Republicans Ignoring Republicans: A Good Thing for Democrats

Reuters take on the announcement

Bob Barr’s Campaign Site by the good folks at Terra Eclipse

Bob Barr on Wikipedia

Voters’ Pamphlet typo points to adult sex line

A mistyped phone number just inside the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet is now drawing some unwanted attention to the upcoming election.

Voters’ Pamphlets just started hitting mailboxes across Oregon last week, and each county has its own version. But one phone number that’s inside every copy in the state is making headlines.

Inside the front cover, in a letter from Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, a 1-800 number is listed for voters to register on the phone. But as it turns out, the number has nothing to do with elections, voting or Oregon’s primary - it’s an adult hotline.

The recording then prompts you to dial another number - this one far more graphic.

It’s an honest mistake that’s now in some 1.7 million pamphlets across Oregon.

Objective of government.

That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions it is usurpation and oppression.

Too bad it fails to follow that noble objective.

(Via LRC)

Citing faulty “science ” about the deadliness of secondhand smoke, New Hampshire lawmakers inexplicably smothered an exemption for cigar bars from the state’s smoking ban. Gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Joseph Kenney quipped, “New Hampshire government would eliminate small business in the northern part of the state.”

Yes you read that right… even cigar bars are covered by New Hampshire’s smoking ban.

I spoke with someone from FreedomFest today who said that while there is a scheduling conflict they are trying to rearrange the schedule to get him there.

I attended last year (and plan on being there this year) and even if Ron Paul can’t make it, it is still worth attending.

First, my buddy Dave Wiegal over at Reason uses Ron’s endorsement of Lew Rockwell and the Mises Institute as proof that Ron Paul is still keeping company with bigots (Here). Never mind that he starts with the assumption that Lew Rockwell wrote some of the less enlightened diatribes that appeared in Dr. Paul’s newsletters back in the early nineties, offering no proof of that claim, and then uses it to smear Dr. Paul by association.  While very specious and weak, it is indicative of a deeper problem.

As is the story out of California that Holly Clearman, Ron Paul’s State Coordinator, has signed on to run the campaign of one William Johnson, an attorney and advocate for the Pace Amendment which would ban everyone darker than, well, William Johnson, from living or owning property in the United States. To quote:

”No person shall be a citizen of the United States unless he is a non-Hispanic white of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe. Only citizens shall have the right and privilege to reside permanently in the United States.”

But don’t worry Firsts Nations. You’ll be allowed to stay and enjoy life the way black South Africans did in the Eighties.

“American Indians, Aleuts, and Hawaiians, although not real citizens, will not face relocation, but will be maintained in “tribal reservations” analogous to the arrangement in South Africa.”

So what it is about the message of liberty as articulated by Ron Paul that finds common cause among so many of the ignorant and hateful?

I am not asking rhetorically as a set-up so that I can then dispense my sagely wisdom.  I’m really baffled by it.  I can understand the strain of southern political sentiment that identifies states rights and race. But my 20 plus years of study of the philosophy of liberty puts me firmly in the natural rights camp that empowers individuals and de-emphasis race.

I fear that if we don’t have a revolution of ideas within our movement, we face allowing this cancer to grow and undermine our efforts.

I welcome your comments.

The book is officially released today and is currently number one on Amazon.com.

The most hopeful thing about Paul’s run for the Whit House is the support from young Americans that Dr. Paul received. So it should be no surprise that this is the perfect book for young Americans fresh out of high school or college.

Buy 5 copies, two for you and three to give away.

(For a bit of history on how one wins the LP nomination, I recommend the late R.W. Bradford’s classic account of the 2004 convention that resulted in dark horse Michael Badnarik’s nomination.)