Liberty

“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family”-Lev 25:10

  That verse, or at least a portion of it, is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. An associate of mine, a fellow street preacher, was arrested a few years back while preaching outside the facility that houses the Liberty Bell. The arresting officers cited his arrest as ‘separation of church and state’ to which the exasperated street preacher replied (while being handcuffed) “but there’s a Bible verse on the thing you’re guarding!”

  America, despite her current state, is a very special place, and though I personally don’t subscribe to the idea of America as any sort of ‘promised land’, believing that to be a misapplication of Scripture, I won’t deny that America has been a place where the gospel has been preached with more liberty than possibly any other place on earth.  America is also a place where impossible military victories were won.  I don’t subscribe to the idea that every American founder was a Bible-believing Christian, but I do believe the Bible held greater sway over the minds and hearts of the people of that day than it does now.

  Given America’s quick descent into a police state in the last decade or so, and her eminent financial collapse, it wouldn’t be hard to discern that something has gone wrong. I for one place the blame in a different spot than most of my brethren, but I’m getting ahead of myself.  Since Americans have lost more freedoms in my lifetime than most countries ever even see, I think it behooves us to look at, from the Bible, how a nation loses its freedoms.

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know , and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.  And though they say , The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.  O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved ; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return .  Therefore I said , Surely these are poor; they are foolish : for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.  I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds….Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?.... Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say .  Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.  And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat : they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst , with the sword Jer 5:1-5,9,15-17

   The history behind this passage is that free Jews who set up groves and worshipped false gods became slaves in Babylon. This judgment fell not only on them, but on their children. While in Babylon they would be forced to do the very thing they had chosen to do while free; bow before idols. God had given them liberty and safety from their enemies so that they would be free to worship and serve him. They had taken that liberty and used it as a cloak for maliciousness, so God simply removed that liberty, using the ‘heathen’ as an instrument of his will. That can, and to a certain extent, has happened to us, but  not for the reasons that many  cling to.

  When the horrible events of 9/11 happened, people looked around for answers. Some of the answers were  better than others.   Few days after the attack, Jerry Falwell was asked his opinion. I provide a quote of his response, and then I’ll go into why I disagree with him.

“ I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the  feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, the People for the America Way, all of those who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen’.”

  Pretty strong words, aren’t they?  Here’s where I think Mr. Falwell missed the boat. If the pattern in scripture on how God deals with nations shows us anything, it shows us that a nation slips into tyranny not because of the faithless, but   because of the faithful.  There is a story in the Old Testament where the ark of God falls into the hands of the Philistines.  They have problems with it, so they put it on an ox-cart and send it back towards Israel.  I remember reading this passage a few years back and realizing that  the Philistines had to have put their hands all over the ark during that story, and yet none of them died. God held those who did not know him to a different standard than those who knew him.  God didn’t   judge the Philistines, who didn’t know any better, the same way he held the Israelites accountable because they did  know better.

  What does this mean? It means that the problem isn’t that there are filthy, immoral shows on television; the problem is that so many of God’s people watch them. The problem isn’t that there are sodomite parades in our land, but rather that churches have stopped making their voice of protest heard at these parades. Across our land those that know better, act like they don’t, and lead lives of hypocrisy and sin.  So as much as I would love to  blames the pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, ACLU and  all their ilk, as a Bible believer, I must conclude that  the fault lies with people like me, not people like them.  If we were---if I was the person  and Christian I was supposed to be, and less inclined to sin, more committed to righteousness, more  bold with the gospel, things might not be so bad.

   So to what ever extent  my own personal shortcomings have brought us here, I'm sorry. All we can do as beleivers is repent and pray God to spare our land and our liberty, not so we can  watch more TV, but so we can give him the  honor and glory and praise he deserves.

Ron Paul: Father of the Tea Party

This is probably the wrong way to do a book review, but I’m going to let the cat out of the bag: this is a really good book.  It is such a good book that I tracked down Jason Rink to let him know what a good book it was. In the ensuing conversation, he explained to me that he wasn’t the sole author although his name is on the cover. The book was a collaborative effort between him and 20 other people.  They all did research and wrote their own sections of the book, which originally appeared as Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas.  For the updated edition, Jason Rink then was tasked by the publisher with melding all this together to make it more coherent and readable and for that, his name was put on the front cover, but he feels like it’s not his book, and he insisted that in my review I mention that the 20  other people  mentioned in the Acknowledgments section deserves as  much credit as him. So there, I said it.  Now on to what a good book this is.

  I don’t know of any ‘authorized’ biographies of Dr. Paul, but this book, which bills itself as ‘the unauthorized biography of an unauthorized politician’ will be a tough act to follow.   There was so much in this book that I did not know, and I thought I knew quite a bit. In this book you see the man himself being shaped.  You see young Ronnie as a farm kid in rural Pennsylvania, one of 5 kids. You read of the Paul as an intern being forced to watch an abortion, and the impression that made on him. You read of Dr. Paul the fledgling obstetrician, whose practice had two rules; no abortions and no federal money.   Rink and company gives us insight into the  kitchen table discussion that  resulted in Ron Paul’s first venture into politics, and of the concern for  sound money that  fueled it, and then his defeat at this  first venture.
  What makes the book (which ends in  late 2011  just as  my book is beginning) interesting is to see once again Dr. Paul's consistency shine through. For example, his first campaign slogan was 'Freedom, Honesty, and Sound Money', which  could have easily been recycled  as his last campaign slogan.  Also as a consistent thread through his life  has been his willingness to take on his own party, and their willingness to  sideline, marginalize and ignore him.
  I was shocked to learn that the GOP had on more than one occasion  backed Dr. Paul's opponent in the primary races as a way to strong-arm him into  toeing the party line on foreign policy.  They also pulled  many of the same shenanigans in  his 2008  Oval office run that they did in 2012. It's the same cast of power hungry neocons over and over again who would put pressure on him over and over again to  compromise like they did,  or sell his soul one piece at a time. The good doctor refused to bend, and paid the price for it, but still had the last laugh. 
  I was also delighted to see so many early pictures of some of my  philosophical heroes  portrayed so prominently.   You get to see shots of Lew Rockwell as a much younger man standing side by side  with Murray Rothbard. I was so  moved by some of  Rinks  gripping accounts of the early days of the liberty movement that I felt the need to drop a line to Mr. Rockwell thanking him for his decades of involvement in this fight.
  This book is completely worth your time, and I thank Mr. Rink and his  collaborators for putting it out. If all you  know of Dr. Paul is what you saw on Youtube,  you  need to take a look at this.

A Good Guy Needs Our Help

  Russ Millette, and the procedural abuse he received from the status quo arm of the Alaskan Republican Party was covered in my book SWINDLED.  Russ now has a world-class radio show, Alaska Talks Liberty, and was the first person to interview me after the book came out.  He has been seeking  legal restitution from the ARP and the wheels on that have been grinding slowly.  He is, right now, at a crucial stage in the court proceedings, and sent out an email this morning, which I have reprinted here, with his permission.

   

Dear Fellow Conservative,
As you know, I was elected chair and Debbie Brown was elected vice-chair of the Alaska Republican Party by a majority vote of our delegates assembled at the Alaska State Republican Convention in April 2012.  This election represented a tremendous shift of values towards the grass roots elements of our party and away from the longstanding autocratic ruling philosophy. 

The previous leadership and the SEC disagreed with the election results and has sought to disenfranchise the delegates by nullifying the election results by having me removed from office on spurious charges, and now Debbie, with the same spurious charges.  On January 31st- just two hours before I was scheduled to commence my term, I was removed on charges by the State Executive Committee (SEC). I was charged with failure to raise money for the ARP and I was then removed from office.  Debbie Brown then advanced to party chair.  Now the establishment is trying to strong arm Debbie in order to remove her from office on April 8th. 
Ever since my election I have been stonewalled by the establishment when I have asked for audited books (as required by ARP rules) or financial documents.

And now I understand that there are no assets in the ARP checking account. This obviously begs the question, “What happened to the ARP money and where did it go?” Money that was donated and cannot be accounted for and the establishment refuses to account for and seemingly does not want any accounting for the monies in question.

The only way to find out how the Party money was spent is to have people subpoenaed and testify under oath and the only way we can do that is to file a lawsuit for the misappropriation of funds by the previous leadership. If I can raise $5,000, Dr. Ron Paul’s Liberty PAC will match up to $5,000 for a total of $10,000.
If you will help me raise the matching $5,000 we can begin this process. As part of the lawsuit we will finally get the people responsible for the misappropriation of party funds under oath. Finally, Randy Ruedrich-Former Chairman, Frank McQueary-Asst Treasurer, Glenn Clary-Treasurer,  Christy Strutz-Office Secretary, and possibly others, will have to tell us where all of that money went.

Will you please contribute what you can today to help me get to the bottom of these questions?  You can contribute electronically via my website at www.alaskatalksliberty.com. All monies collected will be used exclusively for this legal action. When you contribute on my website http://www.alaskatalksliberty.com please designate for legal fund.
Your timely donation will allow me to have the Attorney’s begin as soon as possible.

Please help me in my goal to get to the bottom of these questions of Fiduciary wrong doing.

Sincerely,
Russ Millette

P.S.  Time is of the essence, please contribute today.

In addition to chipping in some of my own money, I am  offering my readers this. If you donate to Russ, and  you tell him that you heard about it through this blog (and he tells me), I will send you a free e-copy of SWINDLED.

How to Scare a Government School Oficial in One Easy Step

  The main thrust of my ministry work is publick preaching and evangelism, and has been  for  almost 18 years.  In our  relatively small community, I miss out on the massive crowds that I   had access to when living in a big city, but I  get the replacement benefit of preaching to people that I  will see again and again and again. That sort of  things hold you accountable, you understand.

  About a half-mile or so from our church is a  government indoctrination center (middle school)school, and  I had decided a while back that this would be a great place  for evangelism. The layout of the school is such that  cars full of parents   stack up out the  front driveway of the school  and onto the road while  waiting for  the  prisoners (sorry--students) to be released.   In addition to this,  when school lets out there is  a great deal of foot traffic leaving the property, most of which  goes along a sidewalk that runs  out in front of the school.  I had been thinking about this spot for some time, and so one afternoon, my unflappable  partner and I decided to give it a test run. We would simply  wear our shirts that say  "JESUS  SAVES" and hold some fairly innocuous  signs with  Bible verses on them.  It was free speech without speaking.

  To keep from blocking  traffic during  the 45 minutes or so that it takes this school to dismiss  , the cars actually  stack up on the sidewalk, so the sidewalk was  virtually  useless to us.  We simply stood back 3 or 4 feet back from the cars on the grass, and simply stood there with our signs. We talked to  no one.  Within less than 2 minutes we were  approached by a school official with a walkie-talkie that  informed us that the grass we were standing on was school property, and we would have to move forward onto the sidewalk, which was public property.   Keep in mind, we weren't preaching, we weren't handing out tracts, we were simply standing there. We took a step or two forward onto the little bit of sidewalk that wasn't occupied by a car and were now standing mere inches  from the vehicles, but the school official had insisted that to put ourselves in   danger was a more acceptable alternative than us standing on school property that we had, after all, helped  pay for.

  The following week we  made it to the  sidewalk before the  cars started stacking up and  placed ourselves behind the line of cars.  Within minutes, another walkie-talkie  came along and  said that we were not allowed to use the sidewalk to stand on, that we were indeed, blocking  vehicular traffic. I pointed out the ridiculousness of a pedestrian being asked to yield to a car on the sidewalk, but was ignored.   We crossed the  street to where there was no sidewalk and finished out our  time on that side.

  The third week  we positioned ourselves behind a stop sign. Due to its placement, it was  a piece of sidewalk no car could possibly  use.  Surely I thought, we can't be blocking traffic  now.  The walkie-talkie made his way back out and was quite belligerent. I tried to reason with the man, pointing out that there was no way a car could  go where we were standing, and besides, it was a SIDEWALK!.  He  claimed that the  sidewalk was school property, even though one of his other walkie-talkie buddies had told us the exact opposite the week before. He   raised his voice and said "If you don't leave I'm going to call the cops!"

  I pointed to a nearby  cop  acting as a crossing guard and said "There's one right there, go get him." The walkie-talkie left, apparently to call some entirely different set of cops and as soon as the crossing guard stand-in  had a minute, he approached us. He had been watching this  unfold over the last couple of weeks and had  "done some checking" and  , according to him, the sidewalk we were on WAS school property, but  only between approximately 2:30 and 3:15  in the afternoon.  After that, it  magically  became  public property again.

 Now I enjoy a  good joke as  much as  the next guy, but this was getting  irritating.  I assured  the traffic  cop that, after having preached  in  lots of  different  public places over the last  few years, I had NEVER heard of  something flip-flopping ownership like that. He assured me it was so. I demanded to see this in writing. This request, alas, he could not fulfill.

  He went on to say that the principal had  'complete jurisdiction' over the area, and that the area of jurisdiction extended 1,000 feet  beyond the school building.  Now the school building is set pretty far back from the road with a  really long driveway, and I had no way of measuring it, but I was pretty sure the sidewalk was further out that that.  I mentioned this, and the cop  informed me that the principal also had the magical power to extend this  zone as far out as he needed to  in order to  'keep the children safe'.  I have to admit, I try to stay informed, but I was  amazed to learn that the principal of a  middle school had such god-like powers.  I was equally amazed at the inference that  2 guys in  T-shirts with signs were such a threat to  the children's safety.

  He threw his third red herring at us. He was 'pretty sure' we might need a permit, as we were 'conducting a business' on public sidewalks. In my head I went 'oh, now they're public again, huh?'. I smiled politely and said "Would the principal happen to be in his office?" When he admitted that   this probably was the case, I turned and headed towards the  school building, my partner in tow, with the surprised police officer  trying to keep up.

  The secretary was speechless when we arrived, looking back over  our shoulders at our police escort.  The principal was summoned and the 4 of us   had a little pow-wow in a side office.  My case and request were both very simple.  I wanted to preach the gospel  out on the public  sidewalk, as is my right, and his walkie-talkie brigade was giving us a different set of rules every week. I wanted to simply see something in writing as to what the rules actually were. 

  The principal was very diplomatic, a skill his  job may very well require.  He  told us that he was  very aware of who we were, what we were doing, and that he actually was in favor of our ministry, but his hands were tied, the law being what it is and all. He admitted that there was probably nothing he could show me in writing that would satisfy me, but he hoped to appeal to us on another level. He admitted that the sidewalk was public property, and didn't change hands, but  would we mind so terribly standing on the other side of the road where there is no sidewalk? We would still be visible, still be audible should we  decide to  preach, and we would be out of the way of cars.

  He said that he has  45 minutes or so every afternoon to get 1000 kids off of the property safely, and on any given afternoon any number of things could go wrong. He said "You on that sidewalk is just one more thing that can go wrong." He  took the position that, when we stand on the sidewalk,  children have to  walk around us, and that puts them closer  to traffic, so, as a favor to him, could we  just move everything across the street?

  As he was talking, I was thinking. This wasn't  the libertarian Alamo. What I really wanted to do was not make some sort of test case for free speech laws, I just wanted to do my ministry.  So I agreed.  As it turns out, the  other side of the road is a better fit for what we are trying to do.  Now every Friday afternoon, me and my still unflappable partner   walk down the length of the sidewalk carrying our signs, we turn  to the right and cross over in full view of  the walkie-talkies and  the   stacked cars.  We preach  for maybe  20 minutes or so , under the watchful eyes of both the traffic cop and the  principals minions who are on hair-trigger alert for these two dangerous ruffians, one of which is over 60 and blind.  Could I have made a huge case? Probably. But the point wasn't to do that. The point was to actually exercise my freedoms. Scaring them  just  a tad  every Friday afternoon is just icing  on the cake.  How do you scare them?  By pointing out the insanity they've agreed to  abide by in exchange for a paycheck. It doesnt always  work out, but every once in a while, it does.

What do You Think?

  There appears to be a handful of people reading this, and for that I am grateful. It is those people whose opinion I now solicit. Though the vast majority of my ministry is out in publick, and is not recorded, I will, on occasion conduct a regular preaching service either at my home church or somewhere else, and the   preaching is recorded. I have been pondering putting the audio of this preaching up on Youtube or some similar venue, for the purpose of the edification of the body of Christ. My position has always been that God gives a message with the intent that it be distributed, and I don’t ‘own’ my preaching (no copyrights), or any such nonsense. In fact, if someone gets a blessing out of it, and wants to repreach it somewhere else, they owe me nothing, not even any notice that they did such a thing.  Having said all that, I’m still a little self-conscious and it still feels a little self-serving although I know plenty of people who do it and even use the financial proceeds from selling  their preaching to further the work of the ministry.

  If I do this,  it would be  just the audio, though I  imagine I’d have to throw in some pictures or something since it’s Youtube. So what do you think, gentle reader? Is this  shameless self-promotion or am I making much ado about nothing?

Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty

  Not long after my book came out, I was contacted by Walter Block. It seems that there are a handful of us that have written Ron Paul books in the last couple of years, and Walter thought it would be mutually beneficial that we  read and review each other’s books.  I have been reading Walter’s stuff for years, in fact his work on Defending the Undefendable was a crucial piece in my economic re-education. It’s pretty fair to say that, although we disagree passionately on  ‘evictionism’, I remain an admirer of  Walter’s work and I thought this was a great idea.  Since it was Walter’s idea, I’ll review his book first, with others to follow.

   Before I get into that, though, is it remarkable to anyone besides me that any of us have written books about Dr. Paul? I mean, by the methods by which some one usually measures such things, he was a flop.  He did not win the White House. There are no grand legislative achievements in his honor, no bridges or parks named after him (a fact he is quite proud of), as a matter of fact, he isn’t even in office.   While Romney couldn’t consistently draw a crowd until after he had stolen the nomination, Dr. Paul continues to grow in crowd size and popularity as a private citizen with no goodies to dole out to the faithful.    This phenomenon is based, at least in part on the fact that Dr. Paul used his office not to aggrandize or enrich himself, but as a platform to introduce and discuss ideas that will resonate long after he is gone.  By doing so, his influence outlives his campaign, and endears him to the heart of many. Seriously, how many Romney books do you expect to see on your bookstore shelves?

  Walter Block’s book is called Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty, and if you are looking for a biography of the Texas congressman, this is not it. Instead, the book, much like Dr. Paul’s campaign is a collection of ideas.  The book is broken down in to several parts by topic ( for example “Economics, “Foreign Policy”, et al) with  very adept explanations and examples given as to how someone arrives at  the positions endorsed by   Dr. Paul.  Ron Paul has been, in Block’s estimation, the greatest and most successful promoter of libertarian ideas in history, (he calls him a “one man publicity band for liberty”) and since ideas have power, it behooves us to understand the foundations of those ideas.   The statists have done a fine job of reducing   debate to Tom Woods’  “3x5 card of acceptable opinion” that  a  huge part of the job of the liberty movement is re-education  of  principles. Libertarians are not a bunch of hive-minders, and there are disagreements within the liberty crowd (Block says “Libertarians are a fractious bunch. What else do you expect from a group of very bright, committed and opinionated people?”), but we rally around principles, and those principles are explored in depth in this book.  Walter accomplishes this through a series of articles and essays, some of which are reprints, addressing   various topics from the default position of maximized individual liberty.  If you’ve read any significant portion of Walter Block’s writings, you will see very familiar material.

 This is not a dry, scholarly dissertation on theoretical policy though. Walter, when he isn’t delving into the minutiae of economic theory like the professor that he is (I’m assuming the discipline requires that sort of approach), is a very engaging and witty writer. One of my favorite quotes is “Lack of knowledge has never stopped me before in any of my writings…why should it do so now?”  When Walter  writes for  the sake of writing, there are some definite  bright spots in the book, one of my favorites being a series of  exchanges between  Block and an economist at the Federal Reserve in which  Walter addresses   them as a ‘criminal organization’. Another  delightful section is the  ‘Open Letters to Ron Paul’ in which Block alternately says that even though Paul’s  methodical, gentlemanly conduct is  one of the keys to  his success, some of  us wish he would  at least, from time to time, and openly, get as mad as the rest of us. Walter also suggests that Paul challenge the other GOP candidates to a triathlon or similar test of physical endurance, even as he admits that nobody wants to see Newt Gingrich in a swimsuit.

  Another   humorous section is Walter picks for President Paul’s   VP slot. He goes through a variety of names, dismissing some outright then throws the name Lew Rockwell in the ring. He quickly dismisses him since “if he went off to Washington in this capacity, who would run LewRockwell.com? The present authors look with dismay at the prospect of this blog being run by anybody else.”

  If there is any room for criticism in this work,  it is the section where Walter addresses some of Paul’s self-proclaimed libertarian critics.  My criticism is this: I had never heard of these people until Walter mentioned them. Maybe I live in a cave.  I’m not sure if I would have spent as much time dissecting and destroying their opinions as he does, but he makes it clear in his work that since Ron is the best voice for our ideals as we’re likely to see any time soon, stop cutting his legs out from underneath him with your poor understanding of his positions, especially when these misunderstandings highlight your own philosophical inconsistencies.

  All in all it is a very enjoyable work, and there are enough meaty parts to keep policy wonks like myself happy and even shallow pools where somebody still wondering what this libertarian stuff is all about can stick their toes in and learn a thing or two.  There is a whole generation coming up that learned about liberty from a Ron Paul clip on Youtube and we owe it to them to explain the bigger picture, of what freedom used to look like, and can look like again. This book is an important contribution in that area.

We Have A Facebook Page

  In case anyone is interested, we started a FB page a while back to promote SWINDLED. Just putting it out there.