FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2010
WASHINGTON - Looking toward the 9/12 Tea Party events in Washington, DC, Libertarian Party executive director Wes Benedict issued the following warning to Tea Partiers: "Republicans are trying to fool you again."
"There are two kinds of Tea Partiers," said Benedict. "One kind is so blinded by its hatred of Obama and Democrats that it cannot see fault with Republicans. It's the other kind the Libertarian Party is reaching out to."
Libertarian Party staff and volunteers will participate in the Washington, DC Tea Party events on September 12. They will distribute flyers pointing out how the Top 10 Disasters of the 2009-2010 Obama administration mirror the Top 10 Disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration.
Benedict continued, "Libertarians have much in common with Tea Party goals of reducing government spending and taxes. While many Tea Party supporters will admit that George W. Bush's administration grew government, Libertarians want to remind Tea Partiers about previous Republican administrations that loved big government.
"Republican Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America promised to eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy. Yet once Republicans took control of Congress, they failed even to reduce the spending on those departments.
"Republican President George Bush, Sr. remains famous for coining the phrase 'Read my lips, no new taxes,' and then raising taxes.
"Republican President Ronald Reagan grew federal government spending to the highest level it had reached since World War II. He also 'saved Social Security' by raising payroll taxes.
"Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole was a huge supporter of taxpayer subsidies for corn and ethanol.
"In 1971, Republican President Richard Nixon instituted wage and price controls. That made a group of free-market supporters so angry that they decided to form the Libertarian Party.
"Republicans seem to think we're idiots. For decades they have paid lip-service to shrinking government, while consistently doing the opposite in office.
"Our fear is that Tea Partiers might say 'This time it will be different.' No it won't. If you vote for Republicans this time, it will just reinforce the message that they can lie to you and grow government with impunity.
"Current Republicans are just as bad as past Republicans.
"This year, Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan is running for U.S. Senate against Republican John McCain, who famously suspended his 2008 presidential campaign so he could rush back to Washington to bail out the banks.
"Republican leader John Boehner might end up as the next House Speaker, and he voted for George W. Bush's huge 2003 Medicare expansion.
"John Cornyn, Republican senator from Texas, and current chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, voted for the TARP bailouts.
"Ron Paul is probably the only Republican congressman willing to point out the huge cost of America's foreign wars and empire building. Other Republicans pretend that spending trillions on the military just doesn't count as big government.
"With Social Security, Medicare, and military spending making up the vast majority of federal spending, you can't cut significantly without cutting those. But Republicans refuse to touch them.
"Libertarians welcome the Tea Party movement's focus on the problem of government growth. However, we are concerned that Tea Partiers might fall for the Republicans' trickery.
"Republican leaders have brought up distractions like New York City mosques and gay marriage to distract voters from Republicans' big-government track record. We hope that Tea Partiers will see through the smoke and mirrors.
"While our nation is declining dangerously right now, a turnaround could be straightforward and simple with Libertarian steps like these: 1. Bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan; 2. Stop rewarding failed companies with bailouts; 3. Cut taxes and spending and let the free market work.
"The Libertarian Party is fielding 168 candidates for U.S. House, and 20 candidates for U.S. Senate this year. Win or lose, a vote for a Libertarian sends a clear message for smaller government and more freedom. What message does a vote for John McCain send?"
For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP Executive Director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.
The LP is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets and civil liberties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party at our website
Contact: Wes Benedict, Executive Director
E-mail: wes.benedict@lp.org
Phone: 202-333-0008 ext. 222
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The Lion of Liberty - Patrick Henry
" Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."Patrick Henry
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
OPPORTUNITY TO SUPPORT OUR CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR, LT. GOVERNOR AND US CONGRESS, DISTRICTS 2, 3 AND 6
Attention and greetings lovers of liberty. An opportunity to promote our candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor and our congressional candidates in Districts 2, 3 and 6 is coming up this Saturday and Sunday, September 11 and 12 - the Reisterstown Parade and Festival. It all happens along Reisterstown Road, a.k.a. Main Street, a.k.a. MD 140. If you think you can put in some time either Saturday, September 11 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. or Sunday, September 12 between 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., please contact me, Susan Gaztañaga at 443-801-3716, DiazVivar@aol.com, Bill Buzzell, 410-477-9173, wabuzzell@juno.com or Lorenzo Gaztañaga, 443-414-6539, DiazVivar@aol.com.
Bill Buzzell, Lorenzo and Susan Gaztañaga will start setting up the booth at the Hannah More Park between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. and we need you there to help us set up. Hannah More Park is at 12035 Reisterstown Road. You can get there by making a right off Reisterstown Road (MD 140) at either Hannah More Lane or Academy Lane. Our booth is #71 in Area 2, the northern part of the park. If you are just coming for the booth - between 11:30 or noon and 6 p.m. on Saturday or any time on Sunday, you will need to park at Reisterstown Elementary School, 223 Walgrove Road and walk to the park using the well worn foot paths. You get to Reisterstown Elementary School by turning right on Walgrove Road, PAST Hannah More Park and School.
PARADE
We form up for the parade at 8 a.m. September 11 (Saturday) at Franklin Elementary School, 33 Cockeys Mill Road and march down Reisterstown Road ending at Reisterstown Shopping Center (just south of the festival area). The gubernatorial candidate and the congressional candidates will be marching in the parade. If you get to the area early enough, you can park at Reisterstown Shopping Center and take a shuttle (provided by the fair organizers) up to the start of the parade. Or those of us who are at the booth early can try to give you a ride up. The important thing to keep in mind is that the parade route will be closed at 8:30, and there will be no way for you to get up to Franklin Elementary - SO YOU MUST BE THERE BEFORE 8 A.M. If you arrive between 8:30 and 11:30, just park in the Reisterstown Shopping Center (you won't be able to get to Reisterstown Elementary School)and look for our booth. If there is one hero of liberty willing to get to Hannah Moore Park before 7:30 and stay with the booth, we would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, Bill will stay.
NOTE: Bill and some other Libertarians are going to the 9-12 demonstration on Sunday, so we could really use your help then as well.
It's the Autonomy, Stupid
Date: Tue, 09/07/2010
Author: Mark Grannis
If there is any silver lining in the fiscal storm clouds that threaten our economic future, it is this: Virtually every candidate for federal office this November will be talking about the importance of reducing federal budget deficits. But ironically, the proposals most likely to lead us back to fiscal responsibility will be the ones that are primarily motivated by something else: the desire to get government off our backs. In short, it's the autonomy, stupid.
Broadly speaking, we can expect "deficit reduction" proposals to fall into three main camps. In one camp we will have the Tax-and-Wait crowd. Their most visible proposals will be to increase taxes, at least on the "rich." They may also propose some spending restraint, like freezing discretionary spending and "paying for" any new spending with offsetting program cuts or tax hikes. But to the Tax-and-Waiters, "restraint" means slower spending growth.
As a result, the Tax-and-Waiters won't really be balancing the budget themselves; they'll be waiting for us to do it, by working harder and producing more income to tax. We are the real deficit reducers in this scenario; we change the deficit equation by working hard enough to boost federal tax receipts.
Opposing the Tax-and-Wait crowd will be the Dieters. The Dieters will treat excessive federal spending the way many of us treat excessive eating: as something we need to moderate but which it's not practical to reduce very much. The Dieters will trim here and there, and they'll be conspicuous in their refusal to pass new spending programs. Unfortunately for the Dieters, we need to cut spending by more than 40 percent to get it down to the level of tax receipts, and the Dieters can't bring themselves to propose that.
Say this for the Dieters, though: They know we need to reduce government spending rather than just sending more Ho-Ho's to Washington. This will lead the Dieters to oppose any measure that raises new tax revenue from any source. But without deep reductions in federal spending, the Dieters are playing almost as much of a waiting game as the Tax-and-Wait crowd. Again, with the Dieters in power, the only real hope for a balanced budget will be for us to balance it, by working harder and producing a larger total output from which government can take its cut.
The third group, by far the smallest, will be the group we can call the Zeros. The Zeros know that we're not supposed to have a budget deficit at all; that when the Treasury gets to zero, Congress is supposed to stop spending. The Zeros also know that zero happens to be the correct amount that should be appropriated for many federal programs. Consequently, the Zeros propose deep cuts in federal spending, driven by the complete elimination of programs that are deemed unnecessary, unhelpful, unconstitutional, or just too expensive. The Zeros would never dream of submitting a ten-year budget showing ten straight deficits, as the other two groups do. If elected in force, Zeros would balance the budget in the very next fiscal year.
Why do the Zeros show so much more fiscal discipline than the other two groups? Largely for reasons that have nothing to do with budget math. Unlike the other two groups, Zeros do not accept the basic premise that government spending is good for us. Zeros don't think of federal spending as a necessity (like the Tax-and-Waiters) or as a sweet-tasting treat (like the Dieters). We Zeros think very little federal spending makes voters better off, and quite a bit of it makes us worse off—not (merely) because we can't afford it but because it interferes with our personal and economic liberty. Zeros find it intolerable that Congress dictates how we work, play, save, invest, hire and fire, and even eat. We're tougher on spending because we think spending would be bad for us even if there were no budget deficit.
Zeros are for reducing taxes as well, because a smaller government requires less revenue. But Zeros aren't allergic to the elimination of special-interest tax credits that have been stuffed into the revenue side of the budget. Unlike Dieters, we object to government coercion in the form of tax credits just as much as we object to government coercion in the form of costly regulatory programs. Given the opportunity to replace the income tax with some other tax that Congress couldn't use to manipulate the economy, many Zeros would jump at the chance.
Every candidate, without exception, will be loudly in favor of fiscal discipline this November. But voters who genuinely want fiscal discipline may get it only if they focus first on liberating our economy from decades of federal micromanagement. It's the autonomy, stupid.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The Lion of Liberty - Patrick Henry
"When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different: Liberty, sir, was the primary object."
Patrick Henry
Monday, September 6, 2010
... In Their Own Words - Special Guest Dr. Richard Davis
Dr. Richard Davis is a dentist from Hurlock, Maryland. He is the Libertarian Candidate for Congress in the First District of Maryland.
"...In Their Own Words" is designed to provide a format where news makers on the Lower Shore of Maryland can provide the public with answers about themselves or information on a variety of topics at a deeper level. There are no canned answers, time limits or talking points.
This video was produced by www.nowbeingserved.com
LP Monday Message: High Unemployment on Labor Day
September 6, 2010
Dear Friend of Liberty,
It's hard to celebrate Labor Day when unemployment is 9.6 percent.
Government interference is the single biggest cause of unemployment. Minimum wage laws, OSHA, ADA, etc., etc., make it difficult both to hire and to fire workers. (And when it's difficult to fire workers, it's much less likely that they will be hired in the first place.) To reduce unemployment, we need to start repealing laws!
Section 2.7 of the Libertarian Party platform states: "We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment. We oppose government-fostered forced retirement. We support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor unions, and an employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain."
I read today that President Obama wants another $50 billion in Keynesian stimulus spending. Stimulus supporters think that government spending creates jobs. What they don't seem to understand is that the money is taken out of the private sector, which decreases private sector spending and investment, and that destroys jobs. I believe that stimulus spending destroys more jobs than it creates. We'd be much better off with the laissez-faire policies advocated by Austrian economic theory.
It makes me mad to think of all the ways the Republican and Democratic congresses, and presidents Bush and Obama, have hurt the private sector with all their stimulus and bailout programs. (Remember George W. Bush's 2008 "Economic Stimulus Act" with all the $600 "rebate" checks?)
If you'd like to help fight them, please participate in Quiz Across America.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not already done so, please join the Libertarian Party. We are the only political party dedicated to free markets and civil liberties. You can also renew your membership. Or, you can make a contribution separate from membership.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Making Government Irrelevant
by Mike Calpino
One of the great causes of division in America is the fact that everything, and I mean everything, has become a political issue. Any problem, any complaint, any issue that someone has is now thrown into the political sphere. Consider some of the big news on "the hill" this week. Rodger Clemens, a baseball player, is being prosecuted for lying to congress. What did he allegedly lie about? State secrets, embezzlement, fraud, treason? No. It was whether or not he ever used "performance enhancing" substances. Not to excuse his alleged lying but why was he ever before congress in the first place?! What authority does the government have to regulate A GAME!We the people, unfortunately, have come to believe that it is right and proper to use the power of government to solve all our problems and meet all our needs. Every time one American citizen says "there ought to be a law" to fix some complaint or offense and another one says "government ought to..." to meet some need or want, our government is happy to intervene and in the process take more or our freedom and more of our money. Did you ever stop and wonder why we have all the special interest groups and lobbyists we love to complain about? It is because each one of them represents some group of citizens, small or large, that want to use the power of government for their own ends. In this game there are winners and losers and the animosity between the two increases as the stakes get higher and government becomes larger and more powerful. For every citizen that wants the government to do something, there is another citizen that must pay for it and give up some bit of freedom to accommodate this new government activity. That other citizen must now "lobby" on his own behalf, playing the game for his own protection. The government becomes no more than a legalized criminal enterprise, granting arbitrary favors and demanding payment for protection.
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