Mutterings about Mitt Romney’s Mormonism being unacceptable to evangelical Christians or Mike Huckabee’s convictions being a tough sell to the nonreligious lend valuable insight into the widespread misconceptions among the voting public. Whisper campaigns about Barack Obama somehow being a secret Muslim show how anxious so many people are to dangerously intertwine spiritual concepts with their governmental philosophy.

The robust separation of Church and State at the federal level that we enjoy as Americans was never intended as an attack on people of faith; rather, it was designed to guard against the sort of tribalism that ensues when this wall is not present. While religion could be established at the state level, it was understood for centuries that the federal government had no role in this sphere whatsoever. This is a concept that conservative Christians who view government meddling with suspicion should not scoff at, but instead readily embrace as a guarantor of social cohesion.

After all, why should government be involved in religious matters in the first place? If the only reason for government’s existence is to protect citizen’s life, liberty, and property, regardless of race or religion, why should they have any say on religion? Enforcing contracts and protecting the states from invasion are things that can be embraced by Christians, Jews, and agnostics alike. The few functions that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution grants to Congress are religiously neutral; this stems from its authors admiration for the ideas of localism.

Settling matters at the local level has long been a hallmark of America, a principle intended to apply as much to religion as the economy. Various religious groups will soon be pitted against one another in circular infighting if it is accepted that the central government is the arbiter of religious matters. Christianity would be reduced to just another special interest group grappling for scraps at Congress’s altar; the simple solution is to simply leave the federal government out of this matter completely.

This is precisely what our Founders sought to avoid by leaving issues of religion out of Washington’s reach. Controversies ranging from same sex marriage to drug laws need to be settled at the level closest to the people as possible, whether by state government or various localities. Letting those in Washington have any say on religious issues or matters of personal conviction is a concept that should be abhorrent to anyone who holds that state’s rights and political decentralization are an essential component of our republic.

Of all world views, conservatives should be the least likely to assault Church/Stat separation. A commitment to limited government and greater personal freedoms requires that issues like these not be decided by the sort of coercive means found in Washington. This tenet was meant to be a safeguard for people of faith, not a bludgeon used against them. It allows individuals to live peaceably in communities where their worship experience is free from social engineering by some distant bureaucrat. Liberals and conservatives alike need to pause and reconsider their penchant for looking to Washington to solve all of society’s ills; fidelity to the Constitution would require nothing less.

A group of roughly 25 Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia supporters — including Chairman George Primbs, Vice Chair Steven Latimer, Treasurer Cliff Dunn, members of the Board of Directors, and members of the organization – met early in the morning on Monday, January 17 to participate in the Virginia Tea Party Lobby Day. This was the first coordinated group trip to Richmond.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Central Virginia played host to the northern Virginia contingent as well as several activists from Charlottesville, Newport News, and Virginia Beach. The day began with a RLC business meeting over coffee and breakfast. RLC’ers brought various literature and brochures to the event to distribute, and the Central Virginia RLC paid three folks to hand out our literature to everyone in attendance at the various events of the day. Chairman George Primbs made “I am the RLC” stickers that everyone ended up sporting.

The Board nominated Shelby McCurnin and Rob Kenyon to alternate positions on the Board of Directors. The Board also chose to endorse Republican Delegate Harvey Morgan’s bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession in the state of Virginia, HB 1443. After the business meeting, the RLC took a group photo (Note: other RLC members were not present at our initial gathering, but met up with us later in the day):

Then RLC members met up at the Capitol to meet with legislators. RLC Board member Rick Sincere met with Senator Creigh Deeds, a Democrat, to discuss non-partisan redistricting in the state. A small group of core RLC members met with Senator Mark Obenshain (R) to discuss his constitutional amendment to protect private property rights. Rick Sincere, who also runs his own blog, was able to get the Senator on audio discussing his legislation. The same group of RLC members had an excellent meeting with a new delegate, retired air force Colonel Rich Anderson (R), who represents a Democratic area west of Woodbridge. Delegate Anderson expressed that he may attend the RLC National Convention and enjoyed hearing from RLC members on the need to end government growth and, in particular, our support for HB 1443 to decriminalize marijuana. Each meeting was fruitful.

RLC members then went to a gun rights rally outside of the legislative office building.  After a break for lunch at the historic Tobacco Lounge, RLC members caught the tail end of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s speech — which an estimated 200 people attended. Cuccinelli talked about his lawsuits related to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obamacare bill.

After the speech, RLC members went to testify and express support to the Criminal Justice Committee of the House of Delegates on HB 1443, Delegate Morgan’s bill to decriminalize marijuana. RLC’ers went with the intent of swaying a single Republican member of the Committee to consider allowing the bill to be considered in the General Assembly.  RLC member Rick Sincere testified in support of the bill, as did a large crowd from NORML and LEAP. Unfortunately, the bill was killed in Committee by a Democrat-Republican coalition of legislators.

Ultimately, this was one of the most productive meetings of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia. In addition to participating in the lobby process and showing unity at a Tea Party event/rally, the RLC also was able to engage a wide variety of allies on the organization’s mission as well as invite them to attend the 2011 Republican Liberty Caucus National Convention in Arlington, Va. on Feb. 12. Thanks to the RLCVA members who came out to join us.  To become active in the Virginia RLC, please e-mail us.

Despite the fact that over 70 Representatives were not present in Congress to vote, December 21 was a terrible day for advocates of individual liberty and limited government.

First, the Federal Communications Commission’s 3 Democrat majority voted to approve proposed rules that amount to a hostile takeover of the Internet by a government agency. The proposal — misleadingly described by proponents as an attempt to insure “net neutrality” by guaranteeing equal access to the Internet — was introduced a year ago by Obama’s appointed FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

A federal court has ruled that the commission has no authority to regulate the Internet, and a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives warned Genechowski not to attempt to impose a regulatory regime on the Internet earlier this year. The FCC, an unelected bureaucracy, still has not released the full text of its net neutrality rules yet.

You better believe that this unconstitutional power grab to secure “net neutrality” by the FCC is just a small sign of whats to come in the realm of federal regulation of private citizen behavior.

And, on that note, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both passed the so-called Food Safety and Modernization Act — the largest government power grab as it relates to food since 1938 (when Congress gave the FDA the authority to oversee the safety of food, drugs and cosmetics).

But, have no fear, it will only cost $1.4 billion to implement the new “safety” regulations.

The law will give the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the FDA tremendous control over the U.S. food supply. It also puts all food and all U.S. farms under Homeland Security and the Department of Defense in the event of contamination or an ill-defined emergency. The bill includes NAIS, an animal traceability program that threatens all small farmers and ranchers raising animals. And it will allow the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs.

Not only did 74 members of Congress fail to vote on the measure, but the bill also passed the Senate without a single dissenter. Fortunately, the new Congress will be in session soon, where I have no doubt there would have been someone with the courage to hold up this anti-liberty legislation.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the repeal of the military ban on gays in the military, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” My previous post explains today’s events in which the Senate passed the measure.

What has not been widely reported is that Republican Liberty Caucus Advisory Board members Jeff Flake of Arizona and Dr. Ron Paul of Texas both voted to repeal the discriminatory policy: see the House Roll Call on the bill.

The only other libertarian-leaning Republicans who voted to repeal “Don’t Ask” were U.S. Rep. John Campbell of California and U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada. All of the other Republican votes were from the moderate wing of the party.

Earlier this year, Dr. Cliff Thies released the RLC’s 2009 Liberty Index, in which Jeff Flake and Ron Paul topped the chart with the #1 and #2 scores, respectively.

An excellent vote from some great pro-liberty leaders!

Today the U.S. Senate voted on legislation that will allow for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar version of the bill and President Obama has said that he will sign DADT repeal into law.

Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the stand-alone repeal bill in the Senate. DADT was made a law seventeen years ago and is the only U.S. law that punishes people for simply telling the truth. Since the law went into effect, over 14,000 gay and lesbian service members have been discharged from our nation’s military simply because they were gay or lesbian. An estimated 66,000 gays and lesbians are currently on active-duty. Twenty-three studies over the past fifty years, including most recently a comprehensive study by the Pentagon, have concluded the same thing: that there would be no to minimal impact on force cohesion or unit readiness by allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military. Thirty-countries currently allow gays and lesbians to serve in their nation’s armed forces.

The repeal of DADT will happen only after certification by the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that policies have been written to implement repeal and compliance with these polices is consistent with military readiness. According to the Human Rights Campaign, DADT is not effective immediately and service members are still at risk of being discharged on the basis of their sexual orientation until certification occurs and an additional 60 days have passed.

Of the sitting Senators, the only past RLC-endorsed Senator who cast a vote in favor of repealing DADT was Senator John Ensign of Nevada. (Other moderate Republican Senators like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe also supported the repeal.)

On behalf of basic fairness and equal rights under the law, I applaud Congress for taking this important step.

AUSTIN, TEXAS – The Republican Liberty Caucus, a membership organization that exists to promote individual liberty and limited government, is praising its endorsed Congressional candidates who have taken pro-liberty positions on civil liberties and equal rights.

The Caucus Statement of Principles outlines that members support medical and banking privacy, equal protection under the law, and all voluntary and non-violent consensual conduct. Accordingly, the Caucus wishes to praise certain Congressional candidates who have taken exceptional positions on privacy, civil liberties, and equal rights.

“We must drastically limit the ability of government to collect and store data regarding citizens’ personal matters,” says RLC-endorsed Congressional candidate Delia Lopez (pictured, right) of Oregon. Lopez opposes GPS tracking mandates and any move toward a national ID card.

Military veteran David Ratowitz, a RLC-endorsed candidate for Congress in suburban Chicago, says he is “confident that American security is better served by streamlining our military [and] concentrating our forces and avoiding futile nation building.” Continues Ratowitz, “We must recognize that our most powerful tool of foreign policy is the soft power generated by American citizens through their generosity, industry and the example they set for the world.”

“I believe the military should adopt an inclusive approach towards gays and lesbians,” says RLC-endorsed Congressional candidate Joel Pollak of Illinois. RLC Advisory Board member Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, recently said “‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has always been wrong and it is still wrong.” And earlier this year, the Texas chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus blasted homophobic language that was added to the official Texas Republican Party platform.

According to the late Senator Barry Goldwater, a hero to many RLC members, “You don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country… you just need to shoot straight.” Goldwater rightly stated that a fundamental tenet of conservatism is that government should stay out of people’s private lives — and out of the impossible task of legislating morality.

According to National RLC Chairman Dave Nalle, “We are proud that our slate of candidates are speaking on these important social issues and bucking the trend of the Republican Establishment by simply being honest about these issues. Ultimately, these issues — civil liberties and treatment of gay Americans — are about individual rights and freedoms. We’re working for a Republican Party that will defend those rights and freedoms.”

It wasn’t enough for the national Republican Party to do everything possible to defeat Tea Party candidates Rand Paul, Joe Miller, and Christine O’Donnell.

Now they’re rolling out a national platform that calls for federal intervention on hot-button social issues, less than two months out from the mid-term elections at a time when Americans are hurting economically and are clearly sick of failed Big Government policies.

This despite the fact that gay marriage didn’t even rank into the top five issues the attendees of the Values Voter Summit said they’re worried about. (Abortion was the first and the other issues were economic.)

This is the same Republican Party that pushed a radical, bigoted social-issue agenda in the 2006 mid-term elections and subsequently lost their majority in both chambers of Congress. (Yes, there were other factors in the 2006 Republican losses.)

The agenda will be released tomorrow, but it will include commentaries on homosexuality and abortion. The Republican Liberty Caucus has no position on abortion, but we were among the only Republican Party caucus groups that spoke out against George W. Bush’s Federal Marriage Amendment.

There seems to be a Republican obsession with homosexuality. Yesterday the Republican Senate, without a single dissenter, crushed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Now Republicans are rolling out a national agenda singing the praises of federal involvement in marriage. As the RLC stated in our 2004 press release on the FMA, “Marriage should not be dictated, endorsed, subsidized or restricted by any government. The right to pursue individual happiness is a fundamental liberty that should be free of all state intervention. True love and genuine personal commitment do not need legal support or sanction.”

Publishing and disseminating a national agenda before the mid-terms is probably a good idea for the Republican Party. The use of hot-button social issues may be a distraction to some, but surely has the potential to alienate core constituencies of the Republican Party: libertarian-leaning Republicans, moderate Republicans, independents, and certain segments of the Tea Party.

Will the Republican Party ever abandon its desire to involve the federal government in the lives of law-abiding American citizens?

“The argument over gay marriage, like many arguments in America, has been falsely presented as a single, binary issue: one is either for or against legalizing gay marriage.

On one side of the dichotomy are the “social conservatives” who believe that marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, and that the law should reflect that reality.

On the other side are gay marriage proponents, who believe that two people of the same gender have every right to disagree with social conservatives about what marriage is, and that our nation’s laws should include their definition of marriage as well.

But one thing that pundits, activists, and politicians often fail to consider is that the legal debate over gay marriage is distinct from the philosophical debate.

Whatever your view of the nature of marriage, it is not necessary to legally force that view on the rest of us.

Instead of legalizing gay marriage, what if each state de-legalized straight marriage? Why after all, should the state define what many consider to be a private, religious question?”

Read the entire article here.

For Immediate Release: June 24, 2010

Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Calls on Party Leaders to Address Problems with Anti-Gay Platform Planks

CONTACT: Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas
(512) 656-8011

AUSTIN, TX – At the state Republican convention earlier this month, Texas Republicans opted to abandon the Republican tradition of respecting the Constitution and protecting individual liberty and privacy rights by adopting a platform which includes planks attacking the civil liberties of certain Texans.

The platform advocates policies which would make it a felony to perform a same-sex marriage in Texas, which would re-criminalize sodomy and which would take away the rights of gay parents in custody cases. These proposals are contrary to the values of most Texans and run counter to the Republican tradition of vigorously defending individual liberty.

The Republican Liberty Caucus strongly opposes the Texas GOP platform’s anti-gay and anti-liberty planks. We call for the state party to take action to address this problem. While it may not be possible to repeal or change the party platform, the state leadership should issue a clear statement that the platform is non-binding and does not represent the core, shared beliefs of Texas Republicans or of our candidates.

In a year in which we are looking forward to extraordinary opportunities for a great slate of Republican candidates in Texas, it would be a terrible mistake to shackle them to a platform which will alienate many potential supporters. This platform will weaken the party at a time when a strong coalition of Republicans and independents is needed to stop the radical agenda of Democrats in both Austin and Washington.

“We need to focus on keeping the government out of our pocketbooks; especially in Texas,” said Texas RLC Chairman, Joey Dauben of Ellis County. “There are far more pressing problems for the GOP in our state to worry about. While I personally disagree with same-sex marriage from a Biblical perspective, marriage is a contract between individuals and God, not with the government. If we want government out of our wallets and our boardrooms, we should also keep government out of our churches and our bedrooms.”

The Republican Liberty Caucus believes that cutting government spending is more important than wasting our limited resources on policies that open Texas to lawsuits and treat some citizens in a different manner than other citizens. Texas RLC members believe divisive social issues should be put on the back burner and instead the focus should be on solving real problems.

We call on the state party to send a clear message to voters that the this platform does not represent the highest ideals of our party and that as a party we support individual liberty and equal rights for all Texans.

–30—

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas advocates constitutionally limited government, individual liberty and traditional Republican values. It is part of a nationwide organization which shares those goals and has local organizations in almost every state. This year the RLC has endorsed hundreds of candidates nationwide, including Rand Paul (KY), John Dennis (CA), Peter Schiff (CT), Mike Lee (UT), and Nikki Haley (SC).

For more information on the Texas chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus, visit http://www.rlctx.org. For information on the national RLC, visit http://www.rlc.org.

This video is from Jack Hunter, a conservative commentator and columnist. We’ll let the video speak for itself.