RGV Republican Liberty Club

As the dissatisfactions of Americans with their national government grow, so does the likelihood of the breakup of the United States. I believe that most Americans can improve their well-being by ending the national government, that is, ending the Union. I believe that this goal should shape politics if politics is to do much good.

I don’t think Americans are going to be the first people in the modern era to initiate a large-scale anarchy. But Americans might conceivably move back to a federal form of government something like that under the Articles of Confederation. If so, the problem is how to proceed. Many Americans feel (and are) trapped and thwarted by government power.

I see two paths. Americans can do this either acting as individuals formed into a body politic of 300 million Americans or as 50 body politics organized by state. I think action by state has a better chance of success.

To act as one body, Americans would have to alter their Constitution. The divisions among Americans make this highly unlikely. Even if it were pursued, the results would be highly uncertain.

Yes, indeed. The key to success on a large scale is mobilization and activation. Individuals ranting and raving about wrongdoings are portrayed negatively in the public and only get a 10 second soundbyte on the evening news. They aren’t taken seriously and assisted in their dilemma. Why do so when they can be paraded about as a malicious Angry White Man or crazed Right Wing Fringer “bitterly clinging to their guns and religion” as the illustrious BHO would say. They don’t have much to say about their own dilemma because they are ignored by the larger system itself. Good luck trying to get your point across to a newsie. Even if you find a sympathetic ear, you can oh so easily have the entirety of your story demolished by editorial oversight. Far too many people with an ounce of power over something have an agenda to Lord it over everyone else. Just ask a Mall Cop.

Rozeff makes another good point that

A tax revolt that works from and through the state legislatures directly undermines the Union. It directly challenges the power of Congress to tax. That’s a far stronger political platform for restructuring the United States.

which is certainly true, but is a concept so far down the road to most Americans that they haven’t even thought that far ahead. Mostly, they are concerned with just trying to live their lives and minimize Government intrusion and tyranny into it, rather than proactively attempting to fix what is broken within it.

Outright secession is one political measure in a spectrum of possible actions by which one or more states stand up to the U.S. government. Nullification is another. Withdrawal from the banking system is another. A separate payments system at the state level is a fourth. Refusal to obey any of hundreds of U.S. directives is a fifth. The formation of alliances among states is another.

Rozeff makes some points of interest here and almost blows right by them. Secession is certainly an interesting topic of conversation these days. What with Governor Rick Perry making allusions to it (and being attributed to a lot more – wishful thinking on someone’s part) and more than just the local so-called rednecks (one of my local Border Patrol agents) riding around with ‘Secede’ stickers affixed to their vehicles. The topic has gotten to the level of interest in the mainstream that much of the opposition is scoffing at it as illegal. Well, we know what that means. As Gandhi stated, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.” Well if this is true, then the Secessionists are probably transversing from stage 2 to stage 3…

Nullification is another topic worthy of discussion. These United States are a collective of 50 individual States (as well as some Protectorates and other Holdings which aren’t quite “states”) which incorporated a Federal Government to oversee a very specific and limited set of Powers. The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights explicitly enumerate a finite list of Rights and privileges thereon. Now, the States authorized themselves an Out when it comes to laws that the Federal Government comes up with. Normally, the various states would be beholden to Federal laws, except whereby they are outside the scope of the explicitly delegated Powers of the Federal Government. Nullification is the Right of the state in question to nullify, or invalidate the Federal law because of it’s Unconstitutionality. This is a topic that most citizens don’t understand. However, it is something they really need to understand, because it goes to the heart of an overpowering and tyrannical Federal Government. When all legal means of redress are subverted, how does one seek satisfaction?

Next we have the topic of withdrawal from the banking system. This is yet again a difficult topic to discuss due to the vast majority of people’s misunderstanding of it. When you ask the man on the street about our banking system, he almost assuredly talks about saving and checking accounts. He thinks that the bank holds your money to loan to other people at higher interest so it makes money and can pay you smaller amounts of interest. This is a bald faced lie. Their are two types of banking prevalent to this conversation, Central Banking and Fractional Reserve Banking. The former is the macro system while the latter is the micro system. Central Banking in short, is ‘Money as Debt’ which is why we in America have a debt-based economy. It’s all about pushing debt around and debt management. You take on an amount of debt and pay it back with interest. That’s how money is made here. The problem with this is that the debt grows from interest and can never be paid back because their is not enough money in existence to pay it back. This eventually leads to bankruptcy of someone or something. On the large scale, the Federal Government doesn’t even print it’s own money! They buy it from the Federal Reserve through the issue of Bonds in the Bond Market. It is distributed in turn to the regional Federal Reserve branches and then to local banks in said regions.

Fractional Reserve Banking is where the real theft occurs. This is the kind of theft that the man on the street can wrap his head around because it doesn’t have an illustrious number of zeroes after it, boggling his mind. When I deposit $1,000 into a bank, they aren’t holding that money and loaning it to other people to make more money for me. Instead, through the miracle of Fractional Reserve Banking, they have just created more money out of thin air! Banking law allows the bank to loan out more money than they hold on deposit. That $1,000 in the vault means they get to issue “Lines of Credit” to everybody to the ratio of 10 to 1. There are several cartoons on YouTube which eloquently explain this better than I could.

Rozeff’s last 3 arguments are perhaps beyond the scope of this article, and quite a bit more in depth as to their requirements.

In short, the impending tides of  turbulence can bring on any number of effects if the citizenry of the nation unites under their respective States to do battle with the Monsters in the Swamp.

Mark Z. Barabak at the L.A. Times notes:
Is Debra Medina the next Scott Brown?

Nobody — well, hardly anybody outside perhaps the Medina household — expects the small business owner and anti-Washington crusader to be the next governor of Texas. Heck, until recently she wasn’t even much of a factor in the shoot-’em-up between the two leviathans of Lone Star politics, Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. 

Then again, up until a couple of weeks out, nobody thought Brown — a little-known state senator and ex-Cosmo model — stood much chance of swiping the Massachusetts Senate seat held for almost a half century by the late Edward M. Kennedy. That said, a poll out Tuesday is raising eyebrows all over Texas.

The survey by Public Policy Polling showed Perry leading the GOP field with 39%, followed by Hutchison at 28% and Medina — a favorite of the Tea Party crowd — at 24%.

More significant, among self-identified conservatives — those most likely to turn out in the March 2 primary — Perry had 42% support to Medina’s 25% and Hutchison’s 23%.

Given the survey’s 4.8% margin of error, Hutchison, long considered the most popular politician in Texas, is effectively tied with the little-known, meagerly funded Medina.

(How meagerly? As of Tuesday, she had raised less than $600,000, a pittance compared to the $50 million Perry and Hutchison are expected to spend between them.)

Of course, no poll can be taken as gospel. The survey, conducted after last month’s second and final GOP gubernatorial debate, had a fairly small sample: 423 likely Republican voters. Still, it seems to bear out what many political pros are saying: Hutchison is struggling, Medina is surging and Perry — who doesn’t exactly blow the barn doors off in terms of popularity — seems a lot better positioned than most would have imagined a few months ago. Thanks to Medina, the GOP contest seems destined for an April run-off between the two top finishers.

The big question, for the moment at least, is whether Perry will face Hutchison or Medina — something that enters Scott Brown territory in terms of who-wudda-thunk-it. Clearly, Medina is benefiting from the anti-incumbent anger that is burning, prairie-fire-like, across the country. But she has also gained from a pair of solid debate performances; some declared Medina the winner after the first session in mid-January.

“She was the one who came across, to judge from polls and reaction afterward, as more forthright, better prepared, quite calm and confident,” said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas political scientist and longtime student of state politics. “She was seemingly more gubernatorial than her opponents in some respects.”

Medina enjoyed a surge in contributions after her strong showing, followed by another after the second debate. The question is whether she can sustain the momentum, lacking a prominent statewide platform (there are no more debates scheduled) or the money for a serious advertising campaign. (Turn on the TV and just try to avoid a Perry or Hutchison spot.)

Medina has also enjoyed the luxury of facing little scrutiny on issues. (How high would the state sales tax have to go if Texas eliminates its property tax, as Medina advocates?) That probably won’t last if she is seen as a serious contender.

Already, Medina has been forced to explain away a comment she made — “stepping off into secession may in fact be a bloody war” — in support of states’ rights at a rally last year on the Capitol steps. (Asked about her remark during the second debate, Medina said she opposes Texas’ secession from the union, something Perry hinted at last year in his own nod to the Tea Party folks.)

Still, Medina, the former chairwoman of the Wharton County GOP, has already achieved far more than anyone expected of her campaign. Failing a successful run for governor, many see her as well positioned to replace her congressman, Ron Paul, whenever he steps down. Paul is one of Medina’s key supporters.

– Mark Z. Barabak

Photo: Medina. Credit: Associated Press.

Public Policy Polling has just released their latest poll, showing that Debra Medina has gained more points in the race for the Governor’s Seat. Prior to the first televised debate, she polled at 4%. Following that January 14th debate, Medina polled at 12% in a Rasmussen Poll in January. A second televised debate occurred January 29th and the following week a new Rasmussen poll was released, showing Medina now at 16% in the first week of February.

Here we are in the second week of February and yet another poll is released that supports the fantastic support for Debra Medina that has been consistently growing. This time around, we see that Medina is at a solid 24% in the poll, taking points away from both Perry & Hutchison. Previously, Hutchison had been dropping large chunks while Perry was holding relatively steady within the error tolerances.

Debra Medina has come from 4% to 12% and then to 16% and currently sits at 24%. As I stated earlier, we even have campaign staff from the Rick Perry campaign realizing that she is a better candidate than the Incumbent governor. Taking all these considerations into account, there can be no other choice for the Republican Primary. In the Rasmussen polls, Medina even beats out the lackluster Democrat candidate Bill White! Yet again we see solid evidence that Medina is the best choice for Texas. Instead of a Big Business Incumbent politician, let’s vote in a small business owner who recognizes the worth of the individual Texan and knows what is necessary to fix the things that are wrong in this great state.

Well, it isn’t too surprising to those of us from the outside who are able to clearly realize that the Incumbents across the state have lost touch with We The People. Those who are in the political system as insiders typically fall into roles that are determined by the system around them. Instead of staunchly supporting their own viewpoints, they tend to become ingrained in the political machine. Now here we see a former Field Representative from the Perry Campaign resign. He openly admits that Rick Perry has become too arrogant and that Kay Bailey Hutchison is too Liberal in her record.

These are of course not new concepts. They have only recently gained wider knowledge as more people become involved in the political process. What’s important to note here though, is that when someone who has been a part of the Inside makes this sort of drastic change, it is representative of that “wind of change” that is necessary for some legitimate change. I’m not talking about the false “Hope & Change” that BHO liked to promote. I’m referring to legitimate change that necessitates an improvement in the lives of Texas day in and day out. We are already taxed the most we have ever been taxed in our entire history. Every year we see pushes for greater and more taxes that will ostensibly go to pay for some new gotta-have service. The reality is that Governor Perry has wasted a lot of Texas revenue and stymied our transportation system thanks to an out of control TxDot organization that isn’t properly overseen. We saw this repeatedly when TxDot was pushing for the Trans Texas Corridor and Perry’s attempts to steal approximately 600,000 acres of farm and ranch land from private owners to pave the super highway via eminent domain abuse.

Kay Bailey Hutchison is no better. Her voting record does not reflect the constituency she claims to represent. Her record is proof positive that she is a Washington DC Insider and kow-tows to special interest groups with deep pockets. Perhaps worst of all was her vote approving the first TARP Bailout package under Bush. She loves to backtrack and claim that she didn’t like everything in the package, yet she STILL VOTED FOR IT! If the legislation was so bad as she admits, why did she vote for it? Because it served the interests of those who contribute the most money to her campaign for re-election. Remember that when she comes up for election again, and consider her opponents.

Only Debra Medina offers a reasonable alternative. Instead of being a career politician, Medina is a registered nurse and small business owner. She is typical of the spirit of Texas in that she has that rugged individuality and tough mentality to succeed at what she sets herself to do. Kevin Crouch understands that, and is willing to put his actions where his mouth is. Watch the video and learn, in his own words, why Perry & KBH are the wrong choice for Texas. Debra Medina is the best choice.

from Alex Knepper @ race42008.com:

Kay Bailey Hutchison, whom I have been backing until now, has no chance of becoming the next of governor of Texas. She’s run a boring, lackluster campaign, she’s given no good reason why she should replace Rick Perry, and she’s not doing anything wrong in the Senate. She shouldn’t have run. I’d still take her over Rick Perry, but she’s becoming increasingly irrelevant.

My colleague Adam Brickley likes to talk about how it’s important that there are a couple of “flies in the ointment” of any elected body — and I think I’ve found the the perfect candidate for that position. Debra Medina, the gadfly libertarian who has recently skyrocketed to 16% in the polls and raised $500,000 after a strong showing in the gubernatorial debates, could be an interesting little fly on the national stage. Perry, for all of his name recognition and money, is only at 44% in the polls. In a three-way race, Medina could scrape by if she does a little more than double her current support. And Texas is leave-us-alone enough to consider this oddity of a candidate.

Who is Debra Medina? She is, more than any other candidate running for a prominent office, a product of the Tea Party Movement. She carries a gun in her car. She sued the Republican Party of Texas to make it follow the letter of the law — and won. She quotes the Constitution by section and article in her debates with Perry and Hutchison. She wants to abolish property taxes, eliminate state mandates for health care, respect — really respect — the 10th Amendment, slash taxes, deregulate, and wield her veto pen. And she means it. She quotes Frederic Bastiat on her official website in her section about the proper role of government. Check her out — she even blasts Rick Perry as supporter of big government!:

She has been called a “Ron Paul Libertarian” by some, and that’s essentially true, if we accept the dubious proposition that Ron Paul has a monopoly on respecting the Constitution. She has been a friend of Paul’s for a while and works with his Campaign for Liberty organization.

And thankfully so! The C4L has already celebrated it’s anniversary and gathered many people to the right side of the aisle regarding our liberties. It has been said over the years that if our freedoms are not practiced regularly, they tend to die out. This is quite true with the perpetual encroaching attacks upon them by several forces. Debra Medina aims to protect them 100%.
But here is the most important statement:

She’s got the right stuff, and in a climate like this, she can win.

I would love to see Texas become a national laboratory for libertarian ideals, and Medina has a real chance to make it happen if her supporters spread the word about her candidacy via word-of-mouth. And she — not Rick Perry, not Kay Bailey Hutchison — can enact real, small-government change in Texas. Because she is fundamentally not a calculating, business-as-usual politician. She’s a citizen and an activist, and she echoes Goldwater in not wanting to go to the governor’s mansion to make laws, but to get rid of them. And what will she replace them with? Nothing. Sweet, beautiful nothing. If Texas Republicans want to shake things up, they’ll send Debra Medina, not a self-serving career politician, through this primary.

WOW!! The internets are going crazy over the performance of Debra Medina at both of the Texas Gubernatorial Debates!

First off, let’s see what the poll from the host of the debate, WFAA-TV, has to say. Heading over to the page for the first part of the debate located here, you can go ahead and choose your selection on the right hand side for winner of the debate. As of 12pm today, the clear winner is Debra Medina with 91% of the vote. Now obviously, this is not as official as a phone directed survey of Primary voters, but this is still clear indication that she was the favored candidate after the debate.

WFAA-TV is not the only place to see these sorts of results though. The Tarrant Republican Club performed a fair straw poll after the Debate and the clear winner there is also Debra Medina. The sampling of 480 voters in a straw poll insured that the results were accurate and not subject to repeated votes by people seeking to alter the actual outcome.

But let’s not stop there. Sam Merten of the Dallas Observer opined that Debra Medina was the clear winner of both debates. He also slams Hutchison and Perry for some lackluster answers as well as evasions, particularly Hutchison’s evasion on the abortion issue.

Even the FOX affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth thinks Medina made a strong case, and Governor Perry was “not as arrogant as he was” in the prior debate.

ReporterNews also has an online poll representing a clear victory for Debra Medina. No surprise there when she actually performed the strongest. Unlike Governor Perry and Senator Hutchison though, Debra Medina remained behind after BOTH debates in order to speak with the Press. Both of her opponents left immediately afterwards with no communication to the Press. My, but doesn’t that paint a pretty bleak picture of them?

Why even the Lefties at the Huffington Post recognize that Debra won both debates. Well, if you can wade through this article, I bid you well my good friend. The ad hominem attacks aside, it’s yet another instance of Debra Medina convincing people she is the right candidate.

If you haven’t seen them yet, you darn well should!
The first debate, sponsored by KERA-TV (Public Television), occurred on January 14th can be viewed here

The second debate, sponsored by WFAA-TV (BELO Corporation), occurred on January 29th can be viewed here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The debate is scheduled tonight at 7pm. It will be broadcast by TXCN, the Texas Cable News Network, in our area which is viewable on Expanded Basic cable channel 39. Tune in locally or view it online!

The Dallas Morning News reports:

Debra Medina has come out of far right field to add some fire and suspense to the GOP governor’s primary, and manybelieve, tilt the outcome.

During tonight’s debate, sponsored by The Dallas Morning News and Belo Corp. television stations, she is again ready to challenge the state’s Republican titans, Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Medina’s message: that she is the sole straight-talking, steadfast conservative.

As her poll numbers hover around 12 percent, there is a growing belief that Medina, a Wharton nurse and businesswoman, could force a runoff between Perry and Hutchison, continuing a costly fight and weakening the eventual nominee. If no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote in the March 2 primary, the top two finishers will face off April 13.

Well, that’s certainly a ringing endorsement from such an outlet as the DMN… But now that they have finally gotten on board with considering Debra Medina as a viable candidate for the process (a bit late for you isn’t it?) then what do citizens watching the debates think about the candidates?

Shelley Brian, a grade school teacher in Beaumont, heard Medina speak before a small group in a friend’s home. But she was sold during the debate.

Hutchison and Perry have “gotten all caught up in the glitz and glamour,” Brian said.

She considers herself conservative, but three years ago, she voted against Perry, she said. Now, she can’t bring herself to vote for Hutchison.

“It’s time for a change,” Brian said. “People are tired of big government. Every time I turn around there’s a new tax, a new law, a new provision.”

Kent Bicknell, who runs a Dallas investment firm, said he considers Medina an ideological conservative and likes her she-bear protection of state sovereignty.

She might find governing more difficult once on the inside, and Bicknell said he’s hesitant to fully support someone who is still polling as spoiler. But he has given her $25, and if her numbers improve, he would consider a stronger commitment.

“I’ve not soured on Perry. I’m disappointed with some of his stances,” Bicknell said. “But I’d vote for Medina if she began to have enough of a following.”

Even if the Medina camp is raising 10 times less in campaign money than Perry and Hutchison, the campaign is making up for it in confidence. Medina and her aides believe they can win.

The message is about freedom from government, and that inspires support, Freeman said.

“We’re hoping, and our target and our first priority is to win outright. Then we’ll take a second, being one of the runoff candidates,” she said.

Well, if the people are interested in her, then she definitely is viable! So, get the word out to your friends and neighbors to vote Debra Medina this March. She is the best candidate for the position.

After Debra’s wonderful performance at the KERA debate, people have taken notice. I’d have liked to have seen her go more aggressive and hit Perry with a few more attack points, but she remained quite civil and passive the whole debate, while maintaining an air of civility that neither of the other two candidates expressed. Hutchison was all over the place with her answers and dodged the abortion question 6 times. Perry was seen to be the slickster that he often portrays and even went into an extended Bushism moment, where he seemed to have channeled the living spirit of GW. He continued his slickster ways, despite not being pinned to the wall with the Gardasil fiasco he is directly responsible for. Both Perry and Hutchison were both seen to be a pair of bickering hucksters while Medina was quite calm and methodical. Voters have taken notice, as evidenced by the latest Rasmussen Poll.

WFAA-TV reports:

Debra Medina — the third candidate running for the GOP nomination for governor along with Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — has accepted an invitation to appear in the statewide televised debate sponsored by Belo TV stations in Texas and The Dallas Morning News.
The debate is set for Friday, January 29.
Until now, Medina had not met the criteria to appear in the debate. However, a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday shows a shift among likely Texas GOP voters in her favor. The poll of 831 likely voters found:
Perry – 43 percent
Hutchison – 33 percent
Medina – 12 percent
Not sure – 11 percent
After reviewing the Rasmussen results, Mike Devlin — president and general manager WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth, the station that will host the debate — explained why Medina will now be allowed to appear.
“The Rasmussen poll released today shows Debra Medina is now at 12 percent, which is a substantial jump since the previous poll. Factoring in the margin of error (+/- 3.5 percent) and using reasonable news judgment, it appears Ms. Medina is a viable candidate and qualifies for the Belo Debate to be broadcast on January 29,” Devlin said.
As previously announced, the primary criteria used to determine which candidates are invited to participate in the debate include whether a candidate:
receives significant levels of public support in independent public opinion polls (e.g. 15 percent, which is the minimum used by the Commission on Presidential Debates)
has received substantial campaign contributions from varied sources
has previously held significant public office(s)
has received a substantial level of votes in prior elections for the same or comparable office(s)
will be reported by news agencies in election night returns
has received significant news coverage from a wide range of media outlets
“The FCC and other bodies grant stations the right to exercise good faith news judgment in determining which candidates are invited to participate in televised debates, and to use reasonable news judgment in reaching such decisions, with the intent to neither promote a candidate nor create a disadvantage for a candidate,” Devlin’s statement said.
Representatives of the Perry and Hutchison campaigns said they welcome Medina’s inclusion in the debate.

Make sure you call the station and notify them thankfully for their decision to include Mrs. Medina in the debate. It should be a good one!

R. Paul Fry
Vice President/Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
214-977-6835 tel
214-977-7051 fax
invest@belo.com

Jill Matthews
Director/Corporate Communications
214-977-6825 tel
214-977-7051 fax
jmatthews@belo.com

WFAA TV
214-748-9631 SWITCHBOARD
214-977-6155 NEWS
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