First Free Nation

Which country became the first free nation in modern times? [Read more]

Patrick Henry – The Fire-Tongued Orator

Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1736, to John and Sarah Winston Henry. A symbol of America’s struggle for liberty and self-government, Patrick Henry was a lawyer, patriot, orator, and willing participant in virtually every aspect of the founding of America.

• Born May 29, 1736 in Hanover County, Virginia
• Protested British tyranny
• Symbol of American struggle for liberty
• Served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress
• Five-term governor of Virginia
• Delivered the famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech. Listen to the speech.
• Died June 6, 1799 at Red Hill Plantation, Virginia

Early Years

John Henry educated young Patrick at home, including teaching him to read Latin, but Patrick studied law on his own. In 1760, he appeared in Williamsburg to take his attorney’s examination before Robert Carter Nicholas, Edmund Pendleton, John and Peyton Randolph, and George Wythe, and from that day forward, Patrick Henry’s story is inseparable from the stream of Virginia history.

Powerful words resonated

In 1763, arguing the famed Parson’s Cause in Hanover County, Patrick Henry proclaimed that a king who would veto a good and necessary law made by a locally elected representative body was not a father to his people but “a tyrant who forfeits the allegiance of his subjects.” Henry amplified his idea to the point of treason in defending his resolutions against the Stamp Act in the House of Burgesses May 30, 1765.

Carried away by the fervor of his own argument, the plainly dressed burgess from Louisa County exclaimed that “Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third…” At this point, cries of treason rose from all sides, but with hardly a pause, Henry neatly “baffled the charge vociferated” and won the burgesses for his cause. Five of his resolutions approved, the new leader in Virginia politics saddled his lean horse and took the westward road out of Williamsburg. (After his departure, one of the resolutions was overturned.) Henceforth, Patrick Henry was a leader in every protest against British tyranny and in every movement for colonial rights.

Strong believer in citizens’ right to bear arms

In March 1775, Patrick Henry urged his fellow Virginians to arm in self-defense, closing his appeal (uttered at St. John’s Church in Richmond, where the legislature was meeting) with the immortal words: “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

Actions marked the beginning of revolution in Virginia

Henry’s call to arms was carried over the protests of more conservative patriots and was one of the causes of the order for Lord Dunmore, the royal governor, to remove some gunpowder from the Magazine. Henry, “a Quaker in religion but the very devil in politics,” mobilized the militia to force restitution of the powder. Since Henry’s action followed the British march on Concord by only a few hours, it is said to mark the beginning of the American Revolution in Virginia.

Served in public office for nearly 30 years

Henry served in the Virginia House of Burgesses; he was a member of the Virginia committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Virginia Convention, and a delegate to the Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention. He played a prominent role in the May 6, 1776, convention and became the first governor of the commonwealth under its new constitution. Patrick Henry served five terms as governor of Virginia. He died in 1799 at his home on Red Hill Plantation.

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Palmer Says Bush Feeding Market Instability

ROUND ROCK, TX — Stephen Palmer said Friday that the government’s financial rescue plan was aggressive enough and big enough to plunge America into a depression and rob citizens of their hard-earned savings, but it may take time to fully kick in as the government props up unstable policies and institutions. “We can solve this crisis and we will — by getting rid of the Federal Reserve,” he said in brief remarks from his home.

Palmer spoke as leaders of the world’s top economies gathered in Washington to figure out how they could leverage the panic to confiscate more illegitimate power.

Mr. Palmer noted that major Western countries were working together in an attempt to undermine every positive step we’ve taken toward creating just and equitable civilizations since 1776, including ignoring their respective Constitutions.

“Through these efforts, the world is sending an unmistakable signal. We’re in this together and we’ll be oppressed by our governments together,” Palmer said.

Palmer said how he understood how Americans could be concerned about their economic future. “That anxiety can feed anxiety and that can make it hard to see all that’s being done to worsen the problem and strip us of more freedom,” he said.

But despite a relentless sell-off that has seen the Dow Jones industrials plunge 20 percent in the past seven trading days, Palmer said, “We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal — all of which can be employed when we get President Bush, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve out of the way.”

Mr. Palmer said the new $700 billion tyranny plan that President Bush signed into law a week ago authorizes the Treasury Department to socialize financial institutions at the whims of one man.

It wasn’t the first time Mr. Palmer has declared that the government stop distorting the market by controlling interest rates and the money supply, although it has also been mentioned by several other prominent economists and experts.

Since the bailout package was signed into law, the conversation about how it will be used has shifted from how taxpayers are lining the pockets of corporate executives to how they are supporting an overblown government.

Nationalization of the U.S. banking industry was once unthinkable, but in a stagnant pond of public apathy, anything is possible.

The government is authorized under the law to “screw taxpayers.”

These include the couple in South Dakota making $45,000 a year and trying desperately to put their two sons through college, but not Wall Street executives making $5 million per year and struggling with the overwhelming decision of how they should spend their money.

It is Mr. Palmer’s position that the Bush administration’s authority extends to whatever it feel like doing, since Congress doesn’t have the guts, nor the knowledge, to check it on any front.

“The plan they are executing is aggressive. It is the wrong plan. It will take time to have its full impact. It is flexible enough to get even more tyrannical as the executive branch amasses more power. And it is big enough to work, the definition of ‘work’ being to collapse the economy,” Palmer said.

He also noted that the Federal Reserve has injected hundreds of billions of green pieces of paper into the system — with little to no oversight and with nothing backing it. Other central banks have cooperated to help speed up the rate of inflation and erode the savings of every American.

“The federal government has a comprehensive strategy to lull the people into temporary security at the cost of freedom,” Palmer said.

While he sought to reassure Americans that the situation is not hopeless and that we should continue doing all we can, Palmer also acknowledged that this was one of the most egregious acts of tyranny in our nation’s history.

Palmer said his online community, The Cause of Liberty, has launched initiatives that are “helping common Americans to reclaim their responsibilities as citizens and to restore the American Republic.”

He also noted “rigorous discipline” must be enacted by the People to make sure that the government doesn’t “take advantage of the crisis to illegitimately erode our freedoms.”

“Over the past few days,” Palmer continued, “we have witnessed a totally predictable drop in the stock market, much of it driven by the stupidity and power-mongering of the government and the Federal Reserve. This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people.”

A little touch of humor to lighten your economic day, and still discuss this troubling topic.

Original Post on Cause of Liberty.com: click here to visit.

Keynesian Economics

Keynesian economic theories are used by the US governement to determine how and when to spend money, or “stimulate” the economy. Although many (if not all) of these theories have been disproved, the government still uses them as justification for it’s fiscal irresponsibility. In our podcast we give a brief overview of these theories and their effects on the market.

Socialism’s Deadly Embrace

If you want to cook a frog, you cannot simply drop it into a pot of boiling water. If the water is too hot it will jump out to escape the pain. But if you place the frog in cool water, and then heat the water slowly, before the frog knows what is happening it has been boiled alive.

The only difference between the given scenarios is that the first was a very sudden change in temperature which the frog instantly recognized and resisted. The second was a very gradual change in which the water ultimately reached the same temperature as the first scenario, but because of the gradual heating the frog grew accustomed to the increased heat and was not alerted to its perilous state until it was to late.

The Boiling Pot – Totalitarianism

This example parallels the encroachment of totalitarianism in the United States. During the cold war there was a vicious example of totalitarianism in the world. The communist governments openly opposed our free-market economy and our close adherence to the principles of self-reliance and individual liberty. There was a general consensus in the US about communism; that it was an enemy of those principles.  And as such, we were easily excited to action whenever there was a communist threat (perceived or real) at home or abroad.

This closely parallels the first instance in the frog example. Today, if a communistic threat were identified, Americans would jump up in opposition. But the reality is we are not likely to be dropped into the turbulent, boiling waters of communism, and be stripped of our liberties in a single blow.

Slowly Warming

But what of the slowly warming frog? Since the advent of the Great Depression we have had the water of socialism slowly warming us and getting us accustomed to the feeling, it’s painful effects increasing over time. The steps taken by Washington during the Great Depression were allowed because of the economic pain that the nation was feeling, and have slowly intensified each decade through additional programs and subsidies. The arguments justifying socialistic encroachment are always aimed at “helping” those who are suffering, but the net result is always bondage and slavery. The pain that is supposed to be averted through socialistic legislation is only temporarily averted at best, and greatly intensified at worst.

These calculated steps have been increased over time until we have been been forced to swallow the late, great “Wall Street Bail-Out Bill”. Many people saw the evil serpent of socialism hiding inside this bill with all it’s many revisions, and urged their representatives to vote against it. But our representatives did not heed our call, instead they spurned the will of the American people and chose to give in to the hype and supposed “expert” council.  We were told that not bailing out wall street would lead to a total meltdown in the market similar to the Great Depression.

You Break It, We’ll Buy It

Now that We The People are the proud owners of this 700 billion dollar debt which Washington orchestrated, what should our reaction be? Will we call for our legislators to revoke the legislation, or will we simply throw up our hands believing there is nothing we can do about it? Will we continue to soak in the turbulently boiling waters of Socialism even longer, preparing us for the final death blow?

It is important to realize that Communists are simply Socialists in a hurry, they prefer bloody, violent transfers of power to give them totalitarian control.  Socialists, on the other hand, attempt to accomplish the same ends through incremental transfers of control to the government through legislative processes. With either route the end result is the same, the power to legally exercise arbitrary control and abuse over the citizens.

What Will It Take?

If we sit idly by and allow this process to continue the citizens of the United States will soon loose all of the freedoms they now enjoy.  This loss happens because we aren’t aware that our rights are being taken from us through continual socialistic abuses.  Many of us don’t realize we’re being boiled!

What must happen in order for you to choose to stand against this perversion of our constitutional principles?  Are you willing to work to restore this great Republic to its former strength and glory?

May we have the strength to break this deathly embrace before it makes a meal of the rest of our liberty.

Ron Paul, Opposition to the Bail-out

“Long term, this is disastrous.”

Don’t make the problem worse by encouraging the continued creation of credit. Don’t blame the free markets for this problem. The markets have been regulated throughout the whole creation of the problem.

We must move forward with common sense. Watch the Video.

Cleon Skousen – The Smiling Patriot

Devoting almost his entire life to the promotion of principles of good government. Cleon Skousen is on of the Premier Pyro’s. He has written dozens of books on the subject of good government, and the founders of our country. Cleon was a country boy, but serving by J Edgar Hoover’s side in the FBI and as a Chief of Police for several years gave him a great base to understand the serious threats that lay in our way.

His efforts along with many other Pyro’s ignited fires within the people of this nation and created a wellspring of love for this country that helped us pull together and avert the great storms that were upon us as a nation at the time Jimmy Carter’s presidency. We owe him a great debt for his great service and ability to see and expound on principles in government. he is indeed among the highest and brightest of men that have lived in our modern times.

Many of Cleon’s works can be found at skousen2000.com.

Ron Paul – Old Reliable

A modern day Statesman, Ron Paul has shared principles of good sound government far and wide. Early in the 2008 Presidential campaign, he was a very popular candidate and put up quite a fight against the average establishment foes.

Although his presidential race is over, he continues to share principles of liberty and good government as a congressman and through inspiring others to grab hold of the title of liberty and learn the truth.

He has started the Campaign for Liberty movement and has released many books including his latest “The Revolution, A Manifesto“, Three Cheers for Dr. Paul.

Sounds like Insider Trading to me!!

Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) gives a stirring and impassioned speech about the effects of the bail-out and her feelings on the inequity that was occurring during the creation/writing of the bill.

No Bail-Out

We along with many of you are, I am sure, ecstatic about the US Congress voting down the market Bail-Out bill. This action could have produced many far reaching negative effects that we have not seen the likes of since the great depression.

Proponents of this bail-out bill imply that not passing the bill will provide for a greater banking crisis and a frozen credit market, making it impossible for small businesses to function.

Does the very logic not make your stomach nauseous? The thought that the majority of small businesses are only running on credit to fuel their success seems like a very frightening predicament indeed. We have drifted so far from the place that we started over 200 years ago, Hard Work, Saving, Wise and Prudent investment, making the most of what you had in the world and finding ways to create the most value with what you had at your disposal. This process created some of the greatest minds and influence that the world has ever seen.

Now it seems that a great majority of business owners are plagued by that very disease that created this great mess in the first place. The excessive use and abuse of credit and manipulation of the market to keep the rate artificially low, making it cheap and readily available. This situation unfortunately will always lead to malinvestment, and degradation of the market. As we clearly see evidenced.

So while Washington seems more than ready to point the finger at the market, or those predatory lenders, etc… Let us remember that the ones that they seem not able to point a finger at, themselves and the Federal Reserve, are those that are at the core of this problem, and without making changes specifically to the regulation or elimination of the Fed. This problem will just continue to rear its ugly head again and again until we learn our lesson and cut off it’s head.