Monthly Archives: November 2012

2012 was an incredible year for politics. The political arena was not only exciting in Maine, but it was in all of America. The excitement came due to a series of storylines that played out over the course of the year, with one of the major ones being the unique nature of the Ron Paul movement.

An influx of new activists joined the Republican Party to help advance liberty and nominate Ron Paul for President. They are a diverse group of people, largely libertarians, but many not Libertarians. Some within this push for liberty are also conservatives, or even liberals and anarchists. Its a political melting pot full of individuals who just want to live free from government interference. Government, first and foremost, protects the people and their interests, not controls them.

Early on in the primaries, back in 2011 when it was less clear there would be this much of an impact, the liberty movement faced two potential directions: Ron Paul or Gary Johnson. An early rift in the liberty movement that Congressman Paul would win, with Johnson bowing out of the race and later joining the Libertarian Party. Paul would become a political legend for the immediate impact and will likely be remembered in history for the long-term influence his philosophy and career wields over the political arena.

Gary Johnson has his own legacy however. After Paul failed to secure the nomination in a bitter delegate fight, with the resistance of the Republican establishment fracturing the party, supporters looked elsewhere to cast their vote in November. The clear choice for many was the 5% threshold needed to open the door for the Libertarian Party in the mainstream. Johnson, who already had a name as a successful governor in New Mexico and former candidate for the Republican nomination, stood out to many Ron Paul supporters. While some would write-in Paul in the end, Johnson also picked up a huge number, exceeding one million votes.

While neither Johnson or Paul will become President in 2013, they have a lasting legacy that millions of people across America will carry on. Here in Maine, the Libertarian Party is quietly restructuring and preparing for a rise. The Republican Party is undergoing an identity crisis with an ongoing philosophical civil war raging within. All the while, the Democratic Party has the short-term political control. The future looks grim for them however, as the liberty movement is slowly advancing through the political arena and working to forever change the game.

There are a number of issues to address and consider moving forward to the liberty movement, which Undercover Porcupine will cover here in a series of articles. The liberty movement needs to assess leadership, future candidates, its principles, and strategy moving forward.

Stay tuned here to Undercover Porcupine starting November 14th, for the discussion into the future of liberty.

THE SAVING LIBERTY SERIES

1. Liberty Is Not Insane One of the difficulties in advancing the liberty movement is communication, with the mainstream often misunderstanding the concept of liberty. With Ron Paul, the misconceptions regarding philosophy and principles are endless, with some of this due to Paul himself. One of the top jobs for those within the movement is to correct misconceptions and clarify why freedom makes sense. Liberty itself, is far from being insane and crazy.2. (To Be Announced 11.14.12, coming 11.15.12)

. Bookmark the

Read more:
Saving Liberty: The Future After Ron Paul And Gary Johnson

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Representatives Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Republican Ron Paul of Texas, polar opposites on many issues, joined Wednesday in asking the White House to refrain from acting against marijuana users in Colorado and Washington, which became the first states last week to legalize recreational use of the drug.

In a letter to President Obama, the duo asked the White House to respect the wishes of the voters of Colorado and Washington and refrain from federal prosecution of the inhabitants of those states who will be following their states laws with regard to the use of marijuana.

Paul, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president, is widely considered a leading libertarian in Congress, while Frank is an unabashed liberal. Citing individual freedom, both are coauthors of legislation that would legalize marijuana across the nation.

We believe there are many strong reasons for your administration to allow the states of Colorado and Washington to set the policies they believe appropriate in this regard, without the federal government overriding the choices made by the voters of these states, the letter said, noting a states right to set policies that affect their own residents and the potential cost for enforcing federal laws prohibiting the recreational use of marijuana, which is against federal law.

Other states permit medicinal use of Marijuana. Last week, Massachusetts became the latest state to do so.

But Colorado and Washington broke new ground in the movement to decriminalize use of the drug, when voters in those two states legalized the possession and growing of the substance.

Read the rest here:
Representatives Barney Frank and Ron Paul urge White House to respect marijuana laws in Colorado, Washington

Ron Paul spokeswoman Rachel Mills says the congressman "feels the same now" about secession as he did in an April 2009 YouTube video.

Residents of at least 19 states filed petitions this week for the right to secede from the United States. The petition from Texas, where Paul is a congressman, has so far garnered more than 80,000 signatures, enough to get the attention of the White House.

[RELATED:Texas Leads Secession Charge]

In the 2009 video, Paul says that secession is a legitimate issue to debate.

"Its very American to talk about secession -- thats how we came into being. Thirteen colonies seceded from the British and established a new country, so secession is very much an American principle," Paul says.

[READ:Ron Paul Won't Go Quietly]

The congressman also notes that while states may not be ready to secede just yet, they may be ready "when federal government can no longer deliver" on their needs.

More News:

Elizabeth Flock is a staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow her on Twitter or Facebook or reach her at eflock@usnews.com.

Continued here:
Ron Paul Still Feels 'Secession is Very Much an American Principle'

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Tuesday that there is probably a zero percent chance of congressional leaders reaching a grand bargain on the looming fiscal cliff.

Asked on Bloomberg Televistion whether he thinks theres a chance for grand bargain, the former GOP presidential candidate said: Probably zero.

Paul said Congress can delay fiscal decisions in January.

They can postpone big decisions in January and yet that still does not remove the uncertainty, Paul said. Uncertainty is a major cause of the inability for the market to get moving again and they have to revamp it in a much more detailed fashion than they are even talking about right now.

Paul said that any deal that Congress and President Barack Obama agree on will be very temporary.

I think there will be something, but it will be very temporary, it wont be long lasting and restore confidence and fix the problem, Paul said. But there will be some type of reconciliation of saying well do this and a little of that and it may even help the financial markets for a little while, but since it wont solve the problems it will only be temporary.

Last week, Paul told Bloomberg Television that the country had already fallen off the fiscal cliff.

Original post:
Ron Paul : Big deal won't get done

Fast Eddy Aki'a of Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands of supporters of legalized pot, lit up at 4:20 p.m. on April 20 in Denver, Colorado.

Fast Eddy Aki'a of Hawaii smokes a joint as thousands of supporters of legalized pot, lit up at 4:20 p.m. on April 20 in Denver, Colorado.

Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) are asking the White House to respect the voters of Colorado and Washington, who decided that recreational marijuana use should be legal.

In a letter sent to President Obama, they wrote:

"We have sponsored legislation at the federal level to remove criminal penalties for the use of marijuana because of our belief in individual freedom. We recognize that this has not yet become national policy, but we believe there are many strong reasons for your administration to allow the states of Colorado and Washington to set the policies they believe appropriate in this regard, without the federal government overriding the choices made by the voters of these states.

"Respect for the rights of states to set policies on those matters that primarily affect their own residents argues for federal noninterference in this case, as does respect for the wishes of the voters again, on matters that primarily affect those in the relevant electorate. Additionally, we believe that scarce federal resources law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, and penal should not be expended in opposition to the wishes of the voters of Colorado and Washington, given the responsibility of all federal officials to find ways to withhold unwise or unnecessary expenditures."

The Hill reports that the Obama administration has received criticism for going after medical marijuana dispensaries in California and Colorado, where they are legal.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Obama said he can't simply ignore federal law when it comes to pot.

"What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana," he told the magazine. "I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana and the reason is, because it's against federal law. I can't nullify congressional law.

"I can't ask the Justice Department to say, 'Ignore completely a federal law that's on the books. What I can say is, 'Use your prosecutorial discretion and properly prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing folks damage. As a consequence there haven't been prosecutions of users of marijuana for medical purposes."

Link:
Reps. Ron Paul , Barney Frank Ask Obama To Respect Pot Legalization Laws