Tea Party meetings start up again this weekend. If you’re planning on attending one then there are Downsize DC fliers and brochures you can take with you. You can find them . . .
The mainstream media and the establishment Statists ridicule the Tea Party movement. They even invent charges against it. But the movement does have a core philosophy . . .
The Government, with a capital G, is way too big.
This makes a Tea Party meeting a perfect place to talk about and pitch DownsizeDC.org.
ARE YOU GOING TO A TEA PARTY? IF SO, PLEASE READ ON, TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN TAKE DOWNSIZEDC.ORG TO YOUR LOCAL TEA PARTY.
But first, I want to make a simple, but very important point.
Many types of people are DC Downsizers, from civil libertarians, to conservative constitutionalists, as well as patriots, populists, peace activists, and libertarians. As a part of this movement, I’ve noticed that these strains all have some things in common, and it’s not just our love of liberty and concern about the size, scope, expense, and power of the federal government. Perhaps the most important thing we share in common is this . . .
It seems that we are constantly playing defense, trying to stop the latest Statist plan. We seem never to play offense.
If you could, instead, turn the tables, and put the Statist politicians in Washington, DC on the defensive, would you want that?
Well, DownsizeDC.org offers you, as well as everyone who attends a Tea Party meeting (and who isn’t merely an angry Republican or Obama-hater) a platform of ideas that allows us to play offense, and make the politicians play defense. These issues are proactive, and if implemented, they would make it possible for us to actually Downsize DC!
We call this set of “play offense” proposals “The Downsize DC Agenda.”
The first three issues are based on The Referee Principle, which is . . .
“If you could write the rules and referee the game, you could be sure enough of the likely outcome that you would be willing to bet on it — and you would expect to win.”
Congress, and those with political power, have written the rules on budgeting, campaigns and elections, lobbying, and other areas, so that they, as well as their key supporters, can constantly place bets in a rigged game that they constantly win.
But what if we wrote the rules? What if . . .
1. We made Congress “Read the Bills” using DownsizeDC.org’s bill? If we did that then the bills would be shorter, cover fewer issues, and, best of all, fewer bills would get passed.
Senators from Ohio, Michigan, and Texas tell their constituents, “We wouldn’t be able to get as much done — it’s obstructionist.” Bingo! Do you believe Congress is doing too much? We do.
2. What if we limited Congress to “One Subject at a Time?” If we did that then our legislators would have far less power to sneak notorious and even scandalous proposals through on the back of a very popular, sure-to-pass bill.
Not only that, but our One Subject bill would make it harder to cut deals where unrelated legislation is thrown into the mix in order to BUY the vote of a recalcitrant Representative.
By the way, some Tea Party speakers call for so-called “earmark reform.” One Subject at a Time and Read the Bills would do more to REALISTICALLY address the earmark concern than ANYTHING else currently proposed.
3. Each year the Federal Register — containing all the regulations created by unelected bureaucrats — grows more and more bloated. Our “Write the Laws” Act would return the power to create rules that you must obey to the place our Founding Fathers intended — an elected Congress.
Imagine how the game would change if Congress had to create and pass all the rules, while being required to read every word of every bill, and casting their votes for only One Subject at a Time? We think the Federal Register could actually shrink!
4. What if we required Congress to back up the oaths they swear to protect and defend the Constitution, by requiring them to name the Constitutional authority for every law they pass? That’s why we support the Enumerated Powers Act, HR 450, which currently has 64 co-sponsors in the House.
5. What if we could restrict the government’s ability to borrow and spend, and remove its ability to inflate and spend, by freeing you from the monopoly power of government dollars, with the “Free Competition in Currency Act?”
This bill would stop inflation, bubbles, and recessions by permitting free market money to compete with Federal Reserve Notes. Everyone who made the switch to honest money (like gold and silver) would dis-empower the Federal Reserve, making it increasingly irrelevant.
These five points comprise an agenda that “plays offense,” and makes politicians play defense for a change.
The good folks who attend Tea Party gatherings should hear about this agenda, and YOU can help make that happen.
We’ve created two simple fliers. Both can be printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and are available at our website in pdf.
In addition, you can order The Downsize DC Vision, our 16 page, color, glossy report (every new donor receives one). We can rush a package of 44 Visions to you in a Priority Mail box for $92. If you want to order that stack, or a smaller order, please contact us at Feedback@DownsizeDC.org
And if what we’re offering here isn’t what you’re looking for, perhaps you can come up with materials on your own. If you do, please share them with us at the Feedback address. We’d like to see them.
Please remember, your support is our budget. To keep making progress, we need new monthly pledgers. Please start, renew, or increase a monthly pledge today.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.