Great things are happening across America. The actions of a few brave and noble state legislators and state officers around the Republic may well demonstrate that the most important election in the nation may not be the run for the President of The United States. The most important upcoming elections for all Americans may be those for their state House of Representatives, State Senate, Attorney General and their Governor’s races. When this country was created the office of the President was intended to have a relatively minor influence on the citizens of each state. It appears that some legislators and state Attorney Generals are dusting off the Constitution and working to get their house in order.

In Oklahoma the state legislature has a Bill pending to re-assert their state sovereignty.  The short caption of the bill reads:

“Joint Resolution claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers; serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates; and directing distribution.”

Essentially, Oklahoma has asserted that the federal government and those in Washington D.C. are no longer going to dictate the way they run their state education, industries, National Guard, state police and they are especially not going to run rough shod over their state legislature. Oklahoma has told Washington, enough is enough. GET OUT!

In Montana the Governor and the State Legislature are reasserting their sovereignty and telling the Director of Homeland Security they have no constitutional authority to force the National ID on its citizens.

In New Hampshire a group of legislators are diligently working to introduce sound money backed by gold and silver as a state currency.

In Nevada the State Legislature rules the Federal Reserve Corporation unconstitutional.

It is All About Sovereignty

When we look at the source of the problem, most every problem in America today stems from a failure to respect and understand sovereignty: national, state, local and individual. The national police state and (FBI, DEA, CIA, OSHA, Corp of Engineers, Homeland Security, IRS, Fish and Wildlife, EPA, Fusion Centers, etc., etc.) runs rough shod over the state police, local sheriff’s offices and citizens in each state. The dire problems in this country were created by unconstitutional, unconscionable actions of the U. S. Congress. These agencies undermine the liberties of all Americans, violate the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and undermine the sovereignty of each state. Take a look at a list of all Federal Agencies. You will not believe it (http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml ).

The financial problems created by having to feed this machine seem so complex and overwhelming that most Americans have developed a sense of hopelessness and despair. When it comes to dealing with issues such as the national debt, the growing federal bureaucracy and the national police state, the citizens and states have no viable avenue for redress. When citizens have more fear of the IRS and the federal government than of dying, we have a problem.

When it comes to protecting one citizen from another, the sheriff of each county is the legitimate constitutional protector of the rights and liberties of the citizens. Their offices are charged with both protecting the liberty of the citizens and prosecuting those who commit criminal acts against another citizen. Should the sheriffs’ office ever engage in violating the rights of its citizenry, the citizens have immediate recourse by calling a town meeting or replacing the sheriff at the next election. The sheriff is immediately answerable to those who entrust him with such power. This is the proper order of things.

With a Federal Police state or federal regulatory bureaucracy, there is no redress for the citizens of the state. Can one vote out the director of the US Army Corps of Engineers or the head of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington D.C.? Write your Congressman and see what kind of results you get. Additionally, the U.S. Congress and its agencies treat our states and city municipalities as low level extensions of Congress. They have forgotten that, THE STATES CREATED THE CONGRESS and gave them their limited powers. The national police and federal regulatory agencies routinely undermine the citizen’s inalienable right of self defense by placing limitations on gun ownership. The federal government has undermined the citizen’s right of freedom and life through the personal income tax and regulation of every area of one’s life or business. The average state citizen now works nearly 4 months of the year for the federal government. The sad irony is, we created the federal government to protect our liberty and privacy and now it is the federal government we need protection from. This is not how the Founders intended.

Debt, Taxes and Inflation

In order to pay for the federal behemoth, the U.S. Congress and Federal Reserve Corporation have saddled the American people with an unrecoverable $13 trillion of debt. Half of this debt was accumulated in the past 8 years. This is now expected to be repaid by our children and grandchildren. No generation has the right to pass on a debt to the next generation.

Unfortunately, the U.S. treasury is empty, we are taxed until we cannot be taxed anymore and the federal government has borrowed until it cannot borrow anymore. According to the former Controller General of the United States David Walker, the U.S. has another $50 trillion in social service, Medicare and Medicaid obligations coming due over the next 30 years. http://www.federalbud….

Walker says, the U.S. Government is already insolvent and operates only off of borrowed money. The income taxes collected are primarily paying the $1.5 billion a day interest payment. Assuredly, he states, at our present course the U.S. Government will cease to operate.

Privacy

Did you know that the federal government has passed legislation requiring every citizen to obtain a National Id Card? The little known legislation is known as the Real ID Act was passed into law by Congress in 2003 and began being implemented in May of 2008 ( http://www.realidstates.com/category/real-id-act/ ). Florida, my home state, implemented the program in January 2010. The national ID Card is a centralized federal government file database on every American. This legislation allows the director of the Department of Homeland Security to track all of your financial transactions (i.e. political affiliations, social clubs, service clubs, gun ownership, types of guns purchased, places traveled) health records, biometric data, blood type, DNA information and social security number and will have the ability to be directly connected to your ATM or Debit Card.

People often say that if you have nothing to hide why should you care?

First of all, it smacks of a modern version of the required papers required by the Gestapo in Nazi Germany and secondly the government was created to protect our privacy not invade it. Read a little on the Nazi police state for a brief history lesson. Also, I am uncomfortable knowing that my small children, for their entire life may have every doctor visit, everywhere they travel and everything they ever purchase collected, maintained and analyzed by the government official in a federal government database.

So with all of this, what can possibly be the good news?

The Solution

The good news is that our founding fathers anticipated all of this and they gave us the ability at any time to bring the house in order. When this Republic was founded, we referred to one another as Floridians, Alabamans, Georgians, and Virginians.

When referring to the states collectively it was states the “United States are” …

Today the federal government would have us to believe the “United States is” one large collectivist national state, run and operated out of Washington D. C.

This issue probably would not be resurrecting itself if it were not for Washington seeking to strip our liberties and God given rights from us, enslave us through taxation, burden our children with debts, and collapse the dollar we trade in until our entire nations wealth disappears through inflation. As a result, few leaders in Washington can be trusted. Our founding fathers repeatedly warned us to not trust those in power. We must follow Oklahoma’s lead, dust off the Constitution, re- assert our state sovereignty and turn to ourselves to preserve our liberties and our prosperity.

Our solution will be a long arduous battle that begins at the local level, then state level, one legislator at a time. Eventually we will have a legislature and governor willing to stand up to the federal leviathan. During the process they will be under tremendous pressure to abandon the course. Their careers will be threatened, if they own businesses they will be threatened with loss of business or contracts, they will be ridiculed by the media as anachronistic and the weight of their party will bear on each of them. There are trillions of dollars being spent at the federal trough and the pigs will not leave until they are starved out. This plan will take governors calling governors and legislators calling legislators. We must follow the Founders advice and the states must re-assert their sovereignty. The states must refuse to allow the US Government to continue to run roughshod over their legislatures. We must do as Oklahoma has done, tell them enough is enough.

We need to find, educate and elect officials who think deeply about the principles this county was founded upon. Leaders that understand that taking office is a burden not a popularity contest. We need leaders that do not allow themselves to become compromised. We need leaders with the courage of their convictions to tell those in Washington D.C. that our state is not going to take it anymore. As Oklahoma has said, enough is enough. We are here to take it back!

If you are committed to the cause of liberty and limited constitutional government please join or contribute to the Republican Liberty Caucus of Northeast Florida www.rlcnf.org.

Regards,
Will Pitts, Chairman

Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida

Florida Liberty Candidates

Here are some good candidates to support in Florida:

Charles Perniciaro, State Senate District 8
http://www.charlesperniciaro.com

Luis Melendez, State House District 16
http://www.electmelendez.com

Marcus Rivchin, State House District 117
http://www.marcusrivchin.com

Francisco Rodriguez, State House District 83
http://www.rodriguez2010.com

Nathan McDonell, State House District 26
http://www.nathanmcdonell.com

Roger Shealy, State House District 29
http://www.shealy2010.com

By Chaumont

In the Madisonian republic that the citizens of the several states have managed to sustain, above all else, including such abstractions as “the common good” and “general welfare” for example, stands the rule of law.  It is with strict adherence to and equal application of a supreme law of the land that we are able to live, at worst, relatively free and, at best, with ultimate liberty and maximum personal responsibility.  As Madison explains in Federalist Paper #57, the same laws that apply to the citizens also apply to the representatives.  No man–not the executive, nor the legislative– is above the law.  It is with this understanding then that we must allow ourselves to be guided when making judgments and decisions on our elected officials.

We must learn to set aside our own “special interests” when seeking out the best candidates to rule us.  Citizens of the modern states excel at disdain for the organized interests of business, for example, who employ professional lobbyists, but fail to draw the parallels between their own intentions and the intentions of these organized groups.  Each citizen who makes a judgment of a candidate based upon any issue that is personal to them commits the same offense against the Republic that the professional lobbyist does.  The only difference is that the professionals often do so with more money than the common citizen.  But, in principle, there is no difference.  Each is trying to influence the system based on their own personal values and ambitions.  As secondary considerations, this practice is not so harmful; however the primary qualification for office in a constitutional republic is this:  Will the candidate respect the limits place on his power by the Constitution?  If no, then the candidate must not serve, no matter what a voter may like about the candidate’s views on other issues.

Contrary to what so many people believe, and what the lobbyists hired by the special interests practice daily, the elected representatives do not serve us.  They serve the Republic.  When representatives serve the people, then by consequence they will serve the majority at the expense of the minority, the rich at the expense of the poor, the influential at the expense of the commoner.  This is the evil which we see today where the elected are divorced from the electorate.  We must elect moral men who will bound themselves with the chains of the Constitution, vote for no legislation that is not authorized by the Constitution, and represent the interests of the whole of their constituency in the interest of maintaining the republic.

Much of my message here to you has been a nice way of saying the following:  Nobody cares what you think.  Your opinion does not and should not matter.  Your influence must be defended against by every liberty-loving citizen of the states.  It MUST be this way.  We have a rule of law and a system of government designed, as its primary function, to protect me from you .  My motivation for electing a representative to government is to make sure they will keep you from forcing your values upon me, to keep you from stealing my property, to prevent you from forcing my children to march off to foreign lands to slaughter innocent citizens of another geo-political union.  I know you’re my enemy when I see you supporting issues like the Fair Tax, which is a different disguise of theft of my fortune.  When you support aggressive and pre-emptive war, I know you are willing to kill my children to further your agenda against the enemies you’ve made for yourself.  When you support a ban on gay marriage, I know you are telling me that you own the definition of marriage and, at any time, you can further clarify that definition to exclude me.

I must find a moral man who recognizes the threat you pose to me and my liberty, and do everything I can to put him between you and me to provide protection.  THAT is what this republican form of government and our Constitution is designed to facilitate.  Only candidates who run on this platform are fit to serve our Republic.  Stop being selfish and become self-interested.  Cease looking for ways to participate in the power-grab which has become modern-day politics.  Find it in yourself to be brave enough to give up the tendency to use the power of government to force others to think like you, act like you, and vote like you.  Instead, choose liberty for all to do as they please so long as they do not rob another of life, liberty, or property!  Be loyal, not to a flag or another man or a government; rather be loyal to the principle of liberty that this country was founded on!

Duval County residents, commercial property owners and small businesses owners are being choked by the cords of excessive taxation and regulation to support excessive government spending and the mayor’s office is proposing an additional property tax increase. Currently tens of thousands of Duval County residents have had their hours at work reduced or are unemployed as a result of the recession, and many small business and property owners are struggling to keep their businesses afloat. Commercial property tax increases and storm water fees are making it nearly impossible for small shops to operate in retail centers and commercial property vacancies are on the rise. A new property tax increase is unbearable for those barely or unable to make ends meet. Rather than a property tax increase, government should be looking for ways to decrease this burden on its citizens.

The current issue of excessive taxation, debt and spending at the federal, state and local level is a multi -pronged problem created by the government. The first problem is the amount government is currently spending with an extending question of what they are spending our money on. The second problem is the manner in which taxes and fees are collected and municipal debt is incurred. Mayor Peyton and others are proposing an additional property tax increase while assuring us they have cut every possible expenditure out of their budget.

While examining their budgets it is a good time for our leaders to ask the fundamental question “What is the necessary function of local government?” In a free society, government is created to provide for the security and protection of the property and rights of its citizens, through armed forces, state National Guard or a police force and fire department; to provide infrastructure for commerce and free trade; to provide a court system to settle disputes and to prosecute criminals; and, to provide for a currency to allow for free trade.

The converse to this question is “What business is the government in that should be handled by the free market?” In Florida and in Duval County, these businesses include among other things: schools, medicine, welfare, entertainment, agriculture, insurance, land development, ports, libaries and charities. In Florida, there are numerous primary, secondary and higher education schools that educate more effectively and efficiently than their current government school competitors. Simply compare the cost of education per student. The government should get out of the education business. Public education should be there to provide the minimum required education program. Government schools should be a program of last resort similar to the public defender’s office. The government’s goal should be to get our residents out of the government school system and to promote the expansion and growth of private and parochial schools; not to increase the size and burden of the government school system.

As compared to government businesses, there are numerous private hospitals that operate more efficiently and effectively. The government should get out of the medical business. There are numerous non-profits and charities that operate more effectively and distribute the money voluntarily given to them. The government should get out of the charity, welfare, recreation, entertainment, land development and library business. The free market has, and always will, do a better job at regulating itself and providing goods and services more efficiently and economically. But the real question is not who can do the job better − it is a matter of what is right and wrong. When the government takes money from a citizen to support individuals or programs that the citizen, whose money they are involuntarily spending, does not agree with, it is simply wrong.

At the state and local level, governments should work to have essential government services be paid for directly by those who use these services. These services should be paid for in the form of local sales taxes and user fees. For example, 100% of the cost of the stadium should be shouldered by the users of the stadium. If this can not be done, the stadium or facility should be sold or leased to someone who can operate and manage it profitably.

However, cutting the budgets of programs that are necessary functions of government such as fire, police, courts and roads are not necessarily the answer. The budgets of these necessary agencies and departments should be increased if necessary while those agencies providing services that should be handled by the marketplace should be phased out and eliminated.

Utilizing Property taxes to pay for these services is fundamentally abhorrent. In a free society no individual should ever lose their property for failure to act or pay a tax. All taxes should be avoidable and connected to specific use or consumption. If someone gets power they pay a tax, if the purchase fuel they pay a tax, if they purchase water they pay a tax. When they purchased their property they paid a tax, once they purchased the materials to build their home they paid a tax. Once an individual purchases a good or service and pays the associated fee or tax it becomes their property. The state should have no further claim against their property.

Our government was not created to do things for people, corporations or for states; to take from some to give to others. Unfortunately the un-American expanded federal, state and local social, welfare and entitlement system represents the gradual creep of a socialist redistribution of wealth mentality that is slowly undermining the fabric of the American dream. Every individual has the right to the fruits of their own labor and the responsibility to support themselves and their families. Under the US Constitution, the federal government cannot legitimately redistribute the wealth and assume power over people’s lives and dominate mans existence with oppressive taxation, regulations and government controls. Our leaders need to send those calling back to the charities and use the bully pulpit to rally the business leaders, churches and non-profits to the cause of individual and community responsibility to solve these problems.

If you agree with this position and would like to learn more about the message of liberty, visit the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida website at http://www.rlcfl.org/ and find your local chapter today.

Will Pitts, Chairman
Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida
July 17, 2009

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Northeast Florida had a large crowd for its last meeting at the offices of W.G. Pitts, with the feature of the meeting being Dave Shields’ presentation on “Living the Liberty Message” and a forum for members and guests.

Randy Scudder opened with the Patriot’s Pledge, then Chairman John Stevens recognized the elected leaders and guests, and gave the guests an overview of the RLCNEF.  Kimberly Wells stepped up to the podium for a moment after, letting the assembly know of her resignation as Vice Chairman of the RLCNEF, and Chairman of the Membership Committee.

Dave Shields followed with an inspirational discussion titled “Living the Liberty Message.”  It focused on self-sufficient living and removing yourself from many of the schackles of typical government-dependent living.  You can find a transcript of his speech on this website at http://www.rlcnef.org/self-sufficient-living-living-the-liberty-message/.

Following was a forum for both members and guests, with a panel including John Stevens, Erik Setzer, Kristi Dunn, Michael Wahlman, Savannah Poole, Cliff Johnson, Jon Anderson, Cal Heseman, Victor Wilhelm, and moderated by Louis Rose.  Members were able to able to ask some questions for the panel to answer, and then were able to vote on the topics that the RLCNEF should focus on moving forward, with the top two being education of the Consitution and trying to get liberty-minded candidates to win local (county and state level) elections.

After the forum, John Stevens announced new members, and moved on to new business.  Will Pitts gave a review of the Republican Party of Florida meeting on January 8-9, and urged members to attend the February 20 RPOF meeting to vote for the next state chairman.  Savannah Poole told members about an upcoming members-only event for fun on March 19.  Finally, Michael Wahlman informed members that the RLCNEF bylaws had gone through a lengthy revision process and will be up for vote by the members on April 6.

Finally, three guests running for office spoke afterward: Mike Yost running for Congress District 3 (yostforcongress.com), Troy Stanley running for Congress District 4 (stanley10.com), and Chelsi Henry running for Soil and Water Group 5 (chelsiphenry.com).

Next Board meeting: February 24, 2010, Offices of W.G. Pitts
Next Regular meeting: March 2, 2010, Four Points Sheraton (8520 Baymeadows Rd.)

-Cliff Johnson

With federal leviathan’s ever increasing reach and size and with its hostile takeover of our liberties and freedoms, it has become more and more apparent to me that reclaiming our federal government is a lost cause. I look at our federal government as described by the infamous Sirius Talk show host Mike Church, as “Mordor on the Potomac”. Most folks are familiar with Mordor, the evil city in the movie Lord of the Rings where no one could get in and no one could get out. And it was riddled with the Evil King Sauron’s servant minions known as Orcs.

As we protest, demonstrate and voice our demands that the Federal Government leave us alone and get out of our lives, our representatives in Congress continue to ignore our voices and move right along with their imperial agendas. Our two party system has clearly become a sham that has been used as a political tool to get Americans to fight against Americans under the false choices of a singular agenda. What style of socialism do you like? Republican style or Democrat style? What form of government health care do you like? Republican approved style like Medicare or Democrat style like Europe? Americans have been sold down the river by political elitists who have only one goal: Power and their own political legacy.

Out of all Americans, even those who have declared their identity by a political party, most of us have one thing in common, WE WANT TO LIVE FREE. Freedom is not a political party! Freedom is American!

Our government has used political parties to divide us by mundane differences and lead our American society away from freedom and self-reliance and closer to total government dependence. This is a blatant assault on our American Freedom!

There is only one solution that I can see for us to save our Republic and preserve freedom and liberty for ourselves and our posterity. That solution is the reclaiming of our respective state legislatures. We MUST replace all of our state legislators, Governors, Representatives, and Senators, with Constitutional scholars and those who will, under any circumstance, uphold their oaths to protect and defend the freedom and liberty of the people of their state through the adherence to our State Constitution in conjunction with the United States Constitution. These men and women MUST have the fortitude to stand up against any and all unconstitutional encroachments by the Federal Government upon our state and nullify any legislation that comes from Washington which attempts to confiscate our liberty, property, natural resources and financial resources. New Hampshire has a group called the Free State Project that is doing something similar. They are attempting to reclaim their state legislature by increasing the population of Constitutionalists by having people move there. Thus increasing their voting block.

If every state legislature, with no party affiliation, were reclaimed by freedom loving individuals who knew it was their sole DUTY to protect and defend freedom and liberty, Washington and the Federal Leviathan would be starved into submission! The way the Founders intended it to be!

We as liberty loving individuals must unite for this cause; we must remove career politicians from state office and replace them with OURSELVES! This is the last ditch effort to save our Republic. Reclaiming our state legislature is the easiest direction to non-violently controlling the Federal Government. We must not wait until it is too late. Join us in this movement; your liberty and the freedom of your children depend on it.