there called the “Free Soil Democrat” rallied the supporters of the citizen army shouting:

“All freemen who are opposed to being made slaves or slave-catchers turn out to a meeting in the courthouse square at 2 o’clock!”

When the meeting at the courthouse adjourned, those who had assembled eventually resolved that Joshua Glover was entitled to at least two things: A writ of habeas corpus and a trial by jury. A local judge concurred and delivered the writ to the US Marshals at the jail. As might be expected, the federal officers rejected the writ as invalid. After all, federal law trumps state judicial authority, does it not?

The assembly of citizens from Racine and Milwaukee must have decided that such was not the case in this instance. In fearless defiance, they broke down the doors of the jail and freed Joshua Glover. In an act that probably would have filled Sheriff Mack with joy, had he been there, the Racine County Sheriff arrested Glover’s former slave master and the two US Marshals who had kidnapped him. They were charged with assault and put jail. In the meantime, the Underground Railroad assisted Joshua Glover as he crossed the border into Canada.

Although Glover escaped to freedom, it was not without a price. Glover’s former master, B.S. Garland was released on a writ of habeas corpus and in the long run would sue Sherman Booth, turning him financially upside down.

In the short run, Booth and two other men were arrested and indicted by a grand jury. While Booth maintained that he had never incited the crowd to liberate Glover or that had helped Glover escape in any way, he did not mince words either. Speaking in his own defense in front of the US Commissioner, he proclaimed:

“..I sympathize with the rescuers of Glover and rejoice at his escape. I rejoice that, in the first attempt of the slave-hunters to convert our jail into a slave-pen and our citizens into slave-catchers, they have signally failed, and that it has been decided by the spontaneous uprising and sovereign voice of the people, that no human being can be dragged into bondage from Milwaukee.”

According to his account of these events, Henry E. Legler wrote in 1898:

“Byron Paine made an argument in behalf of Booth that attracted attention all over the country. It was printed in pamphlet form and circulated on the streets of Boston by the thousands. Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips wrote the author letters of hearty approval and commended his force of logic and able presentation of argument. This pamphlet is now excessively rare; but half a dozen copies are now known to exist.”

Judge Smith of the Wisconsin Supreme Court made the following declaration, that ought to inspire and motivate champions of the Tenth Amendment and state sovereignty today. Speaking not only for Wisconsin, but of all the states, he said that they would never accept the idea that:

“..an officer of the United States, armed with process to arrest a fugitive from service, is clothed with entire immunity from state authority; to commit whatever crime or outrage against the laws of the state; that their own high prerogative writ of habeas corpus shall be annulled, their authority defied, their officers resisted, the process of their own courts contemned, their territory invaded by federal force, the houses of their citizens searched, the sanctuary or their homes invaded, their streets and public places made the scenes of tumultuous and armed violence, and state sovereignty succumb–paralyzed and aghast–before the process of an officer unknown to the constitution and irresponsible to its sanctions. At least, such shall not become the degradation of Wisconsin, without meeting as stern remonstrance and resistance as I may be able to interpose, so long as her people impose upon me the duty of guarding their rights and liberties, and maintaining the dignity and sovereignty of their state.”

The United States Supreme court eventually reversed the action of the Wisconsin’s courts. Booth and one other man accused of helping to liberate Joshua Glover were found guilty. Both spent months in jail in addition to having to pay stiff fines. This was the price that was paid for Joshua Glover’s freedom.

Rather than being deterred, however, Wisconsin, along with several other states, such as Connecticut (1854), Rhode Island (1854), Massachusetts (1855), Michigan (1855), Maine (1855 and 1857), and Kansas (1858) all went on to pass even more personal liberty legislation designed to neutralize federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

It was no coincidence that the 1859 statement of the Wisconsin Supreme Court borrowed words directly from the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798:

“Resolved, That the government formed by the Constitution of the United States was not the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

Resolved, that the principle and construction contended for by the party which now rules in the councils of the nation, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism, since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers; that the several states which formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infractions; and that a positive defiance of those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done or attempted to be done under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy.”

The End, or Just the Beginning?

Few Americans have ever heard the heroic story of how the people of Wisconson and several other states stood up to the federal government’s tyrannical, unconstitutional slave laws with the help of their elected state officials.

Today state sovereignty and the Principles of 1798 are being invoked again, for a variety of reasons, just as they were invoked for a variety of reasons all throughout American history, in spite of what you may have been taught or are being told today.

States legislatures all over the Union today are standing up and re-asserting their sovereignty, which is guaranteed by the 10th Amendment. They are proposing and passing legislation which would nullify a whole host of unconstitutional federal laws including: The federally mandated national “REAL ID” card, restrictions on the use of Medical Marijuana, unconstitutional deployments of State National Guard units, federally mandated health insurance, unconstitutional regulations of state manufactured firearms and much more…

It is tragic that left-liberals have seemingly abandoned the classical liberal states’ rights tradition in favor of nationalism and the centralization of power. It is also shameful that they have made a concerted effort to associate nullification with slavery in the minds of average Americans. As Josh Eboch, State Chapter Coordinator for the Virginia Tenth Amendment Center observes:

“Of course, even though activists on the left supported nullification for Real ID and also for medical marijuana, those calling for state sovereignty with regard to health care will have to deal with the standard cries of racism and references to the Jim Crow…But just because nullification was used [unsuccessfully] in the past to deny rights to certain groups doesn’t mean it can’t be used to regain our rights today. In the end, ‘for desperate people whose freedoms are being systematically usurped by all three federal branches and both political parties, nullification may be the key to restoring our republic’.”

Derek Sheriff [send him email] is the state chapter coordinator for the Arizona Tenth Amendment Center


Copyright © 2010 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

Midwifery Update/Action Alert Feb. 11, 2010

Thank you for all the pressure you've applied to the legislature through your emails, letters, and phone calls. We have built a lot of momentum for freedom of choice in midwifery for Idahoans and we have good reason to be optimistic.

Representative Pete Nielsen is finalizing the legislation to save traditional midwifery and he announced this morning that he will introduce it in the House State Affairs Committee instead of the Health & Welfare Committee.

H & W has too many bills and with their time constraints, it probably wouldn't happen this session. Rep. Nielsen said “I think we have every bit as good and maybe a better chance of getting this through committee in State Affairs.”

Bonus: The statewide pressure we have already put on the 16 members of the H & W Committee - almost 25% of the House - significantly helps our overall battle.

ACTION ALERT

1. We need to bombard the entire House State Affairs Committee with short emails about why the midwifery licensure law needs to be made voluntary.

2. We also need to email our own legislators again in both the House and Senate, encouraging them to save traditional midwifery. Every email counts!

** Husbands and wives, please send separate emails from your own email accounts.
** Always include your name and address so they know you are their constituent.

You can find out who your three legislators are and contact them by following the links below:

Who are My Legislators?
How to Contact My Legislators?

A Midwifery Report is available for more information; an easier-to-read version opens when you click print.

For freedom,

Mirelle Stevens, consumer of midwifery
mirellestevens@yahoo.com
(208) 478-8683

Sovereign Idaho Criticizes Democrat Opposition to Health Freedom

Boise, ID – Democrats voted unanimously against the Idaho Health Freedom Act as it was passed by the Idaho House today. The Sovereign Idaho Coalition had invited all parties to support legislation that would nullify any unconstitutional federal health care law. Instead, Idaho Democrats aligned themselves with the efforts of Democrats in Washington to nationalize health care.

Few in Idaho want more federal government control of their lives. The Idaho Health Freedom Act would protect Idahoans from being forced into in any national health care plan.

Chris Stevens is co-director of Sovereign Idaho and state coordinator of Campaign for Liberty. He said, “It's disappointing Democrats took their stand for ObamaCare instead of standing up for the freedom of Idahoans. This was partisan politics at its worst.”

Republicans and Democrats worked together in 2007 and 2008 when Idaho was one of 25 states that passed resolutions and binding laws denouncing and refusing to implement the federal Real ID Act, the implementation of which has been delayed numerous times in response to this massive state resistance, and in practice, is virtually null and void.

Dozens of states are working on legislative action to halt the surrender of state sovereignty to an increasingly aggressive federal government. In addition to health freedom, Idaho will also be considering legislation for sound money and firearms freedom.

The Sovereign Idaho Coalition converged on the capitol on January 18th to raise awareness about the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and how states can stop federal encroachments. Several hundred representatives of groups from all over the state gathered on the steps of the capitol and heard seven State Representatives announce legislation that included the Idaho Health Freedom Act.

Mark Balzer, co-director of Sovereign Idaho, was excited about today's House action. He said, “I think it's a wonderful first step and I hope the Senate will follow through. I hope everyone contacts their Senator and asks them to pass this important legislation.”

The legislation passed the House 52-18. The vote was strictly along party lines. Visit http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2010/H0391.htm to view the Idaho Health Freedom Act.

America Rising

America Rising An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians - As you watch, remember that Republicans were just as guilty of most of these outrages.



America Rising Part 2 A Call for the Republican Party to Join! - As you watch, remember that We the People are the government in America.

Competing Currencies

Learn about Sound Money - The resources you'll find here include books (many of which link to free online versions) and articles, as well as audio and video available online and for free download.

Congressman Paul makes the case for his legislation to allow competing currencies:

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul

United States House of Representatives

Statement Introducing the Free Competition in Currency Act

Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce the Free Competition in Currency Act of 2009. Currency, or money, is what allows civilization to flourish. In the absence of money, barter is the name of the game; if the farmer needs shoes, he must trade his eggs and milk to the cobbler and hope that the cobbler needs eggs and milk. Money makes the transaction process far easier. Rather than having to search for someone with reciprocal wants, the farmer can exchange his milk and eggs for an agreed-upon medium of exchange with which he can then purchase shoes.

This medium of exchange should satisfy certain properties: it should be durable, that is to say, it does not wear out easily; it should be portable, that is, easily carried; it should be divisible into units usable for every-day transactions; it should be recognizable and uniform, so that one unit of money has the same properties as every other unit; it should be scarce, in the economic sense, so that the extant supply does not satisfy the wants of everyone demanding it; it should be stable, so that the value of its purchasing power does not fluctuate wildly; and it should be reproducible, so that enough units of money can be created to satisfy the needs of exchange.

Over millennia of human history, gold and silver have been the two metals that have most often satisfied these conditions, survived the market process, and gained the trust of billions of people. Gold and silver are difficult to counterfeit, a property which ensures they will always be accepted in commerce. It is precisely for this reason that gold and silver are anathema to governments. A supply of gold and silver that is limited in supply by nature cannot be inflated, and thus serves as a check on the growth of government. Without the ability to inflate the currency, governments find themselves constrained in their actions, unable to carry on wars of aggression or to appease their overtaxed citizens with bread and circuses.

At this country's founding, there was no government controlled national currency. While the Constitution established the Congressional power of minting coins, it was not until 1792 that the US Mint was formally established. In the meantime, Americans made do with foreign silver and gold coins. Even after the Mint's operations got underway, foreign coins continued to circulate within the United States, and did so for several decades.

On the desk in my office I have a sign that says: “Don't steal – the government hates competition.” Indeed, any power a government arrogates to itself, it is loathe to give back to the people. Just as we have gone from a constitutionally-instituted national defense consisting of a limited army and navy bolstered by militias and letters of marque and reprisal, we have moved from a system of competing currencies to a government-instituted banking cartel that monopolizes the issuance of currency. In order to reintroduce a system of competing currencies, there are three steps that must be taken to produce a legal climate favorable to competition.

The first step consists of eliminating legal tender laws. Article I Section 10 of the Constitution forbids the States from making anything but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. States are not required to enact legal tender laws, but should they choose to, the only acceptable legal tender is gold and silver, the two precious metals that individuals throughout history and across cultures have used as currency. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that grants the Congress the power to enact legal tender laws. We, the Congress, have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, but not to declare a legal tender. Yet, there is a section of US Code, 31 USC 5103, that purports to establish US coins and currency, including Federal Reserve notes, as legal tender.

Historically, legal tender laws have been used by governments to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency. Gresham's Law describes this phenomenon, which can be summed up in one phrase: bad money drives out good money. An emperor, a king, or a dictator might mint coins with half an ounce of gold and force merchants, under pain of death, to accept them as though they contained one ounce of gold. Each ounce of the king's gold could now be minted into two coins instead of one, so the king now had twice as much “money” to spend on building castles and raising armies. As these legally overvalued coins circulated, the coins containing the full ounce of gold would be pulled out of circulation and hoarded. We saw this same phenomenon happen in the mid-1960s when the US government began to mint subsidiary coinage out of copper and nickel rather than silver. The copper and nickel coins were legally overvalued, the silver coins undervalued in relation, and silver coins vanished from circulation.

These actions also give rise to the most pernicious effects of inflation. Most of the merchants and peasants who received this devalued currency felt the full effects of inflation, the rise in prices and the lowered standard of living, before they received any of the new currency. By the time they received the new currency, prices had long since doubled, and the new currency they received would give them no benefit.

In the absence of legal tender laws, Gresham's Law no longer holds. If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society. Merchants would have been free to reject the king's coin and accept only coins containing full metal weight.

The second step to reestablishing competing currencies is to eliminate laws that prohibit the operation of private mints. One private enterprise which attempted to popularize the use of precious metal coins was Liberty Services, the creators of the Liberty Dollar. Evidently the government felt threatened, as Liberty Dollars had all their precious metal coins seized by the FBI and Secret Service in November of 2007. Of course, not all of these coins were owned by Liberty Services, as many were held in trust as backing for silver and gold certificates which Liberty Services issued. None of this matters, of course, to the government, which hates competition. The responsibility to protect contracts is of no interest to the government.

The sections of US Code which Liberty Services is accused of violating are erroneously considered to be anti-counterfeiting statutes, when in fact their purpose was to shut down private mints that had been operating in California. California was awash in gold in the aftermath of the 1849 gold rush, yet had no US Mint to mint coinage. There was not enough foreign coinage circulating in California either, so private mints stepped into the breech to provide their own coins. As was to become the case in other industries during the Progressive era, the private mints were eventually accused of circulating debased (substandard) coinage, and with the supposed aim of providing government-sanctioned regulation and a government guarantee of purity, the 1864 Coinage Act was passed, which banned private mints from producing their own coins for circulation as currency.

The final step to ensuring competing currencies is to eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins. Under current federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are liable for capital gains taxes. Short-term capital gains rates are at income tax levels, up to 35 percent, while long-term capital gains taxes are assessed at the collectibles rate of 28 percent. Furthermore, these taxes actually tax monetary debasement. As the dollar weakens, the nominal dollar value of gold increases. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth, and taxes accordingly. Thus, the more the dollar is debased, the more capital gains taxes must be paid on holdings of gold and other precious metals.

Just as pernicious are the sales and use taxes which are assessed on gold and silver at the state level in many states. Imagine having to pay sales tax at the bank every time you change a $10 bill for a roll of quarters to do laundry. Inflation is a pernicious tax on the value of money, but even the official numbers, which are massaged downwards, are only on the order of 4% per year. Sales taxes in many states can take away 8% or more on every single transaction in which consumers wish to convert their Federal Reserve Notes into gold or silver.

In conclusion, Madame Speaker, allowing for competing currencies will allow market participants to choose a currency that suits their needs, rather than the needs of the government. The prospect of American citizens turning away from the dollar towards alternate currencies will provide the necessary impetus to the US government to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government's ability and incentive to inflate the currency, and keep us from launching unconstitutional wars that burden our economy to excess. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system. I urge my colleagues to consider the redevelopment of a system of competing currencies and cosponsor the Free Competition in Currency Act.

The IRS is buying Shotguns

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8d3b076bd4de14bbda5aba699e80621d&tab=core&_cview=1&cck=1&au=&ck=


Call you Federal Representatives and Senators and ask them why the IRS needs weapons. This is scary. The US Marshals' Service is supposed to be the law enforcement agency of the justice department. If the IRS needs law enforcement they can call them they do not need their own police force.

mab

health care bills

The Idaho House currently has the Health Care Freedom Bill before them for debate and passage. The Virginia Senate, has passed a bill banning health care mandates. Thirty four other states are at this time debating legislation or constitutional amendments banning any type of mandatory health insurance. We are on the right side of this issue my friends, call your Senators and Representatives, especially if they are democrats and tell them to pass the Idaho Health Care Freedom Bill.


Believe it or not some people are saying that mandated health insurance is the purest expression of the free market we could have. Make sure your elected representatives understand the fallacy of this argument.

We can win this!!

mab

South Dakota Resisting Govt Health Care With Three Bills in Legislature

Socialists in congress and in the White House may be intent on forcing government health care on the people of America, but the states are no longer the door mats our despotic federal government has become accustomed to.

Fox News reports more than 2/3 of the 50 states are moving to protect citizens from federal health care mandates:

Lawmakers in 34 states now have filed or proposed amendments to their state constitutions or statutes rejecting health insurance mandates, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit group that promotes limited government that is helping coordinate the efforts. Many of those proposals are targeted for the November ballot, assuring that health care remains a hot topic as hundreds of federal and state lawmakers face reelection.

Legislative committees in Idaho and Virginia endorsed their measures this past week. Supporters held a rally at the Pennsylvania Capitol. And hearings on the proposed constitutional amendments were held in Georgia and Missouri. The Missouri hearing drew overflow crowds the day after Obama urged federal lawmakers during his State of the Union address to keep pressing to pass a health care bill. The Nebraska Legislature plans a hearing on a measure this coming week.

Any sane person would realize there is something seriously wrong with a proposal when 68% of the states move to negate it!

The federal government is a creation of the sovereign states and exists to serve the states and the people; the states are not extensions of the federal government, put in place to implement federal edicts and take care of the “small stuff” the federal government couldn’t be bothered to deal with.

Some people don’t believe state efforts to assert their sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments will succeed, for they are used to the states standing meekly by as the federal government runs roughshod over them. But those days are over, Matilda! A corrupt congress may pass such unconstitutional laws, and a tyrannical federal court system may cover its eyes and claim it is legal, but if the sovereign states tell the federal government to stick it, then they’re left to find a way to enforce their despotic “laws.” The feds may find that much harder than they’ve become accustomed to; people are awake now.

South Dakota is definitely on the march for freedom. In the South Dakota Legislature right now, there are no less than three bills on the table to preserve the freedom of the people and the states from federal imposition of a government health care system... Continue Reading