Good morning! My name is Rick Stanley. I'm a Libertarian candidate for the office of United States Senator, to be chosen at the election next November. I'm also a businessman. I own and operate Stanley Fasteners and Shop Supply, in Denver. I've been in business in Colorado for twenty-seven years. So I bring a businessman's perspective to this race.

I'd like to thank my good friend Tom Leeper for inviting me to speak to all of you this morning. Thanks, Tom.

Today, I'd like to tell you why I'm running for the U.S. Senate. I want to talk about the things that have made America the greatest nation on earth. I want to discuss the many ways in which our government has gotten seriously off track, and why we're in danger of losing the heritage of freedom which is our most precious possession. And finally, I want to tell you about the plans I have to set our government on a better course after I've been sworn in as your Senator.

How many of you remember the Atwater case? That case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last April. It involved a woman from Texas. She was driving down the road one day, and something fell out the window -- I think it was a pair of sunglasses, but I don't remember exactly. Anyway, she told her kids to unbuckle their seatbelts, and to look out the window as she backed the car up slowly. She wanted them to help her find the glasses.

A police officer saw her backing up with the kids' seatbelts unbuckled. He pulled her over and wrote her a ticket. She objected. So he placed her under arrest and took her to jail in handcuffs.

Now a seatbelt violation in Texas is a minor traffic offense. The law provides that a driver can be fined for not wearing one. But there's nothing in Texas law that says a person can go to jail for failure to buckle up. Mrs. Atwater felt that her rights had been violated. So she appealed her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And last April the Court made its ruling. They said that the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures, had not been violated when Mrs. Atwater was arrested, and jailed, and searched, for a minor traffic offense.

In other words, if you break a law, even a minor law for which the maximum penalty does not include any jail time, the police can arrest you and throw you in jail. And once you're under arrest, they can search your person, and your property. They can hold you in jail overnight. Broken taillight. Headlight out. Missing sideview mirror. Even a cracked windshield. It doesn't matter. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, it's OK for the police to handcuff you, and strip search you, and throw you in jail overnight for any of those minor traffic offenses.

America is supposed to be a nation of laws. We're supposed to be a free country, and the Bill of Rights is supposed to protect the citizens from abuses of governmental power. The Atwater decision changed all that. Now we live in a police state. Even when the law says the government cannot imprison you for a minor offense, it's OK for the government to throw you in jail. What a joke! The Bill of Rights is meaningless if the police can throw anyone in jail, whether the law allows them to, or not.

The Atwater decision is what made me decide to run for the U.S. Senate. I love this country. I love my family. I don't want my grandchildren to grow up in a police state. I want them to live in a free country. And this brings up my second point: the things about our government that have made America the greatest nation on earth.

People generally agree that America is the greatest nation on earth. But most of us don't spend much time thinking about the things that make our country great. Is it the people? Yes, partly. Is it our abundant natural resources? Yes, partly. But the greatest thing about America, the thing that has set us apart from all the rest of the world, is our heritage of freedom.

The men who founded our country were very wise. They knew that freedom is the most essential ingredient in any recipe for human happiness. Thomas Jefferson put it very well when he said:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The original American formula for government was very powerful. It started with the idea of individual liberty. People have rights. They cannot be happy unless they are free to pursue their own happiness. We do need a government. But the purpose of government is not to tell everyone what to do. The purpose of government is to secure people's rights. People are responsible for their own happiness. The government cannot make them happy, or prosperous. All it can really do is ensure that the criminals among us, those who would steal, or rape, or commit murder, are brought under control and prevented from violating the rights of peaceful people. As to the rest, it is up to people, acting freely and responsibly, to create a harmonious society.

And this, I contend, is what makes America a great nation. Individual liberty -- the idea that each person is free to pursue his own happiness in his own way, provided only that he doesn't hurt other people in the process. Personal responsibility -- the idea that each one of us owns the consequences of his own actions. Limited government -- the idea that government exists only to protect the equal rights of every citizen, and not to favor one class or group of people over another.

Now all human progress is driven by the actions of individuals. We may speak of the activities of nations, or states, or ethnic groups, but in the end what counts is individual human beings and the choices they make. The original American system of government had this concept straight. People were free to make their own choices. They were also stuck with the consequences of their own actions. Make a good choice and get ahead. Make a bad choice and suffer. The options were clear. And the results were spectacular. During the 1800's, our nation grew tremendously. Poor people came here by the millions. Most of them prospered under the American regime. Our population swelled, and our wealth increased, and America became a shining example of hope and freedom and justice for all the world to see.

But some people weren't content with a world in which each individual is free to make his own choices, and to learn from his own mistakes. They saw poverty in the midst of plenty. They saw ignorant people making bad decisions. They decided to use the force of government not just to prevent criminal activity, but to rectify social problems. And this is how our government went seriously off track.

Let's take the drug war as an example. A hundred years ago, there were no illegal drugs in America. Cocaine and heroin existed, sure. But there were no laws against them. Anyone could walk into a drugstore and buy them. A few people were addicted to these substances, but not many. The responsibility to avoid harmful drugs lay with the individual, where it belongs. And most people acted responsibly, and avoided these addictive drugs.

Then the social reformers came along. They decided to impose their own moral values on other people. They took a personal responsibility issue and turned it into a criminal activity by passing laws against the production, distribution, and consumption of narcotics.

The results were predictable. Criminals saw an opportunity to make money. So long as addictive drugs were legal, there was no point in pushing them on unsuspecting children. The drugs were cheap. There wasn't any money in it. But once the government had passed the drug laws, an obscenely profitable black market became possible. With the price of heroin a thousand times higher than it had been before the laws were passed, the criminal element had a huge incentive to push drugs, to get people hooked on them, and to reap gigantic monetary rewards.

Look where we are today. Every year we spend more and more money fighting the War on Drugs. Every year more and more of our young people get hooked on them. The government demands more money to hire more DEA agents and build more prisons. They pass asset forfeiture laws. They disregard the Bill of Rights. Policemen burst into innocent people's homes in the middle of the night, based on misinformation from anonymous informants. And why? Because we took a personal responsibility issue and tried to solve it by passing a law.

There is no constitutional authority for the drug laws. That didn't stop the social reformers. They enacted their feel-good legislation without respecting the Constitution. Look what a mess they made!

Here's another example. It's called Social Security, and Medicare. When we grow old and feeble, we can't work as hard as we did when we were younger. That is part of the human condition.

When Americans were responsible for their own welfare, they saved for their own old age. Some people were profligate and dissolute. They didn't save any money, so they were always poor. But most people had more sense than that. They saved for their old age. Families stuck together. Churches and charities provided a safety net for the unfortunate. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Personal responsibility lay with the individual, where it belongs.

Look out! Here come the social reformers, eager to pass another unconstitutional law. "Let us take care of you in your old age," they said. "We'll put a tax on everybody who's working, and we'll use the money to support the elderly. Here, let us rob Peter to pay Paul."

The American people very stupidly went along with this idea. For years it seemed to be working. But then reality set in. The baby-boomers came along, and grew up, and started working. In another ten years or so they'll start to retire. And then the system will go bankrupt.

The crisis in medical care is even more immediate. Health care expenditures consume something like 12% of our entire national income. The costs keep going up. The quality is still good, but more and more doctors are complaining that their hands are tied by miles of red tape. They're drowning in oceans of bureaucratic regulations. And why? Because the social reformers took a personal responsibility issue and tried to solve it by passing an unconsti-tutional law. Look what a mess they made!

I could multiply these examples endlessly, but why bother? Many of you are in business. You know what I'm talking about. Look at all the government rules you have to contend with. Minimum wage laws. Withholding taxes. Unemploy-ment insurance. Rules for overtime. The EEOC. OSHA. Workmen's comp. The EPA. The list is endless. Every time you turn around, there's another government agent telling you how to run your business. And if you do manage to eke out a profit at the end of the year? There's the IRS, with their greedy hands in your pocket.

Every one of the government programs I just mentioned is unconstitutional. And if you examine them closely, you'll see that a personal responsibility issue is involved in every case, as well. Why can't I hire somebody for $4 an hour? If they want to go to work for that much money, why should the government stop them? Can't my employees make their own choices, and be responsible for their own welfare? Why should I withhold taxes from their wages? Aren't they personally responsible for paying their own taxes? Why should I be paying for their unemployment insurance? Shouldn't they be responsible for paying their own insurance premiums? And so forth. I'm sure you get the picture.

Now that I've explained how our government ought to work, and what's gone wrong with it, there's only one thing left to talk about: what I plan to do to fix it once I've been sworn in as your Senator.

I've got several new ideas about things I can do to start our government moving back in the right direction. You can read about these proposals in more detail at the Stanley for Senate web site. That's www.stanley2002.org. Here are a few of the proposals I'm bringing to the table.

• Most of the problems I've outlined are caused by unconstitutional laws. I will never vote in favor of an unconstitutional law. But I'm going farther than that. I want to establish a new Citizens Constitution Court, which will enable ordinary citizens to challenge -- and repeal -- any law they think is unconstitutional.
  
• The federal government has built a lot of subsidized housing projects. All those HUD housing programs are unconstitutional. I am proposing a New Homestead Act that will get the government out of the housing business, and give ordinary people a way to claim a piece of America as their own, all at the same time.
  
• Our criminal justice system is in sad shape, largely because juries do not function the way they ought to. I am proposing new legislation requiring all federal judges to inform the jurors in every criminal case that they have the right and the duty to judge the law itself.
  
• The Internal Revenue Code is a mess. It's also unconstitutional. I want to repeal the income tax, and replace it with a national sales tax that will be phased out gradually. The federal government should be much smaller than it is. My plan allows for a gradual transition from today's huge, bloated government to the small, streamlined government envisioned in the Constitution.
  
• I've already told you what's wrong with Social Security. The government must give the money back to the workers -- now. Under my proposal, people who have already retired will continue to receive Social Security benefits. Those who are still working will get their money back, in the form of retirement accounts. Each worker will be responsible for deciding how their own money should be invested. And they will be free to decide when they want to retire.

As I said, you can read more about these proposals, and about my stand on all the issues, at my web site -- www.stanley2002.org.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Why should I believe this guy? Politicians are always promising us the sun, the moon, and the stars. But once they get in office, it's always the same old story. They never do what they've promised."

Well, I've got news for you. I put my money where my mouth is. I'm not waiting to be elected to do something about unconstitutional laws. I've already started my own civil disobedience project.

One of the most important rights Americans have is the right of self defense. It's your life, and you're responsible for preserving it. That's why you have the natural, essential, and unalienable right to keep and bear arms. I'm not saying you have to own a gun. But if you want to, you can. The government cannot constitutionally deny your Second Amendment right.

The city of Denver has passed an unconstitutional ordinance, known as Chapter 38-117.5(b) of the Revised Municipal Code. This purported "law" says that nobody except police officers can carry a gun inside the city limits.

I have challenged that ordinance. On Saturday, December 15, I made a speech about Americans' right to keep and bear arms. In public. I carried a pistol in a holster. Openly. I was arrested by the Denver police, and I spent 27 hours in jail before I was released on bail. I did this on purpose -- to draw public attention to this particular unconstitutional "law," and to obtain legal standing to sue the city of Denver and get the ordinance overturned in court. I have entered a plea of not guilty, and I have demanded a jury trial. My next court date is set for January 30th.

Ask yourself this. When was the last time you heard of a political candidate who was willing to go to jail to overturn an unconstitutional law? You skeptics out there are right. Talk is cheap. But I'm not just talking about changing unconstitutional laws. I'm already out there doing something about it.

I'm also promoting a series of public rallies all across America, where people will demand that the government begin the process of repealing all the unconstitutional laws that are on the books today. The next rally will be held on Saturday, January 19th. The one after that is set for February the 23rd. If you'd like to join us at the rally next Saturday, you're certainly welcome. It will begin at noon, in Lincoln Park, just west of the state Capitol. Just off Lincoln Street, between 14th and Colfax. It will last for about an hour.

That's the Stanley campaign. I'm aiming to restore the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Please vote for me next November. Join my campaign to repeal thousands upon thousands of unconstitutional laws. Let's reclaim America's heritage of freedom. Thank you.