Author Archives: "Archives"

Special Bulletin – Senate Acting Right Now

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” :::- Edmund Burke ::::::Subject: The Big Issue — $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities::::::The federal government has made a lot of promises in your name. It has committed you to pay most of the health care costs of the elderly (Medicare), and to provide them with a small stipend (Social Security). It has also borrowed trillions of dollars, to pay current expenses, that your children and grandchildren will have to repay. Unfortunately, future revenues will be insufficient to fulfill these promises.::::::The Government Accountability Office estimates the future shortfall in funding at $53.3 trillion. Other experts say the number is almost certainly higher. This means that every full-time worker owes a staggering $440,000, courtesy of government excess. ::::::Eventually, that debt must be paid, either in higher taxes, or in reduced benefits. These numbers represent a looming crisis of staggering proportions. ::::::What can be done?

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this with others.::::::Quotes of the Day:::::::“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”:::– Edward R. Murrow::::::“If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad.”:::– James Madison::::::Subject: Fear the spending::::::Since its founding DownsizeDC.org has spent the bulk of its efforts defending the Bill of Rights. We have spent comparatively less effort on fiscal matters. This has been because of the nature of the current administration, in both the White House and the Congress. ::::::The politicians of both parties have joined forces to wage what may be the greatest war against traditional American civil liberties since perhaps the time of President Wilson. But now we are on the cusp of a new era, in which fiscal and economic issues will move to the fore. ::::::It is not that we expect the next administration to be more respectful of the Bills of Rights. We do not expect that, no matter which parties prevail in the coming elections. ::::::Neither do we believe the current administration has been sound in its fiscal policies, nor that we necessarily expect the next one to be worse. ::::::These are not the reasons why fiscal and economic issues will become predominant. Rather . . .

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”::: – Frederick Douglass::::::Subject: The Direction of Compromise::::::We are told that compromise is the essence of politics. We assert that seeking what you really want is the only way to move the process of compromise in the right direction.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.::::::SPECIAL NOTE: I’ll be on two radio shows today — Jerry Hughes at 3 PM Eastern and Gary Nolan at 5 PM Central. See below my signature for details on how you can listen. ::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Congress is continually appointing fact-finding committees, when what we really need are some fact-facing committees.”:::– Roger Allen::::::Subject: Make Congress pay by not paying them::::::If the government fails, you can’t take your business elsewhere, or even get your money back. ::::::If a politicians fails, you can’t fire him or her. Of course . . .

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Subject: Piercing The Echo Chamber::::::Most members of Congress spend most of their time with other members of Congress, or with Beltway media types. It’s a small group of people, most of whom share similar opinions on a wide range of issues, with only a narrow margin of disagreement. It’s an environment tailor-made for Group Think. It’s an echo chamber.::::::I’m reminded of the woman from Greenwich Village who couldn’t understand how Nixon won in 1972 — everyone she knew voted for McGovern. That woman lived in an echo chamber too. ::::::It’s easy for Congress to assume that “the people” want what Congress wants, if they never hear any different. That’s why we need to make them hear what we think and what we want. We need to pierce the Congressional Echo Chamber. ::::::That’s the importance of what we’re doing in the short term.

Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this with others.::::::Quote of the Day:::::::“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.”:::— attributed to Groucho Marx (in various versions)::::::Subject: Numbers that matter::::::More than 1,000 new people have joined DownsizeDC.org in January. This is more than we recruited in any single month all last year. We’re off to a great start. Thank you to those who helped spread the word, and welcome to all the new members of our Downsize DC Army. Your membership is important because . . .

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::IMPORTANT UPDATE
:::
:::Good news! Opponents of the Protect America Act defeated two cloture motions yesterday. We will have more on this tomorrow, but the battle isn’t over yet. Please tell your Senators to let the Protect America Act expire, and to oppose any replacement.
:::
:::And now on to our regularly-scheduled Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
:::
:::QUOTE OF THE DAY:
:::
:::”It should be common sense that if individuals can speak without limit, so too can groups of individuals.
:::- Bradley Smith (former member of the Federal Election Commission)
:::
:::SUBJECT: The FEC vs. Free Speech
:::
:::A rich person, acting alone, can spend unlimited amounts to support or oppose a candidate, without government interference. But the government will interfere plenty if two, or more, less wealthy people cooperate to match what the rich person spends.
:::
:::Individuals who cooperate to express opinions about candidates have to consult lawyers and accountants, file reports with the government, and potentially face large fines. They will also be limited to contributions of $5,000 each, while the rich person, acting alone, bears none of these burdens, and can spend millions.
:::
:::When it comes to political campaigns, one rich person has more rights than an infinite number of poor people.
:::
:::The federal government has a special gang it uses to control the right of people to cooperate to express opinions about candidates. It’s called the Federal Election Commission — FEC for short.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Quote of the Day:
:::
:::”The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
:::- Albert Camus
:::
:::Subject: The clock is ticking
:::
:::At the end of this week the so-called “Protect America Act” (PAA) will sunset out of existence. The House and Senate must both take action to either extend the deadline or replace the PAA with something else.
:::
:::A cloture vote will be held in the Senate this afternoon. If they get 60 votes for cloture then debate will end and the Senate will move to a vote on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s replacement for PAA. This is a bad bill. It has everything we don’t want, including immunity for the telecom companies that collaborated with the Bush administration to violate the Bill of Rights.
:::
:::That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is strong opposition in the Senate to this version of the replacement bill. If we can support that opposition it may prove impossible for the Senate to get the 60 votes needed for cloture. If we can prevent cloture then the clock could run out, and PAA will sunset.
:::
:::Send your Senators a message, and copy your House rep. too. Our system is already set-up to do that. Use your personal comments to ask your Senators to NOT vote for cloture on the replacement bill for PAA.
:::
:::But please take one more step. If one or more of your Senators is a Democrat, or one of the following Republican Senators — Hagel, Specter, Sununu — please pick up the phone and call them. Tell them you want the PAA to sunset, and that you want them to vote NO on cloture for the replacement for PAA.
:::
:::You will see the phone numbers for your Senators when you send your message to Congress, here.

Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .::::::Change the environment. Recruit more Downsizers. Share this message with others.
:::
::: Quote of the Day:
:::
:::”Americans just want us to… not be concerned if they [new laws] can be constitutionally justified…Why, if we had to do that we could not pass most of the laws we enact around here.”
:::– Sen. John Glenn (D-OH) 07/16/96
:::
:::Subject: Where things stand with the “Enumerated Powers Act”
:::
:::The “Enumerated Powers Act” would compel Congress to cite the section of the U.S. Constitution that provides the authority for every law they pass. We first introduced this bill to Downsizers on December 19, 2007, but what we didn’t tell you is that this bill already has 38 sponsors in the House of Representatives.
:::
:::You see, it is possible for members of Congress to support good legislation once in a while. That’s the good news.
:::
:::But the bad news is that no Senator has yet signed on as a co-sponsor, and there are no new co-sponsors in the House since December 12th. Can we encourage more Representatives and maybe a few Senators to climb on board? Let’s try.
:::