October 2019 A Magazine from FreedomWorks FREEDOM WORKING Impeachment?Impeachment? THE ISSUES THAT WILL DECIDE 2020 (PG 4) WHAT LIBERALS HAVE PLANNED FOR US ALL (PG 14) SAVING AMERICANS FROM SOCIALIST SNAKE OIL (PG 19) Contents 12 4 President’s Overview: The Issues for 2020 Adam Brandon, President 6 The Sound Money Caucus? David Voegtle, Program Coordinator 8 Big Win Secured Noah Wall, Vice President of Advocacy 12 Member of Congress Spotlight: Congressman Thomas Massie Jason Pye, Vice President of Legislative Affairs 14 Federal Update: What Liberals Have Planned For Us All Jason Pye, Vice President of Legislative Affairs 16 Today’s ‘Flat Earthers’ John Tamny, Vice President 18 Digital Day of Action 19 Saving Americans From Socialist Snake Oil Emily Stack, Director of Grassroots 16 6 14 30 20 Grassroots Spotlight: Miriam Chu Emily Stack, Director of Grassroots 22 One of Ours: Time for District Statehood and Representation? Adam Brandon, President 23 Worth Repeating: Importing Drug Prices Stephen Moore, Senior Economic Contributor 24 Put “The Swamp” on Notice Daniel Savickas, Regulatory Policy Manager 26 An Interview with Jim Lamon Phil Bell, Director of External Affairs 28 Fall Book Preview Adam’s Book Club 29 Partner Profile: Young Americans for Liberty Colby Bledsoe, Director of Campaigns 30 Activist Event Highlight: FreedomWorks Activists’ August Blitz Emily Stack, Director of Grassroots 29 PRESIDENT’S OVERVIEW: THE ISSUES FOR 2020 By Adam Brandon If we’re honest with ourselves, we all knew this moment would come – the moment when the Washington, D.C. “Swamp” would boil over with the fever of impeaching this President. After all, Donald Trump committed the ultimate political crime by defeating the Washington, D.C. “Swamp’s” chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton, in 2016. From then on, it seemed like a matter of “when” – not “if.” The first excuse was when the President fired FBI Director James Comey – who was memorably described as “Leaker of the Free World” by the New York Post Then, it was the Mueller Report that was supposed to doom this President. But that turned out to be nothing but a dud. Now that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) are pressing forward once again with impeachment, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is saying, “Impeachment is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned & placed in solitary confinement.” 4 FREEDOMWORKING It’s not just President Trump that’s drawing the ire of conservative voices – was caught worrying aloud that today’s radical Left. Senator Elizabeth Warren would win the White House! The one-year anniversary of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s On every issue – from the economy, to socialism versus confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court brought renewed free markets, to taxes, to the federal courts, to the Deep pressure by the Left to impeach him as well – buoyed by State, to immigration, to protecting the First Amendment – yet another laughable smear job by reporters for The New conservatives have reason to be optimistic. York Times. But it’s not going to happen without a fight – not with the Not long before, several Democrat Senators – including dirty tricks the opponents of freedom are now resorting to. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), The good news is, your support for FreedomWorks is Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Kirsten helping us lay the groundwork for a successful 2020. Gillibrand (D-NY) – sent a stunning threat to the U.S. In fact, in the following pages of this magazine, you’ll see Supreme Court. how your contributions are making a difference – whether With a new conservative majority, these Senators stated, that’s battling socialist price controls on prescription drugs, “The Supreme Court is not well. And people know it.” implementing our “Dirty Thirty” Campaign Plan to help take Then they proceeded to demand the court “heal” (i.e. back the House in 2020, our work educating the American follow left-wing marching orders) or “face restructuring.” people on free market economics through the Center for So what does all of this mean? Economic Freedom, or the Regulatory Action Center’s efforts It means that (if it wasn’t already near the top of the list) to unwind the Regulatory State. left-wing insanity just became one of the very biggest issues This magazine is reserved for investors as a way to on the docket as we head into 2020. say “thank you” for supporting us and show you how your For these radicals, impeaching the President and packing generosity is making an impact. the U.S. Supreme Court is just a “start.” I hope you like what you see. From there, they’ll ram through Alexandria Ocasio- With the impeachment battle raging and 2020 right Cortez’s “Green New Deal,” destroy American healthcare with around the corner, we’re counting on your support more than “Medicare for All,” and open our borders to ensure illegal ever. I know you understand the stakes. immigrants get the final say on who enters our country (not law-abiding Americans). And then they’ll ram through a massive anti-free speech Adam Brandon, President bill like H.R. 1 to ensure you and I can’t say a peep about it. Even Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg – who, along with other social media behemoths has worked to silence OCTOBER 2019 5 Re Photo: John Tamny (right) is pictured with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC). THE SOUND MONEY CAUCUS? THE CENTER FOR ECONOMIC FREEDOM HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL By David Voegtle When John Tamny joined FreedomWorks to serve as the toward this pressing issue for the American people, educating Director of the Center for Economic Freedom, he brought with lawmakers one by one to spread the gospel of sound money him a unique vision to reinvigorate discourse in Washington, D.C. when and where no one else is. about the importance of a sound, stable dollar. From there, CEF and FreedomWorks are working with these As Tamny saw it, the conversation about the wisdom of members to build a coalition in Congress dedicated to defining a sound, well-defined currency had faded to a whisper, the and thus stabilizing the dollar. champions of the cause all but gone silent. In the silence, a quiet From the beginning of this project, it was clear that John crisis had crept into the U.S. financial system – the dollar’s value, Tamny and CEF would have their work cut out for them. There once so reliable, was in a state of flux, largely due to its status as were no other groups making a significant effort to raise a “floating” currency. awareness on sound money issues in Congress. So Tamny and As Tamny understood, an unstable dollar discourages CEF would be going into Congress alone. investments by disrupting the real value of stock market Making the journey to Capitol Hill alone might have discouraged shares as the dollar’s value waxed and waned. The threat to the some people, but it only steeled Tamny’s resolve. Immediately, CEF American economy is real, yet hardly anyone talks about it. set to work developing a plan of action starting with research. Today, John Tamny and the Center for Economic Freedom Through an extensive study of committee assignments, (CEF) are taking the helm and steering the discussion back bill sponsorships, and press releases, CEF developed a list 6 FREEDOMWORKING Re of representatives and senators who might be receptive to a With the help of CEF, members of Congress looking to conversation about bringing stability back to the dollar. CEF address this issue would now have a partner willing to help make reached out to these offices to discuss sound money. this issue more of a priority. CEF, true to its goal of bringing As the CEF team began correspondence with offices on its free market principles to legislators in a bold new way, is Capitol Hill, it became apparent that there was a keen – if breaking new ground – and it’s only just getting started. untapped - interest in Congress about strengthening the dollar. By the end of July, CEF had held twenty-three meetings with In no time at all, John Tamny was scheduled for his first round of congressional offices, with eight more planned to take place meetings with more to follow soon after. after Congress’ summer recess. The meetings had demonstrated As Tamny entered the first round of meetings, it wasn’t clear plainly what John Tamny had suspected all along: that the idea of what CEF should expect. strengthening the dollar by tying it to something concrete could Would the offices be receptive to the case Tamny intended be brought back into the national conversation. to make for sound money, or would they reject it? Far from being a non-starter, many offices were eager to The answer became apparent almost immediately. As move forward and make sound money a part of their legislative the meetings continued, feedback from the offices was agenda. Some, like the office of Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), had consistent: that Tamny was one of the only, if not the only, even proposed bills of their own advocating a return to the gold visitor they ever had specifically discussing the topic of standard in Congress prior to meeting with Tamny. sound money. As Tamny visited office after office, another But before CEF’s meetings on Capitol Hill, these offices had consistency became evident: that this was an idea that could been working mostly independently of one another, assuming there gain traction on Capitol Hill. was no existing coalition to turn to on matters of sound money.