As Sheldon Richman writes, the Constitution is somewhat limiting of government, but not as much as was the previous government, the one preceding the Constitution - the one under the Articles of Confederation.

"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

"We might think those words -- or words to the same effect -- are in the U.S. Constitution. But they are not. They are from Article II of the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution. They could have been placed in the U.S. Constitution but were deliberately left out in 1787."

So, if Ron Paul were elected, and the American people forced Congress to pass his plan based on the Constitution, the job of Liberty and Justice could remain unfinished. Ultimately, we may have to return to a State-based Articles of Confederation government. It wasn't lightly that abolitionist libertarian lawyer Lysander Spooner ridiculed the sanctity of the Constitution. Nor did H.L. Mencken's favorite writer, Albert Jay Nock, cavalierly call the Constitution a "coup d'etat."

For context on the fact that not all our Founders were good people, a reminder from Reason on what a monster Hamilton was.

Yours truly got a mention in Reason Magazine's blog on Sunday's Tea Party for Ron Paul's record-setting fundraising. While associate editor David Weigel had to cover some of the more entertaining conspiratorialists from the Washington, D.C. celebration, he overall writes an exciting summary of what was an inspirational night. I was there broadcasting on behalf of Ron Paul Radio, and fans can catch me 5 pm every Thursday. Here I am on YouTube, interviewing D.C. region Meetup coordinator Bob Moody, discussing the Tea Party reenactment.

Ron Paul's 6 1/2 million haul broke Senator Kerry's 5 1/2 million record. The Mainstream Media continues to ignore Candidate Paul as much as possible, since his free market/constitutional platform would repeal all the barriers the oligopolists have spent decades erecting.

For someone like me who's worked for 18 years in D.C., it was heartening to see a new generation of activists, trying to save the world from the horrible Statism infecting the world. I don't expect much, but this Paul Campaign has got me fired up.

Only regret at the Tea Party was my failure to up my bid for the Ron Paul silver dollar. Owning that would have been very cool. Great job Meetup organizers Bret, Bob, Kevin, Steve, Laura, et. al.! What creativity, to reenact the 1773 Boston Tea Party, by dumping card board boxes onto the barroom floor, disguised as hated bureaucracies. Brilliant.

On Thursday December 20 I was invited by the Ron Paul Blimp team to LIVE broadcast their flight above Baltimore, Maryland, for Ron Paul Radio. When I'm not lobbying, teaching kundalini yoga, or researching mysteries and ancient history, I volunteer for freedom causes, including the internet radio station (my show's every Thursday at 5pm).

It was very fast work getting on the blimp. It was only the day before that Daily Paul included a notice that the blimp then was over Norfolk, Virginia, near my childhood home of Suffolk. I called my sister in Norfolk, and she told me she saw what "appeared to be a blimp," but she had no clue it was Candidate Paul's. Tracking the blimp's flight north over the Chesapeake Bay, I saw from its flight plan that it would stay the night at Harford County airport. Being near my home in Washington, D.C., I decided to contact Katharine, the assistant named as the contact for the Blimp. She said $5K was needed to be a passenger, or you had to be media. Well, having tapped out my contributions on Tea Party Day, I wasn't about to fork over what amounted to the cost of a bad, used car, but my Ron Paul Radio connection was just enough to get me invited!

The next challenge was how in the world we were going to LIVE broadcast from a blimp. I learned the blimp had its own (weak) Wi-Fi connection, and that by flying just a few hundred yards above Earth, it would pick up other signals, particularly over Baltimore. A young man named Elijah was the "techie" on board the blimp, and he had a mounted camera inside, a laptop, and a videographer assistant named Daniel.

But the true Blimp organizer was none other than Trevor Lyman, the music entrepreneur who decided that the country was going to hell and he needed to get involved in the Ron Paul campaign to restore our constitutional republic. Trevor is the main instigator for the last 2 money bombs, on Guy Fawkes Day ("Remember, remember, the 5th of November") and the more recent anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (see my blog below on D.C.'s Tea Party). Trevor needs our help, to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each month, to keep the Blimp flying up to New York, and back down to Florida. Follow the Blimp's daily progress, at its BlimpBlog!

When I arrived Thursday morning at the airport, it was staggering to see this huge blimp in the middle of the rural setting. There wasn't room for me on the initial ride, so I hung out with Quinn and Dave from Jim Lehrer's PBS Newshour, and Chris Beam and Andy from Slate. I also interviewed Dan Campbell and Shelly Roche, local Meetup activists. (See Shelly's blimp pictures here). Quinn was good, asking one question, on camera, "how the blimp could avoid mid-air collisions with Baltimore's news helicopters, if Ron Paul had his way and abolished the FAA"? I'll let the candidate answer that one! ;-)

Here's Slate's blog on the Blimp ride. And here's the fabulous story and video from NewsHour's interview from the blimp, mainly of Trevor Lyman. On the initial Blimp ride was the Houston Chronicle, which posted a non-blimp Ron Paul story that day. (and here's a real nice Houston Chronicle Youtube of Ron Paul filmed last week).

When I finally got on the Blimp around 2pm, the take-off was intense, like a loud roller coaster rising at a very steep angle (here's an awesome, short YouTube of the takeoff). With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, immediately we could see the Susquehanna emptying into the huge Chesapeake Bay. As we coasted south towards Baltimore, we could see cars slowing down on the mighty Interstate 95. It was during this time that I LIVE broadcast interviews with Elijah and Trevor from the Blimp team, and we even had a few words from the other journalists. Unfortunately, the weak Wi-Fi signal meant repeated Skype and cell phone calls to RPR broadcaster TVMH (that's his name), so listeners were denied a smooth play-by-play with no interruptions. Sorry about that. Technology is great, and we certainly have room for improvement. (Check out Ron Paul Radio's sharp new website!)

It was not a warm, smooth or quiet ride aboard the Blimp. We had our jackets on, and the blimp swayed up and down with the wind. Things got really exciting, though, as we approached the skyscraper-filled downtown of Baltimore. It was spectacular, really, as the sun reflected off the large buildings, and as local news helicopters checked out this large "flying whale," as Trevor put it. Lots of folks saw us, as attested at Ron Paul Forums.

As we twirled around the Inner Harbor, over the Baltimore Orioles' Camden Yards and the Baltimore Raven's stadium, the wind shot up off the buildings to really sway the Blimp at steep angles, up and down. "Whooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaahhhhh." I'll load my pictures as soon as possible here.

A personal thought I had, in our steep banked turns around Baltimore, was that down below was the Enoch Pratt Library, home of the works of H.L. Mencken, the greatest social critic - and a libertarian one at that - in the early 20th Century. As his biographer Carl Bode called him, Mencken was a great "anti-statist" and "anti-puritan." No doubt he would be smiling on the Blimp!

Flying back north, we hovered over north Baltimore's beltway, letting the congested traffic get a good look at us. Here's a YouTube of that.

It was getting dark as we touched back down at the airport. I dined with Trevor and his gang afterwards, and it was clear those 4 were dedicated to making this Blimp thing work. But your help is needed, financially. Folks, it was truly unbelievable to be up in a Blimp, stared at by thousands of people in buildings, cars, houses, boats, fields, and local news choppers. The Ron Paul Blimp is priceless PR, and its success will redound to the benefit of all come November.

Good news: This Blimp Blog was linked by the great David Weigel at Reason Magazine. Finally, watch the fundraising machine in action, for the Blimp.