The internet tax mandate bill is scheduled for a final vote in the Senate at 5:30pm TODAY.  The time to act is now. Please read Rand Paul’s article opposing the bill.

Send an email to your Senators now with the tool below and ALSO take a few minutes to call both of them and urge them to vote against the bill.  All the info you need to convince them is in the links in this article.  Do this today even if you have previously emailed them.  With the vote tomorrow we need to remind them.

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 the same thing to online businesses.  This is the road to monopoly and it is a terrible idea for our economy and for consumers.  We need competition and we need the dynamic influence of online businesses and the pressure they put on other businesses to provide better service and keep prices down.

Congress cannot be allowed to continue to make war on the middle class and on small businesses.  They do not understand how the economy works and their policies lead to unemployment and growing economic inequality.  The Marketplace Fairness Act makes the marketplace less free and competition less fair.  It’s another bailout for big corporations which will cost jobs and drive productive middle class people into poverty.

Please use the form below to send emails to both your senators and also call them on the phone and leave a message with staff. Do this again today even if you called or emailed before. This is our last chance to get their attention. It’s your voice against the lobbyists of the big corporations. You can find their phone numbers on our Contact Congress page.

Despite having been decisively rejected by the people and  Congress, the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is back in the House of Representatives, once again up for a vote with supporters hoping that the people are no longer paying attention.

Now is the time to take action to let them know you don’t want the government and big businesses accessing and sharing your email and personal data without any kind of warrant or due process of law.

CISPA (HR624)  would massively reduce the privacy and security of your online communications and personal data. It would give government agencies and many private companies access to your personal communications and financial information and would allow government security agencies like the National Security Agency unprecedented power to access your data including medical records, private emails and financial information – all without a warrant, oversight by any court or due process of law.  It is supported by government security agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and also by big online data companies like Google and Facebook which want to use your data for marketing with fewer restrictions.

This access to your records would require no misbehavior on your part, not even an accusation of terrorism or criminal activity and it would take place without your knowledge or permission or any opportunity to protect your information or your privacy interests. That information could then be passed on to private companies or other agencies or used against you with no real rules or restrictions on who could access it or what hands it would end up in.

The Republican Liberty Caucus joins with other concerned groups like the Liberty Coalition and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU in opposition to CISPA in any form or under any name. We stopped CISPA, SOPA and PIPA last Congress and now we have to fight that battle again.

We urge you to email your representative in Congress and tell them to oppose CISPA and keep government agencies out of our private online data and communications and to stand up and overturn CISPA if it is introduced by executive order.  You need to take information now.  The vote is scheduled for Thursday April 18th.

You can start with an email to your representatives using the form below. Customize the text to express your personal outrage.

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

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.

Today and probably into tomorrow, Senator Rand Paul is filibustering the nomination of John Brennan for chief of the CIA. He’s doing this because before he lets this important appointment move forward he wants an answer from the administration to a question which many of us are asking: does President Obama really believe that he has the right to carry out exrtrajudicial assassination of US citizens without a trial or any due process using drones or other means at his command. The administration is stonewalling but Sen. Paul is demanding an answer from Attorney General Eric Holder.

If you support his stand for principle against murder for expediency, take this opportunity to call your Senators and encourage them to support Rand Paul and demand an answer from the administration before any further business is conducted.

To get contact info for your Senators, just CLICK HERE

There’s no point in coming up with a strong set of legislative priorities on an issue if we don’t let Congress know what we think they ought to be doing. So we’d like you to email your representatives with a complete copy of the RLC’s Statement on Immigration Priorities to get their attention.

This is particularly timely because our efforts have just been endorsed by the Federation of Hispanic Republicans, Cafe Con Leche Republicans and the 5-11 Campaign (opposes a national ID).

Th basic concept of our statement is to focus on the benefits of immigration for our nation when it is part of a comprehensive free market economic approach to the needs of workers and businesses. It emphasizes three primary points. First, that any policy should be designed to preserve the rights and economic interests of citizens and businesses. Second, that access to visas should be limited by the market and not quotas, through a robust guest worker program. Third, that immigration reform should be part of a comprehensive free market approach to business and labor in America.

Please use the form below to send a full copy to your representatives. Feel free to add some comments of your own to personalize it.

Republican Liberty Caucus Recommends Sensible, Free Market Immigration Reform

America was built on immigration.  Immigration has been good for the country and should be part of a positive plan for real economic recovery.  When individuals and families come to America to work they do not take jobs from American citizens. They contribute their labor and their income to the economy.  Their contributions lead to more opportunities for business growth and new jobs for native workers.

The United States needs a better immigration reform plan that is unified and comprehensive.  We need a plan based on free market principles that allows hard working people to come to America easily to expand our labor pool, improve their quality of life, create more opportunities and speed economic growth.  Current plans seem overly complex, impractical and bureaucratic, full of compromises that will cripple the effort.

The authors of the Senate plan used failed past proposals as their starting point, rather than rethinking the issue, as was suggested in the “Texas Solution” proposed last year.  They are pandering to the demands of high-pressure interest groups and their proposals do not provide solutions directed at the labor needs of the nation or the best interests of citizens, immigrants and businesses.

As leaders in Washington work on bipartisan immigration reform, the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) and its membership recommends the following suggestions.  We urge legislators to consider these sensible policy approaches in developing their immigration reform plans.

The most important priority in any immigration proposal is that it not do harm to American citizens or businesses.

Hard working American citizens should not be tagged and tracked by their government with a biometric ID system and a national employment database.  This is a backwards way to approach this issue and a threat to civil liberties.

The burden and expense of enforcing of immigration laws should never be placed on businesses, nor should they be penalized for hiring willing workers just because of their immigration status.

The idea of securing the labor force by tracking native workers is unconscionable and punishing businesses for engaging in free market hiring practices is bad economic policy.

We recommend issuing a secure and traceable entry visa to anyone approved to enter the US seeking work then upgrading that visa to a work permit when they find employment.

Track the status of visas, not every innocent worker in America.

The central core of any immigration plan should be a robust guest worker program that allows labor to operate in a free market across borders so that workers can come here legally to find and fill available jobs. 

Let the demand for labor set a natural level on immigration without quotas, special preferences or restrictions for any group. There should not be arbitrary top limits on the number of visas or quotas by qualification or nationality.

A thorough background check performed by immigration authorities when a visa is issued should be sufficient.  Businesses should not have to go through exhaustive and expensive red tape just to hire willing workers.

Workers currently here illegally should not be penalized if they choose to transition into the guest worker program.

Those who just want to come here to work should not be forced into becoming permanent immigrants, nor should the focus of reforms be on expanding access for high-skill workers while ignoring the much more critical need for short-term, low-wage labor.

A guest worker program should be used in place of a complex “pathway to citizenship” plan for most immigrants.  While a “path to citizenship” may be a good idea for some foreign workers, it does not address the needs of the majority of those seeking entry or the real labor needs of the nation.  Any “pathway to citizenship” program should be simple, speedy and inexpensive for all.

Those who were brought here as minors who have no criminal record should be able to become permanent residents and apply for citizenship on completion of two years of college or military service.

Border security should also be addressed through the free market.

A guest worker program will solve the problem with migrants crossing the southern border to find work, diverting workers from illegal channels to legal channels and allowing border enforcement to concentrate on criminals and potential terrorists.

The elevated level of border violence can best be dealt with through long needed changes in federal drug policy.  New policy should allow states to legalize marijuana and end costly yet ineffective drug interdiction programs in the failed War on Drugs.

Applying free market principles will also form an excellent foundation for weakening criminal organizations and reducing the incentives for human trafficking.

Public welfare programs should be limited to United States citizens and tax-paying residents. 

While we acknowledge that at this time there is very little legal access to public welfare programs for legal or illegal immigrants we would support a standardization of restrictions on access to these programs, as well as improvements in monitoring use of social services and in the enforcement of existing laws.

In the long-term we should be looking at ways to reduce the dependence of citizens on public welfare programs and the many negative effects that they have on productivity and economic security.

Immigration reform should be part of a comprehensive policy of improving free market conditions to encourage economic growth.

Greater availability of foreign workers should go hand in hand with tax reforms, particularly a substantial reduction in the federal corporate tax rate.

Reforms should also include reassessing special privileges given to unions and the promotion of “right to work” legislation so that unions can be depoliticized and return to focusing on their original beneficial function of protecting the rights and safety of their members.