PIML 96062410 / Forwarded to Patriot Information Mailing List: [Good information from Jo Jorgensen, America's third party candidate for Vice-President.] PIML =================================================================== Date: Fri, 21 Jun 1996 20:06:27 -0400 To: butterb@sagenet.net From: "R.Gould" Subject: PERSONAL Not really, but thought you'd like it. Ray =================================================== WHY REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS KEEP SELLING OUT FREEDOM by Jo Jorgensen -- Libertarian for Vice-President 1996 Republican Politicians give us the political equivalent of 1-900 Phone Sex. They tell us that we're special. They ask us what we really want - and tell us that they want it, too. Then they start breathing heavy and getting excited by what we want. They tell us their fantasy for us. They tease us and tempt us. They arouse our passions. They tell us how much they want it and how good it's going to be. When we hang up from the 1-900 Republican Tax Cut Fantasy Line, we realize 3 things: they cost us a lot of money...the real thing is a lot more satisfying...and they're never going to come across. There are many fine Republican voters. Many fine Barry Goldwater Republicans. Many fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party. But where are the Republican Politicians who aggressively pursue de-regulation, sizable tax cuts and radical reductions of government? Why do Republican Politicians keep selling out freedom? Individual freedom and government power are polar opposites. More government means less freedom. More taxes, more regulations, more laws, more policies, more programs, more government employees and more government spending...all grow at the expense of our freedom. More individual freedom means less government. Voting for more government is voting for less freedom. Republican Politicians regularly vote for more government. Republican Politicians regularly voted for the Nixon Federal Budgets, the Ford Budgets, the Reagan Budgets and the Bush Budgets. Each budget was larger than the previous year's federal budget. Ronald Reagan's lowest deficit was higher than Jimmy Carter's highest deficit. In 8 years as President, Ronald Reagan never even proposed a balanced budget. In 8 years as President, Ronald Reagan proposed higher federal spending every single year. And Republican Politicians voted with Reagan. They voted for higher federal spending and higher federal debt. Then, for 4 more years, Republican Politicians supported George Bush's spending hikes, increases to the federal debt...and even the Bush TAX HIKES. Republican Politicians voted for more government power. More government power means less individual freedom. Why do Republican Politicians sell out freedom? FIRST, We do not sell out our most precious values. Since Republican Politicians are selling out freedom for government power, we know that freedom is not sacred to them. In DEAD RIGHT, David Frum says, "Conservatives are not libertarians. They do not believe that maximum personal liberty is a good in and of itself, without regard to its consequences. `The effect of liberty to individuals is, that they may do what they please,' wrote Edmund Burke, the hero of American conservatives, `we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.'" Libertarians always put freedom first. Republican Politicians sometimes put `National Security' first. Sometimes they put `Public Order' or `the Public Interest' first. Sometimes they put `Character' or `Virtue' first. Sometimes they put `Western Civilization' or `Religion' or `American Values' first. Sometimes Republican Politicians put Special Interests in their districts first. We cannot add to government programs, we cannot add to government priorities without subtracting from freedom. When Republican Politicians give government responsibility for other values, they take away freedom. SECOND, Politics is priorities. Although many Republican Politicians evangelically preach the doctrine of cutting taxes, cutting back government and cutting out government waste - they go Brain Dead when you ask them exactly what they'll cut out of the Federal Budget. In 1992, Policy Review, a publication of the Heritage Foundation, asked 20 moderate-to-conservative Republican Senators what they would do to cut $25 Billion from the federal budget. That was less than 2% of the budget. Only 5 of the 20 Republican Politicians responded. And only Hank Brown of Colorado could find $25 Billion to cut from the federal government. Republican Politicians now have more important priorities than cutting back Big Government. Conservative author George Will wrote, "A conservative doctrine of the welfare state is required if conservatives are even to be included in the contemporary political conversation." Years ago, Irving Kristol said, "The welfare state is with us, for better or worse, and...conservatives should try to make it better rather than worse." Newt Gingrich personally added a revealing sentence to the 1992 Republican platform. Gingrich said that Republicans must try to, and I quote, "transform the bureaucratic welfare state into a government that is customer-friendly, cost-effective and improving constantly." Think about a `customer-friendly, cost-effective and improving constantly' Internal Revenue Service. How about the Drug Enforcement Administration? Or a lean and mean Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms? Republican Politicians think we are badly taxed, not over-taxed. Badly regulated, not over-regulated. Badly governed, not over-governed. If you back them into a corner, Republican Politicians will say they want to cut waste from the budget. I've been through the federal budget. There is no line item labeled `waste'. I have a message for the Republican Politicians: Stop trying to be all things to all people. Stand up and tell the truth. Exactly what are you going to cut out of the budget? They have higher priorities than freedom. They are trying to make government efficient and effective. They are streamlining statism. In the words of Fred Barnes, these Republican Politicians are "Big Government Conservatives." They no longer seek to dramatically reduce the size and power of government. They seek to use that power to re-shape America in the image of their conservative values. THIRD, the Republican Political Strategy is to slow down or stop government growth, not turn it around. Decades ago, William F. Buckley, Jr. said, "A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling `Stop.'" George Bush said, "Read my lips: no new taxes." Nancy Reagan said, "Just say `No'." Slow-growth statism or even stand-still statism is a loser strategy. One expands and empowers the government. The other preserves and protects government. "Holding the line" on taxes and government is a prescription for failure. On D-Day, we didn't want to "hold the line" at the English Channel. We wanted to move the line forward. To free Europe of Nazi domination. "Holding the line" on government means protecting and respecting all the new taxes, new spending, new bureaucracies, new laws and new policies that have been added to government since the Constitution was first ratified. "Holding the line" means letting the Big Government advocates keep what they have stolen from us. We must begin by dramatically cutting the size and scope and power of government. We must move the line forward to freedom. We've had enough negativism. We don't want politicians who only say `No'. Libertarians just say `Yes' to huge budget cuts, `Yes' to dramatic tax cuts, `Yes' to fiscal restraint. We say `Yes' to significantly reducing government power. We say `Yes' to restoring individual freedom and responsibility. If government growth were a Video tape, liberals would be pushing the `Fast Forward' button, moderates the `Forward' button, Republican Politicians would talk about hitting the `Pause' button, while they left the tape on `Forward'. Libertarians are the only people trying to push the `Rewind' button. FOURTH, as Randolph Bourne wrote, "War is the Health of the State." Government grows dramatically during war time. Martial Law is instituted, curfews imposed and civil liberties are curtailed. War fuels government growth. In days bygone, we had World Wars, brushfire wars and Cold Wars. Today we have Trade Wars against Japan or Mexico. We have to protect our borders against this invasion of foreign goods. We have a Drug War. Certain liberties have been suspended to help the government win this conflict. Bank accounts are looked into. Privacy must take second place to victory. Properties of suspected drug traffickers are seized to bankrupt the enemy. And let's not forget Pat Buchanan's Cultural War. Truth is not the first casualty. Freedom is . If the War metaphor doesn't work, there's the old fallback position: "National Security." "Our `National Security' depends on strong and vibrant industries. America's security requires good jobs and strong businesses. We need trade protection and tariffs for our basic industries." "Our `National Security' requires secure borders. We must beef up our Border Patrol and protect our southern border." Republican Politicians litter their speeches with this War Rhetoric. War talk contributes to government growth in the name of preparedness. War talk justifies the growth of government. War talk erodes freedom. FIFTH, campaign contributions affect political priorities. As detective novels advise: Follow the Money. Bob Dole votes for farm subsidies and crop price supports. How much support do you think he gets from the agricultural industry? Jesse Helms champions the rights of smokers. Do you think he has trouble raising money from the tobacco industry? Orren Hatch fights the FDA for the right to freely use vitamins. Which state has the lion's share of vitamin companies? Do you think Senator Hatch has trouble getting campaign contributions from them? Special interests take care of the politicians who take care of them. There's one problem: most special interests thrive at the expense of taxpayers or the competitors that they're protected from. Most special interests don't want a level playing field. They want to fix the game so they always win. Government favors to special interests cost us tax dollars, higher consumer prices and freedom. SIXTH, until recently, no one challenged Republican Politicians for the freedom section of the political spectrum. No one cared enough about freedom to make it the first and last priority. Libertarians are challenging the weak, watered-down, compromising Republican Contract with America. When Republican Politicians say they're for "Limited Government", Libertarians will ask: Limited to what? Limited by what? How big will your limited government be? Bigger than what we have today? The same size? Smaller? How much smaller? What are you going to get rid of? When Republican Politicians say they're for "Personal Responsibility", Libertarians will ask: What do you mean by "personal responsibility"? Responsible to whom? Responsible for what? Since there's no responsibility without authority, how much personal authority will your government recognize and respect? How much individual liberty and personal responsibility will your government not interfere with? When Republican Politicians say they're reducing the federal deficit, Libertarians will ask: How much are you over-spending this year? How much are you adding to the federal debt this year? Republican Politicians don't deserve the support of pro-freedom Republican voters. They haven't earned it. Now America has a real choice: Libertarians. We'll either succeed our way to success - or fail our way to success. We may well elect hundreds of Libertarians across America in 1996 and beyond. Our elected Libertarians will dramatically cut taxes and hack back government. Or opportunist politicians may co-opt our ideas, hijack our government slashing policies and do it for us. We will either succeed our way to success - or fail our way to success. But the eclipse of freedom is almost over. We'll soon stand in the bright sunlight of freedom in our time. Let me be blunt: I believe that we will have to succeed our way to success. If we really want to be free, we have to do it ourselves. In the past, voting Libertarian was a way of sending Washington a message. Well, their phone's off the hook, they're not reading the mail and their FAX machine's out of paper. They are not getting the message. If Republican Politicians were capable of getting the message, they would have already gotten it. We're through sending them a message. Now we're going to elect the messengers. We're going to elect Libertarians - we are going to elect the messengers. Every law we repeal... Every government program we shut down... Every tax we slash or abolish... will deliver a consistent Libertarian message to America: We are committed to Freedom In Our Time. -the end- ====================================== Don't like Bill or Bob? Not sure? Try Harry!............ http://www.HarryBrowne96.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Feel free to export the following: #!/bin/perl -sp0777i