Tea Party 07 a huge success

Tea Party 07, the one-day money-raising effort for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, was a huge success. More than 59,000 people gave an average of $102 and raised more than $6 million on Sunday, December 16, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. This is the record for a single day of fund raising in the history of American politics and it received very, very little press from the “main stream media.” Big shock.

The one candidate who honestly wants to reduce the size of government and threatens to upset the establishment apple cart is being ignored in an attempt to marginalize his candidacy. This is both good and bad. It’s bad that Congressman Paul is not getting fair coverage. However, it can be a good thing is this way: As his campaign continues to grow as a true “grass roots” campaign his success will expose the irrelevance of those in the main stream media who are trying to resist his message.

And just to underscore the importance of Congressman Paul’s message of liberty — please consider the following:

• California schools are now trying to force homosexual indoctrination on 2-year olds
• Massachusetts is trying to usurp a parent’s right with regard to his own son’s education

These are the very kinds of governmental abuses that Ron Paul stands against. All of the other candidates don’t mind the state wielding this kind of power, as long as it is wielded in a manner consistent with their views.

Bumper sticker of the day:

Tea Party 07

On December 16, 1773 the Sons of Liberty boarded the British ships Beaver and Eleanour, which were moored in Boston Harbor, and threw overboard entire cargoes of tea. They did this to protest specifically the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townsend Acts of 1767. But overall the colonists were fed up with governmental abuses at the hand of King George of England. Their protest is remembered as “The Boston Tea Party” and it was one of the sparks that ignited the American Revolution.

On December 16, 2007 Americans fed up with governmental abuses at the hands of career politicians will have an opportunity to make a similar statement by participating in “Tea Party 07” — a financial demonstration in support of Ron Paul. Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who respects the legacy of America’s foundation. Among the candidates he alone understands that our liberty comes from God (not government) and respects the Jeffersonian principle that the only just government derives it’s authority from the consent of the governed.

The American Revolution “officially” began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, a long series of abuses by England led the colonists to develop their now famous attitude toward liberty. Likewise, a long series of abuses by the federal government in Washington, D.C. is leading many Americans to embrace anew the concepts our forefathers first stood for. It’s already begun. Ron Paul’s supporters have already made history by contributing the largest single-day donation to a presidential campaign on November 5th. And the beauty of this movement is this: Unlike other campaigns Ron Paul is being supported by thousands of people who can only give a little (the average donation on Nov. 5 was a little more than $100).

Tea Party 07 promises to be even larger than that. It could very well be the modern version of the Boston Tea Party that sparks a new (albeit peaceful) revolution in America. By giving to Paul’s campaign Americans everywhere will be telling our current crop of kings…

“We want our country back!”

Note: To participate in Tea Party 07 make your contributions to the Ron Paul campaign only at www.ronpaul2008.com.

Bumper sticker of the Day:

The Christian Candidate: Ron Paul

Conservative Christians have successfully identified themselves as a powerful “voting block” in the United States. So much so that political candidates now find in necessary to pander to what they call the “Christian Right” in order to get elected in many parts of the country. Sadly, pandering usually works.

The Christian Right voting block claims to desire “principled leadership” but has shown itself to be a sucker for the right words — actions mean little. Just claiming to be principled is enough. President Bush said all the right things while running for office and so he got the vote. He claimed to be a small-government conservative but then pushed through the largest entitlement program in decades with his Medicare-funded prescription drug plan.

The Christian Right still supports him.

Even when he expressed a patently unbiblical belief, like he believes Christians and Muslims worship the same god, his support waned not.

Conversely, when a genuine believer in Christ comes along who stands firm on his principles and expresses the same beliefs in his stump speeches (regardless of the audience), not only is he not embraced by the Christian Right but he’s actually vilified by many.

Ron Paul is prepared to deliver the “principled leadership” others only pretend to support and the very people who ought to be rallying around his campaign are taking shots at him. Many may say, “We don’t know that much about his faith.”

Alright, here you go — an article that outlines his beliefs, asks whether or not he will be the candidate of the Christian Right, and then answers that question (pay close attention to the answer, it’s right on the money).

Others will say, “He can’t win” and they don’t want to “waste” their vote on such a candidate. My response? If the man believes what you believe then voting for another candidate merely on the basis that candidate has a chance of winning (even though you disagree with their positions) is wasting your vote.

Other objections I hear include:

• He is pro-gay: Nope, he is not “pro-gay” he just doesn’t support a constitutional amendment defining what marriage should and should not be — and I whole-heartedly agree. In fact, I don’t see where it’s the government’s role to be involved in marriage at all.
• He is isolationist: Nope, he is a non-interventionist. Isolationism is withdrawing from the rest of the world entirely. Ron Paul advocates non-intervention whereby we engage in commerce and friendship with everyone while not trying to force others to run their countries the way we think they should be run. Again, I agree whole-heartedly.
• He is not anti-abortion enough: Nope, Ron Paul is a doctor who has delivered more than 4,000 babies during his medical career and is adamantly anti-abortion. It’s true, he does not support a federal ban on abortion but that is because the constitution does not provide for such a thing. He believes the matter should be handled at the state level without any federal interference. And I couldn’t agree more.

The fact of the matter is this: Every other candidate running from president (both Democrats and Republicans) are big-government politicians. The Christian Right tends to support the Republicans because their form of big government is closer to what conservative Christians think life should be like. However, it is still mandating behavior. And here is a little secret — you can’t force someone to be a Christian.

In fact, trying to create a “Christian nation” through the force of the state is unbiblical and completely contrary to the notion of liberty. Please consider the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.”

As believers in Christ we have an obligation to hold one another accountable inside the church. But for those non-believers we are merely to bear witness — not try to force them to conform to our way of living. They are God’s to judge. As a society we need only prevent people from violating the rights of others — which is the sole biblical role of government as per Romans chapter 13.

I realize this concept is foreign to many conservative Christians. But libertarian ideas and orthodox Christian theology go hand-in-hand in many cases (here is an example in Economics that illustrates the point). Unfortunately we’ve misunderstood the idea of a “Christian nation” for so long that we’ve come to equate the state with the church — which has led to our confusing nationalism for patriotism.

In this presidential election there is only one man who recognizes these problems and has the will to change them. His name is Ron Paul. He is the Christian Candidate.

Related Thideology News of the Day:

Worshipping at the Church of Freedom

Are we still a nation of liberty-lovers?

Bumper sticker of the Day:

Voting for “Nobody” no more

Because there is rarely a substantial difference between Democrats and Republicans (they both want to grow government they just disagree on how) small-government Jeffersonians have a tendency to become quite jaded at election time. For libertarians pulling the lever in support of any candidate usually means supporting something to which they are fundamentally opposed. In fact, many liberty-minded Americans have advocated “Voting for Nobody.” However, Ron Paul has finally restored hope to these sorely underrepresented Americans. At least one of them no longer supports “Nobody” and supports Ron Paul instead.

This citizen has even gone so far as to produce campaign material for Ron Paul.

It truly is good to see a presidential candidate restore this kind of hope.

Bumper Sticker of the Day:

The Different Candidate

During every presidential election season I hear voters lament the lack of a candidate they can really “get behind.” This is especially true of people who want a smaller, limited government.

There’s usually no shortage of candidates who want to grow government. Oh, Republicans say they want to shrink government, but once elected they grow government just as well as their Democrat counterparts. This is particularly frustrating for those of us who subscribe to the Jeffersonian view of limited government. We want a government so small and so limited that even if it abuses it’s power it won’t amount to much because it doesn’t have much power to abuse. For far too long we’ve had candidates pay lip service to our point of view. They’ve made claims about wanting to reduce the size and scope of government, but it never amounts to much.

This time it’s different. Ron Paul, the 10-time congressman from Texas, is running for president and appears to understand the beauty of limited government. He claims to be a champion of liberty. You know what? I believe him. I believe him for several reasons:

1. He has long championed sound money, smaller government at home, and non-intervention abroad (consistent with the sort of government envisioned by our founders). This has been his message for as long as he’s been in congress. He has not changed his position to accommodate shifting political whim. He is resolute in his conviction. You can read the views he’s espoused for years here or here.
2. His voting record is consistent with his expressed views.
3. Most lobbyists don’t even come to his office any longer because they know he will vote against anything not expressly authorized by the United States Constitution. And let’s face it, pretty much everything congress does today is not authorized by our Constitution.

BusinessWeek featured Congressman Paul in a recent article. The writer apparently noticed the sharp contrast between Paul’s grasp of economics and the typical politician’s view of economics and asked him who his economic advisors were. I love his answer:

“I don’t have any. I read Austrian economics, which I’ve been doing for 30 years. So my advisers have been [von] Mises and Hayek and Sennholz.”

Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate in either party who has a sincere desire to reduce the national government. Every other candidate has a “plan” to solve this or that “problem” and it always includes massive increases in government spending. Just take a look at Barack Obama’s latest scheme to “improve education” (and please note Ron Paul’s plan for improving education in his comments at the end).

Among the typical complaints murmured during election time are “all the candidates are just alike,” and “we don’t have a real choice.” Well, this time there is a real choice. This time there is a candidate who stands for liberty. And if you desire the limited government our founders intended us to have then you need to get on board with Ron Paul because a real choice like this doesn’t come around very often.

Bumper Sticker of the Day:

Thideology Research Team: Case File 003

Jerusalem, ISRAEL — Today the Thideology Research Team announced that the Temple Institute in Jerusalem recently announced the completion of the Tzitz, the golden headplate worn by the High Priest in the Temple. It took craftsmen at the Temple Institute more than a year to fashion the piece which is part of a series of ornamental reconstructions being made in preparation for an eventual rebuilding of the Temple.

As usual, the Thideology Research Team scholars had absolutely nothing to do with the reconstruction of the Tzitz nor in the initial reporting of the story. They considered writing a piece on the biblical prophecies regarding the rebuilding of the Temple but decided against it as such a report would require some “pretty hefty reading” and “serious note taking.”

One Research Team Senior Fellow commented, “In the end it seemed like a lot of work to us.” However, he did insist on publishing this entry at thideology.com as a means of sharing the news because all of the Research Team members were unanimous in their assessment that the story “was neat.”