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Archive for the ‘The Free State West Movement’ Category
Utah has become the third state to adopt a law exempting guns and ammunition made, sold and used in the state from massive federal regulations under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and supporters say about 30 more states have some sort of plan for their own exemptions in the works.
Officials in Utah say they expect a lawsuit over their direct challenge to Washington if the federal government succeeds in its current case against Montana’s law.
Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, who has spearheaded the Montana law, now describes himself as a sort of “godfather” to the national campaign. He confirmed Montana, Tennessee and Utah have enacted such laws.
“Wyoming and South Dakota, they have passed legislation and it’s on their governors’ desks,” he said. “We learned today Oklahoma’s House has passed a plan over to the Senate. Idaho’s House has just passed it along. Alaska’s has passed the House and is in the Senate Judiciary committee,” he said.
The move is about far more than just the regulation of handguns and shotguns, he said.
You can bet your own senator is just as corrupt as the example below.
Utah Senator Bennett corruption exposed, and other thoughts about him.
During the economic collapse precipitated by the rising number of home mortgage defaults and the associated devaluation in mortgage securities, much was said, especially by politicians, about Wall Street greed. Much less fuss was made about political greed, but it became evident to me that political greed started the whole thing. Legislation and policy encouraging (and I heard stories of coercion) the loosening of mortgage standards so that under-qualified (high risk) people could live the “American Dream” of home ownership may have been supported by many for altruistic reasons, but I propose that most of the political movers and shakers were building a new voting constituency, benefited personally through campaign contributions or other means, and used it to otherwise increase their political power.
This reckless and irresponsible policy didn’t just hurt the under-qualified homeowners who defaulted, it snowballed into the worst economic downturn in my lifetime, including the highest unemployment, and even more governmental irresponsibility of national-debt-ridden economic bailouts and government takeover of huge businesses.
Forefront in the scandal was the government sponsored organizations Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They were organized to facilitate mortgage access to non-traditional lenders by buying mortgages from lenders, and bundling them into mortgage securities to sell in the investment markets. They were aggressive in pushing legislation and policy towards relaxing mortgage standards, including significant campaign donations to Congress. The top three campaign contribution recipients from Fannie and Freddie, 1989-2008 were Democratic Senators Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, and John Kerry http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html
Receiving a campaign contribution is not in itself corrupt. Letting it influence you to pursue destructive policy is corrupt. I became convinced of Senator Bennett’s corruption when a friend shared with me a report by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican from California, entitled “The Role of Government Affordable Housing Policy in Creating the Global Financial Crisis of 2008” dated 7 Jul 09. http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/Reports/20090707HousingCrisisReport.pdf
This report thoroughly documents how the government created the economic disaster we are in. Among other players, it says this about our Senator:
REFORM OF FANNIE AND FREDDIE THWARTED: FOR A PRICE
The GSEs’ (Freddie and Fannie) political risk management succeeded in thwarting congressional and Bush Administration attempts at reform. In 2004, Senators Hagel, Sununu, Dole, and McCain, took up Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s call to create stronger regulatory oversight of the GSEs and limit the amount of leverage GSEs could use to invest in risky mortgage lending. While this would not have interfered with the GSEs’ role in providing a secondary mortgage market, it would have reduced their ability to fund high-risk lending with borrowed money and cut into the companies’ fabled profit margins and executive compensation. However, when the Senate Banking Committee took up the legislation, S.1508, Democrats and some Republicans opposed it as originally drafted. For example, the legislation was approved by the Committee only after Senator Robert Bennett, whose son was employed by the Fannie Mae partnership office in Utah, attached an amendment that stripped the provision which would have allowed a new regulator to limit the GSEs’ leverage. This led the Bush Administration to withdraw its support from the weakened legislation, which ultimately failed to pass the full Senate.
I conclude that Senator Bennett is corrupt because he accepted large donations and probably had influence in his son’s employment with the donor, and then acted to protect the donor, instead of doing what was good and right for his constituents and the country.
One might argue that the Senator learned his lesson and has repented. But disturbingly, opensecrets.org reports that in the 2010 election cycle, his forth-largest contributor is Freddie Mac at $38,399 and the 11th largest is Fannie Mae at $27,500.
My observation of Senator Bennett over the years is that he is a politician first and a conservative 1/6th of the time. In his re-election year he does much to make himself look conservative, and communicates substantively with this conservative base. Then he blows us off for 5 years. I always get a reply from Rob Bishop when I contact him, and I usually get one from Hatch. I almost never get a reply from Bennett. I have heard him speak at several conventions. His speeches usually focus on political details, not about fighting the conservative fight.
He claimed a huge victory at the Box Elder County Lincoln Day Dinner straw poll last week. I was there and had an opportunity to review the results and the attendance list. When the vote totals are adjusted for out-of-county people each candidate brought in, the results are:
Bennett 106
Lee 95
Eager 37
Bridgewater 25
Williams 4
Note that 95+37+25+4=161 non-Bennett votes. That puts him at just less than 40% of the vote, which would have knocked him out of the race at convention.
Senator Bennett said in an email recently that with the real possibility of Republicans regaining control of Senate, this is no time for a rookie. I am very tired of the seniority argument. I’ll take an articulate, passionate, and consistent conservative that is fighting for us over corrupt seniority any day.
Just like Scott Brown rocked the Democrats by winning Ted Kennedy’s seat, I suggest we rock the Republican Party by taking out Bennett at convention. The Party and the country will be better for it.
To the Bennett supporters—I hope you’ll reconsider with this corruption report. To everyone else, including those who have disengaged from the Republican Party—get to your caucus with some friends and get elected as a State Delegate.
As one of you emailed me recently: Fight organized crime, Don’t reelect anyone!
National Expositor Note: Not only, Don’t reelect anyone. Stop voting for the establishment parties.
Still on display in the National Archives and revered as one of the most important documents in U.S. history, the Declaration of Independence tells us that a just government requires “the consent of the governed.” But aRasmussen poll released Thursday shows that only 21 percent of Americans believe the U.S. government has the consent of the governed.
Among the “Political Class,” which Rasmussen defines as people who implicitly trust the government and political leaders, 63 percent think that the government has the consent of the governed, but among voters it defines as mainstream, only 6 percent believe it.
The 1776 Declaration of Independence from British rule, the first document to establish the United States as political entities, says in part:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Rasmussen found that 78 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of independent voters, and 44 percent of Democrats believe the government does not have the necessary consent.
People were split not only along party lines but along income levels as well. Those making the most money were more likely to say the government has the consent of the governed, while the poorest voters were least likely to believe it.
Moreover, 71 percent of all voters now believe that the federal government is a special interest group, and 70 percent think that government and big business collude to harm consumers and investors.
In his new book, In Search of Self-Governance, Scott Rasmussen observes that the American people are “united in the belief that our political system is broken, that politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers.” He adds that “the gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and the politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18th century.” — Rasmussen Reports
This is a golden opportunity for the liberty movement. We know we have the answers for today, just as our ideological forefathers had the answers for 1776. The challenge ahead of us is to communicate our principles to our fellow Americans and show them how liberty and freedom will restore the economy and improve their lives.
The telephone poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted February 15 and 16 and has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.
(P.S. Gardner Goldsmith says that Thomas Jefferson made a huge mistake when editing the Declaration of Independence. If you’re into alternate history fiction, L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach explores what America might have looked like had Jefferson not made this particular edit to the Declaration. Gard also explores what “consent of the governed” actually means.)
“You want music to move the freedom movement forward?” John Ringer asked the Libertarian News Examiner. “I’ve got the theme song for the next American revolution.”
It’s an anti-government protest song, the style is country-rock, its name is “My country my ass” and it’s a part of Ringer’s plan.
Step one of his plan is sending CDs of his song to radio stations nationwide.
“Generally speaking, they are not going to play it,” Ringer admits.
Enter step 2: set up a web page for each state listing all radio stations that have the CD and explain how people can request the song.
Step 3 is up to you. “Get people to request the song,” he says.
It is a question all those supporting states’ rights initiatives need to ask themselves. Once answered affirmatively the struggle for educating others truly begins. It is easy to claim we support our sovereignty, to lend our voice to state resolutions, perhaps even support legislation with some teeth, yet how will we withstand the opponents who simply point to the dollars we are willingly cutting off?
Glen Warchol ran what is perhaps the shortest piece seen in the Salt Lake Tribune in recent history. In 10th Amendment cold turkey he quickly leaves us with the truth about what we are asking for and how we must accomplish it. He describes a very brief conversation between U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Rep. Chaffetz asked what it would take for the federal government to recognize the 10th Amendment rights of the states, a fair question asked to someone who could truly articulate the answer. “Stop taking their money,” is the answer Warchol reports and it is an answer known to be the true, root challenge. We must stop taking the money and mimicking the income tax system as a start to reclaiming sovereignty.
A friend was attending a local town hall meeting Tuesday night. Regarding their support for 10th Amendment state duties they were in the vast minority. At the meeting were 2 Utah State Representatives and 2 Utah State Senators. Besides the irritating fact the majority of those in attendance wanted more government intervention there was an eye-opening comment from one of the state senators when asked about Utah’s 10th Amendment rights. She simply brushed the matter aside with the age old trump card. She spoke quite plainly that 23% of the state budget came from the federal government and people were not willing to give those dollars away.
There it is, two sources corroborating the very fact 10th Amendment efforts suffer in the media, political circles, and neighborhoods across the country from the dependency these federal dollars have created. Right now there are a lot of citizens jumping on the wagon of states’ rights, it is fun after all and there are some really cool people involved in this movement! Some of the politicians involved are genuine supporters of our heritage, statesmen in a day when that breed is endangered, yet many are simply coming on board for resolutions or weak legislation as a way to win more votes.
Opponents, even those who appear to be supporters, are not willing to stop the federal flow of dollars but then again, neither are most citizens. I know, some of you already understand the federal dollars being used as a carrot would not exist if it were not ripped from the state citizens’ pocket, which is not the point of the opposition. The point they want to press is those who truly want our state sovereignty restored really want to take money from the sick, poor, down-trodden, and hungry. Supporters want to end federal funding of schools, roads, and more.
How foolish, in these tough times, can such nonsense be? Supporting the 10th Amendment is nothing more than a stunt for publicity or a failure to understand the dollars and lawsuits being put at risk. Don’t confuse facts with fiction here! Don’t mistake the Constitutional plans for a Federalist Republic with today’s necessary, representative national democracy. So the spin of opposition goes and grows in the ears of your neighbors, sovereignty is not sounding so promising for them.
Are you ready to stand in opposition to federal funding of vital entitlements your neighbors need? Are you blind enough to think the state and local governments will really care for life, liberty, and property better than federal intelligence? Can you seriously defend the notion you and your neighbors, city, county, and state officials can actually govern better by governing with less federal interference? How foolish, in these tough times, can such nonsense be?
As Gary Alder points out there are many in the 10th Amendment movement who are like young teenagers demanding their parents treat them as adults. If their parents dare say Okay will the teenager be ready? Will you be ready to tell your legislators to stand up to their duty, quit accepting federal funding, and quit being the tax collector for all federal waste? How will you stand in front of your neighbor who relies on a federal program administered by the state and tell them this is best? After talking with you about our heritage will they be ready to give those dollars away?
None of this will be easy and the ‘federal dollar denial’ card will be played relentlessly in a game of poker that will take many chips from your stack. Ultimately our Posterity’s liberty is at risk. You must be ready first, and then you must educate yourself on the benefits of our Constitutional order of separation of powers; checks and balances involving states’ duties in controlling federal usurpation. You must firmly commit to the idea of the lowest level of government being the government that is best. We will first lose federal inflow before we ever can stop federal outflow and many will cry foul, fool, fiend! Look in the mirror and ask yourself, honestly, are you ready to restore state sovereignty?
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