Why I have abandoned the Republican Party
Strange, all that roasted pork everyone is getting smells like BURNT taxpayer.
Read about the Republican Roast, at YOUR family's expense.
Why? I began to have doubts about the commitment of the Republican Party (& Congressional representatives) to eliminate government growth, after 1996, when Congressional Democrats and Republicans proclaimed a new era of "tax simplification." Then I saw the new tax Schedule D, with 32 new lines, and knew this claim to be a LIE. Successive Congresses showed Republicans unwilling to challenge the legislative initiatives, for federal expansion, of the President. Now, my worst suspicions have been confirmed by the July 24, 2000, Cato Institute study, "Return of the Living Dead: Federal Programs That Survived the Republican Revolution" (http://www.cato.org/new/07-00/07-24-00r.html).
This is the most damning indictment of the Republican Congress, and its strategies. "In the past three years, the Republican discretionary budgets have exceeded the White House requests by more than $30 billion." (Cato report, p. 7) Why are Congressional Republicans trying to outbid the President, with your family's money?
I was appalled by several statements made at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Mrs. Bush (Jr.) indicated her husband would EXPAND federal education expenditures by $5 billion, for reading programs. Colin Powell's speech sounded right out of Hillary Clinton's play book. A Washington State delegate, speaking with Peter Weissbach of KVI radio, proclaimed that the effort to eliminate the Dept. of Education was a "lost war", and the best the Republicans could do was channel more federal education funds back to the States.
It is clear to me now that the "Republican Revolution" is dead and buried. The new alternative offered by Congressional Republicans & the 2000 Republican candidates is, to better manage the future growth of the federal government.
I am no longer willing to waste my vote on the
Republican or Democrat alternatives of BIGGER or BIGGEST federal
government."In the 105th Congress (1997-98), Republican and Democratic
senators proposed seven bills to increase spending for every bill introduced to
reduce budget outlays." (Cato report, p.12)
[Read
The Wasted
Vote Myth]
Many people claim I should work to reform the Republican Party from within, suggesting I should not leave the "family." I do not view any political party as part of my family. What political parties offer is subject to the same critical judgment I apply to the purchase of shares in a public corporation. When a corporation fails to perform for my family, I sell my shares, and buy a better alternative. I do not waste my valuable time reforming the failing corporation, while my investment dwindles away, because of the poor strategies of the board of directors (party leadership & representatives), and the CEO (presidential candidate).
Then Republicans will try to invoke the specter of a Gore administration, fearful of the end of the world. I do not fear the prospect of a Democratic administration. If Gore wins, the world just gets more expensive. And we will get a faster expansion & intrusion of the federal government. "No Congress has spent at such a rapid pace since the 95th Congress back in 1977-78" (Cato report, p. 19). Sometimes the best lessons in life are the harshest. Yet, the future Republican alternative, of slower growth, of the federal government, will arrive at the same place as the Democrats, the abject loss of our Liberties. I do fear any political party that panders to every change in the political polls, which is where the Democrat & Republican parties have arrived. Such parties are hollow pretenders to Liberty, without substance, only pursuing power and avarice, according to the whims of the public. This kind of conviction made us a nation of slave owners, that required a bloody war to end.
When the Republican leadership whispers in your ear, "We must win at any cost!", they mean it literally, in terms of your family's $$$. Why aren't you asking the leadership, what is that cost, before you waste your vote on marginally slower government growth? And how much longer can your family afford these slower costs, while only losing more Liberties, in return? "From 1996 through 2000 the domestic budget has risen by 14 percent over inflation." (Cato Report, p.2)
I invite you to join me in proclaiming and reclaiming your Constitutional Liberties. Abandon your worthless shares of the Republican Party, and invest in the Libertarian Party, whose commitment to restoring a Constitutional Republic has not wavered since its founding. The Libertarian Party does not waver in the breeze of political polls, pandering to the lowest common denominator, or "feel good" politics.
In 2000, the Washington State Libertarian Party has fielded 60+ candidates across the State, a historic record, for a 3rd party. Your vote for these candidates will not be wasted, as it will send a profound message to the Republican leadership, that will shake the Republican Party to its foundations, and affirm that slower government growth is not acceptable to your family.
If you continue to vote for the new Republican alternative of efficiently managed, slower government growth and expansion, you will condemn future generations to the mere memory of the promise of Liberty that our Revolutionary founders died for.
Please read the Cato Institute study carefully.
Find your Libertarian candidates through http://www.voteliberty.org, and help their campaigns. Learn more about the LP through this web site (links to National LP). Or check your Voter's Pamphlet before election day.
Vote Libertarian in 2000. Restore the Republic at the beginning of the new millennium. Your great-grandchildren will thank you.
Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz at http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html
What? In June 1999 I became a paid member of the Libertarian Party. In practical terms this means ...
1) I will always vote for Libertarian
candidates, when they appear on the ballot.
2) I
will look first to 3rd Parties, when Libertarian candidates are absent.
3) When the first two conditions have been exhausted, I
will consider any Republican candidate only if they are committed to restoring
this country & State to a Constitutional Representative Republic. If none
meet this criteria, I will vote for none.
4) All
my political financial support will go to the Libertarian Party. I am a monthly
contributor to the
Libertarian Victory Fund (PAC).
Cary Thomas, Chair, West King County Libertarians; http://welcome.to/westkinglp
e-mail: cary@exordia.net
