The American Freedom Agenda
has come forward with a
Freedom Pledge which has been endorsed by some Libertarian candidates, including Steve Kubby and George Phillies (in the comment section at LP blog). We hope all the other candidates sign it too.
LP Presidential nomination Candidates, supporters and staff, please let us know any other candidates you know who have signed it!
Freedom Pledge after the jump:
Freedom Pledge
I, (candidate), hereby pledge that if elected President of the United States I will undertake the following to restore the Constitution’s checks and balances, to honor fundamental protections against injustice, and to eschew usurpations oflegislative or judicial power.These are keystones of national security and individual freedom:
1. No Military Commissions Except on the Battlefield. I will not employ military commissions to prosecute offenses against the laws of war except in places where active hostilities are ongoing and a battlefield tribunal is necessary to obtain fresh testimony and to prevent local anarchy or chaos.
2. No Evidence Extracted by Torture or Coercion. I will not permit the use of evidence obtained by torture or coercion to be admissible in a military commission or other tribunal.
3. No Detaining Citizens as Unlawful Enemy Combatants. I will not detain any American citizen as an unlawful enemy combatant. Citizens accused of terrorism-linked crimes will be prosecuted in federal civilian courts.
4. RestoringHabeas Corpus for Suspected Alien Enemy Combatants. I will detain non-citizens as enemy combatants only if they have actively participated in actual hostilities against the United States. I will urge Congress to amend the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to permit any individual detained under the custody or control of the United States government to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal courts.
5. Prohibiting Warrantless Spying bythe National Security Agency in Violation of Law. I will prohibit the National Security Agency from gathering foreign intelligence except in conformity with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and end the NSA’s domestic surveillance program that targets American citizens on American soil for warrantless electronic surveillance.
6. Renouncing Presidential Signing Statements. I will not issue presidential signing statements declaring the intent to disregard provisions of a bill that I have signed into law because I believe they are unconstitutional. Instead, I will veto any bill that I believe contains an unconstitutional provision and ask Congress to delete it and re-pass the legislation.
7. Ending Secret Government by Invoking State Secrets Privilege. I will not invoke the state secrets privilege to deny remedies to individuals victimized by constitutional violations perpetrated by government officials or agents. I will not assert executive privilege to deny Congress information relevant to oversight or legislation unless supreme state secrets are involved. In that case, I will submit the privilege claim to a legislative-executive committee for definitive resolution.
8. Stopping Extraordinary Renditions. I will order the cessation of extraordinary renditions except where the purpose of the capture and transportation of the suspected criminal is for prosecution according to internationally accepted standards of fairness and due process.
9. Stopping Threats to Prosecuting Journalists under the Espionage Act. I will urge Congress to amend the Espionage Act to create a journalistic exception for reporting on matters relating to the national defense. As a matter of prosecutorial discretion, until such an amendment is enacted I will not prosecute journalists for alleged Espionage Act violations except for the intentional disclosure of information that threatens immediate physical harm to American troops or citizens at home or abroad.
10. Ending the Listing of Individuals or Organizations as Terrorists Based on Secret Evidence. I will not list individuals or organizations as foreign terrorists or foreign terrorist organizations for purposes of United States or international law based on secret evidence.
I will issue a public report annually elaborating on how the actions enumerated in paragraphs 1-10 have strengthened the ability of the United States to defeat international terrorism, secure fundamental freedoms, and preserve the nation’s democratic dispensation.
___________________________
(Candidate)
Date: ______________________
Less
aynrkey
bostonteapartygoer
Kenn Jacobine
mattdharris
Mike Seebeck
Miche
paulie
Jim Davidson
ponggod
Stuart Richards
Todd Andrew Barnett
The very first to sign the Freedom Pledge was Congressman Ron Paul. In fact, he signed it live on C-SPAN during the announcement of its creation.
Oh, while I’m thinking about it. Ron Paul made it onto Fox News’s Because You Asked segment the other day. The campaign had their list email the segment producer, and since they received hundreds of emails all on the same day, they put him on.
You may consider this, Paulie, for Kubby’s campaign. The entire purpose of the segment is to feature whatever they get a bunch of emails about.
I am going to do a public signing:
I call your attention to the American Freedom Agenda
http://americanfreedomagenda.org . The American Freedom Agenda seeks to end Presidential usurpation of powers that rightly belong to other
branches of government.
Its mechanism is the Freedom Pledge, to be taken by Presidential
Candidates. You can read the pledge at
http://americanfreedomagenda.org/about/freedompledge.htm
This Saturday, through the generosity of Kevin Roll, I am staging a
meet-the-candidate event in Pembroke, New Hampshire.
At the event, I will publicly sign the pledge. It’s a historic event.
Please bring your cameras and cam-corders.
I look forward to meeting all New Hampshire Libertarians, in particular
the fine Libertarians who were willing to Stand Up For Liberty and run
for office, or helped their friends to run.
The meet-the-candidate reception will be 6 PM – 10 PM on Saturday, March
24, 2007 at the home of Kevin Roll, 110 N Pembroke Rd, Pembroke, NH.
Light refreshments will be served.
George,
Right on!
Can’t make it to NH this time but hopefully I’ll see you in TN.
It was good talking to you and good job in the debate!
I like the idea of a public signing. Tom, if you’re reading this, what do you think?
I know Steve is focusing more on the situation in Mendo right now, but
county sheriffs can nullify federal abuses of power like some of the ones mentioned in the freedom agenda as well as the ones at issue in the local race. Any way we can tie the two together to our benefit?
I like the idea, too, and congratulate George on the approach he’s taking. Steve’s already signed and mailed the pledge, and publicly said so, but there may be other opportunities to publicly promote it.
What would be REALLY neat is if AFA would produce analogous pledges for different offices and “levels” of governance, so that officials and candidates for office could appear together and publicly sign/promote/discuss “their” versions (for example, an LP presidential or congressional candidate, a mayor and a county sheriff, all on the same stage).
Let’s brainstorm this some.
Why wait for the AFA? Web 2.0 that schtick; make the pledge-signing an open/chain letter to all candidates. Request that each who sign it make it a public act. Get LP spinnage on this!
Then inform the AFA and ask them to jump on-board.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear four prominent conservatives (Former Reagan Deputy Attorney General Bruce Fein, conservative founder of the direct mail movement Richard Viguerie, American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene, and former Republican Congressman Bob Barr) criticize the Bush administration to the extent they did and made such impassioned pleas in favor of restoring our civil liberties.
I have a partial transcript of the event over at The Coming Realignment.
This is a very good idea. Kudos to Paul, Kubby and Phillies.
According to a news release I just read Christine Smith has also signed it.
*March 20 – Signed The American Freedom Agenda’s Freedom Pledge.