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Fulton "Freedom Movement" Growing, Divided
publication date: Apr 18, 2009
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author/source: Maggie Lee / Staff
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"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," goes an aphorism attributed to Samuel Adams. The founding father's supposed words are echoing through Georgia these days. U.S. Representative Tom Price (R-GA) declared them on Fox TV during the Atlanta Tea Party on April 15. And Ike Hall, the state leader of a group called Campaign for Liberty, uses the very same quote to describe his group's mission. Georgia Libertarian Party operations director Anthony Trauring has a word for the philosophy behind the maxim, one that his party shares, the "freedom movement." It's "anybody who believes in defined, limited government and that, all other things being equal, decisions belong to the individual," Trauring says. His definition sums up a considerable ideological overlap among the Libertarian Party, part of the Republican Party and smaller groups like Campaign for Liberty that are offspring of the Ron Paul would-be revolution. Yet if the freedom movement is growing like supporters say, it's also divided on strategy - and faces an 18-month slog to keep up energy before the next election. Starting closest to the center, the philosophy calls for smaller taxes and government and the strictest interpretation of the Constitution. The "fair tax" - a retail sales tax instead of federal income taxes - is popular. Some want to abolish the Federal Reserve bank and return to a commodity-backed currency, similar to the gold standard phased out through the 20th century. "Freedom" issues are also popular. Depending on the person, it could mean unrestricted gun ownership, decriminalized drugs, volunteer-only juries or all of that. And many think the U.S. should revert to a George Washington-style isolationist foreign policy. Public education makes the hit list for some: the federal Department of Education needs to go in favor of state control at least, or even that should get axed in favor of all-private education. "PAULIES" "We got so many new members" after Ron Paul lost the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says the Libertarians' Trauring. One result is that a group of North Fulton Libertarians are organizing for official affiliate status. At the start, it may not mean much more than a monthly dinner of like-minded citizens, but the affiliates are the Party's unit of grass-roots organizations, according to Trauring, and will start the work of educating their neighbors. The Campaign for Liberty on the other hand is nearly brand new - it's a nationwide organization also started after Ron Paul's presidential demise and dedicated to continuing his "revolution." "Things haven't yet started to gel in the outreach campaign," admits Hall, the C4L state coordinator. Local coordinators are in charge of that, and C4L has only 78 so far statewide, he continues. Education is C4L's goal, Hall says; they're not planning to become a political party or do endorsements. But they're going with a strategy that the Libertarians reject: try to work inside the Republican Party. "That's a means to an end," explains Hall. Paul, an ex-Libertarian, is a Republican U.S. Representative from Texas and ran for that party's presidential nomination in 2008. "Paulies" constitute a very small minority in the GOP. "Five percent if we're lucky," Hall estimates. Indeed, the Fulton County Republican Party declined to read a C4L-backed resolution at its 2009 convention that would have pledged them to press for a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Resolutions, however, are more normally uncontroversial items like honoring long-standing party members. GOP A MORE VIABLE BET? Yet Hall thinks the GOP is a better bet than the Libertarians. "The Libertarian Party has not proven an effective vehicle to get people in office," he says. But for Trauring, the "establishment" Republican Party exemplified by the likes of George Bush shows that the "decision to create a new party seems more and more sensible as time goes by." The Republicans are perhaps past reform. Or maybe not. "The taxpayers are always more libertarian than the tax spenders," suggests state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), one of the sponsors of the Atlanta Tea Party.
And plenty of Republicans came to preach the gospel of smaller government to the Tea Party - a "fair tax" demonstration also locally funded by the likes of House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), Roswell state Representative Harry Geisinger and the Libertarian Party. Yet the seemingly quixotic quest of working outside the Goliaths of the two-party system is something the Davids seem comfortable with. "We'll shake hands with anyone who agrees with us on an issue," says Trauring. Democrat, Republican, even Campaign for Liberty. "The difference is strategy," that's all, he says. Hall admits C4L are not the kind of people who compromise - a tactic absolutely necessary in the two-party horse trading world - and so they might never achieve electoral success. But as for what the other parties do, "if there's a compromise in the direction of less government, we'll celebrate it." CLICK HERE FOR THE "TEA PARTY" STORY |
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