American Freedom Agenda

The American Freedom Agenda (AFA) is an American organization, established in March 2007, which represents disaffected conservatives who are demanding the Republican Party return to its traditional mistrust of concentrated government power. It is "a coalition established to restore checks and balances and civil liberties protections under assault by the executive branch". It was founded by Bruce Fein (chairman), Bob Barr, David Keene and Richard Viguerie.cite news|author=Savage, Charlie|url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/12/disaffected_conservatives_set_a_litmus_test_for_08/ |title=Disaffected conservatives set a litmus test for '08|work=Boston Globe|date=2007-06-12]

The ten points of the American Freedom Agenda pledge are:

*No military commissions except on the battlefield.
*No evidence extracted by torture or coercion.
*No detaining citizens as unlawful enemy combatants.
*Restoring habeas corpus for suspected alien enemy combatants.
*Prohibiting warrantless spying by the National Security Agency in violation of law.
*Renouncing presidential signing statements.
*Ending secret government by invoking State Secrets Privilege.
*Stopping extraordinary rendition by the United States.
*Stopping threats to prosecuting journalists under the Espionage Act of 1917.
*Ending the listing of individuals or organizations as terrorists based on secret evidence.

Timeline

On March 20 2007, Ron Paul became the first presidential candidate to sign the American Freedom Agenda Pledge. [ [http://12.170.145.161/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=%22american+freedom%22 Dead link: American Freedom Agenda at C-Span on streaming video] ] The group labeled presidential candidate Mitt Romney "unfit to serve as president" when he failed to sign the pledge. [cite web|url=http://news.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20070503/03may20071444.html|title=Conservatives Say Mitt Romney Unfit to Serve as President|publisher=FindLaw]
Steve Kubby, a former candidate for the Libertarian Party nomination for President, has also signed the pledge.

On October 15 2007, Paul introduced House Resolution 3835, the "American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007" before Congress,cite web |url= http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.3835:|title=American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-09] which sought to legislate the aims of the American Freedom Agenda. The measure, which is co-sponsored by Dennis Kucinich, has had no action since November 15 2007.

References

External references

* [http://www.americanfreedomagenda.org/ American Freedom Agenda]