Quote of the Day: “Coercion by government, the main fear of our founding fathers, is now its most common attribute.” — Philip K. Howard, (Source: The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America (New York: Random House 1994)
In this issue . . .
* How we’ll handle this Congress as compared to past Congresses
* How we’ll update our Educate the Powerful System if you have a new Rep. or Senator
The new Congress
Please take note . . .
* When the Republicans ran Congress and the White House we criticized everything they did that expanded The State.
* When the Democrats gained control we treated them the same way.
* Now we’ll hold the new GOP House majority, as well as the Democratic Senate and President to the same standard.
We mention this because . . .
We don’t want anyone to be surprised.
* Our purpose is to speak truth to power, NOT to take partisan sides.
* We are CONSISTENTLY opposed to Statist coercion, whether it comes from Left-Statists or Right-Statists or BOTH.
We think size matters. If you want to reduce the size of The State, and expand the scope of human choice, we’re for it. If you want to expand the State and constrain human choice, we’re against it — period.
We stress these points because . . .
* Nearly 8,000 new people have joined us during the time the Democrats have held sway.
* We’ve mostly had to deal with Democratic proposals during that time, so . . .
* Some may assume that we’re anti-Democrat, which . . .
* To many partisan minds is the same thing as being pro-Republican.
These points will help to avoid misunderstandings . . .
* We are legally non-partisan
* We are temperamentally ANTI-partisan
* We think that, to put it bluntly but precisely, political parties are TOXIC institutions that are little better than organized criminal gangs.
That’s why no one should be surprised if we’re as hard on the House Republicans as we have been on the Democrats.
We care about principles, not parties or personalities.
Where the Republicans attempt good works, which we hope are many, we’ll support their efforts. Even better, should they actually achieve things that “Downsize DC,” we’ll praise them. BUT . . .
We’re prepared for the worst. Do you remember that the GOP passed . . .
* The first stimulus bill?
* The TARP bailout?
* The prescription drug entitlement?
Do you recall how these Right-Statists also gave us . . .
* Warrantless wiretapping?
* Torture?
* Extraordinary rendition (which is a euphemism for the crime of kidnapping)?
* The Patriot Act?
* Real ID?
* Constant attacks on the 9th and 10th Amendment rights of citizens living in medical marijuana states?
* A bungled war in Afghanistan and a bungled occupation in Iraq?
In addition, they . . .
* Created a new pork-riddled cabinet agency called the Department of Homeland Security,
* Expanded the power of the TSA.
We want to stand in opposition to all of this. We hope you do too, at least some of the time, and that you will . . .
* Work with us whenever you agree with us (and only then)
* Not be shocked if we critique a party or personality you like
* Reflect on our reasons for taking stands that seem incorrect to you at first glance
* Stick with us for the sake of our many agreements, rather than leave us because of our few disagreements
We also profoundly hope that . . .
* The new Republicans “get it,” and that they will do many things we can praise
* The Democrats learn from their repudiation, and begin to defend human choice rather than oppress it
Truly, we would much rather praise than condemn.
YOU can control Congress, if you don’t permit toxic partisanship to divide us.
In fact, we hope that you’ll join with us as often as you can in the coming year, to exercise your right to petition Congress for a redress of grievances. Before we can start work in 2011, there’s one more piece of housekeeping to which we must attend . . .
The new Congress is convening, but that doesn’t mean everything is “ready.”
Right now, you may find that your new officeholder still needs to be updated in our Educate the Powerful System. Our team has started this work. Lots of changes will occur over the next ten days. Please give us at least one more week to get current.
If you have a new Rep. or Senator that we haven’t updated by the end of next week, please contact us at “comments at DownsizeDC dot org”
Some of you will find that we have your new officeholder’s name listed, but you cannot contact them via our Educate the Powerful System. If so, then the problem is probably on their end! They don’t have their website set-up properly yet. Our system CAN’T fill out their contact form for you until they HAVE a working contact form. BUT . . .
If you go to their website and find that they DO have a contact form in place that isn’t yet reflected in our Educate the Powerful System, please let us know about this by sending us an email at “comments at DownsizeDC dot org.” This will help us to promptly fix any Congressional office we’ve overlooked.
Happy New Year,
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.