Patriot,

Last week, in what is hopefully its final act of the year,
Congress passed an extraordinary bill under extraordinary
circumstances.

As I discuss in my latest column, which you can read below,
Congress voted to suspend the rules to pass the National Defense
Authorization Act, which authorizes policies that cost nearly a
TRILLION dollars.

And through some trickery, the statists in Congress renewed a
provision which allows the government to spy on law-abiding
Americans without a warrant: Section 702 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act.

As you probably know, Campaign for Liberty has been fighting the
renewal of Section 702 for years, and while we lost the skirmish
last week, you and I will be on the front lines demanding
Congress pass long-overdue reforms to rein in the surveillance
state when they return in the new year.

View how your lawmakers voted on the NDAA at this link, and if
you can, please support Campaign for Liberty to help us keep up
the fight.
[link removed]
[link removed]

For liberty,

Ron Paul

Congress' 'Gift' to America This Christmas

Just before leaving town for Christmas break, the U.S. House gave
Americans a last-minute holiday gift: a nearly trillion dollar
military spending bill filled with lots of goodies for the
special interests and the military-industrial complex.

Unfortunately, the rest of America got nothing but coal in its
stockings.

With Constitutionalists like Rep. Thomas Massie on the House
Rules Committee, Speaker Johnson made the unusual move of
bringing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) under
suspension of the rules, which bypasses the Rules Committee but
requires two-thirds of the House to pass the bill.

Considering that Speaker Johnson tossed into the "must-pass" bill
yet another extension of Section 702 of the FISA Act, it's
unsurprising that he wanted to rush the bill through without the
possibility of amendment. Section 702 allows the government to
intercept and retain without a warrant the communications of any
American who is in contact with a non-US citizen. It is clearly a
violation of the Fourth Amendment which is supposed to protect
Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Section 702 was "legalized" under President George W. Bush during
the "War on Terror" after it was revealed that Bush was using the
National Security Agency to illegally spy on Americans. We were
told at the time that government must be granted these
authorities because we were under threat from terrorists. It
would just be a temporary measure, we were promised, and then the
authority would expire. That was fifteen years ago and here we
are, re-authorizing the government to continue to violate our
liberties.

As with the rest of the violations of our civil liberties after
9/11, like the PATRIOT Act and the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security and the TSA, the federal government soon turned
its terrorism-fighting tools inward, targeting Americans rather
than foreigners who we were told wanted to harm Americans. That's
why the FBI's so-called domestic terrorism watchlist continues to
expand to include Christians and those skeptical of big
government.

So rather than debating whether we want a government more like
East Germany than the one our Founders imagined, Section 702 was
tossed into the military spending bill.

The NDAA also contained a $600 million gift to the corrupt
government of Ukraine. As opposition to further spending on
Ukraine's failed war with Russia increases in the House,
Republican leadership decided to add what may be the last parting
gift to the military-industrial complex. As with most foreign
assistance, however, Ukraine will likely see very little of this
money. Most of it will be laundered through the military
contractors and lobbyists who line every corner of the Beltway.

The NDAA also pushes us further toward confrontation with China,
authorizing more than $100 million to train Taiwan's military and
a further nine billion dollars to continue sending US military
ships to harass China in its backyard.

I believe Speaker Johnson is intelligent, with a bright future in
House leadership. He has inherited a broken system and a
legislative body that operates without any guiding principles. I
sincerely hope he will begin to listen to the increasing voices
in the House who are questioning the warfare-welfare state. We
are more than 33 trillion dollars in debt, with interest payments
on that debt dwarfing all other government spending. A crash is
coming. There is no time for more "business as usual."
[link removed]


If you'd prefer to donate via PayPal, please click here.
[link removed]

Join Ron Paul's Patriot Club with a monthly contribution! Your
support sustains our work and members are automatically entered
to receive special giveaways autographed by Ron Paul.
[link removed]

If you would like to make a donation by mail, please send your
check to Campaign for Liberty, PO Box 104, Lake Jackson TX 77566
or you can call 703-865-7162.

The mission of Campaign for Liberty is to promote and defend the
great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional
government, sound money, free markets, and a constitutional
foreign policy, by means of education, issue advocacy, and
grassroots mobilization.

© Campaign for Liberty, 2012. Paid for by Campaign for Liberty
and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Because of Campaign For Liberty's tax-exempt status under IRC
Sec. 501(C)(4) and its state and federal legislative activities,
contributions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions
(IRC § 170) or as business deductions (IRC §
162(e)(1)).

www.CampaignForLiberty.org


This message was intended for: [email protected]
You were added to the system June 27, 2019 [More information].
Update your preferences | Unsubscribe

----Powered by Paramount Communication----
[link removed]