# Liberty Movement > Defenders of Liberty > Justin Amash Forum >  ALL HANDS ON DECK: Justin Amash has a SERIOUS Dem challenger. DEFEND THE FUTURE OF LIBERTY

## 1836

Why am I posting this in Grassroots Central? *Because after Ron Paul is gone, there will only be one man to take up his mantle in the House of Representatives. That man is Michigan Congressman Justin Amash, a true defender of liberty who has endorsed Ron Paul. AND HE NEEDS OUR HELP!*

Justin Amash has just garnered a serious challenger, and it hasn't been posted anywhere on these forums. I was shocked to read it, because I occasionally google Amash to see what's going on with him. THIS IS FREAKING IMPORTANT. READ ON...

*The Challenger*

Amash's challenger is a guy named Steve Pestka, a former state representative and Circuit Court Judge for Kent County, MI.

A recent Politico article, released before Pestka officially announced, describes how Democrats see Amash as vulnerable:



> A Democratic poll shows Michigan freshman GOP Rep. Justin Amash vulnerable to a Democratic challenge in the newly configured 3rd Congressional District.
> 
> Amash, a libertarian who has clashed with his own party, registers only a 25 percent favorability rating and begins a race against a lesser known Democrat up by just 11 points, according to the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research memo shared with POLITICO.
> 
> The numbers are clearly designed to roll out the red carpet for Steve Pestka, a Grand Rapids native and former prosecutor and county commissioner who is strongly mulling a challenge to Amash.
> 
> The first test of an Amash-Pestka match up comes out 50 percent to 39 percent in favor of the incumbent.
> 
> After voters are read a positive profile on each candidate, the gap closes to just 2 points for Amash, 48 percent to 46 percent.
> ...


Here is an article about Pestka's announcement of candidacy.

This guy is a formidable challenger and if this becomes an Obama election year, his district (which has become more swing-y) might well be in jeopardy. *THIS IS THE TIME FOR OUR LIBERTY ACTIVISTS TO RISE UP AND DEFEND ONE OF OUR OWN.* If we can't defend someone like Justin Amash when he needs our help, how can we possibly expect to elect MORE liberty-minded representatives?

*What We Can Do to Help*

FIRST and MOST IMPORTANTLY at this critical early juncture, you can DONATE to Justin Amash's reelection campaign by clicking here. EVEN A FEW DOLLARS HELPS! Give what you can!

You can also sign up for his e-mail list to be informed about his campaign goings-on by clicking here.

You can also e-mail or call the campaign. The e-mail address is contact@justinamash.com. The phone number is 616-719-1935. _Ask about how you can volunteer your services to the campaign, particularly if you live in or near Justin's district (around the Grand Rapids, MI area)._

Here is the Ron Paul meetup group for Grand Rapids, MI. Contact these folks and ask them how you can help reelect Justin Amash to Congress.

Here is the Campaign for Liberty website for Michigan. If you are in Michigan and signed up for C4L, start rallying the troops!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

Contact the Club for Growth and ask them to again endorse and help fund Justin Amash's campaign, as they did so critically in 2010. _The Club for Growth helped Justin Amash win in 2010 and they can again, with their significant influence and financial resources._ Justin has scored an astounding 100% on the most recent Club for Growth congressional scorecard, so there's a decent chance that if enough of us speak up, they might help him again!

Here's an example of what Club for Growth did for Justin in 2010 (an ad against one of his primary opponents):





*Why Does This Matter?*

Ron Paul won't be around forever, and when he is not in Congress anymore, we need *committed* representatives who *fight for liberty every single day*. Justin Amash is the rare congressman who, like Ron Paul, _never_ compromises on the principles of life, liberty, and property and *has not, and will not let us down!*

We know Justin. We know what he's done, and we know who he _really_ is. He *walks the walk*. 

We need to do everything we can to help him get reelected, or else, what can we really say we've done to grow the cause of liberty in our country?

Stand with me to help reelect Justin Amash. Donate if you can, or at least volunteer some of your time to his campaign. Maybe we can set up a phone from home for him. Maybe we can get people near Michigan to go help out. Hell, I don't know. We are all smart grassroots volunteers, we will think of something. But we have to, folks. We have to do something to make sure Justin Amash stays in Congress.

*We have to defend one of the only defenders of liberty we have.*

*For liberty!*

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## Salvial

"Democratic poll" "positive profile [on Justin Amash]"

Yeah, right.

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## 1836

> "Democratic poll" "positive profile [on Justin Amash]"
> 
> Yeah, right.


The poll is surely biased as hell, but that's no difference. This guy has serious credibility and credential and the district is more vulnerable than it was in 2010. We need to do everything possible to help Justin Amash.

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## jene277

Thank you for the head's up!  Amash is awesome and I would hate to see the movement lose him.

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## 1836

> Thank you for the head's up!  Amash is awesome and I would hate to see the movement lose him.


That's why we have to do everything we can to keep him!

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## PolicyReader

bump

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## sailingaway

I agree we have to defend him.  I don't think ANYONE is identified as 'the next Ron Paul' though.

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## 1836

> I agree we have to defend him.  I don't think ANYONE is identified as 'the next Ron Paul' though.


Nobody's closer in the House than Amash. Would you like me to change the title?

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## bluesc

> I don't think ANYONE is identified as 'the next Ron Paul' though.


Give it 24 hours and Thomas Massie will be given that title in a banner on this site.

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## bluesc

> Would you like me to change the title?


No. He's the closest we have for the time being. He has a record.

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## 1836

Who the hell rated this thread down? Geez, these forums!

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## sailingaway

I didn't, but the title seriously pissed me off, to be honest.

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## 1836

> I didn't, but the title seriously pissed me off, to be honest.


*Defend the future of liberty!*

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## bluesc

> I didn't, but the title seriously pissed me off, to be honest.


Sailing never gets pissed off. Only further motivated.

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## GeorgiaAvenger

Most of our liberty candidates are in trouble in one way or the other, yet there is really no push by those who run the site to make them a priority.

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## sailingaway

I'm not sure what you mean about making them a priority.  Amash has a forum, and something like this, needing to call all hands on deck, is fine here.  People are not all going to be interested in all candidates, but I personally think we need to support Amash for his votes, as well as for his support of Ron.

I'm not sure why you are waiting for _someone else_ to make them a priority.

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## GeorgiaAvenger

> I'm not sure what you mean about making them a priority.  Amash has a forum, and something like this, needing to call all hands on deck, is fine here.  People are not all going to be interested in all candidates, but I personally think we need to support Amash for his votes, as well as for his support of Ron.


I know this site is devoted to Ron Paul, but he is not doing too hot and it would not be hard to heavily promote the liberty candidates. That is where the real reform will come from.

Banners, money bombs, more subforums, etc.

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## Cowlesy

Amash is the freakin' man and he has my 100% support!!!  Go Justin!!

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## RabbitMan

So...What do we need to do to support these liberty candidates?  We need a thread where the top 3-5 Candidates we need to be rallying around can be listed with information, location, links to donation, and goals for the community.  I wanted to support a Liberty Candidate via a previous thread here, Thomas Massie, but all I was informed to do was to 'like' his facebook page.  Is that really all the help he needs? ....Okay.

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## sailingaway

> I know this site is devoted to Ron Paul, but he is not doing too hot and it would not be hard to heavily promote the liberty candidates. That is where the real reform will come from.
> 
> Banners, money bombs, more subforums, etc.


That is your opinion, and I agree those are important things, but others may be first dedicated to Ron's campaign, and the place you  are most likely to find those people is in Ron's campaign subforum.

But if you have a banner you want put up and there is a moneybomb you and others have planned for Amash, Josh/Jeremy might put it up for the money bomb.  It isn't like 'the site owners' make most of the banners even for Ron, the forum members do.

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## sonofshamwow

Thanks for posting this. Next to Ron Paul, Amash is the only person currently in the House defending us with his pro-liberty votes every day. The least we can do now is stand up and help him defend his seat.

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## CaseyJones

> So...What do we need to do to support these liberty candidates?  We need a thread where the top 3-5 Candidates we need to be rallying around can be listed with information, location, links to donation, and goals for the community.  I wanted to support a Liberty Candidate via a previous thread here, Thomas Massie, but all I was informed to do was to 'like' his facebook page.  Is that really all the help he needs? ....Okay.


https://secure.thomasmassie.com/ donating is good to

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## raystone

> Amash is the freakin' man and he has my 100% support!!!  Go Justin!!


Yep.  Still waiting for a single vote where Amash hasn't taken the position of defending liberty.

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## bluesc

> Yep.  Still waiting for a single vote where Amash hasn't taken the position of defending liberty.


(Note: not trolling) There are one or two where he disagreed with Ron that could be interpreted as anti-liberty, but that's more a discussion of the philosophy of liberty than any sort of authoritarian streaks.

I only say that as Ron is a pretty good measure of whether a vote is anti or pro-liberty.

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## sailingaway

There were some procedural votes that made the substantive bad stuff easier to pass (lessened the vote necessary), but he is a freshman and finding his feet.  There is noone, after Ron, who is better, or near as good.

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## trey4sports

Is it possible for Ron to make a pit stop and campaign for him? What about Rand? $#@!, we can't lose Justin.

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## sailingaway

Ron just campaigned with him, or he with Ron.  Maybe we need to mobilize that area.  It might be a good idea to duplicate this thread in the Michigan forum.

When does he need help?  When is his election?  November? Or is there a primary?

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## bluesc

> Is it possible for Ron to make a pit stop and campaign for him? What about Rand? $#@!, we can't lose Justin.


Ron was in his district recently, and Amash joined him. At this point, Ron's email lists would be move valuable than his (extremely limited) time.

Rand would be a huge asset, though.

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## trey4sports

> Ron was in his district recently, and Amash joined him. At this point, Ron's email lists would be move valuable than his (extremely limited) time.
> 
> Rand would be a huge asset, though.


Yeah, i'm curious though about down the road. 

Assuming there is no republican challenger and assuming ron unfortunately is not the GOP nominee I would hope that he makes a bit of a play to help Justin during the general election this year, and with the new formation of the 3 or 4 libertarian super PAC's hopefully we can get some serious backing behind Amash in his general election campaign.

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## LibertyIn08

In some respects, Justin does a few things better than Ron -he was, and I believe still is, the only Representative who posts an explanation, whether one agrees with him or not, on every single vote he takes. 

Many on the floor warned him this would not even be possible.

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## tsai3904

Amash has loaned his campaign $200k.  If he's loaning money to his campaign, you know it's serious.

As of year end, he only had $163k cash on hand and had $200k of debt (to himself).

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## bluesc

> Amash has loaned his campaign $200k.  If he's loaning money to his campaign, you know it's serious.
> 
> As of year end, he only had $163k cash on hand and had $200k of debt (to himself).


. We need some SuperPAC backup.

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## qh4dotcom

Bump

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## bluesc

> Yeah, i'm curious though about down the road. 
> 
> Assuming there is no republican challenger and assuming ron unfortunately is not the GOP nominee I would hope that he makes a bit of a play to help Justin during the general election this year, and with the new formation of the 3 or 4 libertarian super PAC's hopefully we can get some serious backing behind Amash in his general election campaign.


Hopefully the whole slate of famous liberty folks make some time for him. Peter Thiel-hosted fundraisers don't sound too bad either.

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## LibertyIn08

http://www.endorseliberty.com/ is looking for Congressional candidates to support. 

Convince them that Amash is work a second look and I'm sure the group will dig in and throw him some money.

http://www.endorseliberty.com/contact.php has their contact details - only call if you have a serious inquiry, please.

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## cindy25

Justin is as vital to the future of Liberty as Rand is, but if his district goes Dem, then the Dems will end up gaining 100 seats.  this seat held even in 2008 and 2006; Obama might carry Michigan but not by the margin of 2008.  most of Obama's margin would come from Detroit.

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## angelatc

> Most of our liberty candidates are in trouble in one way or the other, yet there is really no push by those who run the site to make them a priority.


This is real. The GOP really hosed Amash when they redistricted. He's not "entrenched" enough to get his lines drawn favorably.

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## EBounding

> In some respects, Justin does a few things better than Ron -he was, and I believe still is, the only Representative who posts an explanation, whether one agrees with him or not, on every single vote he takes. 
> 
> Many on the floor warned him this would not even be possible.


Yes.  Even if you disagree with him, he provides a valuable service to everyone.  I'm donating to him just to make sure that "service" continues.

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## TomtheTinker

Bump

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## TomtheTinker

Bump

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## economics102

We've always said here that if the House were filled with Ron Pauls this country would be the great nation it was supposed to be.

Justin Amash is one of those Ron Pauls. And he frankly climbed his way into that House seat largely without the assistance of the Ron Paul crowd from what I understand. And in the first year of his two-year term, he has laid down a record that is nearly as impressive as Ron Paul's own vaunted voting record, and with public explanations of every vote.

Honestly we shouldn't be spending a dime or a second on trying to get MORE liberty candidates into federal office if we can't first defend someone like Amash. When we have liberty candidates in the House, any would-be serious challenger to them in a re-election has to know "this guy is backed by the Ron Paul faction. I'd rather not have to go up against such a powerful army."

Defend Justin Amash. Basic rule of war is you make sure you can hold your ground before you focus on gaining new ground. All hands on deck, indeed.

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## qh4dotcom

I hope Justin wins but he disappointed me when he voted for Paul Ryan's garbage / horrifically unbalanced budget. Ron Paul of course voted No / has never voted for an unbalanced budget while Justin voted yes.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...d+budget+amash

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## enrique

Amash does not have a Republican primary challenger yet. I think the filing deadline is May but at this point it would be tough to set up a campaign and team for the August primary. The thing Amash needs right now is the funds to defend himself in his newly drawn district. He gets the majority of his money from individuals. He has trouble getting money from PACs for the same reasons that Ron Paul does - they can't be bought.

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## Feeding the Abscess

> I hope Justin wins but he disappointed me when he voted for Paul Ryan's garbage / horrifically unbalanced budget. Ron Paul of course voted No / has never voted for an unbalanced budget while Justin voted yes.
> 
> http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...d+budget+amash


There were a few other instances that really rubbed me the wrong way, too. He was on the wrong side of the payroll tax cut (that is OUR money, and any vote or opportunity to steal less of OUR money is to be supported), Iran sanctions, pulling troops from Europe... but overall, he's better than a Walter Jones, Jimmy Duncan, or a Timothy Johnson, and I'd count those guys as semi-reliable allies.

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## 1836

Just donated to Amash. Hope others will as well!

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## Brett85

> Yep.  Still waiting for a single vote where Amash hasn't taken the position of defending liberty.


I'm a big fan of Justin, and I fully support him in his re-election bid.  However, it should be pointed out that he voted for and supports sanctions against Iran, so he isn't perfect.

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## Brett85

> There were a few other instances that really rubbed me the wrong way, too. He was on the wrong side of the payroll tax cut (that is OUR money, and any vote or opportunity to steal less of OUR money is to be supported), Iran sanctions, pulling troops from Europe... but overall, *he's better than a Walter Jones, Jimmy Duncan, or a Timothy Johnson, and I'd count those guys as semi-reliable allies.*


Timothy Johnson is really just an Olympia Snowe type Republican who just happens to agree with Ron on a few foreign policy issues.  Overall, he's a big government Republican, as is Walter Jones.

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## 1836

> Timothy Johnson is really just an Olympia Snowe type Republican who just happens to agree with Ron on a few foreign policy issues.  Overall, he's a big government Republican, as is Walter Jones.


And yet you look at the Congress now and you'd rather have a Congress full of Timothy Johnsons and Walter Jones's than the racket we have in right now.

That's how bad things are. Justin Amash is a sliver of light through some very stormy clouds, and deserves the support of *every* Ron Paul supporter.

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## Feeding the Abscess

> Timothy Johnson is really just an Olympia Snowe type Republican who just happens to agree with Ron on a few foreign policy issues.  Overall, he's a big government Republican, as is Walter Jones.


He said himself that he's been pulled in Ron's direction after getting to know him and going to some of Ron's luncheons on Hardball, and his voting record has reflected that. It still isn't perfect, but it's a marked improvement, and he's even endorsed Ron.

War is the health of the state and big government's best friend, and simply opposing foreign wars makes Jones and Johnson better for limited government than the vast, vast majority of the GOP, especially Snowe.

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## sailingaway

bump

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## 1836



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## sailingaway

bump

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## 1836



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## PolicyReader

A word from Jack Hunter via the Official Campaign site regarding Justin Amash

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/2012/03/1...-justin-amash/

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## parke

I support Amash as much as Paul.

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## 1836

Donate!

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