Freedom Fest

I just received this report on Freedom Fest from Steve Kubby, a true hero for liberty. I think Kubby provides a valuable perspective because he has changed minds for liberty, written laws that enlarged personal freedom and and successfully campaigned for their passage in the largest state in the USA, California, and who has had the courage to go to jail for his convictions, and emerged to fight for liberty again. Here is Kubby's report:

Dear Friends,

For the past four days, I have been attending Freedom Fest, where I suddenly found myself being enthusiastically introduced by, Richard Viguerie, to various conservative leaders. Less than two months ago, I joined several other Libertarian candidates in opposing Viguerie, an iconic conservative leader and strategist, as our keynote speaker for the 1008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver this May.

Viguerie, who has been dubbed the "funding father" of modern
conservative strategy, tells me that the conservative movement has been betrayed by the GOP leadership, who are corrupt and must go. Along with Bob Barr, he believes the federal government is out of control, the War on Drugs is a failure and the prisons system is a disgrace.

Like you, I find myself wondering what I have been smoking.

Seriously, the conservative movement is in chaos right now and leaders like Viguerie and Barr are determined to overturn the abuses of the Bush Administration. Viguerie tells me about a friend who is a four star general and even he is afraid of our government. Like politics, the battle to secure our rights and restore our liberty, makes for strange bedfellows.

Back in March of 2007, I officially joined Ron Paul as the second
presidential candidate to sign a pledge, submitted to all presidential candidates by the American Freedom Agenda (AFA). The AFA is described as "a coalition established to restore checks and balances and civil liberties protections under assault by the executive branch". It was founded by Bruce Fein (chairman), Bob Barr, David Keene and Richard Viguerie, all well known conservative leaders.

The ten points of the American Freedom Agenda pledge are:

* No military commissions except on the battlefield.
* No evidence extracted by torture or coercion.
* No detaining citizens as unlawful enemy combatants.
* Restoring habeas corpus for suspected alien enemy combatants.
* Prohibiting warrantless spying by the National Security Agency
in violation of law.
* Renouncing presidential signing statements.
* Ending secret government by invoking State Secrets Privilege.
* Stopping extraordinary rendition by the United States.
* Stopping threats to prosecuting journalists under the Espionage
Act of 1917.
* Ending the listing of individuals or organizations as
terrorists based on secret evidence.

On October 15, 2007, Ron Paul introduced House Resolution 3835, the "American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007" before Congress, which sought to legislate the aims of the American Freedom Agenda. The measure, which is co-sponsored by Dennis Kucinich, has had no action since November 15, 2007.

During Freedom Fest, I had a chance to spend some time with Bob Barr. I told Barr that provisions of the Patriot Act, that he helped to author, are being used to shut down bank accounts for medical
marijuana dispensaries that are legally complying with state law.
Barr suddenly turns beet red and he is visibly angry, not at me, but
at the arrogant abuse of a law that was only intended to be used
against real terrorist. Barr asks me if I can get him a copy of the
letters, but I tell him I have already tried and people are too scared
to give it out. Barr tells me to tell them to black out the personal
info and just send him the letter, so he can determine who wrote it
and who is responsible.

Later, Barr gives a speech that is being taped for a TV News crew,
about his lobbying work on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project. He mentions that "this is a joint project" and, with the words still
hanging in the air, I call out, "no pun intended." Barr stops his
speech, looks over at me and just stares. Then he, and the audience get my joke and everyone starts laughing - including Barr who is LHAO. Barr looks back into the TV camera and says, "My friend Steve Kubby has a good sense of humor, and we need that in this business."

So why are Libertarians and Conservative working together? Is there a secret plan to take over the LP, or the GOP, or BOTH? For the best journalistic interpretation I've seen to date, please read the extraordinary recent story in Time magazine: Libertarians: A (Not So) Lunatic Fringe http://www.time.com/time/...

Let freedom grow,

Steve Kubby