Blog
Quote of the Day: “The layman’s constitutional view is that what he likes is constitutional and that which he doesn’t like is unconstitutional.” — Justice Hugo L. Black Source: New York Times, 26 February 1971.
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Editorial Comment: Justice Black must have been a layman
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Subject: New co-sponsors!
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DC Downsizers have pounded Congress with 32,067 messages in support of the “Enumerated Powers Act” (EPA). Now there’s more good news. EPA has gained another 3 co-sponsors during the past week! Let’s keep pushing…
Quote of the Day: “Security is mostly superstition.” — Helen Keller (1880-1968)
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Subject: Bailouts for trucking companies?!!!
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When we predict bad results from new government programs some people tell us our fears are exaggerated, or misinformed. It happened when we opposed the Iraq war with our “Truth About War” website, and dared to claim that Hussein had NO weapons of mass destruction.
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But we were right.
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Recently, many said we were wrong to oppose the TARP bailouts. It was a crisis after all. Sadly, our fear that TARP would be the proverbial camel’s nose in the tent, seems also to be coming true. Get this…
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A trucking firm, YRC Worldwide, has applied for a TARP bailout (see the third item in this linked blog post).
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Will they get the $1 billion they’re asking for? Many say no, but we’re not so sure. Here’s why…
MEDIA NOTICES: Downsize DC President Jim Babka will appear on two radio shows this weekend, one today (Friday), and one tomorrow (Saturday). Check below his signature to learn how you can tune in.
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Quote of the Day: “Two roads diverged in a wood. I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” — Robert Frost (1874-1963)
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Subject: Are you serious?
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I hear it all the time, in the emails that flood my In-Box and on the radio shows I do. Everyone thinks we need to replace our current Congress with better people. I always have the same reaction — “Are you serious?”
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What would it take to get even ONE “good person” elected? You’d need . . .
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:::* A good candidate
:::* A great campaign
:::* A ton of money
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And you’d still probably lose because incumbents have powerful natural advantages. But even if you did win, one politician can’t pass or repeal laws. You’d need . . .
Downsize DC President Jim Babka will be joining host Martha Montelongo on KION AM-1460 in Salinas, California on Saturday, at 11:30 AM Pacific Time (2:30 PM Eastern).
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:::Listeners outside of the area can hear the interview on CRN Digital Talk Radio, Channel 5, on the net at www.CRNTalk.com.
Quote of the Day: “If Obama scews up health care where will the Canadians go?” — sign seen at a protest event
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Subject: NEW CAMPAIGN! The dirty secret about expensive health insurance
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Do you need health insurance coverage for . . .
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- Maternity care, if you’re a single male
- Infertility, if you don’t want a family
- Alcoholism, if you don’t drink
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If you live in New York state then you (or your employer) must pay for all these things, by law,
Quote of the Day: Do not let these 545 people (Congress, President, and Supreme Court) shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it. . . . Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. – Charley Reese
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Subject: Who’s responsible for the $13,000 tax?
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Every year, politicians and activists unveil plans to make taxes more simple and fair, but they never say anything about the worst tax of all.
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Quote of the Day: “A centralized democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch.” — James Anthony Froud (1818-1894) British author and historian Source: Short Studies on Great Subjects, 1872
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Subject: Will YOU be nationalized next?
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The federal government is nationalizing and centralizing in all directions, including . . .
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* Banks
:::* Insurance companies
:::* Car companies
:::* And, as we reported yesterday, they now fund the majority of state government expenditures
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But it isn’t just companies and state governments. The Feds want to nationalize YOU too.
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It’s important for our new members to know that Congress is weaving a net that will ensnare all of us in a centralized database that could not only track where you go and what you do, but also . . .
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What YOU spend on health care, and the kind of treatment YOU receive.
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This scheme started with the so-called REAL ID Act, which would
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Source: http://www.wordle.net/, presented by DC Downsizer Hal Dunn
Quote of the Day: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” — 10th Amendment, U.S. Constitution
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Subject: Your state belongs to the feds
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For the first time ever federal aid now funds the majority of state government spending.
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It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
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* Government was supposed to be local, close to the people
:::* Federal government was supposed to be small compared to the combined states
:::* The 10th Amendment limits the federal government to 20 functions, leaving all other matters to the states and the people. To see the list of these functions, go to DownsizeDC.org’s Enumerated Powers Act campaign
:::Then, click on the “Talking Points” tab.
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It’s bad enough that Congress has exceeded its constitutional limits. It’s potentially worse that they now fund the majority of state spending too. Funding usually means control, so the consequences are huge . . .
MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.
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Quote of the Day: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” — Hugh Butler, businessman and friend of Downsize DC
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Subject: Membership spiking upwards!
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You hear about it constantly — some organization explodes overnight through the viral power of the Internet. How come that hasn’t happened to Downsize DC yet?
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Well, we constantly hear about people winning the lottery too, but how many winning tickets have you bought? Fact . . .
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There are millions of websites and mailing lists on the Internet. All of them are trying to hit the viral jackpot. Few ever do. Worse . . .
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Some of the things that go viral are inane, while great ideas languish. At Downsize DC we believe that if something of ours ever goes massively viral, it will probably be the silliest or least important idea we ever offered.
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That’s the way of the world.
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In fact, some of the most popular ideas in the small-government movement truly are poor ideas (some are things we’ve tried ourselves in the past). We name no names; point no fingers. We’re NOT the movement’s quality control department. Nit-picking is too common and produces nothing.
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We also understand that members of underdog movements are naturally drawn to “magic bullets” and “get-powerful-quick” schemes. But we must break the cycle if we want results.
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If building big political movements was easy, everyone would do it. Like a baseball team, we build incrementally – hitting a series of singles, or piling up walks. That produces lots of runs over time. This is our approach. And it’s working . . .
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Downsize DC membership is spiking upwards. Why?