United Liberty

The people have spoken, and in this case a picture is worth a thousand words:

Since Dr. Paul’s email went out, we have raised $230,000, with $180,000 in the past 24 hours. We’ve been informed that is the largest single-day fundraising total for a North Carolina congressional candidate ever. (Perhaps nationally? How quickly did Dr. Paul raise his Congressional money?)

My friend Matt Chancey has written another great letter summarizing why this bailout must be stopped.  I encourage you to take the time to read his wise words and then get on the phone and demand that your Congressperson take the novel approach of actually representing his or her constituents’ wishes.  You can find your Congressperson’s contact info at track.nocashfortrash.org.

Dear friends,

First of all, I apologize for contacting you again in connection with this bailout nonsense.

But this is a very important issue—one that sets a dangerous precedent from which many generations of Americans unborn will suffer.

Of course, most politicians don’t care. I believe it was Winston Churchill who said that “a politician cares about the next election, but a Statesman cares about the next generation.”

Have you ever wondered in the last few days about all the rush to get this legislation passed? Remember, less than a month ago we were told that the economy was strong. Senator McCain was raked over the coals a couple of weeks ago because he maintained that the economy was still strong. He had to issue a quick retraction after a media outcry.

I think there are three categories of politicians who are voting for this bailout:

With all that has transpired this week, Americans are seeing the blatant, pervasive corruption through actions surrounding this bailout bill. We very likely may lose this fight: After all, it’s much easier to pass a bill than it is to kill it.

So what can we learn and walk away with from this process?

For one thing… Liberal Democrats can be very helpful in exposing the corruption & we need to be reminded that they certainly are principled. That’s probably a separate story though.

I’d like to step back for a moment to talk about one of the unsung heroes of the freedom & good government movement: Jeff Flake.

Congressman Flake is a rare member of congress who acts on strong principle, rather than impulse, emotion or self interest. His crusade against earmarks has been highlighted on 60 minutes & has caused him to be subject to ridicule and exclusion by his colleagues.

During this evening’s Senate vote, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) took the podium to explain her position on the proposed bailout package. In her statement, she explains that she received 91,000 calls and emails, with 85,000 of them opposed to the measure. Even armed with the knowledge that 93% of her constituents passionate enough to contact her office pleaded for her to vote “nay”, she votes in favor of the bill, claiming that “there is a great deal of confusion out there” and these people “don’t understand” the situation.

See the video below:

Below is the entirety of my correspondence from Senator Dianne Feinstein. I know she wrote this letter and gave this speech prior to the vote this morning. So now Dianne, with all you know about our opposition, and the congress shooting the bill down, where do you stand?

Now is your chance to turn things around and oppose the bailout.

Dear Mr. Avila:

Thank you for your letter expressing concern about Congress’ consideration of a plan to meet our Nation’s credit crisis with financial help from the Federal Government. This is a difficult situation for which there are no perfect solutions, and I would like to share my thoughts and concerns about this issue with you.

On September 19, 2008, Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. announced a legislative proposal to use $700 billion to purchase illiquid mortgage-related assets from ailing financial institutions. Secretary Paulson’s three-page proposal was a non-starter, and without critical changes it has no chance of approval from Congress.

This proposal would have given a blank check to an economic czar who would have been empowered to spend it without administrative oversight, legal requirements, or legislative review. Decisions made by the Treasury Secretary would be non-reviewable by any court, agency, or Congress. The proposal also lacked a requirement for regular reports to Congress on the status of the program. This was simply untenable.

A recent LA Times/Bloomberg poll shows that 55 percent of the American people do not support a taxpayer bailout of the financial sector of the economy, while only 31 percent think it is the government’s responsibility to provide these funds to the struggling firms. The first plan presented, drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Bush administration, has drawn fire from many legislators and political action groups. The Paulson plan calls for $700 billion dollars to be spent to purchase the assets that the mortgage companies are unable to sell, a transfer of more authority over the markets to the Federal Reserve, and no oversight or judicial review. That would be a hard pill to swallow for any legislation, let alone a taxpayer bailout of financial corporations.

The late Samuel Francis stated that the United States has a two-party system, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. Occasionally, you find a bi-partisan effort and when you do so, you can count on that proposal being both stupid and evil. I am incensed that Washington power-brokers have come together to bail out the greed of both big business and big government. Noted economist Jim Rogers has said that this bailout would make our economy more communistic than that of Red China. Do we really want that much more infusion of government into our economy? Years ago, I heard Congressman Phil Crane state that Government does nothing well. While observers should have noted the failure of statist systems and the growth of free market economies, our nation promises more from government. How blind do our leaders need to be before they realize that government spending is breaking the taxpayer and damaging the economy.

Please give careful attention to the wise warnings of my friend Matt Chancey.

Dear friends,

The reason I am writing you today is to ask you to join me in contacting your congressman and senators to urge them to reject the $700 billion bailout being rammed through Congress this week.

Delaware Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden said in reference to raising taxes on “the rich” -

“You got it,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when his interviewer noted that Obama was targeting the affluent. “It’s time (for the well-off) to be patriotic.”

Recently, I was asked who I planned to vote for in November.  Since my preferred candidate, Ron Paul, is no longer an option after the spring primaries, I have spent a lot of time studying both presumptive nominees for the status-quo parties, John McCain and Barack Obama.  The person who asked me was a very conservative Republican, so I talked first about why I could not support Obama.

I pointed out the lack of substance I have witnessed from his campaign from its start over a year ago.  At first, his message of “Change We Can Believe In” was certainly something that I could get behind, as I have been dissatisfied with the direction in which America has been led for over eight years.  But the problem I see with Obama’s message of “change” is that he does not define what it is he opposes in the current situation.   What exactly does he want to “change”?  Since there is not a well-defined starting point, I think it would be hard to pin down what he wants to “change” to.

As I followed the primaries and the campaign, I found that his charisma and emotional speeches drew nothing but compliments from pundits and those swayed by one of those powerful, well-written oratories.  What I couldn’t find was any amount of substance in what I can only describe as a short political career.

Senator Obama has made his Christian faith abundantly clear to the American public, but his Muslim background is hard to ignore and has been a source of fodder for blog gossips everywhere.  We’ve all received the emails circulating claiming that the Democratic Presidential nominee is a sleeper Muslim agent waiting to betray us to our Al-Qaeda enemies (puh-leeze!); those I promptly move to my spam file.  So, while I know the rumors aren’t true, it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the humor of this Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd “Wabbit Season” parody.