Ron Paul, Fox news commentator Napolitano headline Campaign for Liberty Conference in St. Louis

April 1, 2009
By Greg Bishop
Guest Columnist

To a standing room only crowd at the Freedom Celebration for the Campaign for Liberty, Ron Paul spoke about knowing the issues before thinking about running for Congress.

Among the many things discussed Friday night, March 27 at the opening gala in St. Louis, Missouri, was the Missouri Information Awareness Centers's (MIAC) publication issued to the Missouri State Police placing Ron Paul supporters in the same category as terrorists. The principles of freedom and liberty were also discussed heavily, along with the need for more awareness of issues and a push to audit the Federal Reserve, which is neither Federal nor is there a Reserve. The free event was open to the general public and had an array of speakers, focused on issues important to promote freedom.

Campaign for Liberty president John Tate opened the celebration with boos from the crowd from a simple mention of the MIAC report.  In the home state of the report for Missouri State Police, Tate broke the news to the standing room only crowd estimated at 1,000 that the controversial report had been redacted.  This brought massive applause.

Tate also shared some inspiring numbers about the Campaign for Liberty. Proving to be a growing organization, there are more than 135,000 active members online at Campaign for Liberty dot org with a sharp increase of Illinois membership in the past month. The numbers are sure to climb, especially with news that the campaign will reach 5 million people through many different forms of communication in the year to come.

Missouri Representative Jim Guest jumped on stage to get the crowd seething with "boos" when talking about the USA PATRIOT Act, the Real ID, the North American Union, illegal immigration, and the MIAC's assessment that "conspiracy theorist", and third party and Ron Paul supporters are in the same class as white supremacists and other hate groups, an absurd insinuation. 

Among the other speakers was Fox News commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano. There were three guiding principals to freedom that Judge focused on: 1) Everyone is a unique individual created by god, 2) every individual is greater than the state, and 3) government's only function is preservation, protection, and defense of freedom and the Constitution. These things are considered natural law, superseding any government enacted by man, according to Napolitano.

Napolitano also focused on the 315 page USA PATRIOT Act, how virtually no one in Congress read it (it was only available on Congress's intranet for 15 minutes before the vote in 2001), and how it destroys our civil liberties through legislation.  Napolitano claims to have read the notorious act three times, and each time it took 22 hours.  With legislation passed without being reviewed by those passing it, Napolitano asked “what kind of democracy is this?”

On the matter of the Second Amendment, Napolitano said to be suspect of any politician that says the right to bear arms is for hunting.  “The Second Amendment gives us the right to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical” the judge proclaimed. Issues of free speech and contracts were also discussed by the Fox commentator as being under siege by legislators.

An audit of the Federal Reserve was also heavily expressed during the conference. Ron Paul, as a congressman from Texas, has offered up a bill for consideration by the House (HR 1207) to audit the Fed fully and not allow any secrecy. As of the weekend of March 27 – 29, there are 46 congressmen on board with this proposal and two waiting in the wing.

HR 1207 would revise Title 31 of the U.S. Code, Section 714 which states that the Government Accountability Office has the power to audit the Federal Reserve, but then it continues to exclude any transactions with foreign banks, any monetary policy matters, and any communications between Federal Reserve board chairmen.  The bill would offer a full audit of the Federal Reserve by the end of 2010.  Currently there is an audit, but it is internal to the organization and excludes the above mentioned information.

With more awareness spreading through the Campaign for Liberty, that number is sure to climb. The sentiment among the crowd and the speakers was, in a time of a promise for "transparency" from the Obama administration, only a foolish politician would vote against this. An accompanying bill has also been introduced in the Senate (SB 604).

Texas Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul ended the celebration with talk about the importance of sound money and the effect of not having sound money has on the health of this nation, and any free nation. One key point the congressman focused on was the importance of knowing the issues, because "they will come and ask you questions."

Paul said not to focus on running for office, but rather, understanding what is going on. "Study hard, understand the marketplace, learn and study and be available. There will be a guiding hand," Paul emphasized. On a very serious note, the congressman also said "the dollar is dead" and "before we end the Fed, let's audit the fed," in reference to HR 1207. He also stated we must promote individual liberty at all costs.

Congressman Ron Paul ended Friday’s Freedom Celebration with a call to emulate the revolution of the Founding Fathers ... "and win!"

A series of political training seminars were held at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis through out the day Saturday with state focused meetings held Sunday.

Greg Bishop is a full time student at the University of Illinois at Springfield, the host of Saturday Session with Bishop on 970 WMAY, the News and Talk of Springfield and the Sangamon County coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty.