An alternative to the politics of Big and Bigger

Mark Grannis

 If you're old enough to vote this year, then you're old enough to remember

• a Democratic president with a Democratic Congress;
  
• a Republican president with a Democratic Congress;
  
• a Republican president with a Republican Congress; and
  
• a Democratic president with a Republican Congress.
  

Taken together, these four periods exhaust all the ways power can be split between the two major parties in Washington.  What did all these periods have in common? Government got bigger.
That’s a problem, not because government is always bad, but because the proper functions of government do not require it to be very big. Government today is big not primarily because of waste or indolence, but because we have asked it to do too many things. And now, thanks to both Democrats and Republicans, the relentless growth of our government has brought us to financial calamity.
Our government can't pay its bills, but it won't stop borrowing or spending.  As a result, the government is currently headed for insolvency.  Our economy badly needs jobs and investment from the private sector, but instead of encouraging private enterprise our elected officials continue to concentrate power and money in Washington.  We need to change course, and we need to do it now.
The new course we should chart is not really new to people who know our history.  It's actually a return to the values that made our country great.  It's a return to individual liberty, limited government, economic freedom, and the good sense to mind our own business in military matters.  That's the Libertarian way forward, and it's a way that the two major parties both abandoned years ago. 

• I'll fight for government that protects us from violence and theft but otherwise respects our liberty.
  
• I'll demand balanced budgets and oppose new regulatory burdens. 
  
• I'll stand for civil liberties, against foreign wars, and against our counterproductive war on drugs. 
  
• I'll support Congressional reform to prevent a relapse.
  

Now for the make-or-break question:  Will you help me?
Every year, many voters go to the polls with a sense of futility—or worse, stay home from the polls with a sense of futility.  The choice always seems to be between Big Government and Bigger Government.  Smaller, less intrusive, more peaceful government never seems to be on the ballot.

Mark Grannis is the Libertarian Candidate for Congress in Maryland's 8th District.

Truth

"It is good for one to be free, and we would cherish Liberty even if she traveled alone, but she does not. Because Prosperity and Peace are both the companions of Liberty."  —Charles Goyette

Austerity

The current situation we find ourselves in with respect to the financial situation of the Federal Government is one that should be of grave concern to all Americans. This problem did not arise over night; this has been a slow and gradual step up the rungs to financial insolvency.

One example is the enormous amounts of money we have spent on the War on Poverty. We were told that this would “end poverty as we know it”, and it did, it made it worse.

The extreme failure of the War on Poverty has done nothing to pull people out of poverty, because the poverty that exists is not monetary, it is a cultural poverty. It is a poverty that no government can fix; it is one that requires individuals to be responsible for their actions. Through hard work and dedication one can pull themselves up out of their own situation by attaining success through learning from their failures and doing what is right.

The culture of dependency has nearly destroyed the soul of our country. The welfare state is wrought with fraud and failure. It has deprived generations of their dignity and few ever break out of the cycle. They have become enslaved by dependency and are trapped under the giant footprint of government.

Big Government solutions only lead to more misery, with more people identified as “poor” and it places a heavier burden on hard working taxpayers. The Keynesian Economic examples of Greece, Italy and Spain are a brief glimpse into America’s near future if we do not make drastic changes now.

The successful examples of Austerity, which have been implemented into a variety of forms in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are prime examples of responsible government solutions. These countries are on the road to recovery after slashing government spending and in Latvia’s case they eliminated nearly half of their government agencies. Latvia did borrow money from the European Union, but that was coupled with significantly reducing the size of its government.

Even if we look to the north at Canada, they have seen strong economic recovery from reducing taxes and government spending while responsibly reducing their debt and their deficit.

When coming back home and looking at America’s situation we have to honestly look at our situation and recognize that it is not sustainable. There is no longer a tax base available to sustain increases in taxes to maintain our current levels of spending. We must accept that this is the greatest threat to our National Security and that when addressing these issues there cannot be any sacred cows.

We must begin the era of Austerity in America by eliminating wasteful and fraudulent programs and agencies. We must begin the era of Economic Liberty by lower taxes and eliminating stringent regulations on businesses.  We must begin the Era of A Smaller Government Footprint.

www.boda4congress.com