posted December 12, 2004 04:48 PM
From the March 2003 Idaho Observer:
------------------------------------------------------------------------Liberty League or Liberty Scam?
Adam Samuels was prompted to join Liberty league after reading articles about it in The Idaho Observer. He became one of Idaho's two district directors and began promoting Liberty League. He then found out more about its marketing program and how it really works. We are publishing his article because well-intended investigations and inquiries into Liberty League have raised some serious questions -- and answers are simply not forthcoming. Anyone from Liberty League is welcome to contact The I0 and offer alternate explanations to what Adam has found.
by Adam Samuels
We live in an age when all our efforts to turn around the tyranny and oppression of government seem to be in vain. Whenever something comes along to improve our condition it deserves a look. The ideas espoused by Liberty League have great promise. Like any good idea, to get anywhere, ideas have to turn into substance.
What is Liberty League?
First off, the idea of Liberty League is to develop a membership and “circle the wagons” by creating a league of members who will support each other and create a personal and economic life outside the confines of the system imposed on us by the government.
The Credo and Mission Statement states, “Liberty League is a private unincorporated fellowship of liberty-loving real Americans who understand the original intent of the Framers of the Constitution; Who pledge to support and defend the Constitution for the united States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic; Who oppose the seditious behavior of those elected and appointed officials who abuse the power of their office and trample our rights; Who do not confuse unalienable rights with statutory privileges; Who strive to conduct themselves in a responsible, moral and self-reliant manner; Who agree to abjure, to the extent practicable, the use of the SSN and the EIN on the principle that a free person is never enumerated; Who understand that attaining real individual Liberty in an increasingly oppressive police state may appear to be an insurmountable task, and; Who, therefore, recognize the need for an association whose members may, under the protections afforded by Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution, contract amongst themselves within their own private membership, thereby enjoying a meaningful degree of personal freedom in an increasingly unfree America.
“Members strive to uphold the principles of free market republicanism as envisioned by Thomas Jefferson by, to the best of their ability, actually living those principles in their daily personal and business lives.”
The Liberty League web site (www.libertyleague.org) has some great writing that clearly and simply lays out our nation's problems and offers a solution -- to circle the wagons. They have an on-line newsletter which provides astute analysis of current events and some extremely well-produced satirical artwork.
The membership of Liberty League is organized by federal congressional districts with a Liberty League District Director to manage the affairs of each district. Members may apply under an alias to protect their privacy.
After reviewing Liberty League's information I decided to pay the 100 “bux” and join. The membership packet included a mini CD ROM packed full of information on the history of liberty and tyranny in the world. The e-book, “Circle the Wagons,” from Liberty League Founder Hank Patrick is also on the mini CD, in a 400-plus-page .pdf file. Hank's “The Most Dangerous Message in America” is a 26-page .pdf file available on the web site, the mini CD, and as a cassette tape that comes in the membership packet. The cassette is a computer-generated text to voice recording.
Another benefit to membership is the ability to participate in the marketing plan. Using the “2-up” marketing system, once you sign up your first two members and pass those two commissions up to your enroller you get to keep the $50 commission from each new member you sign up. And as The Most Dangerous Message in America states on page 22, “...every new Member you recruit will give you their first two commissions.”
It states on the same page that “...a '2-up' program is not 'multilevel.' It is not a pyramid structure, Ponzi scheme or remotely close to any similar sounding marketing plan.”
This sounded like a good way to make up to 150 “bux” by signing up a member who then signed up two more members. And you can sign up with NORFED Liberty Currency.
Unraveling a Scam
After signing up my first new member and sending the $50 “give-up” commission to my enroller, Hank Patrick, I began to wonder about a few details on the membership application. A new version of the application stated in bold type, “IF THIS ENROLLMENT IS A “GIVE UP”-THEN YOU ARE NOT THE ENROLLER; YOUR ENROLLER IS THEN THE ENROLLER.”
That meant the person I signed up would also have Hank as their enroller. And their first two sign ups would also be Hank's enrollments, which could then add four more going to Hank, and then eight...on and on.
It wasn't just the first two $50 commissions that would be passed up but the enrollments as well, potentially doubling on each level of Hank's pyramid of enrollments. And there was no apparent end to the new members that could potentially be “given up” to Hank.
This was a far cry from 150 “bux” maximum potential for signing up a new member if they, in turn, signed up two members. If only the $50 commissions are given up then the “bux” stop flowing to the original enroller once the three commissions are paid. This was the marketing plan I thought Liberty League used when I signed up.
The new version of the membership application also wanted $115 if you sent American Liberty Currency. When I inquired as to why, I was told it was because of the cost to redeem ALC back to FRN's. The purpose of Liberty Currency is to redeem FRNs back into something of real value, not the other way around. This didn't seem like the kind of thinking “liberty-loving real Americans” would have.
I know pyramid marketing structures benefit only the few on the top at the expense of the many below and then collapse, but I wanted to know how it could turn out. I created some hypothetical numerical models which indicated that, in short order, 99.8% of the membership could make 0.2% of the originators of Liberty League very wealthy under their enrollment give up system. This didn't seem to reflect well with the Credo and mission statement which says Liberty League is made of members “Who strive to conduct themselves in a responsible, moral and self-reliant manner.
I looked a little further into The Most Dangerous Message in America and found a pyramid marketing plan on page 24, which describes how 2 enrollments become 4 and then 8, then 16 and then 32 “and so on and so on.” Only two pages earlier they had claimed their “...'2-up' program is not 'multilevel.' It is not a pyramid structure, Ponzi scheme or remotely close to any similar sounding marketing plan.”
Since the principles and expressed purpose of Liberty League seemed to be at odds with its marketing plan, I sent a detailed email to Liberty League to find out what is really going on. The answer I received from National Director Jeff Thomas was not satisfactory.
Their marketing policy hadn't changed, he said. “It is NOT a pyramid, it is NOT multilevel, it IS a spoked wheel.”
Mr. Thomas went on to explain that once I gave up one more enrollment I could start my own “wheel.” He said, “As you draw more people into YOUR organization, your Liberty League business, as it were, they are on your front line, your ONLY line, your WHEEL -- your wheel just keeps getting bigger -- you keep adding spokes...All your giveups' giveups' giveups from here to as far as the eye can see, are forever and always YOURS.”
Doesn't sound like the way to promote liberty and create a lasting association of freedom lovers. Mr. Thomas also couldn't (or wouldn't) see the difference between a commission give up marketing plan which stops at three enrollments or less, and the enrollment give up marketing plan which creates “giveups' giveups' giveups from here to as far as the eye can see.”
He said, “Re-reading your 'Commission Give Up' model below, Adam, you are stating exactly what the Liberty League enrollment model ALREADY IS and exactly the same thing I have written about above.”
I replied to Mr. Thomas, detailing the nature of pyramid schemes and how his “wheels” were destined to become black holes circling the galaxy to absorb more give ups for themselves until they hit the “rim” and collapsed along with Liberty League. So far he hasn't answered back.
Where's the Substance?
The available evidence suggests that the substance of Liberty League is limited to a web site, an on-line news letter, an information-packed mini CD ROM, a computer generated audiotape, a weekly conference call and a membership marketing plan that goes to great lengths to pretend that it is not a pyramid scheme.
Pyramid schemes are a felony in Idaho (Idaho Code 18-3101). The Attorney General's criteria to qualify as a pyramid scheme are:
* Whether goods or service are being offered for sale, and, if so, whether these goods or services are being sold at an inflated price;
* Whether consumers are induced to make purchases primarily because of the income which they are led to believe they can earn by facilitating similar purchases by other consumers;
* Whether a person receives money primarily from the introduction of other people into the scheme rather than from the sale of goods and services; and
* Whether, overall, the program's true emphasis is on making money by expanding the pool of participants, rather than on purchasing the goods and services for their own sake.
Although the mini CD ROM has lots of valuable information on it, it's probably not worth 100 “bux.” So if there is to be additional value, equal to the cost of joining, it has to be the value of Liberty League membership. Without that, “the program's true emphasis is on making money by expanding the pool of participants.”
The membership application lists member benefits as “Members who provide products and services pledge to provide the same to other members at preferred rates or other value added benefits not offered to the regulated general public. Members are afforded the exclusive opportunity to locate other members by contacting the office of the District Director for the district(s) of interest.”
That could be a very valuable benefit, but where are the members offering such goods and services? There are no links on the main web site for “contacting the office of the District Director far the district(s) of interest.” And there are no members offering any goods or services either.
I asked Mr. Thomas to show me an example of anywhere in the country where such membership benefits were offered. I did not receive an answer by e-mail so I called in to the weekly Liberty League conference call. When I asked him to do so, Mr. Thomas said he couldn't lead me to any examples of members offering goods or services, and then he said he wouldn't because Liberty League took my e-mails as a threat.
We discussed the pyramidal nature of Liberty League at length but he still wouldn't come clean on the marketing scam.
Without any evidence anywhere in the nation of any member offering goods or services, what value is there to Liberty League membership? After six months there should be at least one example. Mr. Thomas also held fast to the notion that a commission give up is the same as an enrollment give up.
So what is Liberty League realty about? Liberty? Membership in a functioning league? Is it just a very well-developed “liberty” scam?
Liberty League is a great idea with a fatal streak of greed running through it. Can it be saved from itself? Maybe with some encouragement, maybe not. You can contact them at libertymail@start-it-up.us.
An Idaho Liberty League?
Is there any interest in creating an Idaho Liberty League similar to the principles and purposes of Liberty League only without a pyramid scheme? We could use a “no-up” system. Once you become a member you could then enroll new members directly without any “give ups.” Anyone interested in joining an Idaho Liberty League can contact me at adamsamuelsidahol@yahoo.com.
***
Note: The literature put out by Liberty League is extremely well-researched and accurate to the best of our knowledge. The text is well edited, but not perfect. The patriot community in this country is not very big. Our paths here at The IO would have crossed with whomever is capable of putting this type of material together. So, we either “know” those who serve as Liberty League functionaries, if they would reveal themselves, or they are government plants. At this time, their true identities are a secret. It seems a little difficult to develop a league of like-minded folks based upon mutual trust and respect when the league is led by apparitions sitting at the top of a pyramid. (DWH)
posted December 12, 2004 04:48 PM