Unless Congress acts to fix their mistake, a paperwork tsunami will drown every business, including yours, and all of your favorite organizations, including Downsize DC.
This coming tsunami is the new requirement that every business must fill out 1099s forms for every company with which it spends more than $600. This new burden was a provision of the Obamacare bill.
Everyone hates it. Both parties CLAIM they want to repeal it, but they can’t agree about where to fit it in their tight schedule, or whether or not to “pay” for the lost revenue with spending cuts elsewhere.
Well, they SHOULD cut spending. But let’s be clear: There’s NO revenue loss to contemplate. The 1099 requirement will cut into profits. That would mean less, not more revenue for our bloated government.
We thought the so-called food safety bill was dead, and that we had won. Not so. Instead, we lost. Badly.
I’ll tell you how this happened, and what we can do about it. You’ll need to be motivated, smart, and intuitive to understand what’s been done to you, and that there IS a way to defeat these bastards.
1. Increased inspections and paperwork won’t actually detect microbial pathogens
2. Costly risk-reduction rules (HACCP) are outdated and will stifle innovation
3. Even if the smallest producers are exempt, S.510 will still crush tens of thousands of small and mid-sized farms
4. By replacing the words “credible evidence” with “reason to believe,” S.510 gives the FDA power to outlaw foods based on opinion rather than science Read More »
The fix is in. That’s right, and by “fix” I really mean dreadfully broken. Check out the latest effort from the Institute for Justice:
Imagine if Nancy Pelosi wanted to run for governor. If she decided to run as a “Clean Elections” candidate, every time her opponent would raise a certain amount of money from private donors, she would receive the same amount from taxpayers. That’s right, publicly funded elections.
This allows the government-subsidized candidate to “match” the spending—and thus the speech—of the independent group or privately funded candidate opposing him or her. The harder an independent group or traditionally financed candidate works, the more the government-subsidized candidate benefits. The system curbs speech, discourages participation and limits what voters will hear about politics.
In one of the several interviews Liberty Maven did with Rand Paul I asked a question about strategy that I believe is the main reason Rand Paul won and is now Senator-elect Rand Paul. Here is that question and Rand’s excellent response again:
LM: Your recent op-ed in USA Today discussing libertarianism and conservatism where you deemed yourself “not quite” a libertarian seemed to be another (rather successful in my view) effort to unite conservatives and libertarians by focusing on where there are agreements. Is one of your fundamental campaign strategies to foster agreement between these groups?
Rand Paul: Yes, it is. The views that unite many conservatives and libertarians are grounded in deference to the Constitution and its principles, and a belief in limited government. These ideals have not been acted upon by many in Washington recently, and that’s why I’m running. It’s also why the Tea Parties exist – frustration with a lack of accountability on spending and the size of government.
These ideals – and the joining of all limited government advocates — form the basis for my campaign this year, one that has struck a chord with Republicans, independents, libertarians, and Tea Party activists. For the country’s sake I hope we can keep these groups in agreement and united against those who do not hold the same respect for those Constitutional principles.
Yes. I believe that about sums up why Rand Paul was successful. He united all flavors of voters. The Republicans, libertarians, independents, conservatives, and tea partiers joined together to support him. He also united progressives pretty well too. They were downright venomous for some reason. I guess that’s the way they roll when they disagree with someone.
A little less than a year ago I posted an article entitled, “Why Rand Paul Will Win“. I listed three reasons: public sentiment, fund raising, and the “it” factor. In retrospect it was mostly public sentiment that turned the tide in his favor in both the primary and general.
Also of note, Rand Paul’s father Ron, won his race. There’s a slight chance Ron Paul could be in line for a committee or sub-committee chairmanship now that the House is changing control to the GOP. It’s likely we’ll all be seeing more of the always-entertaining hearing sessions with Ben Bernanke tap dancing around Ron Paul’s questions. I also believe it to be quite likely we’ll see Ron Paul running for president in 2012 given the results and public opinion. Fox News even threw some love Ron’s way by mentioning him as the catalyst for his son’s and the tea party’s victories. Prepare your bank account for an onslaught of money bombs next year and in 2012.
Quote of the Day: “If elections really changed things they would be illegal.” — Emma Goldman
I will start with a confession . . .
* I cheered in 2006 and 2008 when the voters body-slammed the Republicans
* And I will cheer again next week when the Democrats too get slammed
Both the Republicans and the Democrats have thoroughly deserved their repudiations. I think our political parties are so bad that it’s almost always appropriate for incumbents to lose, and for the majority party to revert to minority status. But that doesn’t mean that such changes really improve things.
Did things improve in 2008 when Obama’s Democrats gained control? I think the answer is no. Obama has continued, or worsened, nearly all of Bush’s policies, and with the Democratic Congress has managed to outspend the profligate Republicans. Should we really expect the Republicans to be different this time?
If you hold out hope, prepare to have it crushed, starting here . . .
* If you want your Congressional Representatives to take action to stop the TSA from using using scanners that will show you naked, please ask yourself . . .
* How many more people in YOUR district would need to pressure YOUR REPRESENTATIVES to get them to take action to protect YOU.
* What is the number? How many people will it take in your district?
* Whatever that number is, what can you do today, right now, to get others in your district to take the action that you are taking. Please reach out and touch people and get them to join YOU in asking Congress to protect YOU.
* Doing this isn’t up to DownsizeDC.org. It’s up to YOU. All we can do is provide you with tools to make it easier to get what you want. The rest, recruiting others to help YOU get what YOU want, is entirely up to you.
Some naysayers, even libertarian naysayers, firmly believe there is simply no hope of a true libertarian society taking hold in America. Then there are those that are trying to making it actually happen. I learned of the Free State Project shortly after it began. Now, years later, the concept has become reality for many liberty-lovers.
If you’ve not heard of the Free State Project, I strongly encourage you to check it out. Now there’s even a movie about it.Libertopia is an upcoming documentary about the project and its people. From the Libertopia movie web site:
It could be your neighbor. Your boss. Your brother, sister, or perhaps a spouse. Right now thousands of Americans, passionate in the ultimate pursuit of liberty, are planning to converge in a single state…
Permanently.
Hundreds have already moved, and their plan is simple:
First, find a state with limited government, a small population, and a vibrant economy.
Second, find 20,000 freedom activists willing to move there and vow to further reduce the size of its government.
By their accounts, that state is New Hampshire. And if their project works, the “Live Free or Die” state just may become a libertarian-utopia.
Libertopia is a documentary that examines the people of the Free State Project– ordinary citizens attempting to reclaim a voice against a government which they believe shares neither their priorities nor their interests. Primarily libertarian leaning, and often considered radicals in their home towns, these people have begun a modern-day pilgrimage to the Granite State.
Here is the trailer for the documentary, set to be released on DVD in 2011:
This looks like fun. There’s a pretty cool new iPhone app that liberty-lovers can use to help “educate” the government-loving statists out there. Maybe you can even debate well enough to get them to see that the Constitution should apply in all cases rather than only when it is convenient.
Here are the details from the VingTalk Press Release:
ParTea America gives you the opportunity to debate friends or your political arch-nemesis during this political season
(September XX, 2010) LOS ANGELES – Argue politics and debate the critical issues affecting your community and nation with the ParTea America iPhone and iTouch Application. ParTea America brings the Battle to Politics and is available RIGHT NOW in the AppStore and iTunes. ParTea America is brought to you by VingTalk Inc.
Sign in and start a new battle. Record your opinion and argue back and forth with a friend or rival! Listen to other public battles and leave text or voice comments. Cast your vote for the best ideas, debates and arguments.
Any number of recordings may be added to the battle at anytime – allowing for an infinite amount of retorts and responses between the two users. The best battles are then selected for the Featured Section of the application.
We received several responses to the points I made in my article from yesterday suggesting I could support a Republican ticket of Jim DeMint and Ron Paul in 2012.
As expected many of my fellow liberty-lovers disagreed with the notion of supporting DeMint. I was even called a neo-con. I think that was a first for me since I started Liberty Maven in 2007. Then again I probably was called a neo-con for supporting the Libertarian ticket of Bob Barr and Wayne Root in 2008 (once Ron Paul dropped out) by some, but I forget.
Given the reaction I thought this may be a good time to run the first ever Liberty Maven unscientific poll. Let your vote count below. The choices assume that DeMint and Paul have won the GOP nomination to go against Obama and Biden in the general election. If neither of those choices work for you I’ve also included some 3rd party options for protest or principle.
Liberty Maven
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