From the Rand Paul for Senate campaign:

Tonight at midnight, the last push of the campaign begins

Dear Patriot:

Our two day Money Bomb is this Thursday and Friday, August 19 and 20. I hope you’ll join your fellow Patriots and give our campaign the funds we need to put our message on the air in the coming weeks.

You’ve seen how the drive-by media misquotes, distorts, and outright lies about my views.

You know they can’t stand the thought of a U.S. Senator actually fighting for Liberty. They don’t understand our issues, our supporters or our mission.

But you do.

You’ve helped over the past year, and I hope you’ll help again in the next two days. So much is at stake, and there is so little time left in our race. Only 76 days remain until election day!

Please consider your maximum possible donation to our campaign. You can pledge HERE or go to http://www.randpaul2010.com/donate tomorrow.

The cause of Liberty can be greatly advanced in the coming months and years – with your help. Thank you for all you’ve done and, I hope, for your support tomorrow

In Liberty,

Rand Paul, MD

Additionally, please tune in tomorrow at 2pm Eastern to listen to a representative of the Republican Liberty Caucus on the Rand Paul Radio Marathon.

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

Three U.S. Senate candidates who have been endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus are well on their way to securing victories in November.

First, Pat Toomey won an easy victory last night in his race and will face Congressman Joe Sestak in November. Toomey, while more of a social conservative generally, has a proven record of voting for less government. His new opponent, Sestek, is telegenic and has a heavy populist streak, so Toomey will have to energize his base while also reaching out to independents and moderates to win in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

Mike Lee is now in a run-off with Tim Bridgewater in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Utah, which will be decided by Utah Republican Party voters on June 22. Lee’s opponent Tim Bridgewater is someone that has been running for various positions locally for quite some time. Like Lee, he is concerned about too much government interference, but his policy solutions are different. Specifically, Mr. Bridgewater believes in more U.S. intervention abroad and much more federal involvement in immigration. After looking at the issue pages of their websites again, I have no doubt that Mike Lee is the solution-focused leader that Utah needs in the Senate. Which is why the Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed him, along with his commitment to limited government.

Most importantly, Rand Paul is the Republican nominee in Kentucky. Dr. Paul gained nearly 60% of the vote in his primary yesterday. He will face Attorney General Jack Conway in November. While watching the fair and balanced news last night, I already saw various left-wing pundits excited that Rand Paul was the victor so they could start attacking his views.  Will the Tea Party and the Liberty Movement have the power to take Rand to the finish line?

These candidates, while not perfect, are our best hope to achieve liberty in the coming years. With these three committed small government advocates in the Senate, our country will be much better off.  Work tirelessly to support them in the coming months.

I wasn’t at the Maine Republican Party Convention this weekend, so it’s hard for me to comment on what occurred. From the accounts I have read, it appears that some of the constitutionalist wing of the Republican Party (Ron Paul supporters, mostly) — including some Tea Party activists — felt unrepresented at the previous Maine Republican Party Convention and planned to make themselves a known quantity at the Convention this weekend.

They did so by organizing in advance. Several of them made it onto the Platform Committee and several others had proposed changes to the platform that would strike moderate phraseology and replace it with more hard-line stances. I commend these activists for actually working to change the Republican Party from within. That’s the mission of the Republican Liberty Caucus!

About 1,800 folks attended the Convention, so for the Ron Paul faction of the party to have any impact at all shows just how much influence Ron Paul and the Tea Parties have had over the Republican Party in the past two years.

The platform now features:

- A declaration of state sovereignty
- A call for the passage of “read the bill” legislation
- Opposition to the fairness doctrine
- Opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act
- Investigation of global warming shenanigans
- Balancing the federal budget and paying off debt
- A call for Auditing the Federal Reserve
- Rejecting cap and trade
- Freezing future stimulus payments
- Institute zero based budgeting
- A statement that health care is not a right
- Eliminating the Department of Education
- Prohibiting funding for ACORN or like organizations
- Opposition to any and all treaties with the United Nations
- The passage of a Congressional reform act, including:
….. o 12 year term limits for all members of Congress
….. o Removal of Congressional pensions
….. o Forcing Congress to participate in Social Security and health care (the same system we use)
- “Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from religion”
- Nativist anti-immigrant language, including the removal of Maine’s “sanctuary state” status
- A declaration to “Seal the Borders”
- a statement that marriage should be between a man and woman
- “Return to the principles of Austrian economics”
- Resisting the creation of “one world government”

At first glance, this seems like a major victory, but hold on.

Republican Liberty Caucus of Maine Chairman Ken Lindell and former RLC National Committeeman Matt Gagnon (who hails from The Pine Tree state) both find several problems with the platform overhaul. I do, too.

According to Lindell, a former Maine State Representative, “There is a whole lot of stuff in the new platform that I really like and really dislike. It would have been better if the Platform Committee had done its job and taken the proposals for changes to the platform seriously. The end result would have been better written and more presentable.” Although he does conclude, “I think that it is a very positive development that activists who are new to the party have been able to succeed where earlier they were simply ignored and dismissed.”

Says Gagnon: “It is very obviously slapped together, and almost entirely Federally focused in nature. I do not believe this platform gives very many reasons at all for Maine voters to vote for the Republican Party.”

I agree with my colleagues.

But more importantly, when did gay-bashing, a fence along the border, or religious dogma become part of the movement for less government and more freedom?

Ron Paul supporters should respect Ron Paul’s original positions on these issues:

1) Homosexuals are fellow human beings who should be afforded equality under the law.
2) Immigrants should be respected with the same dignity we afford other Americans; people should be free to seek out better lives for themselves and their families; the problem is with the entitlement society that has been fostered by decades of government dependency.
3) Religion is a private matter that should be kept out of government.

I would have preferred the platform without the last six points mentioned above. I don’t know how returning to Austrian economics is possible when our country has never been guided by Austrian economics.

Overall, the platform is a step in the right direction, but it still not a libertarian document.

The Republican Liberty Caucus National Board confirmed the following endorsements at our Board meeting yesterday.

The endorsed candidates include: Brett Gaspard (District 69) and Tim Fairfield (District 78) for State Representative; Cathy H. Flaig (Boone County) and John Riley (Spencer County) for Judge Executive; Peter Garrett for Campbell County Commissioner; and Cindy Arlinghaus Rich (Incumbent) for Boone County Property Valuation Administrator.

These endorsements are in addition to our previous endorsement of Dr. Rand Paul for U.S. Senate in the May 19 Kentucky primary. Good luck to these candidates!

This article is a Republican Liberty Caucus exclusive by Wes Messamore. If you like what you’re reading, please check out my blog.
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As a huge fan and supporter of Rand Paul’s father, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, I was thrilled to learn that his son was considering a U.S. Senate run for what would turn out to be an open seat in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Months ago, when Rand Paul’s U.S. Senate campaign wasn’t yet a campaign, just a fledgling exploratory committee by a “long-shot” candidate from Bowling Green, Kentucky, he still managed to win an online poll at a Kentucky news website. When I heard about that online poll at a Ron Paul message forum, I turned out with a thousand other “Paulians” and voted for Rand.

Living just an hour away from his headquarters, I had a chance not very long thereafter to meet with Rand personally, and during our conversation, someone mentioned his poll victory. Rand- with his characteristically dry sense of humor- shrugged and said that would be fantastic if he was running to win the Internet’s vote… he’d be Kentucky’s next Senator for sure.

His point was well-made. Much of Rand Paul’s early support predictably surged from young, web-savvy, libertarian-leaning activists who supported Rand’s father Ron Paul. While their support was welcome, it would have been hardly enough to get Rand Paul where he is today.

Now Rand leads all his major challengers in state-wide polls, is closing in on $3 million in funds raised, and has the endorsements of big names like Sarah Palin, Steve Forbes, and Reagan PAC. How did Rand Paul’s campaign manage to gain so much ground, putting it in striking distance of electoral victory?

Because my grandma supports him. The secret to Rand Paul’s success is not that he resonates with people like me, but that he resonates with people like my grandmother. I’m a young, enthusiastic libertarian Republican; she’s a traditional, conservative, Reagan Republican- and Rand Paul’s message speaks to her.

Originally from Oklahoma, my grandmother has lived in the Bluegrass State now for longer than I have been alive. Her father was a staunch Democrat and all four of his children, including my grandmother, became Republicans during the Reagan years, when the two parties experienced a major realignment.

She started listening to Rush Limbaugh during the Clinton years- and still does. She loves Glenn Beck, she voted for Bush both times, and she even has a crush on Dick Cheney (but you didn’t hear it from me). She thinks and feels like most Kentucky Republicans do about what’s best for her state and what’s best for the country.

Rand was right those many months ago when he implied that kids like me who supported his father are a poor barometer for his success in Kentucky’s upcoming U.S. Senate election. It is not the Internet that will sweep him to victory, but Kentucky’s registered Republicans like my grandmother- the perfect barometer for Kentucky opinion.

The Paul family message of fiscal conservatism, strict constitutionalism, and principle over party has reached beyond the Internet and college campuses, and swept into the hearts of the people who were inspired by the Reagan revolution of the 1980s, and that’s why he will win.

Rand Paul will be the next U.S. Senator representing Kentucky. Not because I support him, but because my grandma does. And when he gets there, he may just be the one of the very best Senators this country has ever had.

According to Bloomberg News, the House Financial Services Committee today, in a 43-26 vote and a second voice vote, attached a Fed-audit amendment to legislation creating a council of regulators to monitor systemic risk.

According to Dr. Paul, the bill, HR 3996, if passed, will grant sweeping new powers to the Federal Reserve. However, at least with his amendment attached, it won’t be acting in secret anymore.

The panel’s vote increases the possibility that Congress will reverse the ban on audits of interest-rate decisions. The broader bill on financial regulation is subject to a vote by the committee, then must be approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama.

The effort to audit the Federal Reserve was spearheaded by the Campaign for Liberty, but many RLC members have participated in letter writing campaigns and in-person protests in support of the bill (HR 1207).  In September, the California GOP adopted a resolution by RLC members to support HR 1207.

The bill has over 300 co-sponsors in the House and over 30 co-sponsors in the Senate.

The Alameda County Republican Party (ACRP) in California has a history of hostility, lawsuits, and in-fighting. But the November 17th monthly meeting is shaping up to be a war zone.

Last week, the ACRP Executive Committee gave their approval (4 ayes, 1 no, 1 abstain) to a resolution that would make a non-interventionist foreign policy the official position of the county party.

To pass, the resolution must receive 2/3rds approval from County Committee members at the November 17th meeting in San Leandro.

The county party is lead by RLC member Jerry Salcido, and most of its officers are also RLC members.  Looking at the Alameda County GOP Central Committee, I see at least 12-15 RLC members, too.  I guess we’ll find out if we have a majority on November 17.

Hopefully other county Republican Parties also consider adopting this proposed resolution.

Alameda County Republican Party — Proposed Resolution
Submitted by: Walter Stanley III, David LaTour, and Jerry Salcido

“Whereas, our foreign policy of the past century is deeply flawed and has not served our national security interests; and

Whereas, the terrorist threat is a predictable consequence of our meddling in the affairs of others and has nothing to do with us being free and prosperous; and

Whereas, propping up repressive regimes in the Middle East endangers America and our allies; and

Whereas, occupying countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan and bombing Pakistan is directly related to the hatred directed toward us; and

Whereas, losing over 6,000 American Military personnel in the Middle East since September 11, 2001 is not a fair trade off for the loss of nearly 3,000 American citizens, no matter how many Iraqi, Pakistani and Afghan people are killed or displaced; and

Whereas, torture, even if referred to as “enhanced interrogation techniques” is self-destructive and produces no useful information and that contracting it out to a third world country or a corporation is just as evil; and

Whereas, war and military spending is always destructive to the economy; and

Whereas, war time spending is paid for through the deceitful process of inflating and borrowing; and

Whereas, war time conditions always undermine personal liberty; and

Whereas, we as small government conservatives see our government’s interventionist foreign policy providing the greatest incentive to expand the government; and

Whereas, the only logical, conservative position is to reject military intervention and managing an empire throughout the world; and

Whereas, the official positions for going to war are almost always based on lies and promoted by war propaganda in order to serve special interests; and

Whereas, the quest for empire eventually destroys all great nations; and

Whereas, our aggressive foreign policy and seemingly permanent presence in other countries throughout the world has served to weaken our national defense at home; and

Whereas, the borders’ of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are more secure than our own borders here at home; and

Whereas, our foreign policy has nothing to do with national security and never changes from one administration to the next; and

Whereas, Christianity teaches peace and not preventive wars of aggression; and

Whereas, diplomacy is superior to bombs and bribes and the illusion of protecting America; and

Whereas, the aggressive foreign policy of so called “neo-conservatives” is anything but conservative and has wasted more than $1 trillion on nation building and billions more on foreign aid; and

Whereas, there is a strong tradition of non-interventionism in the Republican Party that is exemplified by the legacy of Senator Robert Taft and the Old Right.

Therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Alameda County Republican Party supports a non-interventionist foreign policy as advocated by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and believes costly undeclared wars and the occupation of other countries only serves to weaken our national defense and strengthen the resolve along with the ranks of our enemies.

Kentucky U.S. Senate challenger Dr. Rand Paul, son of RLC Advisory Board member Texas Congressman Ron Paul, is now leading his opponent, former Democrat and Secretary of State Trey Grayson.  A solid analysis is provided from a local Kentucky news station:

In February, the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), a “fusion center” that “collects intelligence from both the local agencies and the DHS and uses these combined sources to analyze threats and better combat terrorism and other criminal activity”, labeled some Ron Paul supporters and other constitutionalists as militia members.

Last week, Missouri RLC Board member Mike Ferguson appeared on FOX News’ “Freedom Watch” with Judge Napolitano to discuss the status of the MIAC and its report.

See Mike and the Judge below: