When I was running for president in 2008 and 2012, many people told me I was their “political hero.”
I can’t tell you how humbled I still am to receive praise like that.
But today, I want to take a moment to share a few stories with you about some of my political heroes.
And that’s the men and women volunteering with Campaign for Liberty’s state groups.
These liberty leaders are fighting political battles day-in and day-out in your neighborhoods and at the state capitol and often don’t get the recognition they deserve.
They truly embody the spirit of Samuel Adams, when he observed, "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
A few of the stories from this year’s legislative session are just too good not to share, so I wanted to highlight them below.
Pro-gun Americans are often focused on the Second Amendment battles occurring on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
But many times, the fight is much closer to home.
And this year C4L activists in Virginia, led by Michael Wood and Chris Anders, and Tennessee, led by Charles Cook, successfully fought off efforts to ram through so-called “Red Flag” Gun Confiscation schemes in both of their General Assemblies.
But in the Old Dominion, with Republicans narrowly controlling the State House and Senate, the threat of compromise on a slew of anti-gun legislation reared its ugly head.
Virginia C4L’s team snapped into action petitioning the Speaker of the House to refuse to compromise away their Second Amendment freedoms.
As a result, none of the anti-gun bills put forward by the governor passed during the session.
Unfortunately, after the tragic murders in Virginia Beach, the governor is convening a Special Session of the General Assembly to once again push for more radical gun control schemes.
Virginia’s C4L activists will be in an all-out brawl in a few weeks to head-off the anti-gun onslaught and prevent any compromises with Virginia’s anti-gun governor and Democrat legislators.
Of course, that’s not the only issue folks normally think of as a “national” political fight that’s happening closer to home.
I’m talking about the push for sound money -- and several of our states are leading the charge by introducing “Legal Tender Acts” in their legislatures.
Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona have all passed the proposal into law, removing state taxes on precious metals such as gold and silver and allowing them to be used as a medium of exchange.
In fact, I testified before the Arizona State Senate Committee on Finance in 2017 about how important it is to create room for competing currencies against the dollar.
Passage of these bills could not have happened without Campaign for Liberty’s grassroots army, under the leadership of Ross Trumble (AZ), Lowell Nelson (UT), and Cathy Ide (WY), and they set the stage for even more victories this year.
Kansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia C4L groups all made advances this year by getting the Legal Tender Act introduced, with sub-committee hearings held on the bill in Tennessee, and Kansas and West Virginia passing parts of it into law by exempting sales taxes on precious metals.
When session begins in 2020, Tennessee’s bill will be eligible for hearings by full committees, and Tennessee C4L will be ready to push the Legal Tender Act across the finish line.
In Kansas, with John Axtell and Blake Branson leading the charge, the stage is set to force through the remaining piece of their bill.
Of course that’s not all our state groups are up to.
Nearly ten years after the passage of ObamaCare, our activists are still battling back against ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Kansas.
In Kansas, our activists narrowly defeated the bill this year despite the new governor running on enacting ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion. The fact that just two years ago it passed the legislature and was only stopped by the governor’s veto makes that effort even more impressive.
ObamaCare is unraveling. States that have enacted the policy are floundering with skyrocketing Medicaid expenses.
C4L’s activists will continue fighting the Big Government boondoggle at every opportunity.
And finally, in Texas, Campaign for Liberty activists and state leader Byron Schirmbeck won their hard-fought, years’ long battle to enact a Red Light Camera Ban in a highly publicized fight that attracted plenty of media attention.
There’s so much more to tell you about going on each and every day, year after year, I wish I had the time to cover it more.
From battling back against tax hikes, to blocking the National Popular Vote scheme in 9 states so far, Campaign for Liberty’s activists are refusing to back down to the statists.
When your liberties are threatened, our leaders are there, ready to stand up to the challenge.
Even if it means standing alone.
Will you stand with them today?
Together, you and I will continue to fight the statists on the local, state, and national level -- every inch of the way -- as we push forward to Reclaim our Republic and Restore the Constitution.
For Liberty,
Ron Paul
Chairman
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