CRAIGforCONGRESS
Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, January 26, 2008, 10:30am

A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the January 26, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the President's Address -- "State of the Union"

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday night, I will address the American people about the state of our union. I will report that over the last seven years, we've made great progress on important issues at home and abroad. I will also report that we have unfinished business before us, and we must work together to get it done.

How the President Differs from the American vision of "Liberty Under God":

The Government does not create "economic growth" -- it is a parasite on economic growth

  1. The Declaration of Independence speaks of "Providence." Adam Smith, in his book Wealth of Nations, spoke of an "Invisible Hand." This is a universe created and governed by a good and personal God.
  2. If we obey "the Laws  of Nature and of Nature's God," we will experience "the blessings of liberty" and be able to pass them down to our posterity.
  3. All of the economic problems which Bush is attempting to solve or avert are the result of violating the "the Laws  of Nature and of Nature's God," for example, by debasing the currency, which is both immoral and unconstitutional.
  4. Both the Democrats and Republicans have united in their practice of currency debasement. This is the root of our economic problems today.
  5. The only true alternative to the Democrats and Republicans is a libertarian alternative.
  6. Government does not produce; it taxes production.
  7. All money taken by the Government from the Free Market is mis-allocated, by definition (nobody voluntarily allocates their money to the government; they had other plans for their money).
  8. All money taken by the Government from the Free Market is mis-allocated to special interests who must resort to government force because persuasion fails them.
  9. This misallocation is rationalized by promises which are illusions ("jump-start the economy" "shot in the arm"); faith in government is like faith in Santa Claus.
  10. President Bush thus promises to be our Savior, and Taxes are our offerings to a false god.
    1. America is, on the one hand, a nation "under God."
    2. America is, on the other hand, a nation that ignores God and commits idolatry.
    3. Idolatry is when we fail to trust God (our national motto is "In God We Trust") and trust the Government to bring us "salvation."
  11. Americans must think about these issues, not just in terms of the Constitution, but in terms of the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- the philosophy of "Liberty Under God."

President Bush's
Saturday Morning Radio Address

Another Perspective:
"Liberty Under God"
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday night, I will address the American people about the state of our union. I will report that over the last seven years, we've made great progress on important issues at home and abroad. I will also report that we have unfinished business before us, and we must work together to get it done. History will report that the last seven years were not years of "great progress," but perhaps the most rapid decline in American history. It's possible that the destruction of the Constitution and the idea of "Liberty Under God" has only made more "progress" under the administrations of FDR and Lincoln.
 In my speech, I will lay out a full plate of issues for Congress to address in the year ahead. Two of these issues require immediate attention.  
 First is the economy. I know many of you are worried about the risk of an economic downturn, because of the instability in the housing and financial markets. You should know that while economic growth has slowed in recent months, the foundation for long-term growth remains solid. And I believe that with swift action, we can give our economy the boost it needs to continue expanding and creating new jobs for our citizens.
If the government is so knowledgeable and omnipotent as to be able to "solve" the problem of an "economic downturn," why is it unable to prevent that downturn from occurring in the first place?

Washington D.C. does not want you to know that our "economic downturn," and the "instability in the housing and financial markets" are both caused by the federal government. Friedrich Hayek won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974 for his "pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations." Hayek represented "classical liberalism," also known as "the Free Market," and his work, based on the foundation laid by Ludwig von Mises, who proved beyond doubt that the creation of money by the government is the cause of "instability in the housing and financial markets." Most Americans are oblivious to this pervasive fact. Bush's economic advisors are not. They hope to profit or maintain their power by transferring "stability" from you to them.
 On Thursday, my Administration reached a bipartisan agreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner on an economic growth package. This package will deliver direct tax relief to hardworking Americans. It will also include incentives for businesses -- including small businesses -- to make new investments this year. I ask the House and Senate to enact this package into law as soon as possible. And while I understand the desire to add provisions from both the left and the right, it would be a mistake to undermine this important bipartisan agreement. By working together, we can provide our economy with a shot in the arm when we need it most.
The most important issues of our day are "bipartisan."
   •   immigration
   •   government manipulation of currency and credit
   •   the overthrow of foreign governments
   •   campaign finance,
   •   secular government dominance over Christian parents in education
-- all of these issues are agreed upon by both democrats and republicans. Which is to say, neither democrats nor republicans understand the most fundamental issues of the Constitution, the economy, or civilization itself.
 The other urgent issue before Congress is a matter of national security. Congress needs to provide our intelligence professionals with the tools and flexibility they need to protect America from attack. In August, Congress passed a bill that strengthened our ability to monitor terrorist communications. The problem is that Congress set this law to expire on February 1st. That is next Friday. If this law expires, it will become harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to infiltrate our country, harder for us to uncover terrorist plots, and harder to prevent attacks on the American people. When Osama bin Ladin declared a "fatwah" (holy war) against the U.S., he mentioned three evils that warranted our destruction:
   • U.S. military bases defiling holy places in Saudi Arabia
   • bombing Muslims in Iraq
   • aiding Israeli oppression of Arab Palestinians
All of these actions violate the Constitution and the most fundamental principles of American foreign policy (as articulated by America's Founding Fathers). But instead of terminating these unconstitutional actions, Congress wants to attack your constitutional rights, especially your rights under the 4th Amendment. Not only that, Bush has escalated the policies of the Clinton Administration (that brought about Osama's wrath).
 Congress is now considering a bipartisan bill that will allow our professionals to maintain the vital flow of intelligence on terrorist threats. It would protect the freedoms of Americans, while making sure we do not extend those same protections to terrorists overseas. It would provide liability protection to companies now facing billion-dollar lawsuits because they are believed to have assisted in efforts to defend our Nation following the 9/11 attacks. I call on Congress to pass this legislation quickly.
Congress needs to repudiate the last 20 years of the Bush-Clinton regime:
Support The "American Freedom Agenda Act"
Repeal the Patriot Act
Stop using American lives as cannon fodder
Stop the War FOR Terror - Foreclose aggressive war against Iran
9-11 is still being raised as the basis for Bush's unconstitutional foreign policy. Congress should
Support 9-11 Accountability -- a truly independent criminal investigation of the tragedy, with an aggressive and unbiased prosecution, with full discovery and a press for truth.
We need to know who our enemies are and what they are plotting. And we cannot afford to wait until after an attack to put the pieces together. Suppose that the federal government made the decision to return America to "Liberty Under God" and abide by the Constitution. This means the government would not spy on Americans, torture suspects, and bomb their relatives in Iraq. Every individual member of your family would have saved at least $3,000 on a senseless and unconstitutional aggressive war on Iraq and creation of an Islamic theocracy in place of Saddam's secular regime. Tens of thousands of innocent men women and children would not have been killed. Could we "afford to wait until after an attack to put the pieces together?" If God's people who are called by His name humbled themselves, and prayed and sought His face, and turned from their wicked ways, would God hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land and keep us safe from attack?  Does our national motto mean anything?
 When I go before Congress on Monday, I will speak more about how we can keep our economy strong and our people safe. I am confident that we can work together to meet our responsibilities in these areas -- and leave our children a stronger and more prosperous America. The way to keep our economy strong and our people safe is to get the federal government out of the economy and out of the nations of other people. As it stands right now, our children are going to inherit a bankrupt nation and the wrath of a billion foreigners.
Thank you for listening.  

Additional Resources:

Kevin Craig's platform:

Libertarian Resources

"Good Cop, Bad Cop"

Here is a pessimistic view of the recession: At the Edge of the Abyss by Gary North.
Where is an optimistic view of the President's ability to turn the recession around? I will put the link here if you will tell me where it is.

In any case, where are these pessimistic/optimistic forces taking us? In all probability, both sides are moving us to greater levels of trust in government (instead of "a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence" [Declaration of Independence]) and greater power and control in the hands of government. A collapse of the dollar might move us more quickly to the proposed "Amero," a regional currency joining the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a political/economic union similar to the European Union and its Euro.

Neal Boortz has suggested attaching "The Boortz Addendum" to every appropriation bill offered in Congress. This addendum would read something like this:

Every sponsor or co-sponsor of this legislation hereby affirms his or her belief that the need for the federal government of the United States to spend taxpayer funds on the purposes outlined herein is of greater importance and urgency than any spending needs which the party or parties who actually earned these funds may have; such needs being, but not necessarily limited to, spending for medical care, child care, housing, food, clothing, transportation, education, insurance, savings and retirement planning, and religious tithes or conscientious charity. 

It became common during the Clinton Administration to speak of government spending as an "investment." Congress might also therefore attach the following to each spending bill:

By voting for this legislation I hereby affirm my belief that the information and knowledge possessed by me and 434 other Congressman-"investors" is greater than the collective knowledge and information possessed by a Free Market of 150 million individual investors, pension fund managers, insurance company executives, mutual fund administrators, and brokers, all of whom do not have the luxury of obtaining investment funds by passing a law, but must earn their investment dollars.

Communicating with Government and Media

  • Contact Congress -- this is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from Capitol Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't want to go through the JBS, search for capwiz on Google and find another organization that uses it.
    Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
  • Action E-List
    Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can make a critical difference on important issues.

John Adams once wrote that the American Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis began legal challenges to the Writs of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American independence," Adams wrote, "was then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15 years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence (1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20 years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."

The Democrat Party Radio Address:

Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota delivered the Democratic Radio Address.

Dorgan raised a good point: short-term measures are not enough; we need to look at the long-term. But the Democrats also believe in Bush's short-term measures, and have no greater understanding of the long-term effects of departing from America's founding principles than the Republicans.

Click here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall