Tom Hoefling 2012
tomhoefling.com

"Just as 'good fences make for good neighbors,' good government is mainly about knowing where the legitimate boundaries are, and having the courage to defend those borders forcefully. This is true in terms of the defense of our territory, our security, and our national sovereignty, of course, but it also applies to the imperative duty all of those in government have to equally protect the God-given, unalienable rights of each individual person, their sacred obligation to stay well within the Enumerated Powers of our Constitution, and of the role government must play in balancing the competing rights and interests of the American people."

-- Tom Hoefling, 2012 presidential nominee of America's Party

LifeandLibertyReport.com

by Tom Hoefling

Some thoughts on the occasion of President Ronald Wilson Reagan’s 101st birthday

Ronald Reagan began his political life as a Democrat. Later, as we all know, he became a Republican, famously saying that he didn’t leave the Democrat Party, the Democrat Party left him. And, of course, he was elected to two terms as California Governor, and served two terms as President, as a Republican. Because of that, his name will always be associated with that party.

But I think his legacy transcends, and will outlive, that once-grand old party as well, as that party moves inexorably away from morally-conservative Reaganism and towards Romneyite liberalism, and/or Ron Paul libertarianism and isolationism, inevitably consigning itself to the same unprincipled ash heap of American politics as the Whigs. Ronald Reagan never left the Republican Party. But the Republican Party is, without a doubt, abandoning Reaganism.

As President, Reagan rose above the mere fact of his party label, and came to represent true Americanism. He clearly saw the vision of the “shining city on a hill” of the gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, and of that great Puritan John Winthrop, and for him it shone ever brighter. He often quoted America’s founding paragraph – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” – and understood the crucial import of those immortal words. He came to firmly stand for the equal protection of the God-given, unalienable right to life of all, including those who have not yet been born, from the first moment of their creation.

"Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should be slaves...Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion." – Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation

He arrived at that place because he was a decent human being, one who reverenced God and respected all of those who were made in His image, not because he was a Republican. Frankly, the elites, even in his own party, would rather that he had just shut up about it.

When he consistently pointed the people back to the Bible and to God, he did so as a Christian, cut from the same cloth as this republic’s wise founders, not as a Republican, and he didn’t seem to care much what the political high muckedy-mucks thought of it. He understood that in fact our national departure from God is at the root of virtually all of our problems.

"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid. That's why the Marxist vision of man without God must eventually be seen as an empty and a false faith - the second oldest in the world - first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with whispered words...'Ye shall be as gods.' The crisis of the Western world...exists to the degree in which it is indifferent to God." -- March 20, 1981, CPAC, Washington, DC

When he stated his deep belief that the rest of humanity, not just Americans, are also endowed by our Creator with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and expressed his determination to do whatever he could within the legitimate powers of his office to make it possible for millions, or billions, of those men and women to enjoy the Blessings of Liberty that we enjoy, he was representing the best of what it means to be an American.

"I have seen the rise of fascism and communism. Both philosophies glorify the arbitrary power of the state...But both theories fail. Both deny those God-given liberties that are the inalienable right of each person on this planet, indeed, they deny the existence of God." – Beijing, China, April 27, 1984

His Peace through Strength policies brought down the evil Soviet communist empire, an historic feat that few outside his closest counsels ever thought possible. But, when he stood at the Brandenburg Gate and demanded, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” he was not doing so as a Republican. He was doing it as an American, and the whole world knew it.

When he strictly warned us of the destructive dangers of socialized medicine and every other left-wing incursion on liberty, he did it as an American.

"One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine...and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known...until, one day...we will awake to find that we have socialism. And...you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free." – 1961 Reagan recording

Sadly, in 2012, we have come to a point in which the “front-runners” for the highest office in the land in both the Democrat and the Republican parties are determined to take us down that exact road to socialist bondage and the extinction of freedom. Both have also advocated and advanced public policies that deny the fundamental humanity of certain classes of our fellow human beings, namely the unborn.

So, what do we do? Do we fold our hands and give up in the face of these two corrupt political parties and their unprincipled leaders? No, no, no, no, a thousand times, NO! We’re Americans, and we must do what Americans have always done when their backs were up against the wall. We must fight! We must strive with all our might for life, liberty, and the Constitution, for the sake of our posterity.

That is how I intend to honor the memory of the greatest President of my lifetime, Ronald Reagan. I’m going to fight for what is right, no matter the odds. I pray that you will do the same. No matter what it may look like, if enough of us will take up that challenge, we will win – with the help, and by the grace, of course, of Almighty God. Just like the Gipper did.


Tom Hoefling is the founder and chairman of America’s Party. Please visit http://www.selfgovernment.us.

*Thanks to American Minute’s Bill Federer for providing the Reagan quotes used in this article.

_NumbersUSA

By Roy Beck

Monday, May 2, 2011

The biggest problem with Rep. Paul's (R-Texas) latest comments on immigration is that they are NOT just some ad hoc thoughts tossed off carelessly at some speaking event. These are engraved in a brand new book.

Until the release of the book, Liberty Defined, Dr. Paul had a mixed record in Congress and the fact that he had taken the NumbersUSA "No Amnesty" pledge at the end of his Presidential campaign in 2008.

That had earned him a C-minus on our 2012 Presidential Hopefuls Immigration Stances Report Card. Not impressive, but the third best (behind Rep. Bachman with a B-minus and Gov. Tim Pawlenty with a C+) of all the Hopefuls.

PAUL NOW 2nd WORST OF ALL HOPEFULS ON IMMIGRATION

In the graphic below, you will see how we have had to rate Dr. Paul on the 12 most important immigration categories.

The ratings add up to an overall stance that just barely misses warranting an F-minus and squeaks through just better than Pres. Obama. It is significantly worse than the grade of former Speaker Gingrich who had previously been the worst of all Republican Hopefuls on immigration.

Click here to read all citations and analysis behind each of the 12 ratings for Dr. Paul.

Also, here is where you get information about how to contact Congressman Paul about his immigration positions.

Click here to see the ratings and grades of all Presidential Hopefuls.

PAUL SUPPORTERS, YOU HAVE YOUR WORK CUT OUT FOR YOU

We do not endorse candidates and we do not judge them on anything other than their immigration stances.

For those of you who already support a Hopeful for other reasons, we encourage you to pressure your favorite candidate to improve his/her immigration stances to earn a better NumbersUSA grade.

Obviously, those of you who are big supporters of Ron Paul have your work cut out for you.

PREZ GRADE WORSE THAN CONGRESS GRADE

If you look up Rep. Paul's immigration grade for his congressional actions, you will find a much better report. He earns a 'B' grade over his career.

But you will find that only one Republican in Congress has a worse grade on border issues than Ron Paul. Furthermore, he has failed to act in every category of immigration during this new Congress.

His grade on Presidential stances is different because it is based not just on what he has done but on what he publicly says he would do as President. As a Member of Congress, he has been able to avoid acting on many immigration issues, thus protecting his grade a little.

SEVERE BACKSLIDING ON AMNESTY

In his book, Dr. Paul sounds very much like supporters of Comprehensive Amnesty measures by talking about the impossibility of sending back home 11 million illegal aliens.

Like most amnesty supporters who say they oppose "amnesty," Dr. Paul seems to buy the false choice between "legalization" or mass deportation. Since he says mass deportation isn't possible, he feels he has to choose some kind of legalization.

He fails to support Attrition Through Enforcement, which is the middle way supported by most anti-amnesty Members of Congress.

He would limit the legalization by perhaps not allowing the illegal aliens to ever be citizens or to vote. But they still would get to stay in the U.S. and to keep their U.S. jobs, while millions of Americans who want the jobs would have to stay unemployed.

"It could be argued that (this system) may well allow some immigrants who come here illegally a beneficial status without automatic citizenship or tax-supported benefits -- a much better option than deportation," Rep. Paul writes on page 156.

MORE FOREIGN WORKERS SOUGHT WHILE REMOVING EMPLOYERS FROM RESPONSIBILITY

Congressman Paul in his book espouses a largely unfettered business philosophy that seeks to allow employers to import far more foreign labor than they do now. His comments in this vein seem oblivious to the 22 million Americans unable to find a full-time job.

Nor is he much interested in punishing businesses for hiring illegal foreign workers, saying the U.S. should NOT "punish third parties for not being keen to act as law enforcement agents in regard to illegal immigration."

Requiring businesses to verify the legality of workers is a form of "compulsory servitude," he writes. This is consistent with his record. In his more than a decade in Congress, he has never co-sponsored a bill mandating E-Verify.

He says the federal government -- not businesses -- should keep illegal aliens out. But how does that happen without cutting off the jobs magnet at the work place? Tens of millions of foreign citizens visit our country each year legally as students, temporary workers and tourists. Border enforcement can do nothing to keep them from overstaying their visas and taking U.S. jobs.

Nearly every business that has ever used E-Verify extols its virtues and ease of use. Rep. Paul seems to want to set himself up as a protector of businesses, but his positions primarily protect outlaw businesses to the disadvantage of patriotic, law-abiding, community-loving business owners who comprise the majority of employers.

For political supporters of Rep. Paul, they can hope that the immigration sections of the new book were ghost written by naive aides and that Rep. Paul will soon disavow them. For now, though, NumbersUSA has to rate and grade him on the best available information we now have.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA

NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.

Views and opinions expressed in blogs on this website are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect official policies of NumbersUSA.

__Panetta formally shuts down US war in Iraq

Associated Press

LOLITA C. BALDOR

BAGHDAD (AP) — After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead and 100,000 Iraqi dead, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq — a conflict that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the American sacrifice because it set Iraq on a path to democracy.

Panetta stepped off his military plane in Baghdad Thursday as the leader of America's war in Iraq, but departed as one of many U.S. and global officials who hope to work with the struggling nation as it tries to find its new place in the Middle East and the broader world.

Bombings and gun battles are still common. And experts are concerned about the Iraqi security force's ability to defend the nation against foreign threats.

In addition to the dead, the war left 32,000 Americans wounded and cost the U.S. more than $800 billion.

Still, Panetta said earlier this week, it "has not been in vain."

Panetta and several other U.S. diplomatic, military and defense leaders participated Thursday in a symbolic ceremony during which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was officially retired, or "cased," according to Army tradition. The U.S. Forces-Iraq flag was furled around a flagpole and covered in camouflage. It will be brought back to the United States.

"You will leave with great pride — lasting pride," Panetta told the troops. "Secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history."

During a stop in Afghanistan this week, Panetta described the mission as "making that country sovereign and independent and able to govern and secure itself."

That, he said, is "a tribute to everybody — everybody who fought in that war, everybody who spilled blood in that war, everybody who was dedicated to making sure we could achieve that mission."

Read this story at google.com ...

__Latinos plan ‘Occupy Aztlán’ movement

Examiner

Miguel Perez

Members of Nuestros Reconquistos, Take Back Aztlán, and the Aztlánian Brotherhood met at the Phoenix Public Library this morning to discuss a future movement for Latinos called “Occupy Aztlán.” It will start in Phoenix and eventually involve protesting in states originally owned by Mexico.

“Occupy Wall Street” has been such as success,” says Nuestros Reconquistos President Manuel Longoria. Latinos will create a symbolic similar movement that will remind Americans who originally owned Mexican lands occupied by California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma.”