(The beauty of the Death Tax is they can only get you once with that one.)

Democrats say the Republicans are the party of "NO." I pray they are right. I pray we can get the Republicans to finally say no. Your help is necessary in this fight. Your nation is calling you.

JC

Recruitment Message to New Potential Members:

You have been chosen by a friend to receive this email because they believe you regard freedom and liberty as more than just words. In recent months I've seen unprecedented changes beginning in this country, changes that years ago I would have thought impossible. I see behavior from our elected officials, as well as the general citizenry, I would never have believed possible. It seems our leaders have begun regarding the Constitution as no more than words on paper, not our basis of government, not the greatest document to come from the minds of Man. I've heard congressmen on television actually state they didn't care what the law said. (These are people who write the laws!) The increased regulation (also called government control) and proposed taxes currently moving through the state and federal legislatures frighten the hell out me. As someone who has recently re-read 1984 and Atlas Shrugged, I'm afraid of what America will look like in the near future.

In the past Democrats and Republicans had their differences, but both parties seemed to grasp the fundamental greatness of this country and the principles on which it was founded: free markets, free enterprise, individual liberty, freedom to pursue happiness and equality for all under the law. For two-hundred years they both rushed to protect it from foreign aggression without hesitation. They were two flavors of the same America. It seems those days are over. One party is no longer listening to the People, the other listens, but has not the guts to plead the People's case.

You have been chosen for an exercise in Free Speech called the Friends of Liberty. This forum has been in existence since Spring of 2009 with roughly 70 members participating from all over the country. We regard 2010 as a critical year for our Republic and wish our forum to reach the ears of as many Americans as possible.

Weekly, I send out an editorial email with insights on where this country is going. Some will consist of my personal thoughts, others will be quotes from famous Americans from history and later on perhaps thoughts from members of this group. These emails are intended to stimulate thought. You may not agree with the opinions expressed, but I hope the words will at least help you understand why you don't agree with them. Maybe we can all learn something in the process.

Please feel free to reply to my emails with your comments. If desired, I'll remove your name from your response , but now is not the time for timid hearts. I will bunch them together in a sort of "agreement/rebuttal" message and re-email them to the group. I'm hoping these emails will create a "forum" in which we can all be heard and real debate can commence. If there is a particularly good rebuttal piece, I may make it the topic of the next week's message if it looks like it may stimulate debate.

Since I no longer believe the mainstream media can report political issues in an objective manner, I hope we as ordinary citizens can present our personal opinions on the issues of the day free of personal political agendas. That's not to say we should not discuss political parties. On the contrary. I'd like to see real debate on what the two parties stand for, the policies they promote and the rationale for those policies. I'd like to debate policy, not personality. I'd like to see debate over results of policy versus intent of policy. I believe we can be creditably critical of Democrats and Republicans since as far as I know none of us are running for office or have "skin in the game", as our president likes to say.

I am "blind carbon-copying" my emails to the group to prevent "reply to all" abuse. The one thing that will kill this group faster than the Gestapo or the Thought Police is getting inundated with fifty unread emails every time we log on. I will be the only one to send email to the group and then it will consist of no more than two per week, an initial message and an agreement/rebuttal response five or six days later. Be assured all responses will be included in the "agreement/rebuttal" email. If you would like to write your own editorial, send it to me and I'll put it in the queue for the weekly email. Please keep it short and to the point. Feel free to forward these messages to whomever you like. You may include my address when you forward and I'll add that person to the group if desired. Currently there are roughly 100 people in this group.

This group will be called the Friends of Liberty and the emails will come with that in the subject line. It will continue until the group no longer wishes to participate or the Government shuts us down due to the repeal of the First Amendment. If you'd like to be removed from the group, let me know at any time.

Note: Only emails from jimclonts@jimclonts.com are the true Friends of Liberty communications. To avoid viruses and being infiltrated by idiots, immediately delete any email with Friends of Liberty in the subject line and not from my address.

Thanks.

Jim Clonts

A little about me:

I grew up in a small town in Missouri and came from a fairly typical blue-collar, Democrat family. By degree I'm a mechanical engineer. I spent ten years serving as an officer in the United States Air Force, flew eight combat missions in Desert Storm, have spent 2500 hours sitting in a B-52 and can navigate by the stars (that and $1.85 will get you coffee at Starbucks). I worked briefly in both the automotive and aerospace industries and have spent the last ten years working as an engineer and environmental manager in the food manufacturing industry. I'm a private pilot, a mostly undiscovered author of two books and have earned a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I'm not a politician, not an elected official, not a wealthy man, nor do I have degrees in political science, law or economics. I've never served in a think tank, never made the upper tax brackets and never worked as a consultant, political or otherwise. I did not grow up on either coast and no one would consider me an elitist. I have no ambition to run for political office or control the minds and lives of millions.

Welcome to: JimClonts.Com E-mail: b52radar@jimclonts.com