Ladies and Gentlemen of the AFL-CIO, it is both a pleasure and an honor to talk to you this afternoon.

Adlai Stevenson once said: "Carelessness about our security is dangerous: carelessness about our freedom is also dangerous."

Let me ask you these questions:

Do you really want your children to grow up in a world where the government watches literally everyone - hoping to catch someone?

Where they can be stopped and searched at the smallest pretext? Where their property can be seized and confiscated, even though they committed no crime?

Where so-called "secret sneak and peek black bag searches" are not just something out of a bad spy novel?

Where in the name of "reform" politicians effectively dismantle the First Amendment?

Where "Zero Tolerance" trumps Common Sense because it's safer to obey the rules, no matter how foolish or wrong, than it is to reason and think ?

Where more than half of the fruits of their labor is taken away - most of it before they even see it?

Do you really want your children living in a world of unending Wars - caused not by violence but by politics?

Where they are under siege, not by terrorists, but by politicians?

We have a War on Poverty

Yet the poverty level is greater today then twenty years ago.

We have a War on Ignorance

Yet our educational system is failing our children.

We have a War on Crime.

Yet our prisons are overflowing, with no end to crime in sight.

We have a War on Cancer

Yet cancer rates have risen.

We have a War on Drugs

Yet ONE TRILLION DOLLARS later, drugs are more plentiful, more potent, more available than ever before. However the addiction rate has been remarkably stable.

Unfortunately, this isn't a possible future. It's a depressing reality.

We are now in the midst of a War on Terror. However, if we continue along this path of Business as Usual - this too will become another unending War, feeding upon itself, self generating for generations to come.

During the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden said:

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed.... The U.S. government will lead the American people into an unbearable hell and a choking life."

If the new push for surveillance of ordinary Americans succeeds, Bin Laden may be proved right. These measures do not just target terrorists. They target American liberty. They target us.

We must Stop Osama's plans - and we must stop this fear that is gutting our basic rights and liberties at home. It has started with the Patriot Act - a piece of legislation that wouldn't have done a thing to prevent 9-11 but can in effect make suspects of each and every law abiding American citizen.

You may say that serious times require serious legislation - but let me ask you this: You may believe - as do I - that George Bush is an honest and sincere man. However - Presidents don't stay in office forever. Would you trust a Hillary Clinton or a Janet Reno not to abuse these new Police Powers? I sure wouldn't.

A watched people are not a free people. If we trade our liberty for the mirage of an unattainable security, we will wind up with neither security nor liberty.

I was on record supporting the destruction of the Taliban and it's terrorist organizations. I was on record denouncing US support for the Taliban in the form of 43 Million dollars in aid months before September 11. And I am on record now saying that we can't afford to be the world's Policeman.

We can't keep on propping up petty dictators. Who one day are our allies, the next day our sworn blood enemies.

We at one time supported and helped:

Stalin
Ho Chi Min
Samoza
Noreiga
Idi Amin
Papa Doc Duvalier
Aristede
Pinocet
Saddam Hussein
The Taliban
Osama bin Laden

The list goes on and on, naming this centuries worst of the worst.

When will our government learn that when we feed mad dogs we are bound to get bit?

The cold hard fact is this:

Any person willing to kill for us will most certainly be willing to do murder against us.

Isn't it time we stopped declaring War on the World and actually started solving our problems? A novel idea!

The Libertarians don't have a magic wand that will fix everything. But we do have workable solutions that puts you - the citizen and individual - in charge of your own life.

We need more voices in the Senate to watch over our Constitution and our liberties - for we are on a very slippery slope in loosing both.

If you vote for a Libertarian - what can you expect?

You can expect someone who isn't afraid to say that the emperor has no clothes. If a policy is wrong then a policy is wrong - no matter what party or group sponsors it. The PATRIOT ACT was wrong. This bill wasn't even printed before members in Congress voted for it. Is this anyway to run a free country? I think not.

You can expect someone that is going to Washington NOT to be a surrogate Santa Claus, bringing home entitlements and favors to aid a few at the expense of many. As economists say; "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

And finally - you'll be electing someone whose first duties are to the Constitution of these United States and the people, and not to any special interest group or corporate paymaster.

I would ask you - the fine ladies and gentlemen of the AFL-CIO - to consider this: Whatever favors a politician or the government gives to benefit you now - can just as easily be taken away to your detriment later. Any government big enough to give you all that you want is big enough to take it all away. Wouldn't you rather have the freedom to create your own future than rely upon Washington to force theirs upon you?

If you want the money that you earn to stay in your pockets, then vote Libertarian

If you want to sit in your home with your family and not be afraid of who might be knocking at your door, then vote Libertarian

If you want a voice that speaks for freedom and not for the special interests,

Then vote Libertarian.

For there will be no real change in Congress until Congress itself is changed.

I leave you with this thought from Woodrow Wilson:

"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the people living under the government. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase in it."

Thank you.