Young Americans for Liberty – Ole Miss Chapter

Same Constitution ~ New Revolution

Archive for October 2008

Invitation to our Peace Rally on November 13th

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Written by University of Mississippi

October 30, 2008 at 8:19 pm

Posted in Group Activism

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Killing Innocent People is the Problem, Not the Solution: Syria Condemns US Attack as “Terrorist Aggression”

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Who are the bad guys? Who are the terrorists in the “war on terror?” This week, the terrorists are hiding behind stars and stripes and the most overbearing military in the history of the world. It does not come easily for me to admit this, but the most recent attack by the US military proves that our foreign policy in the absurd “war on terror” contains repulsive acts of terror itself.

How do you think the White House would perceive an attack on American soil from Syrian planes, assuming Syria did not seek permission from the US government beforehand?  Would Americans justify the deaths of eight fellow countrymen so long as Syria claimed it was acting out of self-defense, perhaps aiming for Christian Fundamentalists?  This is a ridiculous proposition.  The attack would be considered terrorism and the US media would endorse the government’s perception of Syria as “evil.”  Syria would become a sandy parking lot in a matter of hours.  The anti-Islamic sentiment in the US would explode, support of “shock and awe” military tactics would approach consensus, and Americans would be terrified.  Why should we expect a different sentiment among Syrians?

Seven weeks after illegally dropping bombs in Pakistan and killing dozens of civilians, the Bush Administration is at again. Eight Syrian civilians were killed in broad daylight by US bombers. Understandably, Syria is outraged. Bush’s trigger-happy days are still in full gear, making the world an even more violent, polarized, anti-American place. Yet another preemptive strike under the guise of “self-defense” has been committed with fighter jets and soldiers bearing our flag. OUR flag, not the war-mongers’ in the White House who disgrace it time and time again. The symbol of our flag has already lost much of its prestige internationally, and this week will only exacerbate the fading of the stars and stripes that once gleamed so brilliantly in a free and prosperous land. It’s time we take our flag back and restore its dignity. It’s time for a new foreign policy, or rather, an old foreign policy that has been abandoned by ambitious tyrants who continue to disgrace our nation. We the People of the United States cannot allow our politicians to start any more wars. It is in our best interest, our children’s best interest, the WORLD’S best interest to put an end to this military madness! It is our duty to say, “no more!” and do whatever we can to curtail the ill-fated path of the government’s quest for world domination. The time for action is now!
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Written by University of Mississippi

October 29, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Does your vote matter?

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In one week, Americans will flock to the polls to elect the nation’s next president.  Many voters believe it is their civic duty to vote; a duty that requires knowledge of the political climate and candidates’ platforms.  The media has covered the upcoming election unceasingly for the past year, offering a source of information for many voters.  Countless polls have been administered, personal histories of candidates have been thoroughly examined, and a string of debates has allowed for the major candidates to compare and contrast their policy preferences and beliefs.  But one question that is seldom asked is perhaps the most important question of all: What do you intend to achieve with your vote?

If your answer has anything to do with determining the next president, you are deceiving yourself.  In fact, a statistical analysis conducted by Constitutionalist Party candidate Chuck Baldwin estimates the probability of a single vote determing the president to be so low that one would have to vote in every presidential election for 230 million years before his vote is determinate.  Your odds of dying in an automobile accident on the way to the polls is ten times greater.  And this analysis was conducted under the most favorable conditions for a single vote: evenly matched parties in both the state and nation.
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Written by University of Mississippi

October 27, 2008 at 6:42 pm

We Support Iraq Veterans Against the War and the “Hempstead 15″

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The UM Constitutionalists supports the brave members of the group “Iraq Veterans Against the War.” Adam Kokesh, an outspoken Libertarian activist and active member of IVAW, spoke at the pre-presidential debate rally at the Ole Miss Campus. The video of his speech is below:


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Written by University of Mississippi

October 24, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Ron Paul on the Bailout

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Who better to turn to than the man who predicted the bailout before any other politician? Click below to hear Congressman Ron Paul’s views on the recent government bailout.

Written by University of Mississippi

October 22, 2008 at 2:29 am

Posted in Government Bailout

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Voting Third Party

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In light of conversations I’ve had (one way or another) with a few of my friends over the course of the past few days, I want to take this opportunity to explain why I am voting for a “Third Party” candidate in the upcoming election. I am writing this because based on the feedback I have received each time I’ve mentioned not voting for either John McCain or Barack Obama, as this decision is not a popular one.

The typical response that I get is probably the least logical, so I will start with that one. A vote NOT for John McCain, is NOT a vote for Barack Obama (however much some may want me to believe it is). If I vote for a candidate that I don’t like to keep another candidate I don’t like out of office, I have accomplished nothing. I want anyone reading this to know that I believe in democracy and I love this country, and I mention this to say that I do not believe that democracy should entail being told who I should or should not vote for, especially when NEITHER of the so-called options (as if I only have two) is worth my consideration, much less my vote… Read the rest of this entry »

Written by University of Mississippi

October 18, 2008 at 12:03 am

Confused by the Bailout?

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Justin made this week’s flyer about the specific monetary values and implications of the recent government bailouts. We think the flyer helps to clarify the extent to which our government is Socializing the markets.

How much is 700 billion dollars? Enough to buy every NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB team, buy them each a new stadium, and pay each player 191 million dollars a year.

This particular bailout is 500 times larger than the controversial Chrysler bailout of the 1980s.

Where is this money coming from? The labor of the people; the markets. We find this to be a strategy of a kleptocracy or a Socialist government, antithetical to freedom by its very nature.

Check out the flyer under the “Bailout” link at the top of this page.

-Dan Blazo

Written by University of Mississippi

October 17, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Deception, Fear, and Distraction in the Iraq War

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The vocabulary used by the Bush Administration shows that the US involvement in the Middle East was not portrayed objectively, but rather in a way that anticipates a fearful, Bush-supporting reaction. One tactic of the Administration’s strategy was to exaggerate the threat of the enemy with misleading statements, as in the case of Bush’s speech on October 7th, 2002, five months before the Iraq invasion. Bush warns, “Many people have asked how close Saddam Hussein is to developing a nuclear weapon. Well, we don’t know, exactly, and that’s the problem. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun—that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud” (Woodward 97). Five days prior to giving this speech, Bush was informed of the National Intelligence Estimate’s (NIE—the collective judgment of all US intelligence agencies) “moderate confidence” that “Iraq does not have a nuclear weapon or sufficient material to make one but is likely to have a weapon by 2007 to 2009” (Woodward 97). Bush’s ambiguous assessment of Iraqi’s nuclear program leaves out any mention of this timeline, and instead misleads listeners by implying that an Iraqi nuclear bomb is an urgent threat to America. Among those who had access to the confidential intelligence reports, there was no serious threat of a “mushroom cloud.” Even Donald Rumsfeld later recalled, “We never—none of us ever believed that [Iraq] had nuclear weapons. The only real worry that we had was chemical” (Woodward 102). Bush’s speech incited a fear of nuclear attack by leaving out information that would have depicted Saddam Hussein as a less urgent threat than Bush wanted the nation to believe; the imagery of a mushroom cloud is more effective in gaining support for a military invasion than an explanation of a five to seven year nuclear weapon development program. But it produces a reaction that is inappropriate for the reality of the situation, and favorable to the Bush Administration. As journalist Mark Danner explains in his essay “Words in a Time of War: On Rhetoric, Truth, and Power”:

War produces fear. But so also does the rhetoric of war…What terrorists ultimately produce is not death or mayhem but fear; and in a War on Terror the rich political benefits of that most lucrative emotion will inevitably be shared—between the terrorists themselves and the political leaders who lead the fight against them (Sczanto 19)

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Same Constitution, New Revolution

Welcome to the official website of the UM Constitutionalists.  We are an active political group at the University of Mississippi made up of devoted members who share a common political ideology.  We are interested in exerting a real influence in American politics by revealing and emphasizing truths about the conditions of contemporary governance.  Our outlook is rather simple in principle: We believe in the Constitution; we believe in limited government, both domestically and internationally; and we believe in “Liberty and Justice for all.”

Thanks for visiting our site, please feel free to look around and explore the different issues in which we have explained our stance thus far.  We plan on publishing many more blog entries from several group members in the near future, so come back soon!

Written by University of Mississippi

October 15, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Posted in Group Activism

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Bailout Bill Passes

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Congress Acts, Happy?

There is nothing more disheartening than a people who are totally dependent on their government. I believe a population totally reliant on Big Brother is the social stage right before bondage. I couldn’t have found a better example of this lack of self-reliance than an article I recently read urging Congress to do something to “fix” our economy. It seems that this has become the phrase of our blind generation.  The government should do something about our problems, right? Never mind what that something is or if it does anything to solve the problem for which it was intended.  As long as the government does something, we will fall in line.

The more I read this article, the more I lost faith. The House’s first vote to kill the bailout bill was considered a failure on their part by the author. I guess we should ignore the fact that many representatives voted against the bill because they received so many phone calls from their constituents against its passage, they were afraid to vote for it. Why is that considered a failure? That sounds like a success in our political system, one that doesn’t happen very often these days. Did the author bother to call their representative and try to sway them one way or the other?

The article went on to argue that these representatives were elected to promote the good of the country, not their personal agendas.  Do you honestly believe the bill passed on October 3rd was passed with the country’s best interest in mind? Taxpayers for Common sense reported tax breaks for wooden arrows designed for use by children at Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, OR, with an estimated cost of $1 million, a $100 million dollar tax break for NASCAR racetracks to write off capital investments and a $478 million dollar tax break for television and production facilities were included in the bailout. I’m sure all of these provisions were in the national interest; I know NASCAR and wooden arrows are vitally important to the economy. Yet we allowed them to pass this unconstitutional bailout to “fix” our economy and how did the stock market react last week; the Dow experienced its worst week ever dropping below 9000. More proof that governments can’t defy economic laws.

The article also showed a complete lack of understanding of what has caused the problem we are currently in. It was stated in the article that this problem has been building since the housing bubble burst. However, the housing bubble collapse was just a symptom of the actual problem that has been building for decades. While we hear it is the greed on Wall Street, nobody ever wants to think it could be the greed of our government. In order to finance unsustainable entitlement programs, attempts to control interest rates, unconstitutional wars, military stationed in 147 countries and loyalties bought from nations such as Israel, our government has borrowed and spent its way into the destruction of our dollar. The constant dumping of money into the financial sector to lower interest rates because a bubble, which the Federal Reserve created, is about to burst has rocketed our country to the brink of economic collapse. Losing your savings because the government didn’t bail out AIG and how far the stock market plunged will be the least of your worries when foreign countries begin refusing to buy US bonds because the dollar becomes too unstable. This transition from buying US bonds to selling them off for euros, gold, or yen will cause US bond prices to drop, in effect, raising interest rates. Mortgage and credit card rates will go through the roof causing home prices to drop even lower, bankrupting homeowners. In response, the Federal Reserve will do what is usually does and print more money to try and curtail the rising interest rates, sending the dollar’s value on a downward spiral. Prices will surge and most cash savings, bank CD’s and dollar denominated bonds will be worthless. No amount of money the government throws at the problem will help, because the dollar will be useless and the middle class will be wiped out. It is called hyperinflation, and it can happen here if these bailouts continue. It happened in Germany in 1923, and people were burning their currency for warmth since inflation had destroyed its value.

Recessions do happen when credit markets freeze up, but entire economies are wiped out when their currency becomes worthless. Please don’t believe the lie that the one who got us in this mess will be able to get us out. Don’t let yourself become dependent on this government.

-Justin Head

Written by University of Mississippi

October 14, 2008 at 6:25 am

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