Once again Texas is taking the lead in challenging the overreach of the Transportation Safety Administration with a new bill to protect individual privacy against unreasonable and invasive searches. Rep. David Simpson has a new bill called the Texas Travel Freedom Act (HB80) in committee in the Texas House this week. It would provide punishment under Texas law for federal employees of the TSA who engage in inappropriate acts which would now be classified as “Official Oppression.”

It is not acceptable for government employees to treat innocent travelers like criminal suspects. As Rep. Simpson said, “Traveling is not a criminal act. Treating travelers as criminal suspects and forcing innocent citizens to submit to humiliating and unreasonable searches without probable cause as a condition of travel violates protections our forefathers envisioned in Section 9 of the Texas Bill of Rights and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. Contrary to what some TSA agents have claimed, we do not believe that you give up your rights when you travel in public.”

Last legislative session state government leaders like Joe Strauss and David Dewhurst did everything they could to block this legislation, including using some very underhanded tactics. We can express them to face a lot of pressure from the TSA this time as well and to do what they can to undermine support for the bill and bully legislators into opposing it. They lack the strength of conviction to support the confrontation with the federal government over individual rights and state sovereignty which this bill is designed to oppose.

Legislators need your encouragement for the confidence to stay strong in the face of all this opposition. They need to know that the people are behind them.

The first step is to tell your Texas House member and key members of the State Affairs committee that you support the bill. Please use this form to send an email to the House before noon on Wednesday. The hearing on the bill is at 1pm. Change the wording of the letter to represent your personal concerns.

It’s time to get the attention of the RNC and make sure that they know that grrassroots Republicans are not happy with their plans for party “reform” which doesn’t include us.  This is a multi-front effort and we need all the manpower we can get involved.Step #1: Twitterbomb @GOP and use the hashtag #fixthegop and tell them your solutions, your objections and how angry you are.Step #2: Call your RNC committee man and woman and your state chair and tell them you want to keep caucuses and let the grassroots keep its voice in picking delegates. Demand that we roll back the rule changes to 2008.  These numbers should be available on your state party website. Step #3: Go the extra mile and use THIS LINK to email ALL of the members of the RNC and tell them what you think about the rule changes in detail.  Be nice, but be firm and go into detail.  Talking points from this Action Alert should help. Make sure you mention that the 2008 RNC rules should be in full force and effect. Second, explain that an accelerated primary season with an emphasis on caucuses and/or conventions being removed as a vehicle to nominate national delegates as well as an earlier National Convention are unacceptable.

Although it has been touted as the way forward for victory in 2014 and beyond, the GOP Growth and Opportunity Project contains some recommendations that leave cause for concern.  Some of these recommendations, specifically related to the 2016 presidential nomination process, (along with existing RNC rules), literally ensure that any grassroots/rank and file Presidential Candidate stands no chance of winning the GOP Presidential nomination.

Let’s begin with the existing 2012 RNC Rules that were passed at the Tampa Convention.  These rules were pushed through the Convention rules committee by Romney campaign lawyers and were not properly ratified on the floor of the convention as the “ayes have it” for these rules was read off of a teleprompter without a proper vote.

Due to this outright fraud, the Maine Republican State Committee passed a resolution in January 2013 rejecting the 2012 RNC rules and instead recognized the 2008 Rules as being in full force and effect.  In the end, these rules, if not changed, ensure that the grassroots will be cut out of the presidential nomination process.  The rules that are of most concern are rules 12, 16 and 40.

Rule 12 allows the RNC to change these rules until September 2014, while Rule 16 allows for statewide presidential straw polls to be binding with regards to delegate allocation and allows for delegates to be removed at the will of the presumptive presidential nominee.  Rule 40 now requires any presidential candidate to have the majority of 8 states to be placed in nomination at the convention whereas it used to only require the plurality of 5 states.

The RNC will be meeting in Los Angeles April 10-12 to address these rules and many RNC members have expressed concern that these rules must be changed to ensure fairness to all candidates.  To accomplish that goal, it is recommended that the only fair and equitable solution to this situation is to call for the RNC to reject the 2012 rules and instead, revert to the 2008 rules.  Short of this, Rule 12 will be used to reform these rules within the RNC Standing Committee on Rules.

Besides, the current rules that clearly favor a well funded establishment candidate, the recently released Growth and Opportunity Project recommends all states move to a primary system and eliminate caucuses and/or conventions as the vehicles to elect delegates to the National Convention.  This top down approach from the RNC, if implemented, will eliminate once and for all any chance of a grassroots candidate winning the nomination.  Historically, caucuses and conventions are where the grassroots come alive in favor of candidate whose message is more in line with the rank and file of the party.

Another recommendation is to hold an earlier National Convention in June or July.  This strategy ultimately condenses the primary season into a shorter period of time, favoring the candidate with the larger purse and more established network, making it again that much harder for a candidate from the grassroots to gain traction.

To save the GOP grassroots with regards to the 2016 Presidential Campaign, you can start by contacting the RNC members of your state and let them know that the GOP grassroots will not be ignored and cast aside.

First, let your RNC members know that the 2008 RNC rules should be in full force and effect.  Second, explain that an accelerated primary season with an emphasis on caucuses and/or conventions being removed as a vehicle to nominate national delegates as well as an earlier National Convention are unacceptable.

Mark Willis is a member of the RLC of Maine and  National Committeeman for the Maine Republican Party

On the 45th anniversary of the dark day when Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis, I feel the need to write about some political history. I grew up in the Dayton area. Most of my friends back home are black. I have always found it hard to believe that most of them constantly vote Democrat, when the party itself has run many of Ohio’s major cities into the ground economically for many years. But I shouldn’t be surprised. The Ohio Republican Party, often showing little difference between themselves and the Democrats, deserves blame as well. They have allowed Ohio to remain a tax and spend state with failing schools, high crime, union and corporate corruption, and annoying, bigoted nativist sentiments.

Though my family mostly votes Democrat I have always been a Republican. You might call me a recovering neocon turned Rand Paul Republican through a drawn out awakening from the statism I grew up around. Though I wasn’t a huge fan of Bush I believe–and did from my teen years–that historically the Republican Party has had the better track record on economics and foreign policy; even though I’ve never quite been in agreement with them on social issues. In high school I read John Stuart Mill and got my first taste of the importance of individual liberty. The history books I read suggested that the Republican Party, at least prior to George W. Bush, had a better track record on this, through the civil rights support from Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower, and the economic policies of Ronald Reagan. When the party was founded as the party of civil rights, its motto was: Free Soil, Free Labor, and Free Men.

Though some northern Democrats such as my late grandfather (who would have turned 86 today) were friendly to the black community in the first half of the 20th century, most of the party — especially in the south — had always been an enemy of civil rights. It had been the party of Jim Crow. Even in the North,  working class Democrats before the 1960s had a tendency to bigotry. The earliest labor unions were founded to protect “white labor.”  After both WWI and WWII, many blacks fled the south to work in the industrial cities of the northeast and midwest, and the white unions would fight hard to keep them out. This would continue until the 50s, when the struggle for racial equality reached new heights.

Prior to the 70s, most blacks were Republicans. They began a mass exodus to the Democratic Party when Johnson signed the civil rights bill, even though it only passed because of the Republicans in congress. Ironically enough, Johnson as a Senator opposed civil rights legislation vehemently.

Unfortunately the Republican Party never did anything to maintain those voters or get them back. The last Republican president to campaign in black neighborhoods and truly speak to issues that affected black communities in televised debates was Ronald Reagan. Had he not been such a drug warrior he might have repaired the frayed relations. Now, historically misguided baby boomers and gen-xers in the African-American community have taught their children the myth that Republicans are racist; some of it as a result of the aggressive anti-drug policies that were kicked up during the Reagan years. Of course, our opposition to Barack Obama makes it easier to keep this myth going even if this opposition is legitimate because the president’s economic and foreign policies have been counterproductive and downright wrong. Perception is everything.

Fact: the only thing the Republican Party ever did to set back black people in its entire history was the War on Drugs. But that was a bipartisan mistake and has been supported over the years by just as many Democrats. Many rising Republican leaders such as Rand Paul and Justin Amash are finally willing to admit prohibition doesn’t work and does nothing but disproportionately incarcerate black and Hispanic men for crimes where no physical or financial harm was wrought by them on another; just as gun laws do (ever heard of the “white and polite” rule?). As they do this, rising Democratic leaders such as Elizabeth Warren mock them as potheads or flip flop on the issue and do nothing to alleviate the problem.

I’m sick and damn tired of ignoramuses accusing the Republican Party of being racist for reasons most of them can’t even explain when the Democrats clearly are part of the problem and won’t admit it. At least Rick Perry, in spite of all his faults, signed the Peaceable Journey act into law to strike down the “white and polite” rule that was locking up minorities in Texas for carrying lawfully owned guns in their car for their own protection. Historically, you could carry a gun in your car in Texas for protection; but if you were ever stopped, there was a de facto “white and polite” rule. If you were white, and nice to the officer, he’d let it slide. If you were black or Tejano, good luck. You were probably going to be arrested. This disgusting remnant of the Jim Crow south was finally repealed when the Texas Republican Party pushed for the peaceable journey act. Now all Texans’ second amendment rights are respected. They are allowed to carry guns in their car without a permit. It keeps me safe when driving at night in Houston, that’s for sure.

Do you ever wonder why minority poverty and minority incarceration are highest in blue states? There are a lot of reasons; and support for prohibition — which I will define as locking someone up for possession or use of an item where no physical or financial harm was done to anyone else — is one such reason. The welfare state and teacher’s unions are to blame too; as well as opposition to school choice programs that allow black students to get out of the ghetto by doing something as simple as: STOP FORCING THEM TO STAY THERE! (I’m very passionate about education reform. You’ll see me write more on it in coming months).

It’s going to take more than a generation to get blacks voting Republican again. It starts with ignoring or even laughing at the Rovian notion that religious-right wedge issues like gay marriage and abortion are the answer. If the black community was really that passionate about social conservatism, they would not be voting overwhelmingly Democrat. Truthfully, young blacks are just as secular as young whites. The generational shift away from social conservatism transcends race. I’ve actually met fewer young blacks who are aggressively anti-abortion or anti-gay than I have young whites, and when you put the two together, the number is inconsequential. It is likely to remain that way. The liberals control the pop culture, and it has secularized the generation. The culture war is effectively over. Fortunately, secularism and capitalism are not mutually exclusive; rather they are highly compatible.

First, the GOP needs a message of economic empowerment in black communities; one that can be brought by a revival of vocational training opportunities and academic improvement that the free market can best provide. We must be able to explain why lower taxes and fewer regulations create jobs, lower the price of everyday goods, and raise local wages. We must aggressively promote upward mobility through school choice and a return of apprenticeships in skilled crafts and STEM fields.

Next, we must become the civil rights party again, by doing as Senator Rand Paul recently said:

“It is important that we always stand up for the Bill of Rights, whether the First Amendment, Fourth or Second. The Constitution is non-negotiable”

The Bill of Rights is like dominoes, knock down one and they all fall. We must become the party of civil liberties again.

Finally, it would help if the first president to pardon a high number of non-violent gun or drug offenders was Republican. Rand Paul could very well be that president. He’s probably not going to campaign on it if he runs in 2016. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he did so after being elected.

In his address to CPAC, he said:

“Ask the Facebook generation whether we should put a kid in jail for the nonviolent crime of drug use, and you’ll hear a resounding no,”

That would be as symbolic a move for the GOP as civil rights legislation was for the Democratic Party under Johnson. Tens of thousands of mostly black and Hispanic men, who have committed no physical or financial harm to anyone other than themselves, suddenly released back into society with their records expunged, so that they can get the help they need, get back on their feet and get back into the workforce. It’s the right thing to do. And the Republican governors (hint hint, Mr. Perry), should start now as congress gears up for this gun control debate.

I urge Republican governors to scour the records of the incarcerated. Find people, of any race, who were incarcerated for possession of a firearm without a permit but committed no violent or financial crimes on top of this possession, and expunge their sentences and/or reimburse their fines. The overwhelming majority of them will be minorities. Show these people the Republican Party is not the party of prohibition, but the party of liberty, by freeing them from the police state.

I also urge you to pardon those who are incarcerated for committing non-violent, non-financial drug crimes, at least for weed–which science has irrefutably proven (to the point where anyone who still denies it is stupid) is safer than alcohol or tobacco. But you might as well start with the non-violent/non-financial gun “offenders.” Think of the taxpayer money you will save! Your voters will thank you!

It’s sad. Most of my generation thinks Dr. Martin Luther King was a pro-gun control liberal and many baby boomers think he’d be a drug warrior. I assure you if he was alive today and saw the prison statistics resulting from gun and drug prohibition, he’d be ashamed. Not that he was a fan of guns or drugs. He was a preacher of non-violent resistance and would not have appreciated self-destructive behavior. However, he would have been against government locking people up for possession of either; especially with those in prison for non-violent offenses being so disproportionately non-white. He would not want self-destructive behavior to be met with police brutality and incarceration. I’m confident he would have seen it as a mission of the church to solve these problems, not the nanny state.

The pro-civil liberties, pro-economic growth Republican Party being [re]invented by fresh young faces like Rand Paul, Justin Amash, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, as well as the many Gen Y Republicans supporting organizations like Young Americans for Liberty, is the one that will repair the GOP’s frayed relations with the black community, as well as other minority groups; Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, even gays. The Rove/Kristol/Graham/Santorum wings of Dominionism, prohibition, crony capitalism, disrespect for the Bill of Rights, and perpetual warfare is what destroyed the relationship in the first place. The sooner we realize this, and begin taking action, the sooner black Americans will begin coming back to the party they once loved.

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Aaron Alghawi obtained a B.S. in Economics from Texas A&M University in 2012, and is an At-Large Board Member of the Republican Liberty Caucus national committee.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 21, 2013
CONTACT: Daniel Encarnacion at 843-410-8868 or daniel@rlcsc.org

Republican Liberty Caucus Endorses Mark Sanford in First Congressional District Runoff

CHARLESTON, SC — The Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina Board of Directors, in coordination with the Republican Liberty Caucus National Committee, has voted to endorse former South Carolina Governor and former US Congressman Mark Sanford in the April 2^nd South Carolina first district runoff between Sanford and former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic.

The RLC points to Sanford’s strong voting record while in Congress from 1995 to 2001 in its endorsement. “Mark Sanford has a clear and consistent record of fighting government spending and resisting reckless policies,” remarks Tom Utley, South Carolina State Vice-Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus. “In this short runoff election there is no doubt that he is the better choice for liberty.”

South Carolina Lowcountry RLC Chairman Daniel Encarnacion says the decision comes down to over-spending by Congress. “The bottom line is Mark Sanford is able to list specific programs that need to be cut or reformed to address out of control spending. He clearly has a grasp on the issue. Anyone can say he wants to stop spending but we need to send someone to Washington who will actually tell us how.”

The Republican Liberty Caucus has long supported Mark Sanford’s agenda of strongly advocating for fiscal prudence, protecting civil liberties, and promoting free trade. “We have supported Mark Sanford since he was first elected to Congress,” says RLC National Chairman Dave Nalle. “When he returns to Washington this year, he will find some old allies who the RLC has supported for years like Dana Rohrabacher and Steve Stockman and a new generation of RLC-backed legislators who share his beliefs like Thomas Massie and Justin Amash.”

The primary runoff is April 2^nd. The winner will advance to face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert-Busch on May 7^th.

For more information about Mark Sanford, visit www.MarkSanford.com.

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The Republican Liberty Caucus is a nationwide grassroots organization founded in 1991 that promotes individual liberty, limited government, and free market economics within the Republican Party. You can find more information about the Republican Liberty Caucus at www.rlc.org  and the Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina at www.rlcsc.org.

As discussion continues over proposals like the “Marketplace Fairness Act” – which would change the way states can exercise tax collection powers over “remote” sales – several myths have cropped up. Here, NTU dispels them:

Myth # 1: This is a States’ Rights Issue.

FACT: Giving states the power to collect sales taxes across their borders isn’t about states’ rights, it’s about state coercion. Governments would have fewer incentives to keep their own tax rates low, eroding the important federalist principle of tax competition.

Myth #2: We need to enact this bill as soon as possible.

FACT: There’s no good reason to rush into such an enormous and controversial tax policy matter. While some have stated this issue has been on the docket for almost 10 years, the reality is that there is still a lot of work to be done, such as holding hearings on alternatives to the Marketplace Fairness Act.

Myth #3: Online stores enjoy a “special loophole.”

FACT: What Marketplace Fairness Act supporters call a “loophole” is actually the physical presence standard, a firmly grounded constitutional doctrine the Supreme Court has upheld for decades to protect businesses and their customers from predatory tax administrators. The physical presence safeguard helps to protect taxpayers from many types of aggressive policies that could affect income, property and other taxes.

Myth #4: The Marketplace Fairness act will “level the playing field” between online and brick-and-mortar stores.

FACT: While the Marketplace Fairness Act would require remote sellers to collect sales tax on every item, it would force them to do so by a completely different and harsher set of rules than currently exist for brick-and-mortar sales. If the Marketplace Fairness Act were to pass, states could strong-arm remote sellers into complying with more than 9,600 separate sales tax jurisdictions across the country, forcing online retailers to quiz each and every customer about their residency – something no brick-and-mortar retailer is required to do.

Myth #5: Compliance is easy.

FACT: Because they would now answer to 9,600 tax jurisdictions across the country, remote retailers would have to shoulder heavy overhead costs just to meet their new tax collection liabilities. The sponsors even recognize this, however imperfectly, through a paltry exemption in the legislation for businesses with remote sales of less than $500,000/year. However, a 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers study demonstrated that small businesses with sales between $1 million and $10 million still face enormous costs that would threaten profitability, causing significant harm to interstate commerce and the economy during an especially fragile time.

Myth #6: States need to collect Internet sales taxes to balance their budgets.

FACT: Instead of pursuing one cash grab after another, states need to cut spending to get their budgets in order. Some standout states are actually enjoying relatively good growth compared to their poorer neighbors – they are the states that pursued free market reforms, eliminated waste, and controlled growth of government to create a competitive economic climate that attracts jobs and workers. The Marketplace Fairness Act nullifies an important facet of that competition by doing away with the long-held physical presence standard for taxation.

Myth #7: All the Internet retailers support it.

FACT: There is no consensus among online retailers in favor of destination-based sourcing. As is usually the case when government gets involved in the marketplace, those who would benefit the most from the legislation are lobbying in favor of it, and those who would be harmed are working hard to stop it. Nor is the general public clamoring for it. A December 2012 Mercury poll of 800 likely voters asked the neutral question about whether they supported “allowing states to make online retailers collect and process sales taxes on Internet purchases based where the customer is located, regardless of where the retailer is physically located.” By a 48 percent-41 percent margin, respondents were opposed. When given a more realistic description of the bill, “The proposed legislation would allow tax enforcement agents from one state to collect taxes from online retailers based in a different state,” opposition rose dramatically: 61 percent to 28 percent.

Myth #8: This tax is the only, best fix to the problem.

FACT: Instead of creating schemes that could open-up a Pandora’s box of unstoppable tax-grabs on the part of cash-starved states on unsuspecting citizens, states could move forward with origin-based sourcing sales tax plans, where the business charges all customers one rate of tax, based on the jurisdiction in which that business is located. If Congress takes any action on Internet sales tax collection, it should be in pursuit of uniform origin-based sourcing to preserve proper limits to taxing authority and encourage tax competition.

Myth #9: Retail sales on the Internet are “tax-free.”

FACT: Under existing law, a remote mail-order or Internet sale between a customer and a business located in the same state is subject to sales tax – a not uncommon occurrence in large states. Furthermore, Internet-based businesses pay profit and property taxes the way many other businesses do. Because they rely so heavily on telecommunications to stay connected, some online sellers may have proportionally heavier burdens of taxes associated with these technologies. When customers shop on the Internet, the shippers pay fuel and other types of transportation taxes.

Myth #10: The Internet is “destroying Main Street businesses.”

FACT: The Internet has enabled “Mom and Pop” retailers to advertise their products and services to a whole new world of consumers. It has also provided practical money-saving technologies that have allowed numerous traditional firms to survive and thrive, including online tax preparation services, better inventory management, and ease of ordering various inputs necessary to producing their finished goods. In 2012, research by The Boston Consulting Group found that “small and medium-sized companies that embrace the Internet in their business operations grew by 10 percent annually in the last three years, adding jobs as they did so.”

<i>To take action against the Internet Sales Tax, use our email tool to write your Senators.</i>

In my 20 years as an activist for liberty, one of the many things I have learned is that events attract attention and good events will bring growth.

January 26 of this year, our county RLC charter hosted a state RLC 2014 KICK OFF event (2014 signifying our goal date for becoming the voice of the Party). 165+ liberty activists from 28 counties attended this event with 32 people registering as members that day.

Last month we had a gun show booth, not only drawing hundreds of people to our booth, but receiving an offer for a 10×20 booth at the state’s largest flea market. This event takes place both Memorial and Labor Day weekends and attracts 20-30,000 people during each of those holidays.

Our vice chairman started a Liberty on the Rocks group. This Saturday, March 23, we will be meeting from 4-6 with a theme of ‘Why Don’t We Get Droned’. We typically have 40+ people turn out for these events. They are non-partisan and we allow folks a two minute soap box opportunity. We will have a RLC candidate speak as well.

April 26-28, we will be hosting our first RLC state convention. We open Friday night with Liberty on the Rocks, tend to business Saturday, finishing the night with Jordan Page. Sunday morning will finish up with a dynamite sermon, “RECOVERING THE PATRIOT CHURCH: REPENT AND RELOAD”, and a talk by our own Blue Republican, Robin Koerner.

May 15-16, we will have KrisAnne Hall teaching on the Constitution. We start off the evening of the 15th with a session for leaders only. The 16th will include a lunch training, a session for those who are elected, especially sheriffs, and an evening session for the general public.

In June we will kick off our first quarterly Saturday training. This particular one will be geared toward PCO’s and other neighborhood activists.

We meet every month and ALL of our meetings are open to the public. After a quick board meeting, we always have a training, a video, or a guest speaker.

Big corporations don’t like competition and they’ll use government to kill it when they can.  This is easy to do when it means more revenue for government and less competition for the big corporations.  This has come together in a disastrous bill in the senate  called the Marketplace Fairness Act.  With this bill big box retailers are poised to kill internet businesses the way they killed small local retailers, all with a big payoff to state and local governments.

Right now, sales over the internet are usually only taxed when the buyer and seller are physically located in the same state.  This bill from Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) would lift the usual federal protections on interstate commerce and authorize state governments to tax sales which cross state lines, and put the burden of collecting that tax on the online business making the sales, regardless of where it is located.  This addresses a claim from huge retailers that they are at a competitive disadvantage because they have retail outlets in every state and therefore charge tax on all of their sales in person or online.

How online businesses operate is basically the same as mailorder businesses have for over a hundred years, but now that there are more of them with a little more access to consumers suddenly the big chain stores think they are unfair.

Store chains with physical locations have their own advantages.  They can attract casual buyers and allow them to examine their products with access which is impossible online.  Plus their size and the bulk in which they buy products wholesale give them an edge through economy of scale which allows them to sell products through their stores at lower prices.  They can  undercut online retailers because they do not have to pay shipping to deliver each product.

Most online businesses are entrepreneurial micro businesses which operate in very specialized areas and have to do everything they can to cut overhead.  They are one of the strongest and most dynamic areas of growth in our troubled economy.   They have also become a second chance for many of the unemployed, who have taken their savings and invested them in internet businesses and found a new way to earn a living and become a new middle class.  This proposed tax policy will take all of that away and bankrupt them, leaving them without even unemployment to fall back on.

Raising the effective price  of goods sold by online retailers may drive them out of business.  But the more serious threat is the incredible paperwork burden which compliance with this law will place on these vulnerable businesses.  Online businesses will have to charge taxes to satisfy the rules of 50 states and hundreds of thousands of other smaller taxing jurisdictions.  There is no way they can track all those taxes, charge them accurately and deliver the money to all of the taxing authorities without a huge cost in man hours or money.  When you have thousands of employees, hiring a department of tax accountants is a manageable expense.  When you’re one guy working out of his garage with a couple of part time employees it’s instant bankruptcy.

This bill would stifle the freedom which the internet has given to consumers and small businesses and sacrifice the welfare of hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs for the benefit of some of our largest and most powerful corporations.  This is not just a way to raise revenue for spendthrift states and make commerce more “fair” – it is a death sentence for most online businesses.

The bill is backed by the powerful lobbying machines of companies like Best Buy, Target, WalMart, PetSmart, Lowe’s and PetCo as well as by state and local governments eager to get their hands on a few more consumer dollars.  It is largely opposed by consumer advocacy groups who see that it is monopolistic and realize that competition makes the marketplace stronger and prices lower for everyone.

The giant retailers have already forced most local businesses which try to compete with them out of business and now they want to do t

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to elect liberty candidates this year, but the season is starting off with a big opportunity in South Carolina’s first congressional district.

When Tim Scott was appointed to fill Jim DeMint’s Senate seat it launched a special election to fill his place in the House and 18 Republican candidates took up the challenge. There are a lot of great candidates in the field, but after holding several candidate events and polling their membership the Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina agreed unanimously that Sheriff Ray Nash is the best qualified, most pro-liberty candidate in the race.

Nash has been a law enforcement professional for thirty-four years, is a strong constitutionalist and a homeschool parent. Most recently he served in Afghanistan as the Criminal Justice Adviser for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. During his career, Mr. Nash studied to become a Constitutional scholar, gaining knowledge and an unfailing respect for our country’s faith, heritage and founding principles. According to Sheriff Nash, “our nation is facing a number of moral and Constitutional crises, such as rampant fiscal irresponsibility, unbridled government expansion and an ever growing assault on our Constitutional freedoms.” He believes solutions can be found in the principles of Constitutional conservatism and takes seriously his oath to “Preserve, Protect and Defend…” Nash demonstrates a knowledge of the Constitution, respect for limited government, and appreciation for the work of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Scott Pearson, RLCSC State Chairman observed that “In a field of 16 candidates, we’re blessed with at least a half dozen that would stand out as strong defenders of liberty, including John Kuhn, Mark Sanford, Elizabeth Moffly, Larry Grooms, Jeff King, and Keith Blandford. However, if we are to have an impact, we believe it is important for those who value limited government to come together behind one candidate. That’s why, today, we are endorsing a strong conservative who knows and values the Constitution, Sheriff Ray Nash.”

“In a field of excellent candidates, Ray Nash stands out with the integrity and the dedication to constitutional principles,” said Dave Nalle, RLC National Chairman, “which will make him as great an advocate for the people in Washington as he was a guardian of their rights and safety while in uniform.”

Because this is a special election it’s on an accelerated schedule, so the RLC of SC and RLCUSA PAC are working together to raise some money to boost the campaign with the Send A Sheriff Moneybomb. If you can donate even a few dollars it would make a huge difference in this important race.

Contact: Daniel Encarnacion
Tel.: 843-410-8868
Email: Secretary@RLCSC.org

REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS PAC ANNOUNCES MONEYBOMB FOR RAY NASH

Intends to fundraise through the Send a Sheriff to Congress Moneybomb

The Republican Liberty Caucus National Board announced Friday that it unanimously voted to endorse former Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash in the First Congressional District Special Primary.  It joins previous unanimous decisions by the Lowcountry Chapter Board and the RLC of South Carolina Board of Directors.

In an effort to help endorsee Ray Nash in his campaign efforts, the RLCUSA-PAC has created a fundraising event starting on Friday, March 8th at 17:00 and running to Friday, March 15th at 23:59:59 entitled “#SendASheriff to Congress Moneybomb”. The group hopes to raise as much money as possible to be distributed from the RLCUSA-PAC to the Ray Nash for Congress campaign.

The website for this moneybomb is http://sendasheriff.com and the campaign will focus around the twitter hashtag #SendASheriff

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The Republican Liberty Caucus is a nationwide grassroots organization founded in 1991 that promotes individual liberty, limited government, and free market economics within the Republican Party. You can find more information about the Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina at www.rlcsc.org

To find out more about Ray Nash, please visit his website at www.nashforcongress.com.  For more information on the national RLC, visit www.rlc.org.

The post Announcing: SendASheriff to Congress Moneybomb! appeared first on Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina.

Contact: Daniel Encarnacion
Tel.: 843-410-8868
Email: Secretary@RLCSC.org

REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS ENDORSES RAY NASH

Local, State, and National Boards Endorse Former Sheriff in US House District 1 Race

The Republican Liberty Caucus National Board announced Friday that it unanimously voted to endorse former Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash in the First Congressional District Special Primary.  They joined previous unanimous decisions by the Lowcountry Chapter Board and the RLC of South Carolina Board of Directors.  There will be a public announcement, of the endorsement, Saturday, March 9th at 11:30 AM in the Summerville Town Square at the corner of Richardson and Hwy 17-A.

According to Mr. Scott Pearson, State Chairman, “The 1st District Congressional Race this year offers the most liberty-minded field of candidates we’ve ever seen in a single race. In a field of 16 candidates, we’re blessed with at least a half dozen that would stand out as strong defenders of liberty, including John Kuhn, Mark Sanford, Elizabeth Moffly, Larry Grooms, Jeff King, and Keith Blandford. However, if we are to have an impact, we believe it is important for those who value limited government to come together behind one candidate. That’s why, today, we are endorsing a strong conservative who knows and values the Constitution, Sheriff Ray Nash.”

Ms. Laurie Turner, Interim Chair of the Lowcountry RLC, said, “We are proud to endorse a constitutional conservative like Ray Nash. His proven leadership as Sheriff in Dorchester County and his work in the community prove he knows his constituents and will represent us well in Washington.”

“In a field of excellent candidates, Ray Nash stands out with the integrity and the dedication to constitutional principles,” said Dave Nalle, RLC National Chairman, “which will make him as great an advocate for the people in Washington as he was a guardian of their rights and safety while in uniform.”

Mr. Nash has been a law enforcement professional for thirty-four years, most recently in Afghanistan as the Criminal Justice Adviser for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.  During his career, Mr. Nash studied to become a Constitutional scholar, gaining knowledge and an unfailing respect for our country’s faith, heritage and founding principles. According to Sheriff Nash, “our nation is facing a number of moral and Constitutional crises, such as rampant fiscal irresponsibility, unbridled government expansion and an ever growing assault on our Constitutional freedoms.” He believes solutions can be found in the principles of Constitutional conservatism and takes seriously his oath to “Preserve, Protect and Defend…”  Nash demonstrates a knowledge of the Constitution, respect for limited government, and appreciation for the work of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

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The Republican Liberty Caucus is a nationwide grassroots organization founded in 1991 that promotes individual liberty, limited government, and free market economics within the Republican Party. You can find more information about the Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina at www.rlcsc.org

To find out more about Ray Nash, please visit his website at www.nashforcongress.com.  For more information on the national RLC, visit www.rlc.org.

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