Posted on 03/26/2002 1:33:55 PM PST by The Bat Lady
I have wonderful news!!
Yesterday was the first Bill of Rights rally here in Austin. Our featured speaker was Rick Stanley, the hero and patriot from Colorado who allowed himself to be arrested for carrying a loaded weapon so that he could file a lawsuit against the City of Denver. (For more info, please visit http://www.stanley2002.org ) There were approximately 200 people who attended, and <trumpet fanfare> KXAN, Austin's NBC affiliate, was there with a camera. The reporter interviewed Rick on camera for several minutes for tentative broadcast later that evening.
A reporter/photographer from <another trumpet fanfare> the Austin-American Statesman was also there to document the event, thus fulfilling their promise to give the Libertarian Party more (favorable?) press coverage as we grow to become THE political party in the United States. I was also interviewed by a young reporter that I think was from The Austin Review. Earlier this afternoon I received a phone call from a young reporter from The Daily Texan, which is the campus newspaper at UT. She asked questions for nearly thirty minutes, and told me that her story should be available tomorrow (Monday) at http://www.dailytexanonline.com .
Don Crawford, KLBJ radio talk show host spoke first, passionately imploring the audience to exercise their First
Amendment rights in order to protect ALL of our rights. He explained that the Founding Fathers considered a "free marketplace of ideas" the only way to protect ourselves from tyranny. He gave us the example of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who continued to write letters encouraging civil disobedience even after he was put in jail for being a dissident. Rather than crouching in fear when the authorities are arresting someone, Don dramatically urged us to "Open your windows and shout, 'They're taking away another one of us!' " It is difficult for me to imagine anyone listening to Don's speech without being emotionally moved by it.
Several local Libertarians followed, each speaking briefly about one or more of the amendments. Wes Benedict spoke about the Fourth Amendment, explaining that the "War on Drugs", and the policy of "asset forfeiture" violates our rights of privacy and property. Tom Allen gave a well prepared speech on the Fifth Amendment, letting the audience know that there is more to this amendment than simply a right to remain silent when arrested. Dave Nalle spoke about both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, and explained that they were designed to "close any loopholes" that might have been missed in the text of the Constitution.
Rick Stanley, Libertarian candidate for US Senate from Colorado finally spoke to a patient audience about
his first Bill of Rights rally last December 15th near the Denver capitol, where he was arrested for his act of willful civil disobedience. Last year, on the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, Rick and another patriot offered passionate oratory about the Bill of Rights in general, and the Second Amendment in particular. After their speeches, both men went to their cars and proceeded to holster loaded weapons in defiance of a Denver ordinance which purports to forbid such actions. Rick did not mention the details of that event, but focused on the importance of ALL Americans,young and old, liberal and conservative, to join together in defense of our "unalienable rights".
Finally, with the last few moments that were left, I asked Rick to draw a ticket stub from the handful that had been
collected. Gary Johnson, producer of Live and Let Live, the longest running Libertarian television show in
America, won the life-sized copy of the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.
(Congratulations, Gary!)
After handing the prize to Gary, I was immediately accosted by an unidentified adult male who was very disgruntled. He indicated that "the previous two hours meant nothing" because a young girl had been waiting for two hours to enter the competition. As it turns out, I had the pleasure of meeting 15 year old Laura Miner Good who has memorized the Bill of Rights! I questioned her on the Fifth Amendment (which, for those of you who HAVEN'T memorized them yet, is one of the longest) and she methodically worked her way through the text without fail. I am absolutely overjoyed! The purpose of my "contest" was to encourage exactly this type of behavior. The lovely Ms. Good has given me hope that the younger generation may, indeed, be ready to accept the responsibility for protecting our cherished republic.
I will have photos posted on my website sometime within the next few weeks.
Naturally, our fight for freedom is FAR from over. Next month on April 20th, we will hold another rally. My goal for this rally is a crowd of AT LEAST five hundred, and no less than three competitors for the cherished Bill of Rights prize. I haven't had a chance to confirm speakers for that event, however I am asking you to mark your calendars and to start advertising for the rally NOW. Please contact me if you have any ideas to make the next one even better.
My special thanks to:
Suzanna Gratia-Hupp for acting as our legislative sponsor;
Katherine Graham and the Armed Females of America for being our event sponsor;
Rick and Pam Stanley for driving thousands of miles from Denver to be our featured speaker;
Don Crawford for being our most passionate speaker, and for helping to advertise our event on his radio program.
Thanks to all of my other speakers for their efforts to defend our unalienable rights.
None of this would have been possible without their dedicated support.
Yours in Liberty,
Michael Badnarik
You remember reading about Rick Stanley who did the 1st Bill of Rights rally in Denver last December.
He has issued a challenge to have a monthly Bill of Rights rally in EVERY State Capitol, EVERY
month while we can still change things at the ballot box.
This was the 1st Bill of Rights rally held in Texas. The next one will be held on April 20th. I'm issuing
a challenge for all Central Texas Freepers to spend a couple of hours a month at the Bill of Rights rally
and tell your friends to be there too.
The way I figure it, we have 18 months of free speech left. Are we going to use this time to peacefully
fight back? Or are we going to roll over and die on our knees?
<trumpet fanfares>, how did the coverage turn out? Did they present you and yours in an objective light or, did you come off looking like a bunch of redneck nutcases?
The DC and Modesto Freepers have devoted EVERY Saturday on their freeps. We love reading the
reports but what are we doing in our area? We can do this once a month.
I was one of 3 Freepers there that I noticed. I only took 3 flags (the Come and Take It, the don't Tread
on me and the American flag UPSIDE DOWN) Since the Senate passed CFR I felt that we are in the
distress mode. The woman, Lisa, who held the American flag said that she didn't notice it at first and I
explained why it was upside down. Her husband held the Gadsden flag. My thanks to both of them for
the help. It makes a rally so much more enthusiastic.
Each speaker talked about one amendment at a time. Usually they quoted it and spoke about how it
should work but wasn't. It was very stirring and also makes you realize how well written the 10
amendments are.
There are about 80, 000 Freepers. I'm issuing a challenge to all of us. GO TO THE RALLIES in your
State. If you live in the State Capitol, start one every month, tell all the people that you talk to when it is
and get them to come.
I have been doing it like this... no matter who they are... if they have a beef with the Government is it
because the Congress, President isn't abiding by the Constitution? Pretty good guess is YES. So I just
tell them that they need to stand up for their rights and go to the next rally and tell them the date for it.
Can you imagine if we had a monthly rally going on in every State (maybe in several cities in every
State) for the next 18 months, wouldn't they have to notice?
Demand that the Congress return to the
Constitution and REPEAL all UN-Constitutional laws.
EVIL TRIUMPHS WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING.
As if the the giant rally of liberals that was taking place at the Exposition Center at the same time had no competition. The paper wrote about the "thousands" that attended that event, but said not a word about this one.
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