Classical Liberal Caucus

From CLC Chair Rebecca Lau: As we celebrate Independence Day and America's 250th anniversary, I'm reminded of why this holiday means so much to those of us who care deeply about liberty. The Declaration of Independence showed that this country was founded on classical liberal values and marked a bold experiment in breaking away from monarchy to build a government grounded in individual rights and consent. In the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson drew heavily from the ideas of John Locke, arguing that all people have nautral rights and that governments exist to protect those rights, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke wrote, "Men being... by nature, all free, equal and independent, no one can be... subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent." Those ideas were revolutionary in the seventeenth century, and they became the philosophical foundation of the American Revolution a century later. As members of the Libertarian Party and the Classical Liberal Caucus, we are part of a tradition that traces directly back to those principles. While our country has never perfectly lived up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration, those ideals continue to inspire people who believe in individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and equal rights under the law. The work of defending liberty doesn't end with celebrating our history. It continues through our conservations, our activism, our campaigns, and our efforts to keep the principles of classical liberalism alive for the next generation. Happy Independence Day, and here's to 250 years of the American experiment, and to continuing the work of advancing liberty for the next 250. - @rebeccaxlau

Democrats have now resorted to asking chatbots to hallucinate poll responses on purpose

This is looking worse and worse. The victim's brother said that ICE agent approached from the passenger side of the car, stuck his hand in through the window, and opened fire. He says that ICE officers kept shooting even as the car had come to a stop and was put into park.

From about 1800 to the present the world’s economy did something good, which looks to be permanent and looks to be justified. If contrary to the evidence we cling to our prejudices about economic history—our view that the Industrial Revolution was impoverishing, or that the Great Enrichment was an irremediable environmental disaster, or that Europe is rich only because of poverty in the Third World, or that the new rich are always getting relatively richer, or that after all any enrichment is vulgar—we will mistake how we got here and will give mistaken advice on how to move forward. We will betray the remaining poor of the world.

It really is amazing: the govt is openly considering using Korean shipyards to build NAVAL DESTROYERS, but it's supposedly a NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT if the Jones Act were reformed so that US companies could buy/use Korean container ships for US-based trade.

The government is interested in Korean-built warships for national defense, but we're supposed to believe that a Korean-built merchant ship transporting household items from the mainland to Puerto Rico would threaten national security? #jonesactlogic

👀 m.koreaherald.com/article/108016…

People don't believe me when I say: legal immigration is nearly impossible. The people who make it through are the lucky few. We don't acknowledge all these people we send packing. Our laws aren't intended to be followed. They're intended to exclude cato.org/policy-analysi…

She did everything right, grew up here since 4-months-old, never committed a crime, followed the law, her parents followed the law, valedictorian, got a STEM degree, her family is here, her siblings are US citizens, and our government KICKED HER OUT. This is the system

@freedomcaucus @RepEliCrane @EliCrane_CEO This is a really good point. We shouldn't have to show ID to buy alcohol

Murder.

This is a new set of unintended consequences involving Flock cameras, above and beyond the obvious 4th Amendment violations they present.

This keeps happening. Almost daily now we hear about law enforcement abuse Deflock Georgia and Deflock the nation.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo wasn't even the target. ICE agents saw a white van, decided it looked close enough, and minutes later a Houston construction worker of 35 years was bleeding out on Canal Street while his son watched. No body cameras. The Harris County medical examiner ruled it a homicide. Here's the record since January 2025. At least 38 shootings by immigration agents. Nine people killed, including US citizens. More than 40 dead inside detention centers, the deadliest stretch in over two decades, now averaging roughly one death every six days. Over 170 American citizens detained by immigration agents, some held for days without charges or a phone call. Federal judges have ruled ICE conducted warrantless arrests in violation of the law and an injunction, and the agency kept doing it anyway. And the accountability? The DOJ's Civil Rights Division declined to even investigate the killing of Renee Good, an unarmed American mother of three. The only criminal charges against any agent have come from state prosecutors in Minnesota, and only after video proved agents lied under oath. DHS called those charges a political stunt. Not one federal prosecution. Not one conviction. They told you this was about removing violent criminals. It isn't. Only 37% of people arrested have any criminal conviction, the lowest share on record. Texas DPS data, our own state's numbers, shows undocumented immigrants are arrested for violent crimes at less than half the rate of native-born citizens. An agency that kills without consequence, cages people to death, and jails American citizens is not law enforcement. It is a standing army turned inward, and it answers to no one. Abolish ICE.

Not that complicated.

Thank you @RepEliCrane for pointing out how ridiculous it is to have to show ID to buy alcohol and rent a car. The right to contract is the most critical right in this country after all.

Federal agents showing up at an American’s home and hotel over criticism of the government is the kind of thing that happens in other countries. We cannot allow it to establish a foothold in the United States. We must fight it every time. 📰: @MSNOWNews 🎙️: @jtmorristx

Denmark was the first European country to ban the slave trade, in 1792. In 1804, Haiti was the first to country to ban slavery, after the world's first successful slave revolt. The US and France punished them for the next 200 years, stripping the country of all its wealth as payment. In 1807, both the US and Great Britain banned the transatlantic slave trade for themselves. In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery. Texas seceeds. In 1833, Great Britain began a 5-year plan that abolished slavery across the empire. In 1848, France abolished slavery across the empire. In 1859, John Brown was captured trying to arm slaves and hanged. In 1863, Lysander Spooner criticized Abraham Lincoln for fighting to preserve the Union instead of fighting to end slavery. In 1865, the United States abolished slavery, with one loophole. In 2026, the United States has nearly 1.2 million slaves, who are threatened with punishment if they refuse to work - even in the states which have banned this practice.

Teapot Dome, which until Watergate was considered the greatest corruption scandal in U.S. history, was at heart about secret bribes (worth $7.6 million today) to an administration official that lubricated lucrative regulatory outcomes. Trump 2.0 has obliterated Teapot Dome.

The first 250 years of the American story have given us many free speech heroes, but none are more important than Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass knew that free speech is essential for those without power. When enslaved people could not speak, he spoke for them.