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Texas Straight Talk – A Weekly Column
Rep. and Presidential Candidate Dr. Ron Paul

If you thought the “Transportation Security Administration” would limit itself to conducting unconstitutional searches at airports, think again. The agency intends to assert jurisdiction over our nation’s highways, waterways, and railroads as well. TSA launched a new campaign of random checkpoints on Tennessee highways last week, complete with a sinister military-style acronym–VIP(E)R—as a name for the program.

As with TSA’s random searches at airports, these roadside searches are not based on any actual suspicion of criminal activity or any factual evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever by those detained. They are, in effect, completely random. So first we are told by the U.S. Supreme Court that American citizens have no 4th amendment protections at border crossings, even when standing on U.S. soil. Now TSA takes the next logical step and simply detains and searches U.S. citizens at wholly internal checkpoints.

The slippery slope is here. When does it end? How many more infringements on our liberties, our property, and our basic human rights to travel freely will it take before people become fed up enough to demand respect from their government? When will we demand that the government heed obvious constitutional limitations, and stop treating ordinary Americans as criminal suspects in the absence of probable cause?

The real tragedy occurs when Americans incrementally become accustomed to this treatment on the roads just as they have become accustomed to it in the airports. We already accept arriving at the airport 2 or more hours before a flight to get through security; will we soon have to build in an extra 2 or 3 hours into our road trips to allow for checkpoint traffic?

Worse, some people are lulled into a false sense of security and are actually grateful for this added police presence! Should we really hail the expansion of the police state as an enhancement to safety? I submit that an attitude of acquiescence to TSA authority is thoroughly dangerous, un-American, and insulting to earlier freedom-loving generations who built this country.

I am certain people will complain about this, once they have to sit in stopped traffic for a few extra hours to allow for random searches of cars. However, I am also certain it merely will take another “foiled” plot to silence many people into gladly accepting more government mismanagement of safety.

Vigilant, observant, law-abiding, gun-owning citizens defend themselves and stop crimes every day before police can respond. That is the source of real security in America: the 2nd Amendment right to defend oneself. The answer is for people to be empowered to protect themselves. Yet how many weapons might these checkpoints confiscate? Even when individual go through all the legal hoops of licensing and permits, the chances of harassment or outright confiscation of weapons and detention of citizens when those weapons are found at a TSA checkpoint is extremely high.

Disarming the highways and filling them full of jack-booted thugs demanding to see our papers is no way to make them safer. Instead, it is a great way to expand government surveillance powers and tighten the noose around our liberties.

From: LA Times Blog

Ron Paul may be a long-shot candidate to some, but the conservative congressman from Texas received more than twice as many rounds of applause as his opponents at Monday night’s GOP debate.

According to our friends at the Baltimore Sun, Paul was applauded 11 times while Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty were applauded five times each. Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain were applauded four times each. Rick Santorum brought up the rear by only being applauded three times during the two-hour CNN debate.

Paul received one of the best reactions of any of the candidates after Romney said that if he were president, he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan only if his generals agreed that it was the right move.

“I wouldn’t wait for my generals,” Paul responded.

“I’m the commander in chief. I make the decisions. I tell the generals what to do,” Paul, 75, said. “I’d bring them home as quickly as possible. And I would get them out of Iraq as well. And I wouldn’t start a war in Libya. I’d quit bombing Yemen. And I’d quit bombing Pakistan. I’d start taking care of people here at home because we could save hundreds of billions of dollars.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GgNfD0vu9c&feature=player_embedded

Texas Congressman and 2012 Presidential Candidate Ron Paul discusses the idea of a national id card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDL0sYnhEaM&feature=player_embedded

It is often said that a convert to a cause is more fervent than those born to it. That is probably true about me and my “conversion” as an immigrant to this great country.

In that spirit of passionate desire for my adoptive land to become everything it was meant to be, may I humbly suggest, America, that Ron Paul is Your Man.

Just a few years ago, I was excited to follow Obama’s success in the hope that he would undo the worst of the un-American shenanigans of the Bush administration, including the abrogation of rights of American citizens, the killing of citizens of lands that don’t threaten us and the wholesale transfer of wealth from those that create it and play by the rules to those that do neither of those two things.

Perhaps I was a little caught up in the excitement, but my intentions were good.

More…

February 20, 2011

Dear Supporter,

A great man was born 279 years ago.

George Washington was a freedom fighter, a leader, and one of our greatest Presidents. But, much of General Washington’s greatness was marked not by what he did, but by what he chose not to do.

He could have been a King.

Instead, he stood for Liberty and stepped aside after eight years, allowing our young Republic to grow into the greatest nation in Human history.

2012 offers our movement a tremendous opportunity. Our nation is beset with crippling debt, an out of control federal government, and a foreign policy that weakens our national defense and isolates us from the world.

But with hard work and determination, we can change course and turn our country back toward Liberty and all of its rewards.

Quite frankly, we need to elect a President in 2012 who will do a lot less: less meddling in the economy, less spending, less warrantless ransacking, less bailing out of Wall Street, less inflating, and less foreign aid and overseas intervention.

We need a President who will respect our Constitution, not someone who simply pays lip service to our traditions.

Because I want a President who does so much less, a lot of people ask me if this means I want a weak President.

My answer is “No!” I want a strong President – a President like George Washington.

I want a President strong enough NOT to take power he should not have.

It is no secret that I am weighing my personal political options for 2012, and that I am relying on Liberty PAC to fund my efforts while I make important decisions.

Tomorrow is Presidents’ Day, which celebrates George Washington’s birthday, and we hope to make it one to remember.

That’s why Liberty PAC will host its first-ever Money Bomb. Please mark tomorrow on your calendar and consider contributing. If we all come together and pitch in, we can take our country back from the statists that are stealing our Liberty and shredding our Constitution.

The next few months will be critical to ensuring a successful political operation for the 2012 cycle. I hope you will join me by making this Presidents’ Day, February 21st, truly special.

For Liberty,
Ron Paul

Liberty PAC

Young Americans for Liberty declares war on Washington and mobilizes hundreds of youth activists to win on principle this fall!

Our plans are set.

Now in the final weeks of campaign season, YAL is prepared to mobilize our trained activists in five key states: Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

Since Ron Paul’s Presidential Campaign, YAL has built an active youth network, trained hundreds of our members, and organized new chapters on more than 150 campuses.

NOW is the time to activate YAL’s network!

To make a tangible impact in these targeted states and beyond, YAL activists will raise awareness about candidate positions on key issues and get voters to the polls on Election Day.

YAL has developed a leadership team and training model to recruit hundreds of committed young activists, train them in on-the-ground campaign field work, and provide them with opportunities to volunteer for local campaigns.

This influx of volunteers can make a significant difference on Election Day.

With candidate commercials flooding the airwaves and drowning out our message, grassroots activists strategically placed on the ground will have the biggest impact in November.

But, I can only move forward with this effort with your backing.

You see, YAL’s current operating budget does not include these mobilization efforts. But these additional expenditures could be the most important activities YAL accomplishes this year.

Will you help me immediately mobilize hundreds of trained youth activists into the field?

There are only 39 more days left until Election Day. You and I must act now!

Because I believe you understand what is at stake here, I have already hired three full-time staffers in North Carolina and two full-time staffers in Nevada.

I would like to hire five more field staffers this month, but I can only move forward when I receive your support.

Can you help YAL hire more staff and mobilize more activists?

A donation of $500, $250, or $100 is an investment in this effort which will directly influence our ground game.

Even if you can only pitch-in and give $50, $25, or $10, contribution is vital and will make a difference.

If you make a donation this weekend, I will email you next week with a full, detailed outline of our activities this fall in each of these five states.

This exclusive announcement is only for YAL supporters, so please contribute any amount you can afford today.

You may recall our past efforts last spring which brought more than 150 young people to Kentucky. Additionally, another 40 youth activists were deployed in North Carolina this summer.

YAL is now prepared to enhance this program and expand our reach just in time for Election Day!

YAL members mailed more than 10,000 letters to voters in Kentucky.

Forty YAL members trained in North Carolina for field work.

YAL members mailed more than 10,000 letters to voters in Kentucky.

Forty YAL members trained in North Carolina for field work.

I assure you that my staff and I will redouble our efforts and maximize our impact these last few weeks.

Please give generously and join us so hundreds of young activists can carry out our five-state plan. I will be sure to email you all the details next week if you contribute to our success.

Thank you in advance for renewing your commitment to advance our shared message. You will help YAL take advantage of this historic political opportunity before us.

I cannot wait to celebrate with you on Election Day!

For Liberty,

Jeff Frazee
Executive Director, YAL

P.S.- Next week, I will reveal YAL’s five state campaign strategy, but I am only releasing this information to our supporters.

My staff and I are ready to train and mobilize literally hundreds of young activists into targeted states, but it requires me to raise enough funds first.

Every donation helps. Please pitch-in and give any amount you can. I sincerely thank you for supporting this effort to win on principle in 2010 and develop the future leaders of tomorrow.

Ron Paul on CNBC’s Squwak Box Part 1 – Feb 22

Run, Ron, Run!

Part 1

Part 2