Money Bomb for BJ Lawson Thanks to Ron Paul

This is a bit late. But better than never. Let’s make it happen!

The Patriot Act 2: This Time It’s Your Money

Over the past few days, I’ve been talking everyone’s ear off about how I feel like we’re reliving 9/11. Except this time it’s not a terrorist attack; it’s a financial crisis. But, as was the case seven years ago, America is panicking and lawmakers are willing to do anything just to do something.

I’m afraid that the desire for national security—in this case, national financial security—is once again going to drive our lawmakers to pass another piece of ill-conceived, unconstitutional power-grab legislation that we will all shortly regret. Does the Patriot Act ring a bell, anyone? In our haste to expel terrorism, we “gutted” (as Jesse Ventura so eloquently put it) the Fourth Amendment. Wire tapping. Reading private email. Cell-phone record surveillance. These were not acts becoming of a free country. But the bill still breezed through the House and Senate. And at the end of the day, the extreme measures they authorized did more to terrorize liberty than they did to defend liberty from terror. In a vain attempt to establish security, we actually forfeited it; not to a terrorist or foreign power, but to the Federal Government and Homeland Security (such an ironic name).

Now, less than a decade later, we’re once again facing a seismic dilemma. Will we pass the Patriot Act 2? Will we forfeit economic liberty for so-called financial security? I answer emphatically, NO! As Benjamin Franklin would say: ”He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”

Apparently, I’m not the only one with déjà vu. My brother Neal found this telling article in the International Herald Tribune.

Bottom line: bailing out giant corporations with tax dollars is immoral. I wrote this post on Karmel Larson’s blog back when the Fannie-Freddie bailout went down:

Although the government takeover of the two mortgage giants no doubt spells opportunity for some investors, I think it’s still worth mentioning that this deal needs to be recognized for what it is at its core: socialism—an unconstitutional bailout of two giant corporations at the expense of you and I, the taxpayers. Now I understand the arguments for attempting to stabilize the housing market and stem the recent tide of economic downturn. But it’s all for short term gain, long-term loss.

I think our politicians have good intentions for our country in taking this drastic measure. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the principle at work here is still redistribution of the wealth. Except, in this case, it’s the whole Robin-Hood-and-his-Merry-Men thing flipped on its head: stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

A few articles that help clarify this:

“Bailout cure worse than disease”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JG29Dj07.html

“Senator Bunning Says Paulson Acts Like Socialist, Should Resign”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alpUsTv3.upI

“Government as the Big Lender”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/washington/14guarantee.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Please click here to contact your local representatives and tell them to vote “no” on the bailout.

BJ Lawson at the Rally for the Republic

While at the Rally for the Republic, I got the chance to meet BJ Lawson, the republican nominee for North Carolina’s 4th District. I’ve followed his campaign online for sometime now. I’ve written about him previously here, here and here. Face to face, BJ is just like he is cyberspace: down to earth, bright and personable. But more importantly, he understands the challenges our country is facing, and bases his political principles on the Constitution. I admire his unflinching verve in taking on the 22-year democratic incumbent, David Price, in a mostly democratic state. However, BJ isn’t running a partisan campaign, which is drawing him significant support from both sides. In fact, I think he actually has a pretty good shot at winning. David Price represents the status quo, while BJ challenges it at its core—something the majority of Americans are hungry for during these unsettling times.

His supporters are organizing a money bomb for BJ on Sep 17th at LawsonLibertyFund.com. They’re asking for patriotically inspired pledges of $17.76. So for the price of a DVD, you can make a stand for liberty (and forgo having to peel off those annoying, impossible-to-remove, sticky, plastic security seals that hold the dang DVD case shut).

The Rally for the Republic: A Mixed Bag of Patriots

On Tuesday, I schlepped to Minneapolis to attend Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic. Wow! What a shindig! The Target Center was bursting with the energy of over 10,000 passionate patriots. And these people weren’t straight-down-the-line republicans. Anything but, in fact. I’ve never seen such an eclectic mix of politically active people gathered under one roof to support a common cause. You literally had everybody: down-to-earth farmers and spiffy, self-made entrepreneurs; the hardcore religious right and liberal, anti-war hippies; craggy, old seniors and young, counter-culture students; well-educated intellectuals and no-nonsense rural folk; bearded, tattoo-covered bikers and body-pierced bohemians; hunters, homemakers, republicans, democrats, independents, libertarians, whites, blacks, Asians, Arabs, Indians, Latinos—and everything in between. If I hadn’t already been familiar with the “revolution” culture, I would’ve never guessed that everyone was there to support the same guy, a simple doctor and congressman that embodies a singular principle: liberty. For me, seeing the diversity of supporters reinforced Paul’s oft-repeated explanation of his following: freedom is popular and it brings people together.

Of course, everyone subscribes to Paul’s strict constitutional philosophy in varying degrees. But he doesn’t care that you don’t believe 100% in some 30-point program. He just says it as he sees it and lets you buy into whatever you want. And precisely because of that, these people see him as a principled political leader, a maverick fighting for the freedom that America now largely takes for granted.

Now, I have to mention one little experience that I think says a lot about the phenomenon of the revolution movement. During Paul’s speech, a young college girl, sporting a stud the size of a small marble pierced in between her chin and bottom lip, came and stood in the row in front of me. As Paul, a 73-year-old, baggy-eyed, white-haired man, humbly elaborated on things like the vices of the Patriot Act and the virtues of sound money, this slightly rebellious-looking girl was screaming at the top of her lungs “I love you, Ron Paul!” Crazy, eh? Just one more sign that this movement is for real. It’s not going away. The appeal of liberty is too broad and its momentum is too great. And this is just the beginning.

I.O.U.S.A.—A Documentary Film

As we slog through the current economic slump, our national dept—one of the nation’s most vexing problems—has been weighing on my mind a lot lately.  I can’t understand how our elected leaders can continue to plunge us deeper into the red, as if they had no clue what a balance sheet was (in all honesty, a lot of them probably don’t). And the higher the deficit climbs, the more checks the bureaucrats seem bent on writing. When it comes to the Federal Government handling our money, it often seems there’s little accountability, no logic and even less restraint.

A new documentary film that opened this weekend, I.O.U.S.A, looks like it will expose some of the all-too-ignored realities of this dilemma.

Here’s the I.O.U.S.A. trailer.

How to deal with this crisis is a conversation that desperately needs to be hashed out. I don’t care what your political background is; this much is certain: if our government continues to spend with reckless abandon it will result in national financial suicide. As a democrat friend of mine put it,

“It’s high time we stopped passing the buck, both figuratively and literally. And who pays? In the short term, it’s people like you and me. But, I feel the long term may not be so far away. We need pragmatists in Washington, yesterday.”

I couldn’t agree more. One such “pragmatist” is BJ Lawson, a congressional candidate in North Carolina’s 4th district. Wisely, Lawson sponsored the premier of I.O.U.S.A. in his neck of the woods to help spark a healthy discussion on the topic among his constituents.

Lawson’s positions on financial issures are impressive. And he brings a wealth of experience from the business and medical sectors, too.

Money Bomb for BJ Lawson (June 29th)

In another post, I already essentially endorsed BJ Lawson, North Carolina’s 4th District republican candidate for congress. Now I’d like to call out a grassroots effort to get him into office. There will be a Money Bomb for him this Sunday, June 29th. Already over 137 people have pledged to donate! And with the help he’s getting from Lew Rockwell and Campaign for Liberty (among others), that number could easily quadruple by the deadline.  They’re not asking for any specific amount—although I’m sure they wouldn’t object to you plunking down $2,300 (the legal limit) if you had it.

I can’t do much, but I’m going to make a small contribution just out of principle. Call it the widow’s mite—except that I’m married…and I’m male…and it’s not going to my church…and it won’t be the last money to my name. So on second thought, just call it a small sacrifice in the name of liberty and constitutional federal government.

Will you join me on Sunday and donate to BJ Lawson’s Campaign? This isn’t a rhetorical question. You can actually answer by leaving a comment below. Thanks.

BJ Lawson Wins Primary Race in NC!

Congrats to BJ Lawson for defeating his mudslinging primary opponent, Augustus Cho! The final tally? A landslide: 71 percent to 29 percent.

And while I’m basking in the splendor of this victory, I’d like to mention a creative (and brilliant) marketing move that Lawson employed during his primary contest. He and his supporters gave away 10,000 copies of the U.S. Constitution. Think about that for a moment. Rather than his supporters just spitting out the obligatory “vote for Lawson” and offering some tired, seen-it-a-thousand-times-before flyer, imagine them asking you, “would you like a free copy of the Constitution?” What a fresh, emotionally-gripping proposition! No matter what party you belong to, such a unique gesture would at least make you think twice before giving your normal, preprogrammed rejection—unless you’re a red-blooded communist, of course.

Another benefit: He’s creating a great brand for himself. Now, when people hear Lawson, they think Constitution. Not a bad association.

And on top of that, this focuses his efforts on educating the people, not pandering to the beauty-contest politics that we’re all so used to. I’m guessing that out of the 10,000 people who accepted a copy, at least 90% of them had never read our nation’s founding document front to back in their lives. And even if they still haven’t, I think it’s campaign money well spent.

So as the Republican Party’s nominee, Lawson is now poised to take on Rep. David Price—the stale, spend-o-matic, 22-years-in-office-too-many embodiment of federal government gone wrong.

For the general election in November, he’s shooting to give out 100,000 Constitutions! It’s time that we the people learn exactly what it is that comes after…“We the people…”

Here’s a nice video his supporters put together for him.

Commander in Chief of the Economy?

Hillary Clinton gave us a nice little one-liner the other day: “It is time for a president who is ready on day one to be commander in chief of our economy,” she proclaimed. Good one, Hill. Sounds like she snatched the term from one of Ron Paul’s responses (go about 5:00 into the YouTube) in the final republican debate and tried to twist it into a positive thing.

As Paul points out in the above video, Article II. Section 2 of the Constitution clearly states that “the President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States.” However, it doesn’t say anything about the President commanding the economy. That’s what dictators try—and eventually fail—to do.

As any good economist will tell you, in a truly free society, only the market commands the economy, with the principles of supply and demand, competition, self reliance and innovation as the chief underpinnings.

Hillary went on to say, “sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. at the White House and it’s an economic crisis and we need a president who is ready, willing and able to answer that call.”

Hate to break it to you, Hill, but I’m afraid that phone’s been ringing off the hook for years. The “crisis” is the ongoing abandonment of sound money (a Constitutional gold standard) and free markets. Yet almost no one in Washington has been willing to heed the call (except for Ron Paul, of course).

Since Hillary already wants to extend her “commander in chief” power to the economy, if elected, where would she stop? Commander in chief of health care? (Actually, we already know she’s going for that one.) Commander in chief of education? (How I cringe at the thought.) How about commander in chief of energy? Or of agriculture? Or maybe even the environment? And while we’re at it, let’s just top it off with transportation, recreation, communication and the arts—then throw in a scepter and a tiara and call it a day.

Money Ball for BJ Lawson

My techie friend, Duane and I have started a grassroots fundraising campaign for BJ Lawson’s North Carolina congressional race: BucksForBJ.blogspot.com. If you’re a Ron Paul fan, or if you want our government to return to Constitutional principles, please check out BJ Lawson’s website. I blogged about him here, too. If you like what you see, go to BucksForBJ.blogspot.com and pledge. We’re asking for small donations and for you to spread the word to some buddies. We call it a Money Ball—not to be confused with a money bomb.

I wasn’t always like this. Previously, I was about as politically active as a fence post. I never donated a dime to any politician (I thought they were already doing a good enough job of taking away my money). And I certainly never dreamed of campaigning for anybody.

But then along came Ron Paul. After my brother introduced him to me, I wanted to learn everything I could about him—and more importantly, the principles he stands for. As my closest friends and family can attest, I turned into a walking, interactive, encyclopedic, Ron Paul billboard.

I even donated to him. We didn’t have any extra money at the time, so I asked my wife to give my Christmas money to Ron Paul’s campaign fund. Ever since then, I’ve made a personal commitment to get more involved in the fight for freedom.

By the way, I’d love your ideas for improving BucksForBJ.blogspot.com. So leave a comment here if you have any thoughts. Thanks.

BJ Lawson: A True Patriot

Thanks to the Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, I’ve taken a keen interest in the preservation of our freedoms. I believe that the key to establishing the limited government that closely resembles our founding is to establish representatives that are committed to upholding the ideals of the Founders.

That said, I’m increasingly interested in learning about anyone that’s willing to stand up to the status quo and fight for a foreign policy of peaceful friendship, a monetary policy backed by a gold standard and a stance of unrelenting protection of our civil liberties.

On Lew Rockwell’s blog, I found one: his name is BJ Lawson. Haven’t heard of him? He’s running for congress in North Carolina’s 4th District. And he’s the spitting image of Ron Paul…minus about 40 years, the receding white hair, the Texas drawl and about $35 million in raised campaign funds.

OK. So they obviously have their physical and financial differences. But when it comes to political ideology, they’re almost identical twins. In fact, on his site, BJ says, “I was drawn back to politics by Ron Paul’s tireless and principled work to restore a Constitutional federal government.” It looks like he’s even adopted a fund-raising strategy from Ron Paul’s play book: posting his numbers in real-time on his homepage. Nice move.

I don’t know everything about him. But from what I’ve read on his site, he seems sharp, passionate, personable, logical and principled. I can’t cast a ballot for him, but (hopefully) I can cast a few supporters his direction with this blog—and maybe even some donors to boot.

It’s encouraging to see the fruits of Ron Paul’s labors already starting to take root. I’ve often wondered who would emerge as the key figures to lead the fight for freedom when Ron Paul is no longer in the picture (he’s 72 after all). Whether or not he wins his 4th District race, BJ Lawson may very well surface as an influential national figure in the cause of liberty. Regardless, he’s a patriot; and to that I tip my hat and raise my voice of encouragement.