Finally, Action! Ron Paul Introduces Bill to Defend Constitution!
It's not every day that there is something concrete you can do to save democracy in one powerful stroke and make sure your kids don't come of age in an American in which we are no longer protected by the rule of law. I have been writing about the terrifying and precipitous assault on our liberties and our very system of checks and balances; I have crossed the country with this message -- today I am in Boston -- and I have heard across the nation that (as usual) the people are ahead of the leaders and the pundits. Americans of all backgrounds are alarmed and outraged and ready to take action against these vicious assaults on the rule of law. But what I hear again and again is: "What can we do?"
Here is what you can do, and it is big, big news. If we do this together in our millions we are safer; and if we fail to act we miss an historic opening and risk far worse to come.
There are two new organizations that are driving a grassroots push to restore the rule of law: the American Freedom Agenda was started by leaders who are conservative: Bruce Fein, who was a Reagan administration official in the Department of Justice, and others. The American Freedom Campaign was started by progressives. Both groups advance comparable 10 point legislative agendas that would stabilize democracy long enough for us to forestall the worst and regroup for more long-term reparation of the Constitution and the rule of law. Both would, if passed, protect Americans from the scary stories of abuse and recrimination I am hearing every single day -- journalists intimidated, prisoners tortured, innocent citizens spied on by the State in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Both would make it illegal for any administration to commit the kinds of crimes against America and its constitution that we have seen under this one: the innocent lawyer Brandon Mayfield's home broken into, the innocent software engineer Maher Arar kept prisoner by U.S. agents in an interrogation cell in a U.S. airport and prevented from calling his lawyer, and journalists reporting on abuses by the government threatened by the state with prosecution that could keep them in jail for a decade. Urgently it would close the horrific legal possibility for the president to call you or me an "enemy combatant" tomorrow -- JUST BECAUSE HE SAYS SO -- and lock us up in solitary confinement for years.
Passing the legislative agenda of either group would make it clear that American citizens -- in spite of a heretofore craven and compliant Congress -- refuse to stand by silently while a group of criminals systematically violates the core structure of the democracy our Founders put in place for us.
The big news is that this idea can now become a law and a law creates a reality.
On Monday, Rep. Ron Paul, the outsider Republican presidential candidate who has long upheld these values and who was an early voice warning of the grave danger to all of us of these abuses, introduced the AFA's legislative package into Congress. (The mainstream press has an irrational habit of disparaging outsider candidates -- as if corrupt money and machine endorsements equal seriousness of purpose -- even though the Founders hoped that the system they established would lead citizens, ideally those unembedded in the establishment, to offer their service to the nation.) It is the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 [PDF], and you should read it in its entirety: just as accounts of the recent abuses send chills down your spine, this beautifully argued document feels historic and has the ring of great power to correct great injustice.
What does it do? According to an alert put out by the American Freedom campaign, it would accomplish the following:
"The American Freedom Agenda Act would bar the use of evidence obtained through torture; require that federal intelligence gathering is conducted in accordance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); create a mechanism for challenging presidential signing statements; repeal the Military Commissions Act, which, among other things, denies habeas corpus to certain detainees; prohibit kidnapping, detentions, and torture abroad; protect journalists who publish information received from the executive branch; and ensure that secret evidence is not used to designate individuals or organizations with a presence in the U.S. as foreign terrorists."
Ron Paul was the first of all the presidential candidates, red or blue, to step up in this way -- and all credit is due to him for getting there first. May the others of both parties race to follow his lead. These days, as we have seen from how reluctant some candidates have been -- even on the Democratic sign -- even to sign a mere pledge to uphold the Constitution, it takes some courage to stand fast against the assaults of this administration -- and their manipulations of the terms "patriotism" and "terror threat" -- and insist with legislation on the Founders' vision and on restoring democracy.
A groundswell of millions of Americans of all parties rising up to insist on passage of the AFA legislation means that we are awake -- we get it -- and that we assert that an alert citizenry, not a whipped-dog Congress or a violently abusive executive, decides what happens in this nation still. I am not a voter on his side of the ballot -- but I will move heaven and earth to support the passage of this lifesaving agenda. (Interestingly when I run into Paul's supporters -- who are deeply alert to the abuses of democracy -- and I demur by saying I am a Democrat, it is they who rightly assure me that these issues transcend party).
There is no way to overstate how crucial this piece of legislation is. We are at a turning point, and without the restoration of the rule of law the "blueprint" for what I have called a "fascist shift" -- the closing down of democracy -- calls for scarier recriminations against citizens, greater tightening of social controls -- the ever-growing, disturbingly political TSA watch list is, alarmingly, due to go from the airlines' administration to that of the TSA itself -- and more corruptions of the electoral process. Blackwater is a truly terrifying wild card. Without the rule of law we will be powerless as each of these assaults on liberty continue to escalate. With it we can fight back.
This is the answer both to those who say "What we can do?" and to those who claim (actually, sometimes whine) "there is nothing we can do." And if we don't act on this now we will get the democracy we deserve -- which is no democracy at all.
Put aside your partisan ideal world -- sometimes issues simply transcend partisanship -- and if ever there is an issue that is above and separate from party politics, it is the restoration of the democratic system we inherited. There are good people and passionate patriots across the political spectrum.
We at the AFC are putting out a call to pass this set of laws. Pick up the phone -- every day. Email your representative -- every day. Let them hear from millions of Americans a day. Let them hear from twenty. Please play hardball -- the times demand it and nice girls and boys have managed to get this Congress to do literally nothing at all to protect liberty.
Congressmen and women say off the record that they can't support liberty, much as they'd like to, because they are scared of "looking soft on terror" and they want to run out the clock -- a naive and self-serving posture in a time of crisis. Make them more scared of you if they don't. Tell them you will bombard their donors with the message that they have sold out liberty. Tell them you will denounce them as traitors to the Constitution in your local and regional letters to the editor and op-eds. Tell them they are unpatriotic to stand by while liberty is disemboweled. Tell them you will stop at nothing to ensure their future defeat unless they support this and make it the law of the land.
Let's do it. There is no excuse now. The restoration of democracy is up to you -- as the Founders intended it should be.
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It has been speculated that when one goes far enough to either the right or left end of the political spectrum hoping to seperate oneself from the chaos of the center, one will encounter one's complementary opposite comming to meet you while they too are fleeing the same thing you are.
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I can't wait until these fat cats find out Ron Paul wants to cut their pay in half and get rid of their lucrative pension plans....Let the citizens take over.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You have declined to sign on, as I understand, for the federal pension that every member of Congress is entitled to. So my question is, you're not worried about your later years? I mean, you could live many more years, Congressman Paul.
REP. RON PAUL: This is one position that I think my wife might disagree with me on! There goes our retirement! No, you know, I was in the Congress in the '70s and '80s, and I've been back, so I've had a good many years, close to 20 years. I've been in the military. So it would be a nice pension fund.
But when I started in Congress, the first time in '76, it was even then more lucrative than it is now, but it's a very lucrative, very beneficial pension fund. And I could not see with me condemning, you know, the system to on the side quietly participate in getting some very good benefits. So I just said, "I'm not going to do it; I'll have to take care of myself some other way."
JUDY WOODRUFF: Should everybody else follow suit, do you think?
REP. RON PAUL: Well, no, I DONT THINK WE SHOULD HAVE THOSE PROGRAMS.. I think CITIZENS SHOULD BE REPRESENTING us in Congress and the work should be reduced. WE SHOULD CUT THEIR PAY IN HALF AND LET THEM GO HOME AND WORK!
(oops!)
See, if I go home and practice medicine right now, the congressional rules say, "You can't practice medicine." I don't want to take the lucrative pension fund, but ironically, if I wanted to work extra on the weekend, they won't allow me, because they say it's a conflict of interest for me to go home and deliver a baby. So figure that out.
Go Ron Paul 10/12/07 PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/paul_10-12.html
www.house.gov/paul/
Google "Ron Paul quotes." Here's a sampling or two:
In defense of true free market capitalism vs. corporatism and the welfare-warfare state:
“Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!”
On government, state-sponsored terrorism & tyranny:
“America was founded by men who understood that the threat of domestic tyranny is as great as any threat from abroad. If we want to be worthy of their legacy, we must resist the rush toward ever-increasing state control of our society. Otherwise, our own government will become a greater threat to our freedoms than any foreign terrorist.”
On special interests, mercantilism & empire:
“Special interests and the demented philosophy of conquest have driven most wars throughout history. Rarely has the cause of liberty, as it was in our own revolution, been the driving force. In recent decades our policies have been driven by neo-conservative empire radicalism, profiteering in the military industrial complex, misplaced do-good internationalism, mercantilistic notions regarding the need to control natural resources, and blind loyalty to various governments in the Middle East.”
Repeal the 16th Amendment - take back America from its slave-masters. And legalize the American Constitution. Restore the Republic.
"This is not capitalism!"
Not purely, but conservative Republican ideology does everything it can to push it in that direction, attempting to privatize all it can get away with and denigrating government the whole time, just like Paul.
The results at this point should be clear to all. The more "free market" solutions are implemented, the more working people and their families suffer while the ultra-rich are once again engorged. Paul would just exacerbate the situation and shrink democratic government in the process.
Ron Paul is just another Ayn Rand-style Libertarian "free market" capitalist. That's why he's a Republican, and why the Republicans can keep him.
I care about one thing, restoring the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For his effort in our cause I'm eternally grateful, but other than that, eff him and the horse he rode in on.
I am not a cultist and do not believe in the cult of the personality. That smacks of the year 2000 reverence for Bush, "the guy we'd like to have a beer with". Isn't that how we got into this mess?
No. "Guy i'd have a beer with" and "guy who respects the supreme law of the land and stands strong regardless of political pressures" are apples and oranges as far as personality cults go.
Milo9.
In by refering to Dr. Pauls base as "cultists", do you realize you have just insulted about 1/2 of our active duty military?
I think before you open your trap, you should think of the people you insult.
YOU my friend are no better than a republican and neither are your candidates.
If you were true and not just running your mouth, you would put up a better candidate with a better voting record who has a better foreign policy that can be elected.
YOU DO NOT.
None of the smearers do.
That is the problem...
YELL and SHOUT.
But provide nothing better.
You dont even discuss who "might" be a better candidate.
How typical.
Go Ron Paul
A few mouse clicks, fill in my name and address and I have just sent a message to congress encouraging them to review the Ron Paul Bill and save our constitution all from the comfort of my living room!
Thank you, Naomi Wolf, for writing this interesting and very important blog and for providing an easy way for me to help out!
At least there is one Republican (Ron Paul) who has something working right upstairs!
Make the the ONLY one!
How many of you are going to continue using this as a platform for Ron Paul (whom I support), instead of addressing this blog entry, which is a call to action?
Instead of patting yourselves on the back for promoting or discrediting Ron Paul, channel that energy towards the last 2 paragraphs of Naomi's post. You're falling into rhetoric and changing the topic, which is exactly why the machine continues to roll onward, because we're too caught up in our own superficial and petty ideas, instead of the cause of Patriotism and the objective of Liberty.
Dr. Paul cured my apathy. He gets my money AND my vote. But more than anything else, he's got me thinking... for me... again.
To think; I almost thought I could get away with sitting another election cycle out... and not lose a bit of sleep about it, either.
Hell, I'm out pounding pavement for this guy!
What in the world has gotten in to me? Dost you think me kind of kooky? :)
"Freedom is popular!" - Ron Paul
Dr. Paul has my and my wife's and our son's votes.
With all due respect.
To paraphrase Jackie DeShannon -
Naomi, we dont need another group
There are groups and committees enough to spare
Arent the voices getting dispersed, weakened.
They try to confuse us....There are no Ron Paul supporters who are confused.
We know what we must do.
Ron Has been preparing and talking for years now.
This was his reason for running for president.
You must change your view or face serious consequences.
This you must do.
How about getting Dr. Paul and these "Rule of Law" groups to organize around the constitutional remedy for a lawless president and vice president: impeachment? An impeachment investigation would yield critical, long-term results, even if the familiar cries of"we do not have the votes", or "we do not have enough time", or "this will distract from the people's business" prevail. Much information, not now known, would become available since executive privilege and other lame excuses are off the table in an impeachment inquiry. As a teaching exercise for future presidents and to prevent the present president and vice president to go off to a comfortable retirement, at the Country's expense, an impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives is required.
letter from Ron Paul email inquiry. 6/07
Q: "Dr. Paul why have you not signed on to the bill brought forward by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) for the impeachment of Vice President Richard B. Cheney?"
A: "The house speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has taken this issue off the table and to do so would be a waste of taxpayers time and money."
Go Ron Paul
Ron Paul re3VOLution
THANK goodness NAOMI that a rational person has been able to post an article on such a liberty-loving, freedom-of-speech website. This bill proposed by Ron Paul is our constitution at work and it CAN make a difference if people would write and call their representatives instead of complaigning on blogs and comments about what he could do or should do. This man is a great statesman, and thank you for reaching out across all party lines. Let us not be divided by blue and red as those on the Hill want us to be by them and their corporate lobbying counterparts.
blue dog dem atheist for ron paul
I recently thought about a new kind of political party that would not have a physical existence but would be transcendent in the sense that it would be an understanding and discussion among people in the existent parties. We would give priority at elections not to the parties, but to certain issues:
1) We favor candidates who abide by the rule of law and give it a priority
2) we favor candidates who give priority to following the proper process over reaching a bottom line result
3) we favor candidates that give priority to the idea that on most all issues one side is not absolutely right and the other absolutely wrong.
what people on all sides of issues tend to do is want the law to rig the outcomes so that what they perceive to be their side will automatically win. this is a lazy way or self serving way to govern. We need to refocus on specific situations one at a time, the fairest process for reaching decisions in situations one at a time. this is a lot more work but is worth it.
You democrats and Republicans slay me! When will you ever learn! There may be certain social issues that Rs and Ds, disagree on, but I have to tell you, their agenda is the same. The infighting is like the fighting in the World Wrestling Federation: It's fake, a ruse! Ron Paul wants to get the Federal Government OUT of your bedroom. Leave the social issues to the STATES! Not the Feds! Both Dems and Reps are HUGE SPENDERS! That has to stop. Please read "The end of Dollar Hegemony", by Ron Paul. And, for freedoms sake, understand that the dems have the same globalist agenda; Hillary will continue where Bush left off. Read, http://www.silverbearcafe.com/futurecalling.html, and find out the truth before it's too late! I love Naomi! She's amazing!
But Ron has those pesky neonazi and white supremist issues that are a bit hard to ignore.
Oh, THOSE! i'm sorry, again? What issues are you referring?
Liars are the worst. And you sir, are a liar.
http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/
after your education, get back to me.
Guys, if you can't make a sound, logical argument, please refrain from your ad hominem attacks. It just shows your lack of education and pathetically weak platform.
Let's see the links? Seems like an untruth.
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/futurecalling.html
And pesky trolls from repug and dem camps smearing him on any and every blog...
like you!
Those same neo nazi's and white supremacists like JESUS too....
I'm sure Jesus is thrilled about their endorsement.... and their understanding of him and his positions.... Can you imagine how horrible it must be for him?
Ron is a states rights, pro life guy... OK.... he see's the world 180 DEGREE'S differently than I do.... literally, in many, many ways... IMO... States Rights just doesn't work on too many levels...
but my sense is that Ron's honest about what he sees, and I think that's 100% better than being a lying sack of shit to get elected (no matter what party).... AND I don't think he's a NeoCon Fascist.... And all the rest of the Repubs are, and some of the Dems are definitely open to question
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT !
Reality 101
Q.) Who put these laws in place?
A.) The exact same politicians to whom you now turn to for relieve.
Q.) Do you really believe they did not know what they were doing when they circumvented our beloved Constitution in the first place?
A.) No, you know better, they knew exactly what they were doing.
Facts/Truth be known, they anticipated We, the People dissent and put these laws in place to quail that dissent.
If one truly has the hope to affect change, ya must remove those in office that allowed for this to take place, period.
NOT appeal to them!
If we are looking for a show of force, why don't we boycott Christmas shopping--the only place that the elites feel pain is in the purse. Ron (R) is not the problem; he would be dragging in the same maggots that that have infested the WH since Nixon. War crimes trials is the only thing that will turn this country around.
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