Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .
Quote of the Day:
“When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty.”
— Thomas Paine
Subject: Some Plans & Progress
* One Subject at a Time
* Priorities
* Stats
* Real ID Action
* Talk radio appearance today
One Subject at a Time
We met with our attorneys again yesterday about the “One Subject at a Time Act.” Working on this bill has been an amazing process.
As we’ve gone along we’ve learned a lot of things about how Congress operates. This has made it necessary to revise constantly, making improvements every step of the way.
It happened again yesterday. We thought we were done, but we aren’t. We had another insight yesterday, relating to the messed up way Congress uses so-called emergency supplemental appropriation bills.
We have some thoughts about how to handle this. It should lead to yet another improvement in the bill — a very important improvement. Stay tuned, we’re almost there.
But the time invested and the continuing discoveries makes me wonder… Does Congress put as much thought into their bills as we’ve put into ours? We’ve read things like the military tribunal bill numerous times. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine that they do.
Time and again we find ourselves reading sloppy legislation. And time and again we’ve seen examples that the people in Congress don’t really know what they’re passing.
We need the “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA). We need the “One Subject at a Time Act” (OSTA).
Priorities
Congress did a lot of things before recess. They always do. We work in a target rich environment!
But with only one Dispatch transmission per day we have to pick and choose. All the results we produce are driven by the Dispatch. So we didn’t say anything about a lot of things we would have liked to have said a lot about.
RTBA, OSTA, and the “Write the Laws Act,” would all do a great deal to reduce the pressure. Until then . . .
We have to pick our targets. Focus. We tend to pick issues where we have partners, so the impact of every message you send is amplified. This is something to keep in mind — you are not alone. On most issues we work on there are always other people in other groups pushing in the same direction you are. Plus . . .
We tend to focus on areas that cause the biggest growth in government, either in terms of power or money. That’s why we’ve done so much on the related issues of foreign policy and civil liberties.
These two areas are an intersection where massive government upsizing occurs.
Robert Higgs, in his classic work “Crisis and Leviathan,” has shown that war is the primary driver of expansive government, EVEN IN AREAS UNRELATED TO WAR. War and foreign policy are also an area where our government has a quite extensive history of disaster, from the intervention in World War I, to the 1953 coup in Iran, to Vietnam, to Iraq and the so-called War on Terror.
But there’s another big threat looming on the horizon. The other huge area of government growth is entitlements. DownsizeDC.org’s creation was, in large part, inspired by the prescription drug entitlement vote. This new program was one of the largest and most ill conceived schemes in the history of America. Now the drum is beating for more of the same.
The media is pouring a lot of fuel on the health care fire, and the politicians are doing a lot of pandering on the subject. And Congress just passed another health care entitlement, this one for children.
We’ve been doing a lot of research on this issue. It is very clear that government spending and government policies are the cause of the mess. More of the same will only make the mess messier. We’ve been looking for unique, Downsize DC leverage points.
Get ready. A big fight is coming.
Stats
Our ability to put pressure on Congress is growing all the time. We’re off to a fabulous start this month, both in recruitment and messages to Congress. We’ve been pushing hard, and we probably can’t sustain the pace, but right now we’re on track for recruiting more than 600 new troops to our DC Downsizer army, as well as sending more than 60,000 new messages this month.
The lagging stat, as usual, is financing. And that’s typical for Summer months. But I’m hoping I can convince you to get a copy of the DVD “9-11: Press for Truth,” as a way to close our funding gap.
If you hate conspiracy theories, this DVD doesn’t present any. If you love conspiracy theories, this DVD doesn’t refute any. But if you love interesting facts, this DVD is full of them. It’s based on three things . . .
* News reports
* A deep chronology of events related to 9-11
* The research of the 9-11 families
We are constantly bombarded with stuff about 9-11. In our opinion, this DVD stands out from the crowd.
If you can make a contribution or start a new monthly pledge we’ll mail a “9/11: Press for Truth” DVD to your home. Here’s how to get one . . .
If you’re an existing monthly credit card pledger in good standing as of June 15, 2007, all you have to do is increase your monthly pledge by at least $1, and we’ll send one to you.
If you’re NOT an EXISTING monthly credit card pledger then you can start a monthly credit card pledge of at least $6, or make a one-time credit card donation of $35 or more, and we’ll send you the DVD. (Sorry, for technical reasons we cannot make this offer for PayPal pledges or donations).
You can make your contribution here.
If you want to watch the video before you buy it, you can do so here.
Real ID Action
Speaking of stats… to keep our exciting stats constantly moving upward, as well as to maintain the pressure on Congress, could you also send them a message today? We haven’t hit them on the REAL ID act in a couple of weeks. Let’s do so today. You can send your message here.
Downsize DC on the Radio
Finally, Downsize DC President, Jim Babka, is on the radio again for his regular Friday appearance with Jerry Hughes. And this national show is a great opportunity to spread the DC Downsizer message. Please support this show. Help us create “buzz!” You can do so by listening, but especially by calling-in or sending an email.
The toll-free call-in number is: 1-866-222-2368
The email is: Jerry at AccentRadio dot com
Time: 3:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Central, 1:00 PM Mountain, Noon Pacific
Length: 1 hour
Host: Jerry Hughes
Show: Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes
Internet: www.accentradionetwork.com/chooseplayer.htm
Click Winamp or Windows Media Player, as appropriate.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.