Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Can our form of government, our system of justice, survive if one can be denied a freedom because he might abuse it?"

Harlon Carter

Dick Morris on How Obama Paralyzes Recovery

New Socialist Society

Now that the "People" are majority shareholders of GM I say welcome to the Fourth Riech comrade.

Republican Senators neuter Federal Reserve Transparency bill

posted by Austin Petersen on Jun 01, 2009

It’s time to pick sides…

While the world watches Susan Boyle lose the top prize and cowers in the wake of the dreaded swine flu, the world financial crisis deepens and worsens. The American people are slowly waking up to fiscal realities as our iconic car dealerships and banking establishments flounder in an ocean of red ink. Everywhere we turn something else blows up, and we can’t seem to find a bottom to the stock market. Prices seem inflated much beyond what government measurements are reporting.

As you are reading this, our entire financial system is being restructured. Now is the time for the American people to wake up and check their premises. We have a golden opportunity now that has not existed for 100 years since the inception of our Federal Reserve System. We can at last open up the books with HR 1207 to audit the monetary base. This would be extremely enlightening as to the depth of the financial crisis the country is in.

Click Here to Read the Rest

Your (Belated) Monday Message: Alan Grayson's latest "Mickey Mouse" idea

posted by Donny Ferguson on May 26, 2009

Dear friend,

I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day holiday, but should vacation be enforced by the government?

You may remember Congressman Alan Grayson as the camera-loving Florida Democrat who became a YouTube sensation after he was hammered in a nationally-televised interview for proposing a bill giving Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sole power to decide for himself when private sector employees earned “unreasonable” paychecks and to confiscate the money -- and claiming such authority could be found in the Constitution.

Think of him as Joe Biden without humility, weighty intellect or quiet restraint.

Well, now he’s back with yet another economically illiterate bill that once again has the federal government micromanaging the business practices of private employers.

His newest power grab, H.R. 2564, The Paid Vacation Act, forces every private business in America with more than 100 employees to give everyone a free week of paid vacation. That government mandate increases to two weeks in subsequent years.

You may reach his office at 202-225-2176 to let him know what you think of forcing expensive new mandates on struggling employers during a recession.

You don’t need to conduct a study to see what havoc such laws wreak on the economy because they are already in force countries like France, where then-ruling Socialist Party lawmakers long ago instituted “free vacation” proposals like Grayson’s.

In case you’re not aware, France suffers from higher unemployment, slower job growth and a slower economic recovery than the United States. The shortages of jobs have even led to deadly riots in Paris.

Even more disturbing than Grayson’s belief that the same people who brought us the IRS, Indian reservations and the Hurricane Katrina response are fit to centrally plan the economy is what inspired him to propose the legislation.

Grayson tells The Politico he got the idea for the bill while visiting Disney World, and deciding the government should let everyone join him.

“There’s a reason why Disney World is the happiest place on Earth: The people who go there are on vacation,” said Grayson.

Really. He decided to try and force struggling employers to lose more money in a recession because he thinks the government should make sure we all spend more time in a children’s amusement park. Again, he can be reached at 202-225-2176.

While I’m sure we’d all like a free week at the “Happiest Place on Earth,” most people realize not only is his scheme “goofy,” but it would push already high unemployment even higher and thwart economic recovery.

It’s also a little troubling when a member of Congress looks to a fictional cartoon mouse for economic policy. No word yet as to whether he’ll file banking reform legislation based on an old episode of “DuckTales.”

Actually, the inspiration for this slump towards socialism may be a bit more cynical than Grayson’s stated desire to ride in oversized teacups at someone else’s expense.

Grayson represents the Orlando area, where the local tourist-reliant economy is taking a quite a hit in the current recession. Coming up with some way to get more people to visit vacation spots would be a nice way to buff those re-election credentials.

So just how do you get more people traveling and pumping money into tourist havens when the economy just doesn’t allow it? The best and proven way would be to lower taxes and curb government spending, and then grant regulatory relief.

But that’s hard. It also prevents you from buying really cool stuff with other people’s money and you can’t take personally credit for it. That’s why you just threaten employers with the force of government if they don’t pay for everyone to have a free vacation.

The tourism industry is already on board. Grayson spokesman Todd Jurkowski tells The Politico the U.S. Tour Operators Association and the Adventure Travel Trade Association are both on board. Other tourism and, unsurprisingly, labor groups are expected to sign on in the coming days.

As you can imagine, while dictating “free vacation” policies to an entire nation would drive down productivity and economic growth and spike unemployment as more struggling employers are pushed into bankruptcy, all that “free” vacation money would work out quite well for a few tourist havens.

At least for a little while.

As Margaret Thatcher brilliantly pointed out, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. While Grayson’s socialist ideas may do a passable job of redistributing other people’s wealth to his district for the short term, the large-scale economic rot will eventually spread to Orlando as more and more employers are forced out of business by the rising costs of regulation.

Few industries bear the brunt of economic slump worse than the tourist industry. Foreclosure, unemployment and “underwater mortgage” rates are often higher in hurting communities like Orlando and Las Vegas.

But while any possible short-term spike may help in the current economy, Grayson’s socialist policies will leave the Orlando area reeling as the national economy looks more and more like the French model he seeks to impose by force – high unemployment, little innovation, large job losses, frequent strikes and deadly riots and even slower recovery to downturns. It also thwarts efforts underway in many tourist-reliant communities to diversify the employment base and create jobs that aren’t as easily buffeted by economic spikes and slumps, hurting residents in places like Orlando.

The Society for Human Resource Management has already responded with a warning that “a one-size-fits-all, government-imposed mandate is not the answer,” The Politico reports.

National Small Business Association also warns of indirect consequences, pointing out companies will realize a few employees over the 100-employee mark will burden the company with massive personnel costs – and simply stop hiring.

Now I’m not sure whether Grayson looked at a country where workers spend more time turning over burning cars than turning out products and said to himself “we can do that,” or whether he gets his ideas from a talking mouse who wears a shirt with no pants, but both lead to economic suffering for all Americans, including his own district. If you’d like to know which, you may reach his office at 202-225-2176.

Real prosperity comes from an economy where employers, entrepreneurs and innovators are free to create widespread wealth and jobs without government interference. Economically underperforming European socialist states – or fantasylands inspired by children’s fiction – are no place to come up with more already-failed policies that compound human suffering by forcing more and more currently struggling employers out of business.

With optimism,

Donny Ferguson
Director of Communications
Libertarian Party
Donny.Ferguson@lp.org

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws."

Ayn Rand

GM - Government Motors

The Obama Motor Co.

posted by Donny Ferguson on Jun 01, 2009

Today's Wall Street Journal editorial. You may read it in its entirety here or by picking up a copy of the Journal.

Back in December, in an economy far, far away, then-CEO Rick Wagoner tossed out the scary cost to taxpayers of $100 billion if General Motors wasn't saved by the government. Well, GM was saved in December and again in March, and as early as today the feds will rescue it a third time in a prepackaged bankruptcy that is already costing at least $50 billion, and that's for starters. Welcome to Obama Motors, and what is likely to be a long, expensive and unhappy exercise in political car making...

...Every decision the feds have made since December suggests that nonpolitical management will be impossible. First they replaced Mr. Wagoner -- whom they are nonetheless still paying -- with the more pliable Fritz Henderson as CEO and Kent Kresa as Chairman. The latter are good at playing Washington but unproven in making popular cars. Then Treasury bludgeoned the bond holders in both Chrysler and GM to take pennies on the dollar, which will not make creditors eager to lend to the companies in the future.

There's also the labor agreement that the UAW approved last week, which goes some way toward reducing costs but probably not enough to make the new, smaller GM competitive. The new agreement simplifies some work rules and job descriptions but makes no reductions in hourly pay, pensions or health care for active workers. The agreement must also be renegotiated in two years by an Obama Administration running for re-election and weighing the need to keep Big Labor happy against the risks to taxpayer-shareholders. Who do you think wins that White House debate?...

...Mr. Obama likes to say he's a pragmatist who only prefers a government solution when it will work. But in resurrecting an industrial auto policy that even the French long ago abandoned, the President has made himself GM's de facto CEO. Our guess is that he'll come to regret it as much as taxpayers will.

Impact fees on table again

From the Daily Times
SALISBURY -- The time may soon come when growth has to pay its own municipal burden in Salisbury. But for many, the implementation of a fee structure to do so will come too late.

The Salisbury City Council is expected to bring impact fees to the table again today during a work session and could push legislation forward for a public hearing.

Impact fees are one-time payments used to construct system improvements needed to accommodate new development and can only be used for capital improvements. In Salisbury's case, that includes a fire house, police station or public park.

Councilwoman Debbie Campbell said she's heard murmurs of an impact fee ordinance since she's been on council -- five years -- and recently elected Mayor Jim Ireton, who touted growth paying for growth in his campaign, said heavy growth has already taken its toll on area resources, and it may be too late to stem it with impact fees. click here to read More

**** My View****
I do not support impact fees or anything else that is going to hinder economic growth. Salisbury is already an unfriendly place to businesses. One more obstacle is not what we need in these tough economic times. We need to accommodate businesses who are willing to invest and create jobs in Salisbury.

Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Bigger Gov't Is Not Stimulus

The fallacy of Big Government proponents.

Monday's Prohibition Quote

"Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?"

Martin Luther

Libertarians: “Cap and tax” destroys jobs, punishes working families

House Energy and Commerce Committee warned to defeat Waxman-Markey

WASHINGTON -- America’s third largest party warned the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday to not approve H.R. 2454, a “cap and tax” bill levying billions of dollars in new job-killing taxes on American businesses.

“Cap and tax legislation is the offspring of bad science and bad economics,” said William Redpath, Libertarian National Committee Chairman. “Imposing massive new taxes on carbon production destroys jobs and drastically increases consumer prices with no proven effect on global temperatures.”

“Cap and tax compounds the suffering of so many in this economy, with no scientific evidence whatsoever it helps the environment.”

The legislation, sponsored by Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Energy and the Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA), taxes carbon dioxide by imposing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and creates a complex system for employers to buy and sell credits allowing them to create carbon under the cap. As the cap lowers each year, employer can exchange allowances in a complicated auction market. Speculators, such as hedge funds, can purchase credits to sell.

“The research is in and the economic toll of cap and tax is inescapable. With cap and tax, job losses will rise by an additional 1,105,000 Americans each year. In the worst years, 2,479,000 will lose their jobs annually under cap and tax,” said Redpath, citing research from the Heritage Foundation.

“Electric bills could rise by an inflation-adjusted 90 percent. The price of gasoline could rise by an inflation-adjusted 74 percent. It adds $1,500 to the average family’s annual energy bill, which hits the poor and the elderly the hardest. The increased costs of energy also force any business using energy to raise their prices, making food, medicine and other essentials more unaffordable,” said Redpath.

“There is never a good time to impose billions of dollars in new taxes on job creators that send consumer prices skyrocketing and job prospects plummeting,” said Redpath. “But in this economy, voting for cap and tax is an easy way to send a member of Congress to an early retirement.”

“Even worse, it has virtually no effect on the environment. Climatologists calculate the full bill reduces temperatures only five one-hundredths of a degree in 2050 and no more than two-tenths of a degree at the end of this century – and even that’s based on the assumption man-made carbon dioxide can change the climate of an entire planet,” said Redpath.

“Members of Congress should be on notice. Anyone who supports this bill will face angry voters in 2010, because we’re going to let them know you’re working to eliminate their jobs, make their groceries more expensive and raise their energy bills,” said Redpath.

“The Libertarian Party is a fearless defender of small businessmen, workers and families. That is why we not only oppose this disastrous cap and tax legislation, but we will work to defeat anyone who supports it,” said Redpath.

For more information on this issue, or to arrange an interview with the Libertarian Party, please call Director of Communications Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or 202-333-0008, x. 225, or email Donny.Ferguson@lp.org.

The Libertarian Party is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting http://www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Ronald Reagan (1986)

Libertarians blast Sotomayor pick

Obama Court nominee ruled government should discriminate based on race

WASHINGTON -- America’s third largest party Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama’s nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, citing past rulings that public employers should discriminate in hiring based on race.

“While Judge Sotomayor deserves a fair and impartial hearing, Supreme Court justices should be nominated for their thorough knowledge of and adherence to the Constitution and the rule of law,” said William Redpath, Libertarian National Committee Chairman.

“By nominating Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama has made it clear he prefers an activist for his personal causes over a rational interpreter of law,” said Redpath.

Sotomayor is best known for the Ricci v. DeStafano case, in which the New Haven, Conn. fire department decided it didn’t like the results of an officers promotion exam in which whites and Hispanic firefighters outperformed black firefighters. The city threw out the results of the exam, denying several firefighters promotions solely because of their race. The firefighters sued the city, claiming racial discrimination under Title VVI of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sotomayor disagreed, ruling the city has a right to discriminate against white and Hispanic public employees to construct a politically correct racial mix in hiring, even if it goes against the results of a racially-neutral competency exam.

The case is now before the Supreme Court. Sotomayor has had her rulings thrown out by the court a troubling four times. In three of those cases, the Court ruled Sotomayor had incorrectly interpreted the law.

“It is troubling that Obama, who won the highest elected office in the world without racial preferences, would nominate someone who openly admits the government should racially discriminate against its own citizens to serve the needs of political correctness,” said Redpath.

“Libertarians believe that, while the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of association allows private parties to hire whomever they please, government has no right to discriminate. Public employers should treat all citizens of all colors, races and ethnicities with equal respect and value and Sotomayor’s radical rulings are a jarring departure from that principle.”

For more information on this issue, or to arrange an interview with the Libertarian Party, please call Director of Communications Donny Ferguson at 703-200-3669 or 202-333-0008, x. 225, or email Donny.Ferguson@lp.org.

The Libertarian Party is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting http://www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Sunday's Libertarian Sermon

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."

Daniel Webster (1834)

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"War has all the characteristics of socialism most conservatives hate: Centralized power, state planning, false rationalism, restricted liberties, foolish optimism about intended results, and blindness to unintended secondary results."

Joseph Sobran (1991)

The Health Insurance Solution (For Salisbury City Council Members)

This became a hot issue when former Salisbury Mayor Barrie P. Tilghman did not place it in the FY10 budget. Three City Council members have selected to use the Health Insurance and one member has decided to opt out when open enrollment comes up September 1, 2009. Historically this has been offered to City Council Members however it is not included in the City Charter as a part of the compensation package for Council Members and the Mayor.

This issue needs to be properly addressed by codifying the compensation for Elected Officials to include health insurance, life insurance, and retirement in the City Charter. Once it is set, then a decision needs to be looked into whether or not to grandfather in Council Members who currently receive these benefits. My answer would be yes, to grandfather them in. No matter what their position was when running for public office on the issue.

My personal view is I do not feel health insurance should be offered to City Council members in it's current form. I believe it should be offered as it is to City Employees. They are offered several stages, the basic which is covered by the city and then higher levels where the employee is required to pay for a portion of the premium.

That is where I stand on the issue and hopefully the Council and Mayor with proper advice can come to a solution that is both ethical and legal. We certainly do not need to have this to deal with in the future.

UPDATE: This has become an issue that has sky rocketed into the stratosphere. By Monday morning this is going to be national news. Jonathan Taylor, owner of Views of a Salisbury Grinch, has filed an ethics complaint against City Councilwomen Terry Cohen and Debbie Campbell.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."

P.J. O'Rourke (1993)

Friday's 2nd Amendment Quote

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."

Richard Henry Lee (who drafted the Second Amendment as well as the rest of the Bill of Rights) 1788

UN Agenda

The scary agenda of the UN.

"These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 29(3).

Constitution Class by Micahel Badnarik - Part 3

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries."

Douglas Casey (1992)

Thoughts from H.L. Mencken

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H.L. Mencken

More Sacrifices Requested of Salisbury Citizens

In the FY10 budget for the City of Salisbury, taxpayers are asked to make some more sacrifices from their pocketbook. In the wake of a 1% sales tax increase and a sales tax expansion last year for the State of Maryland, now Salisburians are being asked to dig deeper.

The increases come in two forms, the first coming through an increase in the Water and Sewer fees. The second coming from the City Government not reducing the property tax rate percentile to offset the increase in the Phase in Assessment of Real Property Taxes. Businesses take the bigger hit as they pay 70% of taxes in the City.

Thankfully we have a revenue cap on the County Government as County Executive Rick Pollitt openly desires to make changes in the revenue cap to significantly raise revenues. City taxpayers are already paying enough and are quickly running out of pockets for the government to dip in to.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. "

Winston Churchill

Wednesday's Hump Day Bonus Quote

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

L Neil Smith

Libertarian Party Message - Freedom Watch

Promote Freedom! Tune in to "Freedom Watch," every Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET on FoxNews.com!

Fox News Channel’s Judge Andrew Napolitano hosts “Freedom Watch” every Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., Eastern time, on FoxNews.com’s “Strategy Room.”

It’s an online libertarian program with libertarian hosts and guests streamed live.

Your online support can help put Judge Napolitano’s show on television on the Fox News Channel!

Just go to www.foxnews.com/strategyroom every Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time to watch. Put it on your Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace and encourage others to do so as well. For those who are unable to do so, all the previous episodes are archived at www.freedomwatchonfox.com and the more views these videos get, the better.

The more the viewership for this libertarian program grows, the better a chance it will be broadcast on the Fox News Channel. Libertarian Party members can show their support by simply viewing and encouraging others to view the program every Wednesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The guest lineup for Wednesday, May 27, 2:00 p.m. ET is:

www.foxnews.com/strategyroom

* Congressman Ron Paul
* Thomas E. Woods
* Wayne Allyn Root (who will also appear on the Glenn Beck program later this week)
* Mike German
* Radio host "Mancow"
* Michael Maresco
* Sam Dodson
* Shelly Roche

Go to www.foxnews.com/strategyroom to watch today!

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Whenever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to ensure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery."

Benjamin Disraeli, 1874

Interesting City Council Meeting Tonight

Tonight's Salisbury City Council Meeting was very interesting and the hot issue was Health Insurance for the City Council. Unfortunately, Councilwoman Debbie Campbell was not present to contribute to the discussion due to being under the weather.

Here is how the voting went on the agenda.

Adoption of Agenda - Passed Unanimously (4-0)

Consent Agenda - Passed Unanimously (4-0)
May 11, 2009 Minutes

• Resolution No. 1785 - appointment of Melanie L. Perreault to the Historic District Commission.
• Resolution No. 1786 - appointment of Muir Boda (yours truly) to the Recycling Advisory Committee.
• Resolution No. 1787 - reappointment of City Councilwoman Debbie Campbell as Council member on the PAC-14 Board of Directors.

Award of Bids - Passed Unanimously (4-0)

• American Paving Corporation awarded contract to "furnish, deliver, and apply bituminous concrete paving on variety of city streets" for $175,898.50. There is also a clause that may require more or less funds depending on market price of asphalt.

FY10 Budget -

• Resolution No. 1779 - adoption of water and sewer rates. This increased water and sewer rates. Passed Unanimously (4-0).

• Ordinance No. 2078 for 2nd reading - adoption of FY10 budget. Passed Unanimously (4-0).

• To break this out a little, there was discussion on exhibit A and the ordinance stated "AND BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED by the Salisbury City Council that these summary amounts shall be spent under the limitations of the attached list herein known as the FY 10 Budget Items Adjusted by Council Exhibit Awhether the amounts are added deleted reduced or increased."

This is the Council's changes to the Mayor's Proposed Budget. The Council had reached consensus on every item with the exception of Health Insurance for the City Council at a cost of $21,429.00 that was not in the submitted budget by former Mayor Barrie Tilghman. On Friday, May 22, 2009, Mayor Ireton said he was going to submit corrections to the budget by adding this item back. He was citing historical precedent by previous Mayors who had added items back into budgets.

City Council Vice-President Gary Comegys offered an amendment that would officially place this item in the budget. By voting "NO" Council Members would be removing Health Insurance from the budget. Mr. Comegys and Mrs. Shields voted "AYE" and Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Cohen voted "NAY", the amendment failed because there was a tie. If City Councilwoman Campbell had been present and voted "NAY", they would have removed Health Insurance from Exhibit A.

Over thirty minutes of discussion on this issue, they finally voted and passed the FY10 Budget, with City Council Health Insurance. The other issue that rose out of this is there was no reduction in the Tax Rate Percentile to offset the increase of the Phase In Assessment property value, essentially raising property taxes.

• Resolution No. 1784 - Passed Unanimously (4-0). Approved the transfer of several small pieces of land to SHA for some work that needs to be done on the Rt. 13 Bridge that crosses Rt. 50. One piece will be transferred back to the city once the work is done.

City Councilwoman Terry Cohen offered an amendment to switch from a Program/Performance Budget to a Line Item Budget. There was no second so the motion failed.

Mrs. Cohen also made another motion that did get seconded and passed. It changed a particular Resolution into an Ordinance, I didn't catch the number. It did pass unanimously.

I have several concerns about the FY10 budget and a couple of other issues, the health insurance is one, that I will post about later this week.

Two Sentz - Thanks for the Plug

Thanks for the plug Two Sentz.

Gotta Love Michael Swartz's Perceptive Humor

"The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent."

— Justice Antonin Scalia.

"The Nation will live to regret what big government has done over the last several decades. I dissent."

— Michael Swartz, writer of monoblogue.

Michael Swartz from monblogue has this quoted in the upper right corner of his sight. It always gives me a chuckle because he is so humorously perceptive of the world. I don't hold it against him that he is a Republican, he is one of the good ones.

Too Much Legislation

"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation."

Thomas B. Reed (1886)

Every time there is a problem or a crisis, those in government feel they must write new legislation. An example unnecessary legislation is Hate Crimes. It is already against the law to murder someone. Now say someone murders someone because they are gay or are of another race? We now have to make a law that makes the motive specifically for such cases.

What if someone kills someone just because they hate that person for being that person. They have never like that person, a personal vendetta that was years in the making and has nothing to do with race or sexual orientation. It is a hate crime, does it qualify?

The bailout legislation was ridiculous. They left certain wording in considering contracts that paid bonuses. Then ridiculed the companies that accepted bailout money for paying bonuses when legislation left it in. Then they want top tax bonuses at 99%. Congress has simply become a waste of time passing wasteful legislation that more than anything wastes paper.

We need congress to take two years off and not pass any legislation. We don't need more laws, we need more freedom.

Constitution Class by Micahel Badnarik - Part 2

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

George Washington

Freedom Watch 5/20

Freedom Watch 5/20

Memorial Day Quotes - In Honor of Liberty

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."

General George Patton

Freedom Watch 5/20

Memorial Day Quotes - In Honor of Liberty

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Second Amendment to the Constitution

Memorial Day Quotes - In Honor of Liberty

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Declaration of Independence

Freedom Watch 5/20

Freedom Watch 5/20

Constitution Class by Micahel Badnarik

This is over 55 minutes. Michael Badnarik is a former Presidential Candidate of the Libertarian Party.

Monday's Prohibition Quote

"If the government can't keep drugs away from inmates who are locked in steel cages, surrounded by barbed wire, watched by armed guards, drug-tested, strip-searched, X-rayed, and videotaped – how can it possibly stop the flow of drugs to an entire nation?"

Ron Crickenberger

Sunday's Libertarian Sermon

"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them."

P. J. O'Rourke

Freedom Watch

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law."

Winston Churchill

Freedom Watch Coming To The Eastern Shore

Monday at 7:30 AM the first in a 6 part series from May 20th of Freedom Watch will be available on Eastern Shore Libertarians. Scheduled throughout the day will be six 10 minute segments from Fox News' own Judge Napolitano a Libertarian.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates."

Tacitus

Michael Badnarik - The Constitution

10th Amendment - Michael Badnarik Bill of Rights Class

Friday's 2nd Amendment Quote

"Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You will pull the trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins."

Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, whose testimony convicted John Gotti

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Intaxication:
Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with. "

Unknown

Constitution Class Starts Monday

Constitution class starts Monday with former Libertarian Presidential Nominee Michael Badnarik at 9:00 AM.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"If the Tenth Amendment were still taken seriously, most of the federal government's present activities would not exist. That's why no one in Washington ever mentions it."

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. in The Policitally Incorrect Guide to American History

Michael Hits It On The Head

Michael Swartz from Monoblogue makes a good point again in a recent article.

Wednesday's Hump Day Bonus Quote

"All the fiery rhetoric of the Founders was directed at a "tyrant" who taxed his subjects at a rate of about three percent. Today, we in "the land of the free" are taxed at about 50 percent when you add federal, state, and local taxes. What kind of government would do this? A dictatorship would. "

Doug Newman

Obamacare: Medical Malpractice

by Edward H. Crane

Edward H. Crane is the founder and president of the Cato Institue.

The columnist Robert J. Samuelson had a perceptive piece in the Washington Post recently in which he stood back from the policy trees to look at the Barack Obama forest. What he saw was disturbing. He suggests that Obama is advancing a "post-material economy" designed to "achieve broad social goals" that will end up spending more to get less. The president proposes to radically restructure America's energy industry through massive tax increases ("cap and trade") in the name of fighting the problematic notion that mankind's miniscule addition to greenhouse gases will create crippling global warming. But as the world-renowned scientist Freeman Dyson points out, "Most of the evolution of life occurred on a planet substantially warmer than it is now and substantially richer in carbon dioxide."

Obama also proposes to make the failed public school model available to even younger children and make liberal arts college more accessible to hundreds of thousands of students who, as American Enterprise Institute scholar Charles Murray points out, would be much better off going to vocational schools or junior colleges. Obama would escalate George W. Bush's efforts to essentially federalize education in America. Never mind that the word "education" in not to be found in the federal Constitution.

But perhaps most threatening to most Americans is Obama's determination to nationalize health care in America. It's a truly bad idea. But that is what the president has made clear he wants. Obama has publicly declared his preference for a single-payer system "managed like Canada." His initial proposal, part of an ill-defined $634 billion "down payment" on health care reform, would create heavily subsidized federal insurance that would put private insurance at an unhealthy disadvantage. Some estimates suggest that private insurance would be reduced by more than 60 percent, leading ultimately to its collapse. Speaking of the Canadian system, Obama says of his approach that "it may be we end up transitioning to such a system." Ya think?

That, of course, would be a tremendous mistake, a fundamental mistake. America is a land of free individuals. Socialized medicine is not what we as a nation are about—and with good reason, both philosophical and practical. Consider:

• Eight out of ten of the most recent major medical innovations, ranging from MRIs to hip replacement, have come from the United States.
• Americans have access, on a per capita basis, to three times as many CT scans as Canadians and four times as many as Britons. Had the actress Natasha Richardson had her skiing accident in upstate New York rather than in Canada, she might have had a chance of survival.
• According to Vancouver's Fraser Institute, the average wait for treatment by a specialist in Canada is 18 weeks. As the Canadian Supreme Court ruled when eliminating the national health care monopoly in 2005: "The evidence shows that in the case of certain surgical procedures, the delays that are the necessary result of waiting lists increase the patient's risk of mortality... The evidence also shows that many patients on non-urgent waiting lists are in pain and cannot fully enjoy any real quality of life."
• According to a Cato study British women face nearly double the mortality risk from breast cancer that American women face; British men face six times the mortality risk from prostate cancer than that faced by American men.

Really, does it make any sense whatsoever to change our health care system to a nationalized system? None of which should suggest that we can't improve on our employer-based, third-party payer approach. And we seem to be moving away from that. Cato published the first book on Health Savings Accounts, which bring about a major improvement by individualizing and making portable health insurance. The next great innovation is from University of Chicago finance professor and newly minted Cato adjunct scholar John Cochrane. His Cato Policy Analysis (no.633), "Health-Status Insurance: How Markets Can Provide Health Security," is a brilliant solution to high insurance costs and issues such as preexisting conditions.

While left-wing coalitions like Health Care for America Now gear up to do battle, and more traditional opponents of socialized medicine like the business community and the American Medical Association prepare to essentially capitulate, all parties should pay attention to a recent front page story in the New York Times, headlined "Doctor Shortage Proves Obstacle to Obama Goals." You don't suppose that shortage has anything to do with the prospect of nationalized health care, do you?

This article originally appeared in the May/June 2009 edition of Cato Policy Report.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"An inevitable consequence of socialism is the division of society into two groups: those who are consuming government "services" and those who are paying for them."

Lee Robinson

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist."

Joseph Sobran (1995)

Monday's LP Message from Donnie Ferguson

Last week I shared with you the disturbing fact the White House wants total control of the nation’s health care system so they can ration your access to medical procedures.

Well, it’s already happening in Oregon.

Sarah McIntosh reports in this month’s “Health Care News” “the Oregon Health Services Commission has drawn up a formal procedure for rationing health care services available to recipients of taxpayer-subsidized coverage.”

McIntosh reports, “the commission listed 680 common medical procedures and treatments and ranked them in order of priority. Beginning in 2009, the commission will reimburse physicians only for procedures and treatments ranking in the top 503 of 680. This means a Medicaid recipient in need of a procedure the commission decided to rank 504th would be ineligible for the procedure.”

If you think that’s just a problem for poor Oregonians, you’re wrong. That is precisely what the Obama administration promised to do to all Americans in an April 19 Meet The Press appearance by White House advisor Lawrence Summers.

Claiming health care is becoming more expensive; not because government regulations drives up costs, but because too many people get health care, Summers flatly stated the White House wants to begin “coordinating” your doctor’s decisions so they cut the cost of health care by 30% by simply denying people possibly life-saving procedures.

Along with their plan to invade the health care market with taxpayer-subsidized insurance and prohibit any private health insurance plan not rubber-stamped by the government, the intent is the eradication of private health insurance and total control of health care.

Illinois Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky even openly admitted that in a speech to cheering left-wing activists that was captured on tape.

Once Obama gets control of health care, you will have no choice in your health coverage. You will be forced to accept rationed care.

The March 27 Wall Street Journal calls it “the Bay State bait and switch,” referring to Massachusetts, where Republican Governor Mitt Romney launched the government health care invasion.

“First, create vast new entitlements that can never be repealed, then later take the less popular step of rationing care when it’s their last hope to save the federal [government’s fiscal situation.]…The real lesson of Massachusetts is that reform proponents won’t tell Americans the truth about what ‘universal coverage’ really means: Runaway costs followed by price controls and bureaucratic rationing,” the Journal writes.

To quote Ted Knight in one of his greatest roles, “You’ll get nothing, and like it.”

It’s the same kind of rationed care you’ll find in nations like France and the United Kingdom, where waiting lists for lifesaving procedures are sometimes years-long, and the death rates from breast and prostate cancer are twice to three times higher than in the United States.

If you think you can count on Republicans to stop it, you’re wrong. In states like Utah, it’s the Republican governor expanding government-run health care. Here in Washington, The Politico newspaper reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is meeting with nearly a dozen Republicans to secure their support of Obama’s socialized medicine takeover.

And as the Wall Street Journal just showed us, they’re looking at a Republican governor – Mitt Romney – for their inspiration.

If Obama and the Republicans are successful, they will have not only nationalized one-seventh of the economy, but they will have made millions of Americans dependent on government for their very lives – and dependent on a system built on rationing and substandard care that requires drastically higher taxes to maintain.

Skyrocketing taxes, bigger government and more dependency are precisely why millions of Americans oppose the Obama health care scheme – and the Libertarian Party is the only party that represents them.

Only Libertarians can oppose the Obama health care scheme, because Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats. Their Medicare prescription drug entitlement, the biggest expansion of the welfare program since Lyndon Johnson created it, simply laid the pavement for Obama’s road to socialized medicine.

And only Libertarians believe in the real solution to rising health care costs – opening up the health insurance market, knocking down regulations that delay and drive up the costs of developing new medicines and treatments, and repealing protectionist regulations installed by connected lobbyists to force more competition into the system.

Government-run and rationed health care, responsible for skyrocketing taxes and higher death rates in other countries, is already here. You can thank both Democrats and Republicans for that.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can provide affordable health care to all. With your support, the Libertarian Party can continue to fight for a vibrant marketplace of affordable, quality care.

With optimism,

Donny Ferguson

Monday's Prohibition Quote

"The War on Drugs is a price support system for terrorists and drug pushers. It turns ordinary, cheap plants like marijuana and poppies into fantastically lucrative black market products. Without the War on Drugs, the financial engine that fuels terrorist organizations would sputter to a halt."

Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian Party Political Director 2/4/02

Sunday's Libertarian Sermon

The forgotten Beatitude...

"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."

Herbert Hoover

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence."

Charles A. Beard

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world. The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. "

George Washington

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. . .I place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. "

President Thomas Jefferson

Friday's 2nd Amendment Quote

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any body of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States."

Noah Webster

Socialism vs. Capitalism

Milton Freidman - Socialism vs. Capitalism

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"They have gun control in Cuba. They have universal health care in Cuba. So why do they want to come here?"

Paul Harvey 8/31/94

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"The man who produces while others dispose of his product is a slave."

Ayn Rand

Wednesday's Hump Day Bonus Quote

"Taking somebody's money without permission is stealing, unless you work for the IRS; then it's taxation. Killing people en masse is homicidal mania, unless you work for the Army; then it's National Defense. Spying on your neighbors is invasion of privacy, unless you work for the FBI; then it's National Security. Running a whorehouse makes you a pimp and poisoning people makes you a murderer, unless you work for the CIA; then it's counter-intelligence. "

Robert Anton Wilson

Milton Friedman on Libertarianism

TAKE IT TO THE LIMITS: Milton Friedman on Libertarianism

Required viewing for all who claim to be a Libertarian.

The Full Faith & Credit of the United States Government

..... Ummm Ok.

That is what is guaranteeing every American's Social Security benefits. It is simply a piece of paper in an old filing cabinet in Parkersburg, West "By God" Virginia that promise you will recieve your Social Security check every month and that Medicare will cover your medical needs. That is what passes for a bond these days. No collateral for the money they take out of your paycheck before you even see it.

There is a problem, a big one. Medicare paid out more in benefits than it took in last year and will continue to do so. The fund will be depleted by 2017. Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it will collect in taxes by 2016. The fund will be empty by 2037.

Thue current political parties in charge only no have two ideas: raise taxes (big surprise) and raise the retirement age.

Here is the Libertarian Party's response to this madness.

Social Security

Securing Your Retirement

Politicians in Washington are stealing your future.

Every year, they take 12.4% of your income to prop up their failed Social Security system - a system that is heading toward bankruptcy.

If you are an American earning the median income of $31,695 per year, and were given the option of investing that same amount of money in a stock mutual fund, you would retire a millionaire - without winning the lottery or a TV game show.

That million dollars would provide you with a retirement income of over $100,000 per year - about five times what you could expect from Social Security.

Even a very conservative investment strategy would yield three times the benefits promised by Social Security.

Libertarians believe you should be able to opt out of Social Security and invest your money in your own personal retirement account. An account that you own and control - one that politicians can't get their hands on. Click Here to Read More

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Left-wing politicians take away your liberty in the name of children and of fighting poverty, while right-wing politicians do it in the name of family values and fighting drugs. Either way, government gets bigger and you become less free."

Harry Browne

Gun Rights and the Supreme Court - Libertarian David Boaz

Gun Rights and the Supreme Court - Libertarian David Boaz

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"Those who expect to reap the benefits of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

Thomas Paine

Bill Clinton Said It....

"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people."

Bill Clinton, 42nd US President

Monday's Prohibition Quote

"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes crimes out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

Abraham Lincoln

Bailout Mania

Nothing like getting stuck with an IOU that your Great-Grandchildren will not be able to pay off. Checkout the link to see what the Libertarian Party has to say about the bailouts.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

[On ancient Athens]: "In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again."

Edward Gibbon

LP Chairman Bill Redpath During His 2008 VA Senate Campaign

Chairman Bill Redpath - one of the good guys.

Philosophical Sundays

"This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. "

Plato circa 400 B.C.

GINGER GIBSON's Article On DE Gambling Bill

Gambling bill's opponents still fighting

Delaware is 14 votes away from becoming the first state east of the Mississippi River to allow sports betting. It would also be one of a handful to allow table games.

After a strong push by Gov. Jack Markell in the House, the measure -- legalizing table games, authorizing sports betting and increasing the state's share of gambling revenues -- heads to the Senate amid the dissenting roars of the NFL, NCAA and the state's three casinos.Less than a year ago, a proposal that would have legalized sports betting never saw a Senate vote after then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner vowed to veto the bill if it passed.

Read Full Article

The Real ID Act is Another Bad Law

The Real ID act is simply a band aid placed on a cut that requires numerous stitches. Daniel T. Griswold wrote a piece for the Dallas Morning News in April of 2008 that accurately represents the Libertarian point of View on this issue.

Immigration Law Should Reflect Our Dynamic Labor Market

by Daniel Griswold

Daniel T. Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute in Washington.

Added to cato.org on April 28, 2008

This article appeared in The Dallas Morning News on April 27, 2008.

Among its many virtues, America is a nation where laws are generally reasonable, respected and impartially enforced. A glaring exception is immigration.

Today an estimated 12 million people live in the U.S. without authorization, 1.6 million in Texas alone, and that number grows every year. Many Americans understandably want the rule of law restored to a system where law-breaking has become the norm.

The fundamental choice before us is whether we redouble our efforts to enforce existing immigration law, whatever the cost, or whether we change the law to match the reality of a dynamic society and labor market.

Low-skilled immigrants cross the Mexican border illegally or overstay their visas for a simple reason: There are jobs waiting here for them to fill, especially in Texas and other, faster growing states. Each year our economy creates hundreds of thousands of net new jobs — in such sectors as retail, cleaning, food preparation, construction and tourism — that require only short-term, on-the-job training.

At the same time, the supply of Americans who have traditionally filled many of those jobs — those without a high school diploma — continues to shrink. Their numbers have declined by 4.6 million in the past decade, as the typical American worker becomes older and better educated.

Yet our system offers no legal channel for anywhere near a sufficient number of peaceful, hardworking immigrants to legally enter the United States even temporarily to fill this growing gap. The predictable result is illegal immigration.

In response, we can spend billions more to beef up border patrols. We can erect hundreds of miles of ugly fence slicing through private property along the Rio Grande. We can raid more discount stores and chicken-processing plants from coast to coast. We can require all Americans to carry a national ID card and seek approval from a government computer before starting a new job.

Or we can change our immigration law to more closely conform to how millions of normal people actually live.

Crossing an international border to support your family and pursue dreams of a better life is not an inherently criminal act like rape or robbery. If it were, then most of us descend from criminals. As the people of Texas know well, the large majority of illegal immigrants are not bad people. They are people who value family, faith and hard work trying to live within a bad system.

When large numbers of otherwise decent people routinely violate a law, the law itself is probably the problem. To argue that illegal immigration is bad merely because it is illegal avoids the threshold question of whether we should prohibit this kind of immigration in the first place.

We've faced this choice on immigration before. In the early 1950s, federal agents were making a million arrests a year along the Mexican border. In response, Congress ramped up enforcement, but it also dramatically increased the number of visas available through the Bracero guest worker program. As a result, apprehensions at the border dropped 95 percent. By changing the law, we transformed an illegal inflow of workers into a legal flow.

For those workers already in the United States illegally, we can avoid "amnesty" and still offer a pathway out of the underground economy. Newly legalized workers can be assessed fines and back taxes and serve probation befitting the misdemeanor they've committed. They can be required to take their place at the back of the line should they eventually apply for permanent residency.

The fatal flaw of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was not that it offered legal status to workers already here but that it made no provision for future workers to enter legally.

Immigration is not the only area of American life where a misguided law has collided with reality. In the 1920s and '30s, Prohibition turned millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans into lawbreakers and spawned an underworld of moon-shining, boot-legging and related criminal activity. (Sound familiar?) We eventually made the right choice to tax and regulate alcohol rather than prohibit it.

In the 19th century, America's frontier was settled largely by illegal squatters. In his influential book on property rights, The Mystery of Capital, economist Hernando de Soto describes how these so-called extralegals began to farm, mine and otherwise improve land to which they did not have strict legal title. After failed attempts by the authorities to destroy their cabins and evict them, federal and state officials finally recognized reality, changed the laws, declared amnesty and issued legal documents conferring title to the land the settlers had improved.

As Mr. de Soto wisely concluded: "The law must be compatible with how people actually arrange their lives." That must be a guiding principle when Congress returns to the important task of fixing our immigration laws.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"In order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty."

Leo Tolstoy

Acorn Funding Still Alive

Democrats (Barney Frank) changed the amendment so that only Senior Officials Convicted will prevent an organization from getting federal funding. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann attempted to have the legislation include Indicted organizations.

How about none of these organizations getting any federal money. That is where we need to start.

Michael Swartz at monoblogue posted this video on Friday, May 8th.

John Monds on Fox 5 News in Atlanta

John Monds is running for Govenor in Georgia.

Philosophy is Often Simple

Though many like to brandish their great intellectual and political thoughts for all to see. Often times it is the simplest sayings that sum up the great travesties of justice in our society.

"When the fox administers justice, the chickens will always be found guilty."

.

Cat Farmer

Libertarian Quote of the Day

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul."

George Bernard Shaw

Friday's 2nd Amendment Quote

"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military."

William S. Burroughs

Cluster Zoning Fight Has Just Begun

The down zoning issue has only just started in Wicomico County. The quick point is we do not need more government in our lives and having it seizing more control over our property. The people that always know better often don't understand things in holistic and broader view. They are so narrow in their focus and where they throw blame.

A good example is this, for years experts have been trying to control everything in the waterways of Maryland. The DNR has established too much authority over our right to hunt, harvest and collect the abundant offerings of our lands. They put so many restrictions on catching Rock Fish that it has created an unbalance in the Bay especially in the struggling crab population. The over management of Maryland Government has crippled the commercial water industry.

They point to Eastern Shore farmers as the cause of the pollution in the bay and her tributaries when the majority of pollution comes from Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Potomac River. Government controlled entities are the reason the Potomac River is in the situation it is in today. There is no accountability because they act as if they are above the law.

Yet, the come hithers rail about the need to keep a rural aspect to the Eastern Shore. If there were not so many come hithers we would not be turning into a metropolis. We welcome all those who wish to make a life here but understand we must change with the times in a responsible manner. We must do it without infringing on the rights of property owners big and small.

Libertarian Quote of the Day

When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government. .

President Grover Cleveland

Bob Barr Accurately Predicts Further Bailouts

In September 2008 Libertarian Presidential Candidate Bob Barr accurately predicts more bailouts.

O'Malley Uses Stimulus Funds To Balance Budget

So the State of Maryland is depending on the Stimulus Funds to offset the budget shortfall. This is so backwards it is ridiculous but is typical of this antiquated form of governing. Raising the sales tax has not worked. Expanding more services under the sales tax has not worked.

Now the way these Stimulus Funds are supposed to work is the State of Maryland will receive payments through 2011. The questions is, what do we do in 2012? Supposedly building roads and bridges is going to stimulate the economy by adding jobs. However the money is not going to roads but t0 shore up medicare/medicaid and education.

Instead of cutting back on services and looking to trim back on state employment, we look for ways to expand and grow government. This thought process needs to change as many services need to be privatized. Trimming back on the size of the Maryland State Police should be considered as more responsibility should be handed off to local police departments.

Each department in the state government should look to eliminate 20 positions by 2012. This will give them plenty of time to find another job and give us the flexibility to trim the budget.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all.

Monday's LP Message

Your Monday Message from the Libertarian Party:

Dear friend,

If you’re lucky enough to live in Montana, take a moment to thank Joel Boniek.

Boniek, a Republican state representative from the Livingston area, sponsored legislation exempting Montana-made guns from federal legislations. It was signed into law April 15.

Joel’s bill applies only to guns made and kept in Montana. Supporters hope it triggers a court case over whether the federal government can regulate gun sales.

Boniek overcame amazing odds and defeated a Republican incumbent in the primary who voted to expand government and openly criticized tax relief efforts. He’s not your typical politician. A quiet, peaceful man, Joel lives “off the grid” and still makes his living as a crane operator, carpenter and hunting guide.

But Joel’s upset win proves that voters want representatives who put freedom first, and that principled candidates who run smart campaigns can knock off entrenched incumbents – and accomplish great things in office.

Now, wouldn’t it be nice to have a state representative in your town just as passionate about defending your rights?

Well, you can by helping build a bigger Libertarian Party.

A bigger Libertarian Party, one that represents all of the millions of libertarian-leaning voters out there, would be big enough to provide the campaign training, media assistance, and most importantly, the voter base to elect our own Joel Bonieks.

If you’ve already joined the Libertarian Party, thank you! If not, please consider joining today. With our common-sense approach of limited government in both personal and economic matters, compared to the radical agendas of Barack Obama and the Republicans, the Libertarian Party is really the only mainstream party in America.

So wouldn’t it be nice for principled libertarians like Joel Boniek to be in numerous seats in every state legislature – and with a “L” next to their names?

Well, then, make it happen. Get active with the Libertarian Party today!

With optimism,

Donny Ferguson
Director of Communications
Libertarian Party
Donny.Ferguson@lp.org

The cluster zoning change in Wicomico County is another hot topic we will be tackling this week.

In Defense of the Revenue Cap

As desired by the Citizens of Wicomico County the Revenue Cap has served it's purpose quite well. I believe it should stay in place. The desire of officials to offer more services, spend more money, and increase revenue is why we voted for it in the first place. Removing or altering it could have major effects on the pocket books of taxpayers.

Consistently creating a budget that won't balance or purposely has shortfalls in it is deceitful. Using it to consistently advocate making changes in the Revenue Cap is irresponsible and only portrays the message of what can't be done. We need leaders to say "this is what can be done" and do it.

Keeping government lean and small is the ultimate goal. Governments need to be less restrictive on businesses and ease their tax burdens. Continually looking for ways into their pockets is not how government should be run.

Quote of the Day

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

• Ben Franklin
  

Election season is coming up fast. It should be ineteresting to see how everything plays out.

LP Monday Message

Your Monday Message from the Libertarian Party:

Dear friend,

Great news! Obama is repealing “onerous” federal regulations!

Unfortunately he’s not repealing any of the hundreds of thousands of federal regulations making it harder to start, expand or keep a business.

Instead – in a payoff to his union boss campaign financiers – Obama repealed pro-transparency regulations requiring union bosses to report more information about their finances and compensation.

According to Obama, the regulations had to be repealed because it was too “onerous” for union bosses to report any conflicts of interest or illegal payoffs.

We like it when any regulation or law that doesn’t protect innocent people from force or fraud is repealed, but Obama’s reasoning is just as true of any of the hundreds of thousands of federal regulations that are slowing our economic recovery.

Those prosperity-killing regulations aren’t being repealed. In fact, many are growing.

Obama’s announcement is bad news if you’re one of the millions of unemployed Americans or struggling small businessmen, but great news if you skimmed money from workers’ paychecks and funneled it into Obama’s campaign.

It’s just the first in a series of proposed giveaways to union bosses, including stripping union members of their right to a secret ballot in union elections – something 74% of union households oppose.

Don’t you think Barack Obama should be focused on repealing the regulations that are destroying jobs and our liberty, instead of heaping more regulations on employers while making it easier for his union boss campaign contributors to hide corruption and force people to pay dues?

Well, then, you’re not alone. More and more Americans are joining the Libertarian Party. In fact, the number of people joining the LP for the first time has gotten bigger every month this year.

They’re fed up with high taxes, big spending, massive deficits and other attacks on their prosperity. They know limited government and economic freedom are what we need to get the economy moving again and grow more jobs.

So while Barack Obama is busy writing new job-killing, anti-liberty regulations, borrowing billions of dollars to finance Big Government, pretending he “isn’t aware of Tea Parties” and making job-killing union boss corruption even easier – your Libertarian Party and the over 200 Libertarians serving in elected office are busy cutting taxes, curbing wasteful spending and making America a better place to create jobs and live your life as you please.

So the next time you’re busy filling out an “onerous” mountain of paperwork, keep in mind that the Libertarian Party is looking out for you – because unless you’re funneling millions of dollars in forced union dues into his campaign account, Barack Obama sure isn’t.

With optimism,

Donny Ferguson
Director of Communications
Libertarian Party
Donny.Ferguson@lp.org