Where has the Revolution gone?

Some two or so years ago a little known man from Texas began a campaign, a campaign that would fuel the flames of Liberty. I would venture to say that even Dr. Ron Paul himself would have never dreamed the impact he would make on something that many had forgotten about, this thing called freedom. His campaign was quickly dubbed the “Love Revolution”. Now this was hardly the first time this phrase had been used. In fact songs decades earlier had been written on the same subject. People for a very long time had been living this as their life’s philosophy. The thing that was different was that this was the first time a person had the courage to speak these things on a national level, on main stream news, while running for the Presidency. Many people young and old quickly became inspired and a new generation of activists was born. This article isn’t about Dr. Paul, the great man that he is. This is about this Revolution that was given new life and where it has gone today.

As I think back one of the things I remember most about the early days of the, shall we call, New Love Revolution was how the establishment media and political parties were dumbfounded by the movement and didn’t really know how to react to it. They didn’t understand why all these young people were so energized over what some old politician had to say. They didn’t realize that it wasn’t the man or the words he spoke but that it was the purity of the message, the message of true Liberty. Liberty does something to an individual when spoken of properly. It sparks a fire deep within them, a flame that can burn with unquenchable fury. People saw that this message was different. It wasn’t about an issue or a better fix to a problem; it was a whole different philosophy than what they had known. This movement grew to great numbers and still grows today but is it the same revolution?

Every day I check my email and update my network sites and I am noticing a constant theme. I attended a meeting the other night and the discussion before, during and after was that same theme. We watch the news, we view the videos and even those few news sources that have always been on our side now share this same theme. What is it? Fear! “Be afraid, be very afraid” is what I hear these days. Gone are the days of a joy filled message of freedom, love and peace. It seems we have lowered ourselves to the same standards as the establishment and are perpetuating fear amongst our own ranks. Now I am not naïve, I understand some if not most of these things could possibly happen to us. Sure we need to be aware of them and take action to stop them. There is evil all around us wanting to control and take from us. My concern is that we have become so caught up in giving attention to these specific issues that we ourselves are perpetuating fear. Have we forgotten that to live in fear is to live in tyranny? If we live in fear of the government then we have allowed them to win and have control over us.

I watch the “Tea Parties” and the health care protest rallies and hear the talk of all that they want to do to us and all I hear is fear and negativity. Where has the message of freedom, peace and love gone? Why have we allowed ourselves to become slaves to their fear mongering? Have we so quickly forgotten that we are already FREE! The government doesn’t make us free, the Constitution grants no freedom or rights. Your humanity makes you free. They don’t own you nor can they ever. They may have the power to control your physical actions but they can never control you. We must stop being afraid and embrace our freedom. Stop being afraid to go and talk and write and do. If we can show them that we aren’t afraid anymore they will soon learn they no longer have any control over us. Don’t be afraid to be free.

While we break the chains of fear let us also look to the messages we are sending out and question are they the best ways to express the truth. Lately I’ve noticed most of the signage at rallies is very negative. Anti this and NO to that is what I see these days, why not trying to spread a little love again? Happiness is contagious and much more real than any pig virus. Let us not allow the pure message that awakened so many die to fear and rage. Instead of saying how bad their message is, tell them how great freedom and love are, it’s kind of had to argue with that.

Let us not lower ourselves to debate which health plan might be slightly better than the others. Let us rise about the fray and shine our beacon of pure truth and that truth is our natural human Liberty to be free, love for our brothers and sisters and peace from the evil and violence that government causes and perpetuates.

I ask you to take a stand with me and rekindle this pure message. Live your life as a free person. Fear not those that wish to do you harm. Let them know that you do not acknowledge their immoral and unjust attempt to control you. Do fall prey to the false authority they try and make you think they have over you. You are free so live your life as a free person.

There are a handful of us that have awakened to this and you will soon start seeing these principles in action. I ask that you join us in retaking the Love Revolution.

Our Founding Principle

For us to see a resurgence of Liberty and Freedom in America today I believe we must find out way back to our roots, not roots in a particular political party or the roots of conservatism or libertarianism but back to the roots of Liberty. Our Founders did this when they took on the endeavor to establish a more perfect Union. We must understand what Liberty is and where it comes from.

Our Founders believed that we are endowed by our Creator certain unalienable rights, that man was a free being. Free to work, think and choose for himself or herself. They believed man only answered to God. The belief was that these unalienable rights were “untouchable” or “incapable of being alienated, that is, sold and transferred” as Black’s Law Dictionary puts it. In other words man nor government could take them away. Our Founders were well educated and well read and understood Liberty and where it came from.

Today conservative/constitutional/libertarians understand Liberty but only as it pertains to their agenda. We are divided and only focus on our “pet projects”. Life, guns, sovereignty, drugs, the FED and many others are very important issues to fight for but if we do not know where the foundation of those and other issues are rooted in we might continue to fail.

Our founders knew this and that is why many of them looked upon the issues they faced through the eyes of individual liberty. Man is free regardless of his physical state, his mind, body and spirit were created free and only answerable to his creator and himself. Many Founders knew that the only way for man to prosper, create and develop true growth as a being was to be completely free. So one might ask if this is true then why create a government at all? Our Founders feared that complete anarchy would turn to tyranny. It is easy for man to become corrupt when there is no protection for our rights the strongest or the one with the most guns, rules.

So their task was simple yet difficult. Create a system where man is free to worship, live, create, build and prosper but with only enough government to protect those rights. You see our Founders knew that the only true responsibility of a government was to protect a person’s individual rights. Everything they did was weighed against that principle. Were they always right? No. We are imperfect and imperfect being’s create imperfect things. That is the reason though behind the Constitution being the supreme law of the land. They knew with the Constitution there would always be a foundation to fall back on.

So where have we gone wrong today in our fight for freedom? Today we focus on our pet projects and some of us have several. We fight these issues most of the time autonomous of other organizations or parties and most always with good intentions. Our flaw in all of this, is many of us have forgotten our founding principles; that man is free and governments only responsibility is to protect that freedom, all other actions a government may do treads on that freedom.

I hear all the time that we need to go back to the Regan or Goldwater days or go back to the roots of conservatism or even back to the Founders. While all that talk may be good it is still in vain because it does not go deep to our founding principle. It will only take us back to a flawed man. What is that founding principle? LIBERTY!

Now I know by now I have stepped on a few toes but maybe that is a good thing. You can still fight for the issues that are important to you just remember where the principles of that battle are founded. Man is free and governments only job is to protect that freedom. Now with that point of view things become clear as we debate certain issues. Do we have a right to live? A right to protect our lives? Yes. Then governments only job is to protect that right. How about to own property and be secure in it? What would the government’s job be? And to defend our lives and property? You see when we view these and other issues through our founding principles the answers to what government’s role is, is easy. Our Founders even acknowledged that government’s job is to protect the right of the individual to overthrow and change the said government when it becomes too far reaching.

Now ask yourself how many things does our government do that does not protect mans right to be free? If whatever action a government is doing does not protect the Liberty of man to be free then we must fight against those actions and maybe against the government committing those actions, it is our duty.

Today our government has become the antithesis of our founding principle. Everything they do these days works against individual Liberty. I fear we are closing in on the day when we must decide to take up our duty and throw off such a government. Until that day comes and while you continue fighting the issues that make you a passionate patriot remember the foundation fighting those battles is mans Liberty and right to be free. Do this and it will strengthen you for the larger battle that may still lie ahead.

It's not your money!!!

Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., sums up the opinion of most of the congressmen in Washington. "It's not your money", when referring to the money spent on the bailouts. Congress doesn't care that they are spending our future into trillions of debt. They do not represent us, it is obvious in this interview that this man represents the auto industry. Fire Congress!!

END THE FED, JOIN THE RALLY

Community Resiliency Conference

The following is a Conference hosted by my good friend Eric Vought and his group The Statesman. I encourage you to check out his site, http://www.thestatesmen.org/ .


http://thestatesmen.org/index.php/food-and-labor-security/events/details/5-communityresiliencyconference

Community Resiliency Conference - The Transitional Community
When: 13.12.2008 11.00 h - 16.30 h
Where:Northwest Baptist Church - Springfield, MO
Category: Community Resilience (Food and Labor Security)

This conference is to learn about transitioning communities to self-reliance, for discussing the needs and capabilities of business owners, prospective business owners, and citizens of the Springfield-Joplin area, and taking the first steps toward regional self-reliance. Subjects will include:
To discuss issues pertaining to building community resilience in this area: local cottage industry, small business, small farms, farmer's markets, emergency preparation, community-based charities, and a robust trade network.
To discuss the incubation of small business and local cottage industry including a support network where small businesses and prospective entrepreneurs can rely on each other for support against large competition and intrusive government regulation.
What local products/materials are needed by local business to lower prices and as a hedge against rising costs of imports? (e.g. wool scour and processing)
What local efforts are already working on these problems? What help do they need? What is missing?
How does a new (or existing) business navigate the maze of regulations to comply with the law? (e.g. sales tax, business name and registration, special regulations on their product, zoning, health regulations, weights and measures, etc., etc.) How-To guides on these subjects might be invaluable. Who will write them? Who will maintain them? Where would they be published?
What are the advantages of the barter economy for small business? The pitfalls? How do we make the local economy robust in the face of a possible inflationary spiral and/or significant drop in value of the dollar?
How does the small, niche, business deal with labor regulations such as minimum wage which may make it prohibitive to hire labor?
There will be presentations on some of these issues, materials distributed by related local groups, discussion with and among participants on the most critical needs, time to meet other residents with similar concerns, and the conference will decide what steps need to be taken next.

Personal Liberty: Cultural Secession

By Travis Maddox

Many of you including myself have been involved in a political fight for a return to true liberty in American through honoring our Constitution and the God given rights protected by it. We have focused efforts on political liberty and the process of educating the electorate on why we must return to a free society with a small government. This political liberty is essential to achieving a free society but unless we achieve personal liberty from government, corporation and a corrupt society our efforts will be in vain. Many say they want government to go away, with no involvement in their lives. What if that happened? Would you be prepared to be on your own without a government safety net?

If we had a societal collapse and government was the only answer to survival would you be forced to succumb to their demands or could you survive and provide for yourself on your own?If government and private institutions went away would we be prepared?

Many would have to answer no to most or all of these. We must now begin a process of personal liberty, to achieve that we must secede from the "American Culture". America has been called the Melting Pot and I believe it is continuing to live up to that. In today's "American Culture" celebrities have become our heroes. We idolize the vile, ignorant and vulgar. We are taught that our wants are our needs. If you want it buy it, if you don't have enough money put it on credit, if you don't have enough credit get another card. We have allowed ourselves to be dumbed down by a controlled media. We do all this and much more and brag that we are living in the "Great American Culture".

Theologian Henry Van Til once said that "Culture is Religion Externalized". Is the current American culture your religion? Is it time we break away from what is considered the norm in America and begin to form our own sub-culture? To truly achieve personal liberty one must not be tethered to the government/corporate umbilical cord. We must seek to live self-sufficiently to achieve independence. We must secede from the "American Culture"

StandingforLiberty.org will begin the process of bringing together information from various sources as well as producing our own content that will assist you in achieving political and personal liberty. We will first begin our focus on personal liberty because one can never achieve political liberty without first achieving personal liberty.

Over the next few weeks we will begin to cover some of the following subject:

Self-Sufficient Living: This area is very critical to achieve. We must in our daily lives break the chains that connect us to the government. It does not mean that you live completely on what you produce but that you are capable of doing so. There are ways to attain a self sufficient lifestyle whether you live on a 200 acre dairy farm, a small suburban ranch or a high rise down town condo.

Education: This could be the most important thing we do, especially if you have children. Secession from government indoctrination is vital to achieve independence.

Entertainment: Remember when you give your money this industry you are supporting their globalist/collectivist agenda. We will find new and liberty friendly forms of entertainment.

Media: This one should be simple. The main stream media is controlled, stop listening to it!

Corporations: Corporations are not necessarily bad. They are simply made up of individuals. But we must become aware of the agenda of certain corporations and find alternatives to their products.

Personal Finances: To secede from the government we must secede from debt and credit. We will explore ways to do this.

Banking: This is a very important issue and will be one we study for a while. Not only will we look into alternatives to banks but also alternatives to our current monetary system.

Self-Defense: To secede from government we must be prepared to protect ourselves.

Community Support: This is an area we forget. There are those in our communities that need from time to time help. The people as well as the local church gave up the responsibility of caring for the needy to the government. We must look to non-government ways to care for those in need in our communities. If we cannot care for each other on our own, government will always be there doing our job.

If we can achieve these 9 basic principles of personal independence we will be well on our way to a society of true liberty and freedom. StandingforLiberty.org will bring you ideas and solutions to achieving political and personal independence. Your comments and support are greatly appreciated.

Travis Maddox is the founder of Standing for Liberty as well as the Vice-Chairman of the Constitution Party of Missouri and the Vice-Chairman of the Missouri Liberty Coalition. He hosts a weekly talk show on Restore the Republic Radio and was the 2008 Congressional candidate for the Constitution Party in Missouri's 7th District.

Standing for Liberty

For those that don't know me I have been involved as an activist for the Constitution and Liberty for many years now. Yes I said an activist and I said it proudly. That word has been used and abused by the radical Marxist/globalist and its time we take it back.

I have given the last few years of my life to the liberty movement and have suffered the sacrifices of this life, starting with my wife leaving three years ago and most recently with loosing my job due to my political involvement. I do not say this to win sympathy but only to let everyone know where I stand.

This past election I fought an aggressive race for US Congress against Roy Blunt, former House Minority Whip. Although I spent only $2800 as compared to Blunts $8,000,000 I received 2% of the vote. It was a difficult race to run with having no money personally and very little for the campaign but I look now at the successes, of what I've learned and how many I educated.

Toward the end of the race and after it was over I began to think of this fight for Liberty as two fronts. Political Liberty and Personal Liberty. Political Liberty is of course the fight we wage with and against political parties, running for office and changing the hearts and minds of the voters and government officials. This is of course a big area where myself and others actively work in. Political Liberty is essential to achieving total liberty. We need to continue and ramp up our efforts in that area. The other area that many forget is Personal Liberty. Personal Liberty is where we as individuals and families focus our lives on seceding from what is considered normal in society. Personal liberty is preparing ourselves for living on our own without being tethered to a government umbilical cord. It is finding and creating our own sub cultures of liberty minded people. Personal liberty, because of it substance, is an area where people do not normally talk about it openly.

I have decided to focus my energy and efforts in promoting these two areas and educating people on them. For now I will use this site but as I can afford it I hope to have a website dedicated to this.

I will start by writing articles on these different subjects, passing on the knowledge and experience I have gathered over the years. I do not proclaim to be an expert but I have been around for awhile as an activist. I will also be focusing on these subjects at speaking engagements and of course on my radio show. I hope to build this into an educational organization with many articles and possibly a book in the future.

If you would like to join me in this fight and help me educate and activate please contact me.

I will soon be posting articles with more detail so please check back soon.