AMA 136 - Political Speech with Eric O'Keefe, Citizens for Self-Governance, Wisconsin Club for Growth (WCFG), Health Care Compact Alliance

Eric is from Detroit, Michigan.  He was politically interested from an early age, and in the late 1960s, he began to follow political developments through magazines and the Wall Street Journal. In 1976, he attended a speech in Detroit by economist Milton Friedman. It happened to be the day that Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. From late 1973 to early 1976, Eric worked running drill presses at Detroit Broach and Machine where he was a member of the United Steelworkers of America, Local 7489. Eric’s direct political activities began in 1976 with a contribution to the Libertarian Party presidential campaign of Roger MacBride. Eric read about the sweeping regulations of campaign activities based on the 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act amendments, which were sold as a response to Watergate.  Their actual intent, and the result, was to handicap challengers and therefore entrench incumbents.  Many aspects of the law were ruled unconstitutional in the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, but unfortunately the Supreme Court decided to rewrite the law rather than reject it. Eric is currently a part of The Wisconsin Club for Growth and Citizens for Self Governance. Key Takeaways: [4:07] How governmental resources are being used to shut down political speech [9:13] The impact of Citizens United and the truth behind it [14:06] How we can stop the entrenched politicians and impose term limits [20:31] The monologue vs dialogue media Websites Mentioned: www.selfgovern.com