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I just made my first phone call ever to one of my Representatives. I am vehemently against the controversial Bail Out plan to be voted on (again) tomorrow. Contacting Chris Cannon was easy with the help of Campaign for Liberty, but Cannon’s office’s response was far different from that I expected.

I told them I was disappointed that Cannon had voted in favor of the bill last run through and that I wanted to express my opposition.

“It is like handing Paulson a $700b BLANK check” I explained. “Then saying, ‘I have no idea what is really going on, but it is scary. Here is our freedom and our money… You look like a smart fellow. Please save us.’”

“It is actually just $250b to start.” The man responded, “and their will be congressional oversight over much of the money.”

I was a little taken back at his tone of voice. “$250b or $700b, the powers granted to the Executive Branch are the same and they will never be revoked… Every economist I have read in the past 2 weeks says it will be FAR over $700b by the time it is done… on top of that, when has Congress been good at oversight of any money?”

“What would you do instead?” The gentleman asked.

“I would let the prices of houses fall until they find their actually market value. I would let those who did bad business take the fall they deserve. Yes it will hurt, but it must happen. We can’t just prop up unnatural prices and expect them to stay there. You are only increasing the size of a future crash. To be honest, if I had to choose between the two, I would rather struggle through another depression than hand over my freedoms and live in this form of Socialism. Although I don’t think we will need to live through a depression just yet.” I stated.

He started to respond, “…I disagree with you about calling it Socialism…”

“What is Socialism then? Define it for me.” I interrupted. (note: it is absolutely Marxist)

He dodged my question and said, “you have to understand the markets are frozen right now and we have to do something.”

I told him Cannon would be gone if he votes for this. His response was repulsive. He said “Cannon is not up for reelection this term so he is not influenced by the vote in November.”

Our conversation ended shortly afterward. I am appalled that Congressman Chris Cannon would vote for the bail out knowing the whole time that his constituents are against it. The most recent poll I could find show that only 30% of Americans even think the Government should bail out the banks while 63% are against it. Utah is a conservative state and I am sure the numbers are even higher. How can Cannon have the arrogance to ignore not only the constitution but the people as well?!

One of my good friends from high school asked me today when I started liking politics so much. My response, “I don’t like politics at all, but I love freedom and the constitution. I think the two are separate.”

I will end this with a quote from the opening statement of The Law (one of my favorite books on government because it is so short) by Frederic Bastiat:

The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!

If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it.

Oh, and just so you know, Congressman Robert Bishop and Congressman Jim Matheson both voted no and plan to vote no again.

I hope I inspired some of you to contact your Congressman as well. C’mon it is easy, only takes 5 minutes.

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I have watched this years elections closely (as I have the past 3 elections) and I don’t know about you, but when I am watching the elections it feels like my head is spinning. I know we need change, but if I was supposed to tell you how Obama will change the US, I couldn’t do it. I know the economy is crumbling, but I don’t know why. I know there is something really wrong about the war in Iraq, but what? Iran confuses me to high heaven. Social Security is a mess, but what happened? The US has a giant debt, but why?

I just finished reading an incredible book called The Revolution. It is a New York Times Best Seller. My mind is more clear about the changes that need to take place than it has ever been in my life.  While I read this book I changed my Political status on facebook from “other” to “Constitutionalist”.

For some time I have given away copies of the books, The Law - by Fredrick Bastiat  and The Proper Role of Governmen - by Ezra Taft Benson (Prophet of the LDS Church and Secretary of Agruculture). Now I have another short read to give away.

So I challange anyone who is confused about what is going on in America to read The Revolution a Manifesto.  If you read it and disagree come and comment here on my blog, I would love to hear your reasons.

After you read it come and join the Revolution at www.CampaignforFreedom.com.

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Last night I entitled a post: “Poor College Students Sacrificing Precious Christmas cash for Ron Paul“. I finished the post just before I headed out on a Saturday evening date.  My intention was to write a post that would influence my small readership and more of my family and friends to donate, I hadn’t even proof read the post. When I got home from my date it was just after midnight, I shut my eyes and clicked “donate”, giving the $100 I have saved up over the past month. It was an awesome feeling.

It was then that I realized that I had 111 Diggs!  I had three emails from friends congratulating me for getting on Lew Rockwell’s home page. Feeling rather embarrassed realizing that thousands of people had read my poorly written (I hadn’t even proofed it as I ran out the door to my date) blog entry, I some quick fixes.

I also want to thank the two of you who offered to donate a little to my school tuition. I didn’t intend to solicit donations to me, but thank you.

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Back in September I donated to a politician for the first time in my life. I am a BYU student. I am poor. I am trying to help build a company. A few weeks ago, my 1991 VW’s engine blew up. I can’t afford a new car so I am moving about on foot. BUT tomorrow I am going to dump what ever extra money I can into the Ron Paul campaign in my support of the constitution.

I heard about Ron Paul from a coworker, Duane. For over a year I had watch Duane reading about Ron Paul. I figured Ron Paul was a loony, until one day Duane sent me and email entitled, “An important part of my life.” Duane explained how important the ideas of freedom are to him. It was then I saw that Duane—also a BYU student and a newlywed, bootstrapping a company—had donated over $200 to the cause. I deeply respect Duane so I decided I best pay attention.

Jumping on Youtube I found dozens of interesting videos of the debates. Initially I was bothered when Ron Paul would say that he wants the troops out of Iraq immediately. It wasn’t until after watching hours of Youtube debates on the war, and reading an article by my brother Neal about choosing between our fellow Mormon, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul that I decided the war is unconstitutional and will never work to fulfill its purpose—to rid the world of terrorists (I will discuss my logic against the war in a later post)

on September 9, I saw this video:

When I clicked “submit” to my first meager $15 (ALOT for me in September) donation, that I realized, “I must really like this guy!”

I knew nothing about the 5th of November until the day of. I couldn’t donate because I didn’t have the money. Since the 5th, myself, three of my brothers, two of my sisters (I am a Mormon, we have a big family), my mom, my uncle, and several friends here at BYU have all been saving and proselytizing for Ron Paul. None of us donated on the 5th and only I have signed up at teaparty07. Looking at this tonight, I believe that is the way we are going to see all the records broken tomorrow.

When people take a minute and look past Ron Paul’s unpolitical image, they see truth and the correct principles of freedom. In Ron Paul I feel as though I can visualize the kind of men who founded this country. Just yesterday I showed my friend from Brazil a video on Ron Paul. When it got done he said, “I would vote for this man!” To bad he is not American.

Here is another video to leave you with:

Donate on the 16th, Tomorrow!

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