Feedback on Michael Badnarik's introduction to our U.S. Constitution

Yesterday, here in St.Paul, 30 activist patriots took a day out of their lives to become better informed about the differences between rights and privileges, sovereignty, history, and our laws.

Michael Badnarik is a very large flame for liberty. He has dedicated the rest of his life to spread the message of liberty until everyone enjoys full equal protection of our inherent sovereign rights as free individuals, from the slavery that is being imposed on us all.

A good time was had by everyone. Many showed up at Club Jaeger Thursday night to hang out with Michael till close.

I, and all the others who partook, cannot tell you enough how important it is to either get this man to your city ASAP, or google Constitution Class for free 8 hour youtube video, or order his more professional DVDs from his website. An education we were deprived of in socialist schools!

http://www.constitutionpr...

We owe it to ourselves and our children, to 'defend' our inherent rights, our individual sovereignty, to ensure our world and future humans will one day be truly 'free' from tyranny in all its myriad forms.

Michael has taken a leadership role in encouraging all of us to join the Continental Congress of 2009. Go here to learn more:

http://www.wethepeoplefou...

Here's today's ray of hope!

It seems Conservatism may be on the upswing in these parts...

http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=4852

Greed and the Market

A couple of links here. The first is to a recent George Will column on greed and the Free Market.
The second is a clip from an old Donahue interview of the great Milton Friedman.
Enjoy!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/15/AR2009051502201.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

MNLG to sponsor a Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer Debate

On Thursday, May 14, 2009 Minnesotans for Limited Government sponsored a debate for the Minnesota GOP State Executive Secretary/Treasurer race. Five candidates running for the position were on hand to answer questions submitted by the public. The State Central Committee will elect a new Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer at the next State Central Committee meeting on Saturday, June 13.

Current Minnesota GOP State Executive Secretary/Treasurer candidates include:
Glen Menze
Ed Matthews
Mark Swanson
David Sturrock
Jane Stewart

Listen to an archive of the debate here:

Having trouble listening? Try downloading the mp3 from here.


GLEN MENZE
Glen Menze is a candidate for Secretary Treasurer of the Minnesota Republican Party. Glen went to elementary and high school in New York Mills, MN and college in Moorhead, MN for sociology and business administration at Moorhead State University.

Glen moved to Lakeville, MN where he worked for Pitney Bowes Corporation as a postal equipment inspector. The 80s farm crises brought Glen back to New York Mills were he worked with the family's trucking business and later owning this own transportation company.

Glen also is an Accountant and did accounting and business consulting. He worked as a Corporate Trainer and Sales Manager for Telnet Inc, a sales and marketing company with over 500 employees. Glen moved to a farm in Starbuck, MN with his five children were he has continued as an Accountant, Business Consultant and Commercial Author for his own firm GR Menze Services.

Glen ran for congress in 2000 and 2008 in the Seventh District of MN. He won the primaries then lost the general election. Raising 5 children alone gives Glen a unique perspective on the cost and struggles of raising a family in today’s economy. Glen is proud of his children with three college graduates, one attending college, one an honor student in high school and most importantly proud and contributing citizens of our great country.

Mr. Menze can be reached at glenmenze@hotmail.com.


ED MATTHEWS, CPA, ATTORNEY
EDUCATION
J.D., William Mitchell College of Law, summa cum laude, 2003; Executive Editor of the Law Review, 2002 – 2003
B.S. in Business Administration, Miami University, cum laude, University Honors, 1995; Accountancy major, Political Science minor; Honors Thesis, “Americans Deserve Better: An Alternative to the Current System of Federal Taxation”

WORK EXPERIENCE
Attorney, Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., 2004 – present
Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law, 2006 – present
Law Clerk, Minnesota Supreme Court, 2003-2004
Financial Analyst, Imation Corporation, Oakdale, MN, 1999-2000

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Republican Candidate for U.S. Congress, Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District, 2008
Highland District Council Community Development Committee, 2007 – 2008

Mr. Matthews can be reached at ed@edmatthewsforcongress.com.


DAVID STURROCK
STATE PARTY LEADERSHIP
Republican Nominee for Congress, 7th District, 2004
Alternate Delegate, National Convention, 2000
Delegate, State Central Committee, 1997-present
Co-Chairman, Local Elections Task Force, 2007
RPM Reapportionment Committee, 1999 and 2009

DISTRICT AND BPOU
Treasurer, 7th CD, five years
CD Executive Committee member, ten years
Lyon County Executive Committee, nine years
Faculty Advisor, Southwest Minnesota State U. College Republicans

PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Marshall City Councilman, 2000-2004
Academic Standards Committee (helped developed replacement for Profile of Learning)
Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee
Church Stewardship and Mission Committees

PERSONAL
Professor of Political Science, Southwest Minnesota State University
Married to Gwen; father of Augie and Alex

Mr. Sturrock can be reached at desturrock@charter.net.


MARK SWANSON
I am Mark Swanson from Becker, MN. My wife Helen and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on March 20th. We have 3 daughters that keep us running around (Noelle (11), Melody(8) and Isabelle(6)).

I have an Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and spent 5 years as a Naval Officer stationed in San Diego, CA. I currently work as a Principal Engineer for Medtronic in the CardioVascular Business unit and am enrolled in an MBA program through Argosy University.

In politics, I started as an alternate delegate to the BPOU convention just 9 years ago (2000). From there I worked on former Representative Mark Olson’s campaign and became his campaign manager. In 2003, I ran unopposed for the chair position of House District 16B and held that position until 2007. I was elected as Chair of CD6 in 2007 and served there until this year. I chaired the Rules Committee for the 2007 State Convention and the Platform Task Force in 2008. I believe in the conservative cause and will continue to work to restore this Party to the majority status regardless of the outcome of this election.

Mr. Swanson can be reached at swanny@izoom.net.


JANE STEWART
EDUCATION
Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin BA
United States International University, San Diego, California MA
Northern Arizona University, Ed.D. Administration

EMPLOYMENT
Teacher, Administrator, School Board Member
Developed / maintained multimillion dollar budgets for State /Federal fund regulations.

VOLUNTEER WORK
Secretary / Vice-Chair, SD 56
Secretary / Deputy-Chair, 6th District
Attended State Executive Meetings
Secretary / Vice-Chair WCRW
Hosted George Bush as Charter School principal
Hosted Laura Bush, John Kline, Republican Candidates as principal 2002.
Minnesota Volunteer Coordinator: President, Senator, Congresswoman/men. 2008
Recruited volunteers who made 100,000 calls for candidates.
State Judiciary Committee /State Platform Committee
Delegate Republican State, National Conventions, State Central Committee.

PERSONAL QUALITIES
Honesty, integrity, strong leadership/communication skills. Good listener, perseverance.

Dr. Stewart can be reached at drjanestewart@comcast.net.


Be sure to check back to this website before, during, and after the debate. An online poll will be available, as well as an opportunity to submit follow-up questions to any of the candidates. Responses from the candidates will be posted within days of the debate. To submit a follow up question, please phrase your question in the comment section of this post.

For more information about the MNLG sponsored Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer debate, please contact MNLG Vice Chair Jeff Hagen at jeffreyroberthagen@yahoo.com or by phone at 651-341-9448.

May Meeting Minutes

MNLG May Meeting - 5/4/09

Meeting called to order at 7:04pm

Officers reports:

• Chairman - Report approved as read.

We raised $750 in donations at the Tea Party on 4/15 and  raised $65 in donations on the Tax Cut Rally on 5/2. Approximately 300 new people signed up on the Friends of MNLG email list.

• Vice Chair - Report approved as read
  

MN Campaign for Liberty (C4L) has another economics conference in planning, will possibly have Dr. Ron Paul in attendance. There may be potential for MNLG to be involved through getting a booth, etc as we had at the last C4L conference. C4L elections for all officer positions are coming up in August and MNLG members are encouraged to get involved.

• Treasurer - Absent, no report 
  
• Secretary -Absent - Temporary secretary appointed for the meeting, no report
  

Guest Speaker
Richard Easton- Candidate for schoolboard in St. Paul came to speak to the group and answer questions about his campaigns and positions.
Info is available on his campaign website at http://eastonforschools.com/
Mr. Easton is in need of volunteers to help with the campaign and has a sign up list on his website.

• Events Committee Report
  

A recap was give of our two recent events, the Tea Party and the Tax Cut Rally
MNLG has approximately 650 bottles of water remaining which have been paid for and are available for use at future events.
MNLG will be sponsoring a Meet and Greet with Dave Thompson. Event will be organized by MNLG and any expenses will be handled by Thompson's campaign.

• 
  
• Bylaws Committee Report

Discussion was had about a number of issues including ways the replace an officer, how often meetings should be held and the need for detailed bylaws vs sticking to the minimum legal requirements. Nothing was motioned in regards to these issues at this time.

• Communications Committee Report
  

MNLG has started a youtube channel with videos filmed during the Tea Party and Tax Cut Rally
http://www.youtube.com/user/mnlgorg

• Fundraising Committee Report
  

No report


New Business

MNLG Elections are to be held at the next meeting, June 3rd at 7:00 pm
All committee chair and executive committee positions are up for election
A number of current committee chairs and executive committee members are not planning to run for reelection, all members are encouraged to run for a position.

MNLG is sponsoring a MN GOP Treasurer-Secretary Debate on May 14th at 9:00 pm.
The format will be a conference call.

MNLG to sponsor a Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer Debate

Minnesotans for Limited Government will be sponsoring a debate on Thursday, May 14 @ 9:00PM. All five candidates running for the position of Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer will be on hand to answer your questions. The State Central Committee will elect a new Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer at the next State Central Committee meeting on Saturday, June 13.

Thursday, May 14 2009 @ 9:00pm
Dial-in Number: 1-805-620-4000
Participant Access Code : 6211788

Current Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer candidates include:
Glen Menzy
Ed Matthews
Mark Swanson
David Sturrock
John McCallum
Jane Stewart

The debate will be a virtual-style conference call. Candidates and listeners will be provided with a phone number and an access code. The event will be limited to 150 callers. All State Central Committee Delegates and Alternates are highly encouraged to participate. To be included in this historic event, please send an email to jeffreyroberthagen@yahoo.com. The debate will last between 60 and 90 minutes. The debate will be recorded and posted on this website within days of the debate.

We need your help. To submit a question that you would like to have asked of the candidates, please send your question to the email address above by Tuesday 6:00PM. All questions will be considered.

Be sure to check back to this website before, during, and after the debate. An online poll will be available, as well as an opportunity to submit follow-up questions to any of the candidates. Responses from the candidates will be posted within days of the debate.

For more information about the MNLG sponsored Republican Party of Minnesota State Secretary/Treasurer debate, please contact MNLG Vice Chair Jeff Hagen at 651-341-9448.

An Observation about the Political Right

First, my apologies for not writing as much as I once did. I've been working on a novel for the past several months. Without further delay...


Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve had a chance to meet and observe a vast multitude of people who self-identify as “Conservative” or some other similar label. Simultaneously, it never ceases to amaze me the disparity that exists between the opinions of such people. These disparities range from differing spectral positions on a single issue all the way to diametrically opposing positions on the same issue.

While wading through the thick, verdant swamps of American political life, the impression gradually was made upon me that within Conservatism there has emerged a two-tiered division of thought. Upon further investigation, I deduced that the tier one occupies depends greatly on what informs his/her political thinking. Talk radio and other such media and the individual Conservative’s adherence to it plays an enormous role in their placement on either the lower or upper tier and thus figures heavily into my analysis.

The lower tier consists of people whose opinions are wholly or mostly dependent on many years of listening to talk radio. The opinions expressed and talking points employed by these rarely stray from those approved by their favorite host(s). In the rare event that they do stray, their reasoning for doing so usually isn’t solid enough to withstand the unrelenting opposition from the established talkers whose assiduous admonitions are intended to bring the aberrant soul back into line. For a more concrete example, these are people who, because their positions aren’t driven by an overarching philosophy but by a vague awareness of where they “should” stand on one issue or another, show up at conventions, usually running for some position, and describe themselves to assembled congregation as “pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax” and soforth. We’ve all heard people like this whose stump speeches are about as unmemorable and uninspiring as a cow pie in a sprawling pasture because of the immaturity of thought driving their speech (more on this later). We’ve also seen how such people tend to be promptly and soundly vanquished by those from the upper tier whose maturity of thought cause their positions to flow from a single source, a broad and overarching philosophy, enabling them to produce creative, memorable, inspiring, and attention-drawing addresses.

Contrasting with the lower tier is the upper tier to which you were briefly introduced in the preceding paragraph. The upper tier consists of those whose brand of Conservatism is largely independent of talk radio, freeing their minds to engage more avant garde topics as national sovereignty, complete removal of government purview from the institution of marriage, dismantling the government police state, abolishing the public education system as we know it today, challenging the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve System or the Internal Revenue Service, and making the everyday connections allowing them to recognize the more subtle ways government interferes with society and purchases opinions with that interference, going so far as convincing people that these interferences are “needed”, something I personally hear from many mislabeled “Conservatives”. Because the upper tier has advanced in its political maturation to attain a higher level of thinking, talk radio for these lacks the influence it has with the lower tier. In fact, the upper tier hardly feels engaged by talk radio, frequently finding it boring, disappointing, or frustrating by its failure to go far enough, avoiding the desired destinations of the more mature mind.

So, where does that leave talk radio? Indeed, it’s difficult to seemingly critique so harshly what has arisen as a potent driving force in American politics and society in the last three decades and still want it around. It’s not that I dislike talk radio in and of itself; I dislike how it’s often presented as the first and last word on Conservatism and the sole guardian and representative of said doctrine. I wouldn’t get rid of it, but would prefer to see a change of focus following an acknowledgement of what it does. Talk radio, in its current form, is a great introduction to the Conservative Movement for those unfamiliar with it, taking large and very complex abstractions and breaking them down or watering them down into manageable pieces for those unable to consume larger ideas whole, feeding the political babies a sort of political baby food as it were. However, for those who have been in the movement for years, this wreaks havoc, doing little to advance their development because the analogous solid food isn’t being fed them. Seriously, when did you last hear Limbaugh or Hannity discuss negative rights, positive rights, the differences between the two, and why it matters? I never have either and that’s bad for the lower tier, always kept in the lower tier and intellectually dependent the way welfare recipients are kept in their particular lower tier and economically dependent.

What’s my solution? A two-pronged system should be employed in talk radio and across the Conservative Movement as a whole, one to bring in new people to the lower tier and another to raise from the lower tier to the upper tier when the time comes, if only more were willing to offer something to actually raise to the absolutely solid upper tier those from the ineffective lower tier, whose disastrous policy demands have caused the Republican Party so much grief the last several years. Then again, the lower tier must also desire advancement. If the lower tier is so lacking in intellectual curiosity, so deficient in individual initiative that they won’t come on their own, then Limbaugh and company need to dig deeper and do the serious teaching needed by the captive audience, though less entertaining and thus beneficial for their shows, these facts belying the depth to which our society has truly fallen. If my solution were to be implemented, the result will be a more unified voice with thinking based on mature ideas and philosophy that will win the day.

-Matt Rothchild

American Majojrity Candidate and Activist Training

American Majojrity Candidate and Activist Training
May 9, 8:30-4:30
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bloomington
$40 covers two meals, training materials (2nd person on campaign staff: $20)

For more information, contact:
- Tom Freeman, tom@americanmajority.org, C: 651-261-0954
- Lonny Leithner, lonny@americanmajority.org, C: 651-260-1351
- Chris Faulkner, Faulkner Strategies