Brian Miller is an outstanding candidate running for the House of Representatives from Arizona’s 8th District. He is a strict fiscal conservative, a strong believer in individual liberty and an activist for limited government. He is doing well in a crowded primary and if he wins he will face Democrat incumbent Gabrielle Giffords in the general election. She has only been in office for two terms and barely won her two elections with considerable help from President Obama and MoveOn.org. In this year of change she is very vulnerable.

Miller has Democrats running scared and they are targeting him because of his support of the Tea Party movement, opposition to Obamacare and stand against bailouts. He’s a true Liberty Republican who believes in limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty.

Miller could play a big role in restoring liberty in our nation, but he needs all the help he can get. His campaign is doing well, but is running low on money and there are still months to go until the Arizona primary. He needs all the help he can get. Please spread the word about his candidacy and consider contributing to his campaign.

“As your Congressman I will work to restrain government overreach, expose political corruption, and put the brakes on outrageous wasteful spending. Special interests in search of special treatment will get none from me. I care about you – Arizonans and your families. I will work tirelessly to secure your rights and keep politicians from overstepping the Constitutional bounds of their authority.” — Brian Miller

The Republican Liberty Caucus is proud to have endorsed Miller and hopes to see him fighting for liberty in Congress next year.

In his historical tour de force, On Power, Bertrand de Jouvenal traces the process of centralization of power in Europe from the fall of Rome. He paints a picture of an unstoppable centripetal force, power, whose ever tightening grip on humanity was hastened first by the increasing power of monarchs and then by the rise of democracy.   Prior to mass rule that began with the French revolution and Napoleon, war was limited by the resources of local feudal rulers.  Total war became possible with the rise of democracy and nationalistic centralization. The great wars of the twentieth century which saw unprecedented numbers killed were the product of nationalism, mass rule and socialism, indeed, of national socialism and socialism in one country.  These last are the ideologies of both the Democratic and Republican parties today.

For a century the United States showed that in the absence of centralization economic progress would come quicker, the public made better off, and war limited to local expansionism.  But the Civil War began a process of Progressive centralization, and elite Americans of the Gilded Age after the Civil War, envious of the status of German universities, sent their sons to graduate school in Germany and were surprised when they returned advocating ideas that would forestall freedom and progress.  Not having access to the ideas of von Mises, Hayek and Schumpeter, elite Americans adopted German historicism, according to which they, as an expert elite, deserved power and that power ought to be centralized to that end. They chose to remake America in Germany’s image fifty years before the rise of Hitler.

We live with the heritage of their nationalist and now internationalist Progressivism.  Progress has slowed; retirement savings are insufficient to cover the needs of the largest cohort of retirees in the history of the world; the Progressive health care system has faltered and  been redesigned to  restrict care; and for the past forty years Americans have seen the”promise of American life”, an ever increasing standard of living, betrayed and slowed to a halt as the Federal Reserve Bank and the federal government  have transferred ever more resources to banks and speculators.

De Jouvenal saw the rise of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the ultimate success of “power” in the United States.  But the process has taken longer and become more intense as the centralizers’ ideas, one after the next, have failed and destroyed sections of America’s freedom and affluence.  The nation retains its preeminent role because of  the nineteenth century’s gains and because its diminishing sphere of private initiative remains larger than under the rigid socialism that dominates Europe and the rest of the world.

No one can calculate the damage that power has done to the nation.  It is probable that, based on the absence of real wage growth since the gold standard was abolished in 1971 and the 2% compounded growth of real wages between 1800 and 1971,  the real hourly wage today is but 40% of what it might have been without the depredations of the federal and state governments.  But Americans are relatively worse off than that because of increases in taxes at the state and federal levels.

Both parties, Republican and Democratic, have participated in the relentless expansion of power.  The Republican is the more likely of the two to be transformed from a socialistic, elitist party, to one that represents freedom and decentralization. Hence, there is no more important task in politics today than that which the Republican Liberty Caucus has set before itself: to reform the GOP and transform it into a party of freedom and decentralization; to overturn the process of centralization of power; and to reestablish America as a land of freedom.

Given the low quality of public debate and the domination of the public media, this is a difficult task. Struggle we must.

About 35 RLCers from around Florida attended this week the 2010 Liberty Days at the Capitol, the RLC’s annual grassroots lobbying trek to Tallahassee, in the midst of the national battle against ObamaCare.

The timing was perfect. The RLC’s first event was a hearing before the House Healthcare Regulation Policy Committee, in which Rep. Scott Plakon – sponsor of the Healthcare Freedom Act – made his case for protecting Floridians from the individual mandates included in the national bill. His bill (HJR 37) to do that passed the committee 10-3 amid cheers from the RLCers present.

After the committee hearing, RLCers met with Rep. Plakon and the Senate sponsor of the bill (SJR 72), Sen. Cary Baker, for some celebration and planning our next steps. After the meeting, RLCer and political consultant John Hallman led RLCers went from office to office for two days pressing for support of the Healthcare Freedom Act, two other 10th Amendment bills, TABOR and protection of Florida’s 8-year legislative term limits law.

Meetings included one on Tuesday with Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, shown addressing RLCers above.

In the late afternoon, Florida RLC chair Will Pitts and others met with new Republican Party of Florida chair, Sen. John Thrasher, to mend the rift between the RPOF and the RLC created by the disgraced former GOP chair Jim Greer. After a successful day for both our bills and our organization, RLCers spent the evening eating and drinking in downtown restaurants and bars, meeting and getting caught up with each other.

For the full story and more pictures, see www.rlcfl.org.

Chris Moody at Cato blogs about a panel held at Cato in which three Members of Congress admit that most Republican Members of Congress now recognize it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

Check it out.

So why are the NRSC, NRCC, and Republican National Committee still propping up Dick Cheney and Karl Rove again?

Idaho Congressman Butch Otter made a name for himself in the early 2000s when he voted against the PATRIOT Act and had a record favoring less government intervention in the economy. The RLC endorsed him numerous times, including in his race for Governor in 2006.

Unfortunately, since leaving his post in Congress, his views dramatically shifted toward Big Government, and he even reversed his previous civil liberties stance, saying “much of the USA PATRIOT Act is needed to help protect us in a dangerous age of stateless zealots and mindless violence.”

Although no longer a darling of the Republican Liberty Caucus or freedom-loving Americans, Otter has made the news this week for signing a bill passed by the Idaho House and Senate that would sue the federal government if the Obamacare (health care) proposal passes.

Says The Washington Post: “Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by President Barack Obama. [Governor] Otter used a ceremony Wednesday afternoon to become the first governor to sign into law a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government over any such insurance mandates. There’s similar legislation pending in 37 other states…”

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie has taken an important step toward consolidating bureaucratic agencies in that state: he formed a Privatization Task Force of five members to cut waste and abuse.

The members of the Task Force are Dick Zimmer, Todd Caliguire, Kathleen Davis, John Galandak and Dr. P. Kelly Hatfield. Former RLC Vice-Chairman Murray Sabrin praised the appointment of Galandak, saying

I have known John for 25 years, and we worked together for more than 20 years delivering the World of Free Enterprise program to public school children, primarily in Bergen County. John has the unique perspective of a business association trade leader who understands completely the strengths of the free enterprise system and how taxes, government spending and regulations undermine prosperity and job creation.

John should not be shy in advocating a massive downsizing of state government, and in keeping with sound free market principles, steep cuts in taxes and an overhaul of the regulatory climate in the Garden State.

In addition, John should also advocate for free enterprise education. He should call for teachers, principals, administrators, parents and other stakeholders to run local public schools. That means schools becoming nonprofit institutions, relying on tuition, fees, grants and other non-tax means to pay for all school costs.

Additionally, former Congressman Dick Zimmer, while far from perfect on the issues, was on the RLC Advisory Board while he was a member of Congress.

Politics is very circular. It’s good to see some familiar faces in the news this week.

The Minnesota chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus has been busy, as usual.

Not only is Minnesota RLC member Norann Dillon running for State Senate, but many RLC members were among the first to rally behind State Rep. Tom Emmer, one of two potential Republican Gubernatorial nominees. Polls show Emmer defeating his Democrat opponents.

The upcoming Minnesota RLC events include:

1) A Second Congressional District Meeting for RLC and Campaign for Liberty members on Thursday, March 18. Among the plans at the meeting are to formalize RLC/C4L participation at the Jason Lewis Tax Rally on May 8 and the Minnesota GOP Convention on April 29. Additionally, the Second Congressional District GOP Convention will occur on Saturday, March 20. PLEASE RSVP to this event.

2) The Minnesota RLC Convention on Monday, April 12. PLEASE RSVP to this event.

3) Outreach at the Minnesota GOP Convention on April 29. Stay tuned for details.

The Michigan RLC recently held a successful Convention with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. The Nebraska RLC is holding its Convention with Governor Johnson in July. The Illinois RLC recently endorsed several candidates.

Additionally, the Wisconsin RLC and C4L chapters are planning to reach out at the state GOP Convention in late May. Meanwhile, Indiana and Ohio have primaries quickly approaching. The Indiana chapter is working to endorse candidates and Ohio RLC members are working to charter their chapter.

Activists in the Midwest are doing good work to keep liberty alive.

At Peter Schiff’s Senate campaign website, readers will find notice of an exciting upcoming event:

A Meet and Greet with RLC-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Peter Schiff and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.

The event will occur in Ridgefield on Friday, April 2 at 6:30pm. Specifically, at the Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge.

Please RSVP to the event today!

There is no one date that can be identified as to when Rome fell and the Dark Ages began.  Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 and Geiseric and the Vandals sacked it in 455, but it wasn’t until hundreds of years later that the Gauls, ruled by the conquering Franks,  realized that they were no longer speaking Latin but rather a new language derived from Latin.  Eastern Rome or Constantinople did not fall to Sultan Mehmed and the Ottomans until 1455.  Whatever date you choose to assign, there was a period of several hundred years during late antiquity when literacy rates were lower than previously, population had been decimated because of a series of plagues between the sixth and eighth centuries and few records were kept.  I would argue that this decline was necessary for the rebirth of European civilization that occurred in the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and in Europe’s most backward quarter at the time, Great Britain, from the 1500s to 1800s.

Compared to the period from 1776 to 1971, we have entered into an  incipient dark age.  The dark age is not necessarily identifiable through declines in literacy, although recent studies announced in the newspapers  indicate that students’ achievement has been in the decline.  Nor do I predict the outbreak of plagues, although there have been such predictions.  Rather, excessive monetary creation and the new money’s transfer to Wall Street and real estate interests have slowed wage growth and innovation. We are in a dark age compared to where we would have been without the Federal Reserve Bank , the current monetary system and income taxes.

In other words, the Federal Reserve Bank’s control of the money supply has displaced technological and market innovation with financial  and real estate speculation and government.   Until Richard M. Nixon finally abolished the  gold standard in 1971 the real hourly wage grew at 2% per year.  Since then, the real hourly wage has not grown at all.  The difference between the wage profiles with compounded 2% annual growth and 0% annual growth over 40 years is around 100%.   American workers today are earning  1/2 of what they would have been earning had the gold standard been in place and savings and investment  resources allocated efficiently.

No one can know what the economy would have looked like in the absence of the Fed and the income tax, but there is no question that there would have been considerably more rapid and more extensive rates of innovation, just as there had been in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before the Fed was established.  There would be less opportunity to work in low-paying retail jobs and less stock market appreciation.  But there would have been opportunities to work in technologies that are unknown to us and unknowable because the individuals who would have otherwise invented the technologies became stock traders or lawyers instead of inventors.  Likely there would be cures to diseases that are today unknown, methods of transportation that are unknown and conveniences that are unknown.  Compared to where we would have been without the Fed, we are living in a dark age.

The Dark Ages perpetuated the Roman class system, replacing Roman Emperors, Senators and Equestrians with barbarian tribal chieftains like Clovis as kings and various feudal titles like earl, duke and count.  In the American case, the Fed creates a three-class system: those with early access to Fed reserves, to include the banking system, the military-industrial complex, Wall Street and government;  a middle class that mostly works in the military-industrial complex  with some access to Fed reserves; and a lumpen proletariat without much access, about a third of the population.   The three-class system replaces the egalitarian democracy of laissez faire capitalism, which was characterized by fast paced competition and more fluid class structures than today.

The new dark age is perpetuated by the creation of gilds or interest groups that resist change.  Public employee unions demand the privileges to which they have become accustomed, as do their “betters” on Wall Street.  The lowest extreme of the lumpen proletariat is content with section 8 housing, welfare and Medicaid, and the right not to work.

The new system is not yet so stable as the manorial and feudalist system of the earlier Dark Ages.  The trifurcation of society will see stagnant living standards that may eventually decline.   Medical innovation and then the standards of health care will be reduced, along with declines in the quality of diet, resulting in stagnant or perhaps increasing rates of mortality.

America’s state-controlled media will attribute stagnation and decline  to capitalism or to foreigners.  They will protect the aristocrats of Wall Street, the military-industrial complex and government at all costs.

It remains unclear whether American wages will continue along the current stagnant path of the past 40 years or will begin to decline as the nation’s economy becomes less important on the global scene.  In order to regain a growth position (in real wages) there will need to be considerable upheaval in the American economy.  It seems most likely  that the wealth transfers to Wall Street, the military industrial complex and government will not abate unless there is an overt crisis.

The members of the Republican Liberty Caucus can do a major service by providing advice to the local Tea Parties.   In the early 1990s the GOP could still claim to be the party of ideas. Today, the pathetic remnants of those ideas are seen in the discredited neo-conservative movement and a handful of failed veterans like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Pailin.

The Tea Parties lack national leadership and need to focus on local candidates and issues.  But there is a danger that corrupt national leadership will co-opt them, filling the leadership vacuum at the top.  Part of the problem is a serious lack of competence among the Tea Party members, and part of the problem is the absence of a reservoir of successful potential GOP leaders at the local level.  RLC members can provide support in building a freedom-oriented leadership cadre and in educating the Tea Party.

Fox News has seen an opportunity and aims to fill the leadership vacuum.  Of course, the announcers on Fox are almost as limited intellectually as the Tea Party rank-and-file, and this is not a case of the blind leading the blind because the Fox network is very much part of the corporatist system whose interests would be threatened by a legitimate pro-liberty movement.

RLC members who are veterans of the libertarian movement or of past conservative battles can be of immense assistance to their local Tea Parties. For example, bridges and highways might be built from the local Tea Parties to the Foundation for Economic Education.  As I note on my personal blog, that fine institution has quietly served as a fulcrum on which the freedom movement has rested since the 1940s. Yet how many in the Tea Parties are aware of the FEE?

The members of the Tea Party are moral and see that there is a national problem but are not intellectually prepared to evaluate the opinions of the Fox announcers or to develop their own solutions.  They are inexperienced and need to educate themselves, for the public schools have not provided an education as to the values that built America. Fox is a source linked to the corporatist system and finds ways to sabotage the freedom movement at critical junctures.

The members of the RLC ought to be involved with their Tea Parties and play a role in guiding  the members and helping them to begin to educate themselves.

On February 28th, 2010, a group of concerned citizens gathered at Brickell Place II to discuss the reformation of the Miami/.Dade Republican Liberty Caucus.

Largely a group of newbies to the RLC, the evening consisted mostly of an explanation of who the Republican Liberty Caucus is and its history in South Florida. Each of the attendees had a few minutes to introduce themselves and discuss briefly what brought them to the event. The general motivation was definitely frustration with the direction of the country and, even to some degree, the Republican Party.

The meeting, which lasted almost two hours, was led by Hector Roos and supported by Philip Blumel of the Palm Beach County RLC, included a lively discussion of issues and possible initiatives for the South Florida group. Longtime RLC member Jackie Lee Fernandez also attended.

With a directive to each person to bring at least two guests with them to the next meeting, the evening was adjourned.

The Miami RLC’ers are lucky to have several local candidates who are actively promoting the RLC agenda, including Marcus Rivchin running for State Representative in district 117.

To learn more about the Miami RLC, contact Hector.