The Revolution

1
The Revolution

• Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But
  will they keep it?
• - Thomas Jefferson

2
Purpose

• To cause the American People to recollect what
  their government, as designed, is supposed to be
  and do.
• To allow those who do not have the time or
  inclination to procure and read The Revolution A
  Manifesto by Dr. Ron Paul to experience the
  message it contains.
• To provide a resource to members of the Campaign
  For Liberty to share the philosophy of freedom
  with their family, friends and neighbors.

3
The Failure of the Two-Party System

• Recent elections have included only false
  choices. Both parties accept and promise
• A Foreign Policy of Empire and Intervention
• Increased growth of the Federal Government
• Redistribution of Wealth
• Devaluation of the Constitution
• Do you wonder why political debate always
  devolves to ridiculous and trivial issues?
• There are no significant differences on the
  issues of substance!

4
The Founding Fathers on Foreign Policy

• Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all
  nations, entangling alliances with none.
• Thomas Jefferson
• Our republic goes not abroad in search of
  monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to
  the freedom and independence of all, but the
  champion and vindicator only of her own
• John Quincy Adams

• The great rule of conduct for us in regard to
  foreign nations is in extending our commercial
  relations, to have with them as little political
  connection as possible.
• George Washington

5
Isolationism vs. Non-Interventionism

• Isolationism
• Refusal to have open trade with other nations.
• Belligerent disregard for international
  consensus.
• Refusal to engage diplomatically.
• Sound Familiar?
• Non-Interventionism
• Refusal to fight other peoples wars.
• US military presence in 130 countries is not
  necessary, is unsustainable and is in fact
  detrimental to National Security.

6
George W. Bush on Foreign Policy

• Let us have an American foreign policy that
  reflects American character. The modesty of true
  strength. The humility of real greatness.
• The role of the United States is not to go
  around the world and say, This is the way its
  got to be.
• I dont think our troops ought to be used for
  whats called nation building.
• If were an arrogant nation, theyll resent us.
  If were a humble nation, but strong, theyll
  welcome us.
• All from his 2000 presidential campaign

7
The Cost of Empire

• Enormous financial burden is bankrupting our
  nation.
• Intervention inevitably causes unintended
  consequences and rarely accomplishes its goal.
• Over-usage of our volunteer military results in
  weakened National Defense and less volunteers.
• Increasingly powerful Federal Government
  disregards the Constitution and threatens our
  liberties.
• Growing global resentment allows our enemies to
  falsely identify us to their oppressed
  populations as the enemy of freedom and enables
  them to recruit agents of destruction.

8
The Failures of Military Adventurism

• Democrats
• Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, 10 years of bombing
  between Iraq I II
• Republicans
• Lebanon, Iraq I, Iraq II
• Most of these took more time and cost
  significantly more lives and treasure than
  anticipated.
• None of them have achieved their original goals.
• Why do we think future conflicts will be
  different?
• And were promised more by both parties.
• Democrats Darfur and other heavily armed
  humanitarian missions.
• Republicans Conflict with Russia over its
  former satellites.

9
The Danger of Empire

• A powerful national government may encroach
  considerably upon the liberty of individuals as
  well as of the different States (by following an
  imperial policy), if only every citizen
  recognizes such measures as means for making his
  nation greater.
• Citizens criticizing a republics foreign policy,
  even in times of war, are neither unpatriotic nor
  traitorous. Times of crisis are when the
  Constitution needs us most.

10
Thomas Jefferson on the Constitution

• Though written constitutions may be violated in
  moments of passion or delusion, they yet furnish
  a text to which those who are watchful may again
  rally and recall the people.
• On every question of construction
  (interpretation), carry ourselves back to the
  time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
  the spirit manifest in the debates, and instead
  of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the
  text, or invented against it, conform to the
  probable one in which it was passed.
• In questions of power, then, let no more be said
  of confidence in man, but bind him down from
  mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

11
Modern Abuses of the Constitution

• The Executive Order
• Used to circumvent the constitutional legislative
  process.
• From dozens per term in the 19th century to
  thousands per term today!
• The Presidential Signing Statement
• A note on a law that says how the president
  interprets a provision (counter to congressional
  intent) or stating the he will refuse to enforce
  it altogether.
• By using these abuses of power, the president
  becomes a government unto himself.
• Law Professor Jonathan Turley

12
Is the Constitution a Living Document?

• NO! A thousand times, no! If the government
  arbitrarily changes or reinterprets the
  Constitution, it has unilaterally changed is
  contract with the people.
• But dont changing times require an evolving
  system?
• The Constitution itself allows for changes
  approved by the people through the amendment
  process.
• The courts must not be allowed to reinterpret the
  Constitution.
• Those who argue for a Living Constitution
  actually offer a Dead Constitution for it offers
  no limits to government.
• Our peculiar security is the possession of a
  written constitution. Let us not make it a blank
  paper by construction.
• Thomas Jefferson

13
Betrayals of The Constitution

• Congress is supposed to declare war not the
  president, definitely not the UN.
• The Draft a totalitarian assertion that the
  State owns your children.
• I oppose registration for the draft because I
  believe the security of freedom can best be
  achieved by security through freedom.
• Ronald Reagan

• Where is it written in the Constitution that you
  may take children from their parents and compel
  them to fight the battles of any war in which the
  folly of government may engage?
• Daniel Webster

14
More Betrayals of The Constitution

• Courts legislating a one-size-fits-all social
  policy from the bench.
• The Federal Government flouting or buying off
  States Rights.
• The national government must lay claim to the
  right to force its principles on the whole nation
  without consideration to previous federated state
  boundaries.
• Adolf Hitler

15
The Dangers of Debasing the Constitution

• If you defend your partys abusive power grabs,
  remember that the power does not go away when
  your party is replaced.
• The more power the Federal Government has over
  everyday life, the more corrupt its processes
  will be and the more alienated portions of the
  population will become.
• Ironically, centralized government leads to less
  political stability.

16
The Founders on Economics

• I am for a government rigorously frugal and
  simple. Were we directed from Washington when to
  sow, when to reap, we should soon have no bread.
• If the American people ever allow the banks to
  control the issue of their money, first by
  inflation and then by deflation, the banks and
  corporations that will grow up around them
  (around the banks), will deprive the people of
  their property until their children will wake up
  homeless on the continent their fathers
  conquered.
• Thomas Jefferson

• If ye love wealth better than liberty, the
  tranquility of servitude better than the
  animating contest of freedom, go home from us in
  peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms.
  Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
  May your chains set lightly upon you, and may
  posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
• Samuel Adams

17
The Devaluation of the Dollar

• The Constitution is clear about the monetary
  powers of the federal government.
• Congress must maintain the value of the dollar by
  making only gold and silver legal tender and must
  not emit bills of credit.
• In 1933, 20 could be redeemed for one ounce of
  gold. Now it can be redeemed for nothing.
• This gives the government the ability to print
  money out of thin air whenever it sees fit,
  causing massive inflation.
• The new cash is given to banks who distribute it
  first to the well-connected who get to use it at
  current prices. By the time the cash makes its
  way to you, prices have risen and somehow you
  actually have less actual wealth than you started
  with.

18
The Current Economic Crisis

• Not caused by deregulation but by misguided
  regulation. Yet more unintended consequences of
  government intervention.
• The Fed makes artificially cheap credit.
• Government encourages (and sometimes forces)
  banks to extend that credit to poor-credit
  borrowers.
• All that new money the Fed printed went straight
  into the housing bubble.
• Housing prices went up 45 in 7 years while all
  of the traditional market forces were trying to
  pull it down.
• POP!!! But the finger gets pointed at the Free
  Market

19
Legal Plunder

• Economic Freedom Everyone has a right to his
  or her life and property, and no one has the
  right to deprive anyone of these things.
• Ron Paul
• The State enriches one group at the expense of
  another this would be illegal if an individual
  tried to carry it out.
• And its not the poor that win out. Once the
  State has the right to take your property, those
  with influence will find a way to manipulate it
  to their advantage.

20
Government Spending

• Democrats Tax Spend
• Republicans Borrow Spend
• There has been no actual cuts in spending since
  the end of WWII despite countless promises to
  the contrary.

The oft-cited Clintonian/Congressional Republican
balanced budget of the late 90s is a sham. It
only came about because the dot-com bubble caused
revenue to grow faster than they could increase
spending.
21
The Right to Property

• The citizen is sovereign only when he can retain
  and enjoy the fruits of his labor. If the
  government has first claim on his property he
  must learn to genuflect before it. When the right
  of property is abrogated, all other rights of the
  individual are undermined, and to speak of the
  sovereign citizen who has no absolute right to
  property is to talk nonsense. It is like saying
  the slave is free because he is allowed to do
  anything he wants to do (even vote, if you wish)
  except to own what he produces.
• Frank Chodorov

22
The Income Tax

• Founded by the 16th Amendment in 1913.
• The Federal Government needed to pay to protect
  the beginnings of its empire following the
  Spanish-American War.
• They played on class envy by promising that only
  the rich would be taxed. The rich would finally
  pay their fair share so that tariffs could be
  lowered and prices come down for the average
  citizen.
• Within a few years, all but the lowest economic
  classes were paying much increased tax rates and
  tariffs went up!
• The American People were scammed.
• But if the Income Tax was eliminated now (40 of
  revenue), wouldnt our country fall apart?
• A 40 cut in revenue would indeed set our nation
  back all the back to 1997! Was 1997 so bad?

23
The Welfare State

• By 2040, 40 of our entire private sector output
  will need to go to Social Security and Medicare
  alone.
• We simply do not have the resources to sustain
  these programs.
• It doesnt work.

Anti-poverty programs did not begin to receive
significant funding until 1968. What effect has
it had on poverty?
24
Regulation

• The Free Market does not cause recessions or
  depressions.
• The boom-bust cycle is perpetuated by government
  intervention in the market.
• Corporations often seek additional government
  regulations to stifle competition.

25
The Environment

• The Right to Property, had it been enforced,
  would have made this country green a long time
  ago.
• In the past, American law held a polluter liable
  for damages to other peoples property.
• With the growth of the railroad, the first
  industry in which government became wholly
  involved, the courts arbitrarily decided that a
  certain level of pollution could be allowed for
  the sake of the greater good.
• Sorry farmers, government subsidized rail is
  coming through!

26
Free Trade

• 20,000 pages should not be necessary for a free
  trade agreement.
• The WTO and NAFTA are NOT free trade They are
  government-managed trade schemes that undermine
  US sovereignty.
• For example, the WTO forced Congress to raise
  taxes on American corporations to prevent them
  from having a competitive advantage in Europe.

27
Foreign Aid

• Foreign aid is the forced seizure of property
  from American citizens that is then redistributed
  to a foreign government often one that actively
  oppresses its own citizenry.
• It doesnt work It just helps often loathsome
  and ineffective leaders remain in power.
• Kenyan economist James Shikwati on US foreign aid
  to Africa For Gods sake, please just stop.

28
The Founders on Civil Liberty

• There is danger from all men. The only maxim of
  a free government ought to be to trust no man
  living with power to endanger the public
  liberty.
• John Adams

• The laws of man may bind him in chains or may
  put him to death, but they never can make him
  wise, virtuous, or happy.
• John Quincy Adams

• They who are willing to sacrifice an essential
  liberty for a little temporary security will lose
  both and deserve neither.
• Benjamin Franklin

29
Destruction of Liberty

• Warrantless wiretapping of American citizens not
  authorized by any law is happening now.
• The Patriot Act allows search and seizure of
  American citizens and their property without a
  warrant issued by an independent court upon a
  finding of probable cause.
• History demonstrates that these powers will exist
  indefinitely and be abused for political
  purposes.
• If you trust President Bush not to abuse them,
  how about President Obama?

30
John Ashcroft on Civil Liberties

• Discussing the Clinton administrations efforts to
  gain Patriot Act-like powers
• That some may use a communication medium with
  illegal intentions is no reason to hand Big
  Brother the keys to unlock our e-mail diaries,
  open our ATM records, read our medical records,
  or translate our international communications
  The implications here are far-reaching, with
  impacts that touch individual users, companies,
  libraries, universities, teachers and students.
• An articulate expression of caution and
  skepticism thrown out the window when a
  Republican administration called for the same
  powers.

31
National Security?

• The day is long past when the phrase national
  security was restricted to what is required in
  actual war. As everyone knows it is a
  constantly widening cloak or umbrella of
  governmental actions of every conceivable degree
  of power, stealth, and cunning by an
  ever-expanding corps of government officials.
• Conservative scholar Robert Nisbet

32
The Essential Questions

• Would you rather be free and live with some
  danger of being the victim of a terrorist attack,
  or safe but definitely live as a slave to the
  State?
• Would you rather be poor but have the dignity of
  work and human freedom, or be poor and exist off
  the scraps the political elite deign to provide
  you?
• Would you rather invest your resources in the
  future of your family, neighborhood and
  community, or have the comfort of false pride as
  your government robs you of those resources to
  pay for a global empire?

33
Ron Paul on the Revolution

• I have heard it said that mankind does not want
  freedom, that people are happy to be slaves as
  long as they are entertained and well fed I
  dont believe it for a second.

• Ours is not a fated existence, for nowhere is
  our destiny etched in stone. In the final
  analysis, the last line of defense in support of
  freedom and the Constitution consists of the
  people themselves. If the people want to be
  free, if they want to lift themselves out from
  underneath a state apparatus that threatens their
  liberties, squanders their resources on needless
  wars, destroys the value of their dollar, and
  spews forth endless propaganda about how
  indispensable it is and how lost we would be
  without it, there is no force that can stop them.
  If freedom is what we want, it us ours for the
  taking.

34
Are You Ready for the Revolution?

• Find and read a copy of The Revolution A
  Manifesto by Ron Paul.
• Many other issues are covered in it (healthcare,
  immigration, etc.) and Paul provides real
  solutions.
• Go to www.CampaignForLiberty.com to learn the
  latest.
• Vote for Liberty-minded candidates be they
  Republicans, Democrats, Independants or Third
  Party.
• Tell your family, friends and neighbors about the
  Revolution!

35
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

• The issue today is the same as it has been
  throughout all history, whether man shall be
  allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small
  elite.
• Thomas Jefferson

Most of this presentation is inspired by the
writings of Ron Paul. Not all direct quotations
of Dr. Pauls have been annotated as such.
Charts were taken from www.PerotCharts.com. This
presentation was created by Chance Litton. Come
see me at www.ChanceLitton.com.