Quote of the Day: “The search of an etymological dictionary reveals that the words ‘peace,’ ‘freedom,’ ‘love,’ and ‘friend,’ share some common origins. Perhaps they implicitly understood what we, in our overly-politicized world, can no longer grasp, namely, that ‘friends’ express ‘love’ for one another by respecting one another’s ‘freedom,’ and that a world so constituted enjoys ‘peace.'” – Butler Shaffer, When the World Went Bankrupt
Subject: Peace to People of Goodwill
This is the Christmas season. Carols fill the air, singing of peace on Earth, and of angels who brought glad tidings of great joy to all people.
Peace is not the interest of Big Government. Big Government heralds bad news. This issue of good news is so important to me that my personal emails include the following quote beneath my signature:
“Big government harms you, hurts your family, damages your industry, and destroys your community — it even kills people. We must Downsize DC for Human Progress.”
It is normally the duty of beauty pageant contestants to say they want to work for world peace. But peace is not an empty platitude. Peace is actually a serious, noble calling. And it can only come by reducing the size, the scope, the power, and the expense of Big Government.
Big Government is a blunt force tool of coercion — nothing more.
- It doesn’t inspire so much as it intimidates.
- It is not the place of hopes and dreams; it is the place of power and grandiose pomposity.
- It exists by taking from one party, to earn the support of another recipient party.
- It is ultimately captured by the very interests it claims to regulate, in what alternates as a protection racket and a corporate welfare scheme.
- It’s a drag on our productive economy.
- It rewards incompetence, and pensions sloth.
- It disdains the moral character of citizens because it believes it knows best how to care for the citizenry’s children, aging parents, and neighbors.
- And yes, it even kills people. Whether it’s the more subtle damage done in the name of protecting us from bad drugs, or the more obvious carnage of war, Big Government is the deadliest disease on our planet.
Personally, I’m no fan of Organized Religion or Big Government. But I believe in the Christmas story. The baby in that story grew up to be a carpenter and a teacher. He refused the devil’s offer of political power. He ignored the regulatory agents of his day, violated their codes, and healed people anyway. He refused political power and accepted a cross instead.
Like that carpenter and teacher, I am opposed to one man dominating another — even if it’s done by majority vote. So I am not one of those who is filled with hope at the prospect of a coming inauguration. Some have expressed concern about our President-Elect’s birthplace. But one thing is for sure: Neither he, nor his cabinet, nor the 535 politicians on Capitol Hill, were born in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.
Perhaps your head is nodding as you read this. You find yourself in agreement with me. That is fine and good. But to really do something about it requires a specific plan. We call our plan The Downsize DC Vision, and we’ve put our vision in a 16-page report that we send to every new pledger or donor to DownsizeDC.org.
My friends, our Vision addresses the two biggest things missing from most plans to bring peace and freedom to the world.
So here’s what I want for Christmas this year — the knowledge that DownsizeDC.org’s 2009 operating budget will be covered, in full. We’re just $6,232 away from doing just that!
Do you share my Christmas wish, and a desire to lead the way to peace and prosperity?
Thanks to a bunch of one-time donors, we’ve also nearly made our budget for this month. We’re finishing strong, and nearly ready to start next year.
Thanks to Steve Fox, Kraig Clark, and a dozen other people who’ve made Top-Down pledges, we are able to offer YOU tremendous LEVERAGE. These folks have combined to promise $70,301, if only we raise the remaining $6,232.
That means, if you can help us raise that final $6,232 with either . . .
- A Top-Down pledges of $500 or more, and/or
- A Bottom-Up, new or increased monthly pledge
. . . then every dollar you give will be greatly multiplied. Think of it like a matching fund . . .
- Every dollar given in a Top-Down pledge would instantly be worth $12.28, so a $1,000 contribution is worth $12,280 to Downsize DC
- And monthly pledges are matched to their ANNUAL VALUE, so a pledge of $15/mo ($180 annual value) is really worth $2,030!
And we only need to raise just $6,232 to receive that $70,301 and to run full-speed into our breakthrough year.
We’re offering premiums to say, “Thank you,” as well — starting with a heavy-duty, cotton T-shirt that says, “I Am Not Afraid.” You can see the shirt and learn how to get one by helping us raise that final $6,232 with either a Top-Down or Bottom-Up pledge, by going to our Close the Gap page. So this might be your last chance to get the T-shirt.
Thank you to all DC Downsizers for being a part of our growing army. Thank you for helping us with our “plan for peace.”
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Holidays.
Jim Babka, President
Downsize DC Foundation
& DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
P.S. If Tax-Deductibility is important to you, then you can also make your Bottom-Up monthly pledge or your Top Down donation of $500 (or more!) to our sister organization, the Downsize DC Foundation. Simply state your T-shirt size in the comments section.