Mr. Penny and the Dragon of Domeville: The Story of Us is available NOW for purchase at www.balboapress.com and all proceeds go to retire America's National Debt!

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF OUR CHOICE!

We are the Heros That We Have Been Looking for!

Make Your Voice Heard. How do you want to Fund Our Future?
Click below to vote now.

The decision is yours America...The time is now! To avoid going over the fiscal cliff, would you rather pay higher taxes that Congress can spend as they choose or donate a voluntary contribution that is targeted to only retire the principal of America's National Debt?

Vision

"The Buck Starts Here!" Mr. Penny.

Our Common Future begins with one choice...one penny...one seed of freedom sown in the hearts and minds of Americans. Visualize this: A debt-free America: a strong, vibrant America, free of the shackles of debt, an America that is able to keep the American Promise to All Generations! We can create this reality. Pitching in together, we can create a brighter future for our kids, our grandkids and our Country! We can leave a legacy of liberty, a legacy of love!
We are not American'ts - We are Americans!

Mission

"Just pennies to a brighter future," Mr. Penny.

It takes a Seed to have a Harvest!
Plant a seed, expect a harvest!
Sow a Penny, Grow a Future!

"Let us fix the roof, while the sun is shining," President John F. Kennedy.

COME ON PEOPLE, NOW!
LET'S ALL PITCH IN AND HELP OUR AMERICA!
THIS IS OUR TIME TO SHINE!

Mission Statement: Now is our time to shine! This is the time to take our destiny into our own hands as free citizens empowered by choice. My mission is to rally American citizens of all ages to use currently idle resources (our penny jars) to voluntarily contribute $1 Million in pennies to the Bureau of the Public Debt to retire America's National Debt under Public Law 87-58. Together, we can redeem our future for our kids and leave a legacy of liberty, love and empowerment for all future generations of Americans. We can now create the Future of Our Choice simply by choosing to give something back to the great Country that has given so much to each of us.

We can participate in the great American Choice: we can each choose to be a part of the problem or the solution…the past or the future ...to leave a legacy of loss or a legacy of love.

WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?

Lucile McConnell

Lucile McConnell is a tax/commercial transactions attorney admitted to practice in Washington, DC and New York. She graduated Cum Laude from Cornell Law School in 1987 and with Honors in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1983. She founded the non-for-profit organization The Fund to End the Deficit in 1993 and rallied citizens, under Public Law 87-58 (P.L. 87-58), to make voluntary contributions to retire America's National Debt through 1999. These voluntary citizen contributions, including contributions from such events as Rock the Debt, Wine Down the Debt and Dance the Debt Away, amounted to an all time high in voluntary citizen contributions to Debt retirement during the 90's and played a part in generating the budget surplus that was recorded in 1999. She created an active civics project for students nationwide in grade schools through high schools: "The Penny Parade", worked with College Student Governments across the Country to hold Rock the Debt concerts and collect pennies for debt retirement. Ms. McConnell has been featured in news stories coast to coast, including appearing twice in The Washington Post, in USA Today Sunday Magazine and on Good Morning, America! All proceeds from Mr. Penny and the Dragon of Domeville: The Story of Us will be contributed by Ms. McConnell to retire the principal of the National Debt under P.L. 87-58. Ms. McConnell lives in Baltimore County, Maryland with her son, Caleb, and her 2 cats, Tiger and Finney.

The Law

The Statute of Liberty

Public Law 87-58 is a little known federal statute that President John F. Kennedy signed in 1961 to empower every citizen to have a choice to participate in the great undertaking of retiring America's National Debt. Inspired by one woman, Susan Vaughn Clayton, whose last wish was to give $20 million to her "beloved Country" on the condition that this gift would only be used to retire America's National Debt, one Congressman Charles Bennett from Florida introduced federal legislation in the Spring of 1961 to enable the US Treasury to accept this gift and allocate it and other citizen contributions to retire the Debt. The other Members of the House and Senate acted swiftly to encourage this voluntary citizen behavior and by the end of June 1961 the citizen debt retirement bill had passed both Houses of Congress and was awaiting the President's signature. In Congress, the Members acted to "empower every American citizen to participate in the great undertaking of retiring America's National Debt." President Kennedy signed the bill into law with these words, "Let us fix the roof while the sun is shining." He advised the Nation to pay down the debt to (i) release national savings from government borrowing for productive investment in private enterprises, (ii) curb inflation by draining excess cash off the economy and (iii) replace the interest component of the budget with a reserve fund in the budget to be available to Americans in times of natural disasters.

Public Law 87-58 provides that a separate account in Treasury is established for citizen debt retirement contributions and these funds would be solely used to retire the Debt and no other purpose. Additionally, the law ensures that once retired, the obligations of the government included in the Debt may not be reissued.

The New Law:

House Bill HR 2879, the "Restoring Integrity to Public Debt Donations Act"

Congressman Rupperberger's (D MD) Bill HR 2879, the "Restoring Integrity to Public Debt Donations Act" is intended to ensure that Treasury follows the will of the People, as guaranteed by the federal statute Public Law 87-58 signed by President Kennedy in 1960, and only use citizen contributions to retire the principal of America's National Debt and to empower citizens of all ages to participate in the great undertaking of retiring America's National Debt.

The impetus for HR2879 is that last year when we were once again crossing the Debt Ceiling it was disclosed by a reporter at the Washington Post that the US Treasury was using citizen contributions under PL 87-58 to beef up the General Fund, not pay down the National Debt principal. On July 25, 2011, The Washington Post featured a front page story on citizen debt retirement and Treasury's placing citizen contributions under Public Law 87-58 into the General Fund so Congress could spend them, instead of applying them solely to retire America's National Debt, as was the intent of this law signed by President Kennedy in 1961. I was asked to comment in that story and went on to write a Letter to the Editor regarding the need for Treasury to follow the letter and intent of PL 87-58 and only apply citizen contributions to retire the past debt principal. My letter was published in the Washington Post on August 4, 2011 (page A-16). Let us fix the hole in the bucket and get ready for it to overflow with citizen & corporate contributions to retire America's National Debt - for liberty, for our kids and for our common future!

And Another Legislative Idea

What if the National Debt was pegged at the amount that resulted from citizen contributions? In other words, once we pay the Debt down, politicians have to operate within those parameters and cannot arbitrarily run the Debt back up. In times of emergencies, such as natural disasters, if the need is greater than the reserve fund created thru Debt Retirement, there may be exceptions.

Would you rather suffer more taxes that Congress could spend any way they want on the pretext of balancing the out of control Federal Budget or make voluntary contributions to retire America's National Debt, on the condition that these contributions may only be used for Debt Retirement, thus eliminating a portion of the interest on the Debt in the Federal Budget and thereby actually balancing the budget? Get engaged…communicate with your Federal Representatives today…Together, We can BIG things happen!

Our Future is Our Choice!