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[foofighter20x]

This is my draft for the petition answer to the "Lesser of Two Evils" problem.

I avoided hot-button issues like abortion and what not, but I stuck to Dr Paul's talking points:


To: The President of the United States and Members of Congress

Stop what you are doing and listen to us!

It is truly clear that both of your institutions—the executive and legislative branches—have fallen completely out of touch with the common American. As it is your duty to represent us all, and because you are failing to do that, we speak to you today through our First Amendment right to seek redresses from you, our government, via petition the changes necessary to put our country back on the track of peace and prosperity.

1. Give Us Back Our Freedoms! We the American people are not your enemies. We are not terrorists, yet you have turned your fear of them on us, American citizens and residents. Repeal the abuses of the PATRIOT Act and the Military Commissions Act. Restore to us our freedoms and our guaranteed liberties as embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights: habeas corpus, freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures, the right to trial by a jury of our peers, the right to counsel, the right to confront those who accuse us of crimes, the right to see the evidence against us, and the right to a speedy and public trial. Honor the contract that you have with America through those two documents.

2. Give Us Back Our Property! Judges have ruled that governments can take our land and give them to other private, special interests. This is an absurd abuse of governmental power which would have enraged our Founders! Our ancestors and countrymen have not fought and died at home or abroad so that the fruits of their labor and life’s work, nor those of their families and friends, could be confiscated in order to benefit special interests. Stop these illegal acts of confiscation of our property now!

3. Give Us Back Our Lives! Cut government spending and cut taxes. We currently work over four months of the year to meet our tax liabilities. While we don’t like taxes, we recognize the purpose they serve. However, our begrudging willingness to pay them does not give you the right to irresponsibly spend those tax dollars on unnecessary and wasteful programs. Given your respective track records, we’d rather do for ourselves—with much greater effect and efficiency through private charity—those things you try to do for us. Cut these needless and inefficient programs that don’t work and give us back the money used to run them. Once you’ve done that, stop taxing us in secret through inflation. Also, we are onto the game you are playing with simply printing the extra money you need, but neither have nor can get from us, and we won’t stand for it.

4. Give Us Back Our Government! We the People are sovereign—not you. You are our servants, our representatives. You work for us. Your job is to do what we want, not the other way around. When you all took office, you swore to uphold and protect the Constitution. Yet day in, day out, you ignore that honored document and usurp from us powers which you we did not give. Now, though backchannels, and not according to our will, you are even attempting to subvert that great writ of government by erasing our borders and taking away our right to elect those who lead us by creating the unelected governing body of the North American Union. We are perfectly capable of running our own lives and we do not need any supra-national agencies dictating to us what to do.

5. Give Us Peace and Prosperity! Stop meddling in the affairs of other countries, whether by exerting influence or by starting unnecessary, needless, and dangerous wars. While we always love to see our brothers and sisters around the world open their arms to democracy and freedom, we simply can’t force them to be free at gunpoint. Think of the absurdity of that idea: forcing people to be free. Instead, let’s work to fix the problems we have at home. If we set a good example at home and actively lead and coach other people of the world how to be free through trade and good relations, they just might take the steps necessary to be free themselves. We can’t need to do for them what they must do themselves; else, they won’t truly value what they gain. Also, we should only fight wars of self-defense of our borders against countries that are actively threatening us with legitimate force. Defending other countries and policing the world are not our job. Pax Romana didn’t work for the Romans, and Pax Americana isn’t going to work for us. Instead of wasting our resources on a policy that has always failed, we’d better serve the world and ourselves by using those resources to invest in our economy and our infrastructures.


Yeah... I know I posted this in the other thread... But I'm impatient. :p :D

[foofighter20x]

Come on guys! Nothing? No changes? No additions? No subtractions? :confused: I know I'm not THAT good an author...

[Noodles]

I'd like to see some mention of "of the people, by the people, for the people" in the opening statement. Otherwise, I like very much!

[DjLoTi]

I thought it was nice.

[foofighter20x]

Thanks guys! I'm going to revise and edit and what not... But I'm also going to let this linger until I get a few more inputs.

[atilla]

i think it looks good, they only question i have is: is it too long? it reads like a good manifesto but perhaps a more condensed version might get a better response. some people might look at it and not want to spend the time to read it all, and won't sign it without reading it.

just an idea, but you don't have to stick with one, try it out and see how people respond, you can edit it later if you need to.

[angrydragon]

Add the words from Ron Paul ( I saw it in aravoth's stop dreaming video) that the founding fathers would never have approved of us giving half our income to the government.

[PatriotOne]

Very nice Foo. I would change a few things gramatically, but sounds like you are going to go through it a few more times.

This is the kind of message we need to be sending to our Government daily.

[LibertyCzar]

It's a good petition. I'm not so sure what kind of reception it will get with the president, since he doesn't care what the people think, but Congress should take not, especially House members up for reelection.

[foofighter20x]

i think it looks good, they only question i have is: is it too long? it reads like a good manifesto but perhaps a more condensed version might get a better response. some people might look at it and not want to spend the time to read it all, and won't sign it without reading it.

just an idea, but you don't have to stick with one, try it out and see how people respond, you can edit it later if you need to.

Well, that's why I bolded parts of it... the hope is to hook them into reading it all. and it only takes about three minutes. I'm willing to bet most people will spare 2 minutes and get so caught up that they'll read the whole thing.

Like Dr Paul said: Freedom is popular!

[foofighter20x]

It's a good petition. I'm not so sure what kind of reception it will get with the president, since he doesn't care what the people think, but Congress should take not, especially House members up for reelection.

Keep in mind the point of this exercise isn't to send this to the president, but simply to get people to sign it so that we can us it to show others our candidate has support! ;)

It's really more an outlet to let people vent their frustration and realize Dr Paul is their only hope.

[foofighter20x]

Very nice Foo. I would change a few things gramatically, but sounds like you are going to go through it a few more times.

This is the kind of message we need to be sending to our Government daily.

What changes?! Tell me so I can make them... Errors you see are ones I might think are correct or might miss altogether.

[Noodles]

Could I be the first to sign? That would be a great honor. Maybe you could award that honor to the person who pledges the largest donation to the campaign, attracts the biggest meet-up following, gets the most letters published in major newspapers, etc. Just a thought.

I just think it would be REALLY COOL to be the first name out of 50,000 or more names.

[foofighter20x]

Could I be the first to sign? That would be a great honor. Maybe you could award that honor to the person who pledges the largest donation to the campaign, attracts the biggest meet-up following, gets the most letters published in major newspapers, etc. Just a thought.

I just think it would be REALLY COOL to be the first name out of 50,000 or more names.

You can be second after me. :p

This is my John Hancock moment. ;)

[WannaBfree]

Keep in mind the point of this exercise isn't to send this to the president, but simply to get people to sign it so that we can us it to show others our candidate has support! ;)

Excellent! It'll make people stop and think about it at the very least. Very clever!

If you ever decide to include the abortion issue, you could always explain that RP believes the govt should stay out of it, and that it should be a state and local issue.

Maybe I could copy your version of the petition and make a version with the legalization issue included, as I was planning on going to "head shops" with RP brochures. Since the point isn't to send it in, but to get RP noticed, we could have different versions circulating, tailored to the group we are targeting :)

[WannaBfree]

One suggestion is that it might be too long if you want to get signatures quickly.

[RonPaul4President]

I watched a movie on youtube recently and it addressed the reality of doing this. It illustrated how the politicians running things are like pirates and they have taken over the ship(America). Sending a letter like that to the Bush Admin is like escaping bondage and running up to the bridge to ask the lead pirate to give you back the ship. We have to reclaim what was taken from us the same way they took it. One at a time. We must use our system by replacing members of congress with those sympathetic to the cause of the people and work the system from the inside. It took over a hundred years to lose our freedoms and it may take that long to get them back. This will not happen overnight.

"Armchair patriots are useless in this fight."

[foofighter20x]

If you ever decide to include the abortion issue, you could always explain that RP believes the govt should stay out of it, and that it should be a state and local issue.

Maybe I could copy your version of the petition and make a version with the legalization issue included, as I was planning on going to "head shops" with RP brochures. Since the point isn't to send it in, but to get RP noticed, we could have different versions circulating, tailored to the group we are targeting :)

Copy away, good man!

[TheEvilDetector]

I watched a movie on youtube recently and it addressed the reality of doing this. It illustrated how the politicians running things are like pirates and they have taken over the ship(America). Sending a letter like that to the Bush Admin is like escaping bondage and running up to the bridge to ask the lead pirate to give you back the ship. We have to reclaim what was taken from us the same way they took it. One at a time. We must use our system by replacing members of congress with those sympathetic to the cause of the people and work the system from the inside. It took over a hundred years to lose our freedoms and it may take that long to get them back. This will not happen overnight.

"Armchair patriots are useless in this fight."

Sounds like Griffin's Video, its in my signature.

The basic notion is (this is what the latin in my sig means) that you cant protect liberty without power. So you need men like Ron Paul in power to protect liberty. To be meaningful and long lasting, you need many liberty loving people trying to get political power, that way the fundamental change from collectivism to individualism will stick and wont be a flash in the pan kind of thing.

You see collectivists have been in this game for a long time way over 100 years and they are moneyed too. Their organisations are numerous and powerful. To counter this trend, individualists need to organise into similar groups and reclaim power centres one by one, by taking over power centres of society including the ultimate power centres, the federal government branches.

Just to recap, individualist is one who supports the idea of rights of individuals (regardless of affiliation) reigning supreme over everything else just like collectivists support rights of groups over rights of individuals and its necessary in the collectivists ideology to fragment society along group lines for without the existence of such groups their philosphy has no basis to exist and is made irrelevant.

The problem of course is that the collectivistic philosophy lends itself well for abuse and for power gain, and it is for this very reason why collectivisticly minded invidividuals infest the governments of yesterday, today and will infest the governments of the future, unless a radical philosophical shift takes place. I am sure many of you recognise that philosophies such as fascism, socialism, communism and others are based on collectivism.

The founding fathers on the other hand were probably the first people who brought into being individualistic concepts which were put into the constitution and as you all know the core concepts revolve around human rights, which are intrinsic to individualism, whereas on the other hand, in collectivistic mindset, those rights can be taken away to serve the "greater good" of "society". An example of an individualistic philosophy is libertarianism.

There are many good things inherent in individualism, one of those is the lack of one of the greatest shortcomings of collectivism, and that is the existence of racism. Racism, simply does not exist in individualistic philosophy, for we are all simply human beings, nothing more, nothing less.

For more info, google "collectivism versus individualism". I welcome any and all comments.

:)

[Quantumystic]

I would go more like this, personally:


To Congress, July 4, 2007

The Declaration of the Citizen-Patriots of the Fifty United States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to Strongly Consider altering their Systems of Government. — The history of the current Presidential Administration is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

It has Willfully created and practiced Executive Policy in direct Defiance of the Constitution of the United States of America, and with utter Disdain of the Co-Equal branches of the Legislative and Judicial. We cite:

The NSA wiretapping program that was ordered without the Assent of the Congress by Major Votes, and without compliance to the FISA Court oversight established for precisely such eventualities.

The Establishment of Powers of Dictatorship in the "Continuity of Government", claimed unilaterally in Presidential National Security Directive #51, which would place Exclusive Power of ordering Government under the Authority of the Executive branch.

The Violations of International Treaties in the form of Kidnappings and Torturous Acts under Illegal Executive Authorization, committed upon the Sovereign Territories of our Allies, as well as upon the United States of America-held territory of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Willful Defiance of the Constitution, under the Military Commisions Act and PATRIOT Act, to remove that Most Fundamental Protection of Law known as Habeas Corpus... which the previous Assembly of your respective Houses was party to.

The Illegal Manipulations of Individuals holding the Office of U.S. Attorneys for Political Gain, above Integrity to their Oath of Office.

We the Citizen-Patriots of the Fifty United States of America further submit a direct Comparison, in order, to those Abuses and Usurpations endured by our Founding Fathers who created our Constitution:

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A President, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

We, therefore, the Citizen-Patriots of the United States of America, to the General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these States, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the Bush Administration, and that all political connection between them, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

[TheEvilDetector]

I would change "is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

to

is "unfit to hold the office of President of the United States of America due to flagrant and repeated violations of his oath to uphold the constitution of the same"

[IrrigatedPancake]

The only suggestion I would make is to replace "Give US" with something like "Stop stifling our".