Libertarians for Ron Paul

“A bill essentially legalizing Bush’s warrantless surveillance program just sailed through the Democratic House and is expected to sail through the Democratic Senate. It would expand wiretapping powers against foreign targets, extend the grace period of warrantless domestic eavesdropping on Americans at home, and grant retroactive immunity to telecom companies that cooperated in illegal domestic spying. The New York Times calls it “the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years,” but it is also just the latest example in 30 years of Democratic betrayals of the Fourth Amendment.”

“In 1978, Democratic President Carter signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act into law. A meager response to Nixon’s surveillance of peaceful activists and other such abuses, FISA established a secret court within the Justice Department to issue special warrants for wiretapping foreign suspects. Even when spying on a “United States person,” intelligence officials now had 72 hours before they needed a warrant. Carter said in his signing statement, “This is a difficult balance to strike, but the act I am signing today strikes it.” The Fourth Amendment lost its teeth.”

“From 1979 to September 11, 2001, more than thirteen thousand FISA warrants were issued. Not a single application was rejected.”

“But that wasn’t enough for Bush…” Anthony Gregory looks at how Democrats enabled President Bush in his latest attack on liberty http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2244

“What is the importance of the war in Iraq relative to other

current issues? This is a question I am often asked, especially as Americans continue to become increasingly aware that something is very wrong with the economy. The difficulty with the way the question is often asked relates to the perception that we are somehow able to divide such issues, or to isolate the cost of war into arbitrarily defined areas such as national security or international relations. War is an all-encompassing governmental activity. The impact of war on our ability to defend ourselves from future attack, and upon America ’s standing in the world, is only a mere fraction of the total overall effect that war has on our nation and the policies of its government.”

“The cost of this particular war is enormous, and therefore it’s of great importance. There is no single issue that is more important at this particular time. The war has, of course, made us less safe as a nation and damaged our credibility with allies and hostile nations alike. Moreover, years of growing deficits have been spurred on by the high price tag of war, and the decision to pay that price primarily by supplemental spending rather than traditional “on-budget” accounting.”

“War takes what would otherwise be productive economic capacity and transfers both that capacity and the wealth it would generate in normal, peaceful times into far less economically viable activities. It also impacts budget priorities in ways that are detrimental to our nation. I have often pointed to the fact that we are building bridges in Iraq while they are collapsing in the United States .”

Full column by Rep. Ron Paul @ http://antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=13009

“Oil prices are on the minds of many Americans as gas hits $4 a gallon, and continues to surge. How high can prices go? How can we solve these problems? What, or who, is to blame?”

“Part of the answer lies in understanding bubbles and monetary inflation, but especially the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve is charged with controlling inflation through interest rate manipulation, however, many fail to realize that creating money, and therefore inflation, is really its only tool. When the Federal Reserve inflates the dollar as drastically as it has in the past few decades, the first users of the newly created money go in search of investments for their dollars. They must invest this money quickly and aggressively before it loses value. This causes certain sectors to expand beyond what would naturally occur in the free market. Eventually the sector overheats and the bubble bursts. Overinvestment in dotcoms eventually led to a collapse of the NASDAQ. Next we had the housing bubble, and now we are seeing the price of oil being bid up in the creation of another new bubble. Investors are now looking to commodities like oil, for stability and growth as they pull capital out of real estate. This increased demand for investment vehicles related to oil contributes to driving up the price of the actual product.”

Full column by Rep. Ron Paul @ http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003380.html

Dr Murray Sabrin held high the banner of liberty in his campaign for Senate in New Jersey’s Republican primary. A long-time advocate of Free Market economics, Dr Sabrin was endorsed by Congressman Ron Paul and supported by the Republican Liberty Caucus and many Libertarian Party members. Dr Sabrin was defeated in the primary by former Congressman Dick Zimmer, also a long-time friend of the Libertarian Movement.

In 1972, Dick Zimmer worked with New Jersey Libertarians in a dump Nixon campaign. As a state legislator and Congressman, Mr Zimmer associated with the Republican Liberty Caucus and other libertarian organizations.

 As a member of Congress, Dick Zimmer fought for less government: 

“While others talk about fiscal responsibility and cutting spending, Zimmer has an unmatched record of fighting on behalf of New Jersey taxpayers. Zimmer was instrumental in persuading the House to phase out the obsolete wool and mohair subsidy, saving taxpayers more than $500 million over five years. He worked hard to protect taxpayer money from being spent on wasteful government programs and pork barrel projects. Zimmer supported $700 billion in specific spending cuts, which would have balanced the budget.”

• The National Taxpayers Union three times named Zimmer the most fiscally conservative member of the entire Congress based on the net savings of legislation he sponsored.
• Citizens Against Government Waste designated Zimmer a “Taxpayer Hero” every year he served in Congress except the two years he was named a “Taxpayer Superhero”.
• The anti-deficit Concord Coalition honored Dick as a deficit hawk and placed him on its “House Honor Roll,” rating him in the top 10 percent of Congress.
• Zimmer never failed to receive the Golden Bulldog Award from the Watchdogs of the Treasury for his votes in Congress.

The Courier-Post notes “On Iraq, Zimmer wisely breaks with McCain and says the United States should look to withdraw combat troops quickly.”

Dick Zimmer is a candidate that libertarians and limited government conservatives should consider in November. More info @ http://www.zimmerforsenate.com/ 

“Recently Congress sent the latest Farm Bill to the president. The bill features brand new federal programs, expansion of existing subsidies, more food stamps and more foreign food aid. This bill hits the taxpayer hard, while at the same time ensuring food prices will remain elevated. The president vetoed the bill, citing concerns over its costs and subsidies for the wealthy in a time of high food prices and record farm income. Nevertheless, this over-reaching, government-expanding Farm Bill will soon be law.”

“The truth is most farmers simply want honest pay for honest work. However, if the government is providing competing farms with advantages, and one wants to remain a farmer, one must seek a proportional advantage from government. It is a difficult position for the farmer. Some are better at qualifying for taxpayers’ largesse than others as evidenced by the fact that more than 60% of the subsidies go to just 10% of recipients, edging out the small family farm. This entire system is unfair and demoralizing. It disproportionately benefits big agribusiness at the expense of struggling family farms.”

Rep. Ron Paul looks at the latest Farm Subsidy bill http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/003368.html

“Speculation is growing that the U.S. economy may have already slipped into recession. If the past is any guide, politicians on the campaign trail will be tempted to blame trade and globalization for the passing pain of the business cycle. But an analysis of previous recessions and expansions shows that international trade and investment are not to blame for downturns in the economy and may, in fact, be moderating the business cycle.”

“In recent decades, as foreign trade and investment have been rising as a share of the U.S. economy, recessions have actually become milder and less frequent. The softening of the business cycle has become so striking that economists now refer to it as “The Great Moderation.” The more benign trend appears to date from the mid-1980s.”…

“America’s recent experience of a more globalized and less volatile economy has not been unique in the world. Other countries that have opened themselves to global markets have been less vulnerable to financial and economic shocks.”

Complete article by Daniel T. Griswold @ http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9446