2-Invited Speakers

The following speakers have been invited:  Representative Ron Paul, radio host, author, and filmmaker, Mike Church, Dr. Tom Woods–best-selling author of “Nullification”, Bruce Fein, former Reagan administration associate deputy attorney general and author of “American Empire: Before the Fall”, Kevin Gutzman–best-selling author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution”,  Thomas DiLorenzo–best-selling author of “Hamilton’s Curse” and “How Capitalism Saved America”, Brion McClanahan, best-selling author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers”, Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism official and contributing editor to “The American Conservative”,  Tom Mullen, author of “A Return to Common Sense“,  Senator Carey Baker–Senate sponsor of Amendment 9, The Healthcare Freedom Act, Representative Scott Plakon–House sponsor of Amendment 9, The Healthcare Freedom Act, Peter Gemma CFRE, free lance writer and professional fund raiser, Kirk Shelley, Senior Campaign for Liberty consultant and Your Political Guru,

Ron Paul (CONFIRMED) is an American physician and Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas. Paul is a member of the Liberty Caucus of Republican congressmen which aims to limit the size and scope of the federal government, and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Committee on Financial Services, where he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policy. He has gained notoriety for his right-libertarian positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republican and Democratic Party leaders. Paul has run for President of the United States twice, first in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again in 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination.

He is the founder of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including End the Fed (2009), and The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008).

By one measure, Paul has the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937.  Paul has been the subject of speculation as a possible candidate for President of the United States in 2012.

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Mike Church (Confirmed) is a radio talk show host, author, filmmaker, and singer/songwriter. He is best known for his ability to skewer liberalism with the in-depth conservative analysis that only he can provide.  Church can currently be heard daily on Sirius XM Radio – Sirius Patriot 144 and XM America Right 166. Church is also credited with creating a library of original conservative-themed parody songs.  Most recently, Church’s “Mr. Jefferson,” became a hit song and video.  “Mr. Jefferson” racked up nearly 200,000 views on YouTube.com – in the first week of release alone. That is, before it got banned from YouTube for reasons the site has never been able to explain. The song was also tapped as the theme song for hundreds of “Tax Day Tea Party” rallies across the country.

Church is also the writer, producer, and actor behind the documentaries: “Road to Independence” (the story of the Declaration of Independence), “The Fame of Our Fathers: How Immortality Inspired Our Constitution,” and “The Spirit of ’76.” The Mike Church Band has released a successful string of albums including UnAmerican Idiots (2005), Libs on the Run (2007), and The White Album (2008).  To learn more about the world of Mike Church, www.MikeChurch.com.

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Thomas E. Woods, Jr., (CONFIRMED) is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is the author of ten books, most recently Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse and The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, as well as Who Killed the Constitution? The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush (with Kevin R.C. Gutzman), Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass, 33 Questions About American History You’re Not Supposed to Ask, How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, and The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. His critically acclaimed 2004 book The Church Confronts Modernity was recently released in paperback by Columbia University Press. A collection of Woods’ essays, called W obronie zdrowego rozsadku, was released exclusively in Polish in 2007. Woods’ books have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Polish, French, German, Czech, Portuguese, Croatian, Russian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.

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John Tate (CONFIRMED) is a long-time political operative who has spent the last 26 years working in the political, lobbying and non-profit world in the areas of high dollar fund raising, direct mail, political strategy, grassroots activism and non-profit management.

He is the founder and President of JFT Consulting, Inc. a consulting firm that specializes in political strategy, fund raising and grassroots lobbying.  John served as the National Political Director for The Ron Paul Presidential Campaign Committee and is currently President of Campaign for Liberty.

Prior to joining Campaign for Liberty, John served as the Vice President, Membership for the Leadership Institute.  He spent 14 years with the National Right to Work Committee, serving as Vice President from 1998 to 2004.  Prior to NRWC John was Executive Director of Right to Work organizations in California and Delaware, and was Legislative Director of the United States Defense Committee.

He is a sought-after speaker on winning political technology and grass-roots mobilization at the local, state and national level and is author of The Grassroots Activist Manual.

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Tom DiLorenzo (Confirmed) is an American economics professor at Loyola University Maryland.  He is an adherent of the Austrian School of Economics. He is a senior faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and an affiliated scholar of the League of the South Institute, the research arm of the League of the South and the Abbeville Institute.  He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech.

DiLorenzo has authored at least ten books, including The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, Hamilton’s Curse: How Jefferson’s Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution–and What It Means for Americans Today, How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present, and Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed To Know about Dishonest Abe. DiLorenzo has spoken out in favor of the secession of the Confederate States of America, defending its right to secede in a view similar to that of abolitionist Lysander Spooner.  He has also criticized the crediting of the New Deal for ending the Great Depression.

DiLorenzo lectures widely, and is a frequent speaker at Mises Institute events.

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Kevin Gutzman (Confirmed) is an American historian, Constitutional scholar, and New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution. He is a professor of the Department of History and Non-Western Cultures at Western Connecticut State University. He is an outspoken critic of excessive power of the Supreme Court. His views have been characterized as libertarian, conservative, anti-Federalist, and pro-states’ rights.

Gutzman’s expertise is in Constitutional history, Southern history, and the Middle Period of American history, 1760–1877. Gutzman has published widely on related matters, both historic and topical. His teaching interests include the American Revolution, the Age of Jefferson, Antebellum United States, Southern History, and American Constitutional History.

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Bruce Fein (Confirmed) — constitutional lawyer, scholar, and former Reagan administration official – in his new book, “American Empire: Before the Fall”, shows how nation-building, policing the world, and casting off the Constitution’s restraints solidifies tyranny at home, devastates the economy, and increases the threats to our national security.  In this struggle for liberty, reining in our foreign policy is key to returning to a constitutional government at home. His powerfully articulated arguments will arm C4L members with the knowledge needed to successfully promote and defend a constitutional foreign policy.

Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for The Washington Times, Slate.com, The New York Times, Legal Times, and is active on the issues of civil liberties. He has also worked for the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks, as an analyst and commentator.  Under President Ronald Reagan, Fein served as an associate deputy attorney general and as general counsel to the Federal Communications Commission.

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Philip Giraldi (Confirmed) is a former military intelligence and CIA counter-terrorism official, who served 19 years in Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Spain, was Chief of Base in Barcelona from 1989 to 1992, was designated the Agency’s senior officer for Olympic Games support, and served as official liaison to the Spanish Security and Intelligence services.  He is a partner in Cannistraro Associates, the co-publisher of Intelligence Brief and writes “Deep Background” for “The American Conservative”.

He is designated as an expert on the impact of illegal immigration on terrorism by the General Accountability Office.  As a counter-terrorism expert, he has assisted the Port Authority of the City of New York, the United Nations security organization, the United States Merchant Marine, international airports and ports in Latin America and Asia, and was one of the first civilians in post-Taliban Afghanistan. He has assisted multinational corporations in upgrading security to help them comply with the Patriot Act.  Phil is also engaged in security consulting for a number of Fortune 500 corporate clients.

Check out Phil’s latest article on “Obama’s War on the Internet and the New Ministry of Truth”.

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Brion McClanahan (Confirmed) holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of South Carolina and is the author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers” (Regnery, 2009).  He was Clyde Wilson’s last doctoral student.  He has appeared on over forty radio programs and has written for Humanevents.com, Townhall.com, LewRockwell.com, ConstitutingAmerica.org, and TheTenthAmendmentCenter.com.  He has lectured across the Southeast on American history and the founding tradition of the United States and currently teaches history at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Phenix City, Alabama.”

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Senator Carey Baker (CONFIRMED) is a gun shop owner, active First Sergeant in the Florida Army National Guard, and current Republican State Senator from Florida. He has served as a State Senator from the 20th Senate District since 2004. Before serving as Florida State Senator, Baker served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000-2004.

This session, Senator Baker is the Senate Sponsor of the Florida Health Care Freedom Act, the Florida Firearms Freedom Act and the 10th Amendment Resolution. These bills are Senator Baker’s response to encroaching federal influence in state policy. More information can be found at www.flfreedom.org.

When Baker was 18 years old, he joined the family business, the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop. The A.W. Peterson Gun Shop is the oldest gun shop in the United States, and has been owned and operated by the Baker family for over 50 years. In addition to joining the family business at 18, Baker also joined the Army National Guard. He is still an active member, having served over 28 years and having attained the rank of First Sergeant. In 2003, while a Member of the Florida House of Representatives, Baker was deployed to combat missions in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was the first state or federal elected official to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom while in office. His colleagues tied a yellow ribbon around Baker’s chair which remained in place until his safe return.

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Representative Scott Plakon (CONFIRMED) is a Longwood, Florida CEO and publisher and Republican politician who serves as the representative for District 37 of the House of Representatives of the State of Florida. He was first elected to the Florida House in 2008.  He will be re-elected for a second term this November as he is unopposed.

This session, Representative Plakon was a House Sponsor of the Florida Health Care Freedom Act, the Florida Firearms Freedom Act and the 10th Amendment Resolution. These bills are Representative Plakon’s response to encroaching federal influence in state policy. More information can be found at www.flfreedom.org.

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Peter B. Gemma, CFRE (CONFIRMED) is an award winning free lance writer and a long time political activist. A columnist with Middle American News, he is a contributing editor to The Social Contract Quarterly and has written for a variety of publications including USA Today (where more than 100 of his commentaries have appeared), Military History magazine, The Washington Examiner, The New American, Human Events, The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, and The Quarterly Review (England).

In a 25 year career as a fund raiser, Peter Gemma provided counsel to diverse non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and political campaigns. His experience ranges from creating a voter contact mail programs to managing capital campaigns.  His clientele included the American Institute for Cancer Research, commentator G. Gordon Liddy, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, pundit Joseph Sobran, and the Wildfowl Trust of North America.

His political involvement includes being elected as a Delegate to the 1992 Republican National Convention (appointed to the platform committee), and serving as a senior staff member for the Pat Buchanan 2000 Reform Party presidential campaign. The Southern Poverty Law Center asserts that Peter Gemma is “a seasoned Republican campaign manager who has championed many conservative causes over the years.” He is a board member of a number of policy and political organizations including the American Conservative Defense Alliance.

Peter Gemma recently moved from Washington, D.C. to Sarasota, and now works primarily as a writer while providing fund raising consulting services.

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Kirk Shelley (CONFIRMED) has been working in politics for over 25 years.  He is a Senior Consultant with Campaign for Liberty and is a master in the field of grassroots mobilization. He has extensive expertise in building grassroots organizations, leading successful legislative campaigns, and winning statewide and Congressional political campaigns across the country.

Mr. Shelley has a unique political philosophy and approach to campaign tactics and strategies. His course will provide you with the tools necessary to maximize your effectiveness in a way only a few grassroots schools offer in the country.     This training will help you become more effective and master the political process at the local, state, and national level.

So what can a political hack teach you about tactics that affects your life? Don’t you want to know how politicians manipulate you?  Don’t you want to know how lobbyists and pressure groups manipulate the politicians?  How do PR specialists spin the news?

You may not care to use certain tactics, but you should know what tactics are being used against you. A large part of what Kirk does for his clients is to figure out how to get things done with tactical implementation.

So, what can Kirk offer you?  How about defense against manipulation?  How about learning to implement your ideas?  How about how to see through the crap the spinmeisters and politicians throw at you?  Kirk doesn’t claim that every tactic will work for you, but believes that the more aware you are of the variety of tactical options there are, the better your life will be.

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Tom Mullen (CONFIRMED) is a writer, musician, and business consultant.  In January 2009, he published his first book, A Return to Common Sense: Reawakening Liberty in the Inhabitants of America.  Tom was the opening speaker at the Revolution March in Washington, D C in 2008 (keynote speaker was Congressman Ron Paul). He has been a featured speaker at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum, Campaign for Liberty, and numerous campus and community based organizations.

Tom has made two appearances on Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano on FOX News.  Tom’s writing has been featured on some of the most popular libertarian websites in the world, including LewRockwell.com, 321 Gold! and Campaign for Liberty.

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