August 19th, 2009

Dear Liberty Activist,

You're doing it! The groundswell of opposition to ObamaCare has reached a fever pitch, a perfect storm in fact, and there's still more work to do. The message is being sent, though, that Congress can vote for this abomination if they want to, but it will be in direct opposition to the American people's best wishes for their country, and most importantly for their families.

In this perfect storm, we find at least three forces that has found the Administration in very stormy waters: 1) Barack Obama's sheer arrogance; 2) Congressional infighting that makes it impossible to get this abomination across the finish line, and thus impossible for Obama to navigate to safer waters; and 3) Public backlash to socialized medicine.

Together, these forces could prove to be insurmountable, despite having 60 senators and 256 representatives caucusing with the Democrat Party in Congress.  In the House particularly, at least 40 Democrats are needed to defeat this measure.  And it is they who we must be focused on.

I have finished upgrading our target contact list of vulnerable Democrats who are most likely to vote against this monstrosity. Representatives 5 through 44 are Blue Dogs that signed the letter against ObamaCare promising not to vote for it if it weren't deficit neutral. That's a good pressure point all on its own, but not the only one to use. 45 through 56 are the rest of the Blue Dogs who didn't sign the letter. And 57 through 94 are Democrats we have determined are vulnerable in some way.  Blue Dogs are listed in blue.

92 Congressmen and women in total. Here's the .xls and .pdf versions. Everything you need to email their staff, write letters, make phone calls and send faxes, both to their district and Capitol Hill offices.

If just 10,000 of you out of the 400,000 recipients can call through, or email through, or fax through, etc. this entire list, you will have put out some 920,000 communications against ObamaCare. Give 'em Hell!

And, for your own representatives, keep in frequent contact with them using CapWiz.com by clicking here. Just enter your zip code and follow the easy steps.  Or, you can use the government's websites in the House and in the Senate to do it the old fashioned way.

In today's Liberty Action Report, the perfect storm of opposition to ObamaCare is here, it is time for Congress to remember a timeless principle: "Do no harm", and private property rights would get oil out of ANWR in an environmentally sound manner. Plus, Cato @ Liberty picks up on ALG's Freedom of Information Act response from Homeland Security on the "rightwing extremism" memo.

Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We publish all points of view! Today, Rick Bachmeier writes, "Thank you for providing factual information, and for making it easy and convenient for us to contact our representatives and let them know how they can best represent Reagan conservatives. God Bless America. Keep up the good work."

You're very welcome, Rick. And keep fighting! The enemy is on the run now, attempting to distract the American people with talk of "co-ops" and mealy-mouth compromise, and we must pursue them until this battle is done.  I know you all will hold them accountable for attempting to run your lives into the ground.

For Liberty,

Robert Romano
ALG Senior News Editor
www.getliberty.org

P.S. Think this stuff is cheap? Help us out with a small donation today!

Open Source & Copyright Free

The Perfect Storm of Opposition
No matter how big the wave of opposition gets Obamacare doesn't seem to know when to stop.

An Essential Principle: "Do No Harm"
54 percent of voters believe that no health care legislation this year would be a better option than the current bill, which only 35 percent support.

The Barstool Economist: Privatize ANWR
When it comes to energy policy there is a long forgotten solution: private property rights.

ALG in the News: Amateur Hour at DHS
The mounting opposition against the "RightWing Extremism" DHS report is continuing to rise.

The Perfect Storm of Opposition

ALG Editor's Note: William Warren's award-winning cartoons published at GetLiberty.org are a free service of ALG News Bureau. They may be reused and redistributed free of charge.

http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1481

An Essential Principle: "Do No Harm"

By Robert Romano

According to Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, a government-run takeover of the nation's health care system—the so-called public "option—is "not the essential element" to reform. As it turns out, socialized medicine is not all that essential to the American people, either.

According to Rasmussen Reports, 54 percent of voters believe that no health care legislation this year would be a better option than the current bill, which only 35 percent support.

That's right. The American people prefer—by a 1.54 to 1 ratio—that Congress do nothing rather than take up the abomination that presently sits on the floor of the House, awaiting the August recess to end. No alternative legislation. No compromise. Nothing.

They simply want Congress to vote "No." And not just, "no," but "Hell no!" Because, they want Congress to follow a timeless principle that should be familiar to all in the medical profession: "Do no harm."

Which, of course, is no wonder. Americans do not want a bureaucracy deciding who gets care and who does not. They do not want a public system whose purpose is to crowd out and eliminate private health options. They do not want the same unsustainable costs that have plagued Social Security and Medicare—some $104 trillion of unfunded liabilities—for decades to bring down the entire health care system. And they do not think that bankrupting the nation is worth the price.

After all, that would all be quite harmful, both to their families and to their nation.

Nor do they want any sort of incremental approach that opens the door wide open for what the Left really wants: a single payer system where solely the government administers health care. A Platonic "utopia." One without private options. One without incentives to enter the medical profession. One without the profit motive to develop life-saving drugs, treatments, and surgeries.

That is why the American people will be rallying in towns and cities around the nation this Saturday, August 22nd in front of Congressional district offices and elsewhere. Much to the surprise of the politicos when they returned home this month touting a $1.5 trillion monstrosity, Americans actually like their health care when they consider the government-run alternative.

Dubbed the "Recess Rally," concerned citizens nationwide will be giving their Congressmen and women an earful this weekend over what is proving to be an increasingly unpopular piece of legislation. Americans for Limited Government is co-sponsoring the event, which will turn up in most every Congressional district in the country.

As ALG President Bill Wilson promised on July 31st, "There are going to be boots on the ground in districts across the country, and they're not going to be happy when the politicians return home for their August recess and try to defend this mealy-mouth 'compromise' reached by the Blue Dogs." But not because he summoned them. Not because ALG had operatives rolling out the "Astroturf" for political purposes. Not because talk radio told them to.

But because they care. As shocking as it is for the power elite, the American people actually do care about the future health of their families and prosperity of their nation. And they do not want to live in a socialist economy with incrementally nationalized industries, be it housing, banking, education, automobiles, or health care.

"There's still a pretty big level of anger toward an unresponsive government," said NetRight Nation director Adam Bitely, also a co-sponsor of Saturday's rally, in an exclusive interview with ALG News. He has been monitoring the health care debate closely via his high-tech blog aggregation system. And he said that the current unrest in districts across the country, at town halls and in front of Congressional offices, are a genuine outgrowth of the April 15th nationwide tea party events.

"The tea party movement is still alive and well. They're vibrant. And I'd say that what we're seeing with the health care issue and these town hall meetings, this is the exact same theme, applied to a specific piece of legislation," Bitely explained.

When asked if the tea parties were taking lead in the national dialogue over ObamaCare, Bitely said, "Are they taking the lead? They are the lead. They have set the tone for the entire debate thus far." And he said efforts to discredit citizens visiting with their Congressmen in August mirrored similar efforts to discredit the tea parties in April, when Barack Obama claimed to not even know about them.

Only this time, they have gone a step further, calling them "un-American," "Brown Shirts," "political terrorists," "evil mongers," "uncivilized," and comparing their rhetoric to that of Timothy McVeigh. For merely stating their opposition to the single largest government takeover in the history of the Republic. For expressing their constitutionally-protected right to dissent. For telling Congress to not to take away their private health options.

What the powerful have forgotten, however, is that the people do not need them. Instead, it is they who need the people in order to keep their power.

And if the politicians do not wish to be deemed "non-essential" personnel by their own constituents, they had better start listening and "do no harm." Do nothing, in fact.

Robert Romano is the ALG Senior News Editor.

http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1480

Privatize ANWR

By Justin Williams

Last year at this time, as gas prices rose and the economy tanked, the hot button issue was energy. The Left believed that humans were overindulging and the only action to take was to reduce the nation's "carbon footprint." While the Right believed that America should only increase production of domestic oil.

For the average American, recycling and drilling a little more probably seems like a good idea. Those ideas are very different than allowing the government to mandate recycling and subsidize drilling. This, of course, causes two major problems. The first solution restricts American's freedoms while the second continues the spending of an already fiscally troubled nation.

But, what if there was a third option that could simultaneously get the efficient amount of energy out of America while preserving the environment?

Well, there is. It is called: implementing private property rights.

Private property rights allow individuals to decide what type of grass to grow after they purchase a home. And it can be applied to many of the energy problems the world faces today.

Take the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) owned by the government and the source of constant debate for drilling versus conservation. If private individuals were allowed to own the land, instead of the government, then society would get the most efficient balance of energy production versus conservation.

This is because private ownership of property allocates resources more efficiently due to people's willingness to pay through a market price system.

For example, when Adam goes to the bar he sees a beer for five dollars. The bar is expressing that at any value below five dollars they would rather keep the beer. When Adam exchanges his money for this beer, he is expressing that he values the beer at five dollars (if not more).

If this simple economic exchange were put to work in ANWR, the environmentalists and the corporations would bid for the ownership of the land. If the environmentalists value the land as a place of sanctuary more than new entrepreneurs value the oil, then environmentalists would get the property.

The environmentalists may say that they cannot possibly compete with corporations that earn profits. But the alternative is to allow greedy politicians to decide what group they can get the most votes and campaign money from, using the force of law to impose their will.

The truth is that environmentalists can compete, though they may not be able to prevent all possible efficient economic activity on the land. They would, however, be able to monitor every activity on their land while funding their causes.

Economists Emily Schaeffer and Walter Block find the example of the Audubon Society, which owns and operates the Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary. This 26,000-acre sanctuary located in Louisiana has been pumping millions of dollars worth of natural gas, while keeping the land beautiful.

The reason that the land remains beautiful is due to private ownership. The society monitors the practices of the extraction of natural gas and benefits from the profits.

Implementing this solution would bring Americans the most efficient balance between energy and conservation, since those who own the property will take the most care of it and find the best uses for it.

Justin Williams is the Senior Commentary Editor of ALG News Bureau and, as always, he accepts any questions or comments about the Barstool at Justin@getliberty.org.

http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1479

ALG Editor's Note: In the following featured commentary, David Rittgers from Cato reports on the controversial DHS Rightwing Extremism memo.

Amateur Hour at DHS

by David Rittgers

The controversial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment stirred criticism that the DHS had turned away from monitoring real terrorism plots and was now labeling veterans, pro-life groups, and limited government advocates as threats to national security. Consider those fears vindicated.

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documents and correspondence that supported the DHS report. The result: DHS sent a letter and list of the sources used to assess a significant number of innocent Americans as potential terrorists.

Seriously, read the whole thing. This collection of open source material amounts to an afternoon of internet browsing. Several arrests and indictments are mentioned, but newspapers and blogs are used instead of primary documents such as actual arrest reports and indictments that are available over the internet.

When a government agency charged with the physical security of the nation's borders is running around on the internet looking for accusations of racism instead of using actual law enforcement and intelligence reports to justify its threat assessments, we are all in trouble. As Jeffrey Rosen has said, the biggest problem with DHS is that it was "a bureaucratic and philosophical mistake."

Create a bureaucracy designed to inflate fears and issue color-coded threat levels, and that is what you will get. But don't be surprised when TSA agents at the airport decide to go beyond their aviation security mission and get rebuked by a federal judge. Expect people lawfully traveling with cash to get detained without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion that they are breaking the law or pose a threat to airline safety. Anticipate that the "no-fly" list will become a "no-rights" list when a politician can seek political advantage by advocating that anyone designated for double-secret probation be denied their Second Amendment rights.

In related news, Jonathan Turley highlights the fact that English comedian Paul O'Grady was held on suspicion of being an illegal alien from Cuba because of his "funny accent."

Your tax dollars at work.

 http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1478