Some good things have resulted from our past efforts . . .

I spoke at the Williamsport, PA Tea Party on August 29th. There were over 4,000 people there! The organizing committee had a scroll full of demands for Congress to move in a downsizing direction. Hundreds of people signed the scroll. Included among the demands were our Read the Bills, One Subject at Time, and Write the Laws proposals. Since then . . .

The Williamsport Tea Party Committee has been active, including delivering four busloads of people to the 9/12 rally in Washington, DC. They’ve met several times to plan their long-term strategy. The result . . .

They’ve decided to focus on our “transpartisan,” Downsize DC Agenda proposals, the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) and the One Subject at a Time Act (OSTA).

Tom Anderson, a member of our team and one of the leaders in the Williamsport committee, sent me the following message to describe their thinking . . .

” . . . we believe that this issue (RTBA and OSTA) is the most easily addressable, bipartisan, and most helps us achieve the other demands. In contemplating how to proceed to push this demand, we reviewed DownsizeDC’s efforts . . . and decided that the most effective means toward accomplishing it is to 1) make our community aware of the problem and our efforts, and 2) get them all to push their Congress critters to sponsor the DownsizeDC legislation.”

The Williamsport Tea Party committee gets it! RTBA and OSTA are levers we can use to restrain government excess in all areas. Passing these bills will make it easier to achieve other demands.

To support their efforts the committee has invited me to speak to them on Wednesday, November 18, and answer questions about RTBA and OSTA. More than 200 people are expected to attend this meeting.

If you’re in the area on Wednesday, you’re invited to attend the meeting. I’d love to meet you.
The meeting starts at 7:30 PM at the Cinema Center in downtown Williamsport, PA.

Now, for today’s action item . . .

It’s been awhile since we’ve asked Congress to repeal the REAL ID Act. We don’t want them to think we’ve forgotten about it, because that would make them think they’ve gotten away with it. Please send Congress a letter reminding them that you want REAL ID repealed:

You can use my letter to Congress as a model for you own . . .

I want my Representative and my Senators to be the first to introduce legislation that repeals the REAL ID Act. Do NOT introduce legislation that replaces REAL ID with some similar scheme. I’ve asked you to do this repeatedly, and will keep asking until you do it.

My request represents the majority opinion on this matter, so it’s good politics to honor my request. The simple act of introducing such legislation would win you a lot of brownie points nationally, as well.

I’m well aware that the beltway echo-chamber constantly tells you that REAL ID is needed to protect us from terrorism. I think this is naive. No suicide attack will be stopped by an identity card. Terrorists will devise tactics to work around REAL ID, so the only people really impacted by this scheme are innocent American citizens.

I am a firm believer that power corrupts. And the more power gets centralized at the federal level, the more likely corruption becomes. I want identification cards to be decentralized, at the state level. I do not want my life entangled in the federal databases and tracking schemes that will inevitably result from REAL ID.

Please remember — everything you do is based on force. I do not want to be coerced into carrying a national ID card. Don’t be like the Mafia. Don’t fine me, or imprison me, or make me lose my job just because I’m not willing to accept your supposed protection.

END OF LETTER

Send your letter to Congress using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

If you like what we’re doing, please help us to do more . . .

* Start a monthly pledge so we can reach more people
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Your support is our progress.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

“The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” — Frederic Bastiat, French economist of the 19th Century

“How did I go bankrupt? Two ways. Slowly, and then all of a sudden.” — paraphrased from “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

“May you live in interesting times.” — a proverbial Chinese curse

• Retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the wars, the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
• Begun to extend the already existing foundations for a future socialist state with things like direct government ownership of businesses, the health care bill, cap and trade, and a host of other measures big and small

Put the Bush and Obama policies together, sprinkle in a couple more terrorist attacks, and one or two more state-caused financial calamities, and you have a recipe for . . .

• The destruction of American liberty
• The blossoming of a Leviathan State

Read the signs . . .

We are living through a Statist revolution.

Statism is a mindset that prefers coercion to cooperation. Statists love the State because they are blind to its fundamental nature . . .

• The State is a monopoly that you cannot easily fire, replace, or even control
• Everything the State does relies on coercion

If you decide that . . .

• You don’t want to pay for, or be subject to, the new health care plan, or that . . .
• You prefer to buy and sell using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve Notes, or that . . .
• You want to do, or not do, a host of other things that the politicians either require or prohibit,
• Then eventually a policeman will come to your door and threaten you with a gun, to make you submit

People who advocate expansive State action are really saying, “I think you should be threatened with, or actually suffer violence, if you don’t fund my pet schemes, or live the way I think you should.”

Such people would never go door to door pointing a gun at their neighbors, but the second-hand mechanism of the State allows them to hide their eyes from the violence implicit in what they profess.

Our government was founded to limit this kind of coercion. The American State was given two main functions . . .

• To punish coercion committed by one citizen against another
• To deter coercion by foreign States

Beyond that, nearly the entire Constitution is devoted to prohibiting State violence. This was the purpose of the divisions of power, the checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. But now those protections lie in tatters.

Everyone is trying to use the State to live at the expense of everyone else, or to micro-manage their neighbors. Our traditional culture of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and peaceful, non-violent cooperation, is slowly dying. We are nearing a point where it may even die completely, suddenly, when we least expect it. As a result . . .

We live under the Chinese curse of interesting times. But we urge you to resist despair. We are even prepared to predict . . .

The End of Statism

Our reason is simple. Statism doesn’t work. The violence at its heart always . . .

• Destroys more than it creates
• Multiplies its victims, who become increasingly deperate enough to resist

Our purpose is to recruit and organize that resistance into an army. It’s . . .

• Why we do
• What we do
• The way we do it

We know that successful resistance will come slowly, before it comes suddenly. Victory will take time, but the time’s going to pass anyway, so why not use it wisely? This is why . . .

We reject all “get powerful quick” schemes as inherently unworkable. We know that societies and movements evolve slowly more often than they leap. History is littered with causes that failed because they couldn’t wait to succeed.

We neither need, nor expect, overnight success. Do you?

What we need instead is constant and consistent progress. And for that we need you, and for you to need us.

Remember where we’re going. We’re building toward the day when we can . . .

• Reach everyone, everywhere, every day, with the case for freedom and against Statism
• Build a big parade — a movement — in front of which opportunistic politicians will want to march. They’ll claim we’re following them, and we’ll let them think that!
• Deploy a huge army to exert relentless, resistance-numbing pressure on Congress, to make them submit

And remember how we’re going to get there . . .

• Slowly and steadily, but also surely
• One person at a time
• One dollar at a time
• One simple action at a time
• With each small step building toward the next larger step

The end of the month is here. We did more this month than we did last month. Now we need your financial support to do even more in November. Please . . .

• Start a monthly credit card pledge
• Or make a one-time donation
• You can do so here

Your support is our progress.

Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Please send Congress a letter objecting to any further funding for REAL ID.

You can copy what I said in my letter to Congress . . .

I’m upset that Congress just appropriated $60 million for the REAL ID national identification scheme. I’ve asked you repeatedly to repeal REAL ID, and replace it with nothing. I’m repeating my request today.

I do not want a centralized national ID system. It lays the foundation for a police state, and will do little or nothing to improve security. Instead, it will subject me to increased risk of identity theft, and eventually entangle me in new Congressional schemes to do things like control my health care decisions.

I also object because the REAL ID Act was passed under false pretenses. It was rejected three times by the U.S. Senate, and was only enacted because it was added to a larger bill containing funding for disaster relief and Iraq. REAL ID never could have passed on its own merits, but now that we have it, we can’t seem to get rid of it. But you, as my representative, can do something about this . . .

Please introduce legislation to repeal REAL ID and replace it with nothing. I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.

END OF SAMPLE LETTER

You can send your letter to Congress here.

Please take additional steps to spread the word, recruit more DC Downsizers, and increase the heat on Congress:

* Ask other people to send a letter to Congress — forward them this message
* Digg this message on our Blog
* Contribute so we can reach more people

Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Check out these recent posts on our blog:

President Obama keeps a promise http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/a-downsize-dc-victory
Congress responds to Constitutional questions http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/how-they-responded
Chatter about the “Read the Bills” idea http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/read-the-bills-roundup

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quote of the Day: “A danger foreseen is half avoided.” –Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

A bill numbered H.R. 3471 calls itself “The REAL ID Repeal and Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2009.” The bill was introduced by Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee. Here’s the good part . . .

H.R. 3471 would actually repeal the REAL ID Act. Thus, the REAL ID scheme to create a national identity card would be gone.

Here’s what we consider the pretend part . . .

H.R. 3471 also restores the identity security provisions of the “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.”

These provisions are indeed better than those in the REAL ID Act. But there are aspects that lead us to view it in a more harsh light than perhaps some others would. Read what the ACLU says about the bills and see if you can spot the sticking point . . .

“Similar to the Akaka-Sununu Senate bill of 2007 and the Allen House bill of 2007, Rep. Cohen’s bill would eliminate most of the requirements that laid the foundation for a National ID card, such as the obligation that all data and systems be standardized. The proposal also requires a collaborative approach, called negotiated rulemaking, which would advise the Department of Homeland Security on how to maximize driver’s license security while minimizing the administrative burden on the states.”

The troublesome words are “most of the requirements that laid the foundation for a National ID card,” and “negotiated rulemaking.”

“Most of the requirements” doesn’t mean “all of the requirements.” In addition . . .

We’ve written an entire piece of legislation, called the “Write the Laws Act,” that would prohibit unelected Executive Branch bureaucrats from enacting any kinds of rules whatsoever.

The fact that these rules would (as we understand it) be negotiated with other unelected bureaucrats in the various states doesn’t make it much better, and it might even make it worse. Likewise . . .

The fact that the so-called “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act” places limits on the kind of bureaucratic rules that can be created does little to foster our confidence in a good outcome. I know of too many examples of “rulemaking” that violates either the spirit, the letter, or both, of the supposed “limits” created by the enabling legislation.

Removing “most of the requirements that laid the foundation for a National ID card,” could too easily lead to restoring all of those requirements through the bureaucratic backdoor.

So I just sent another letter to my representatives asking for the repeal of the REAL ID Act, and here’s what I wrote in my personal comments . . .

H.R. 3471 is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be amended to also repeal the “negotiated rulemaking” about state ID cards authorized by the “Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.” I would appreciate it if you would tell Representative Steve Cohen that you would be willing to co-sponsor his bill if he would make that amendment.”

If you like my approach on this please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System to send a similar letter to your Congressional employees through our “Repeal REAL ID” campaign. You can do that here.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Now that Obama has taken the throne, they seem to be backing off REAL ID.  Sort of.  The results aren’t pleasing.  Instead of having our Constitutional Lawyer President denounce the clear illegality of REAL ID, the whole mess is simply going to be renamed in typical government style, with most of the heinous unconstitutional provisions kept intact.

Terrific.

They’re attempting to soften it somewhat, but for me the only true solution is to trash the whole kit and caboodle.  The Washington Post reports:

“The department’s goal is to fix, not repeal” Real ID, allowing all jurisdictions to comply by year’s end, said a DHS official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before a formal announcement.

“If the law cannot be implemented, it is hard to claim that it increases security,” said David Quam, lobbyist for the NGA.

The new plan keeps elements of Real ID, such as requiring a digital photograph, signature and machine-readable features such as a bar code. States also will still need to verify applicants’ identities and legal status by checking federal immigration, Social Security and State Department databases.

But it eliminates demands for new databases — linked through a national data hub — that would allow all states to store and cross-check such information, and a requirement that motor vehicle departments verify birth certificates with originating agencies, a bid to fight identity theft.

Instead, it adds stronger privacy controls and limits such development to a pilot program in Mississippi. DHS would have nine months to write new regulations, and states would have five years to reissue all licenses, with completion expected in 2016.

Supporters saw a slimmer measure as better than nothing. But critics said the changes gut the law, weakening tools to fight fraud and learn whether bad drivers, drug runners or counterfeiters have licenses in more than one state.

God help us.

MEDIA NOTICE: Today (Friday), Jim Babka is scheduled to appear on “Straight Talk w/ Jerry Hughes,” starting at 3:05 PM Eastern. Listening details can be found on the DownsizeDC.org blog.

Quote of the Day: “I won’t call it Real ID, I’ll call it enhanced or higher security drivers license.” — Robert V. LaPenta, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions, which stands to be a primary beneficiary of any government scheme for a national ID card

The so-called Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and certain politicians, are trying multiple ways to impose a national ID card on us, even though the American people have made it very clear we don’t want it.

One under-handed scheme started with the passage of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires law abiding U.S. citizens to have either a passport or an enhanced drivers license to cross the Mexican or Canadian borders. An “enhanced drivers license”…

* Is an initiative of the DHS that has NO Congressional mandate
* Will require you to undergo a security interview, pay a fee, and get a new federal ID number (in addition to your Social Security number)
* Has an RFID chip that can be read at a distance, up to 30 feet away, even while it’s in your wallet!

Now things are being rigged to move citizens in the direction of the enhanced drivers license.

The problem starts with the fact that passports are too expensive. The high price gives people an incentive to pay for the enhanced drivers license, which is about half the cost. The Government Accounting Office had already issued a report saying that the $100 price for a passport didn’t need to be that high, but…

Now they’ve raised the price even higher. Representative Paul Opsommer of Michigan suspects the purpose of this is to drive even more people to get the cheaper (but more dangerous) enhanced drivers license.

Please notice that all of this is being driven NOT by Congress, but by un-elected bureaucrats in the DHS and the State Department. But that doesn’t mean Congress is blameless. Congress is doing nothing to reign in the bureaucrats, plus, some are even working to make things worse. For instance…

Something called the PASS Act is being crafted to revive the Real ID concept, under a new name, and companies like L-1 Identity Solutions, which stands to benefit, are almost certainly lobbying hard to make it happen. We must lobby just as intensely in the other direction.

Please send your Congressional employees a message asking them once again to repeal the REAL ID Act.

Use your personal comments to ALSO ask them to…

* Stop the DHS from promoting enhanced drivers licenses
* Make the State Department lower the cost of passports
* Reject all the new forms of REAL ID, such as the PASS Act

We achieved our goal of sending more messages in May then we sent in April, but this issue still needs your attention. We hope you’ll use DownsizeDC.org’s proprietary Educate the Powerful System to send a message to repeal the Real ID Act.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how much we’re growing please check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.

Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Keeping Score

We grew by 23 net new members yesterday, which brings us to 1,063 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 25,412 — 41% of the way to 26,000!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by doing more outreach to potential DC Downsizers. If you can start a monthly credit card pledge to expand our outreach please tell us on the secure contribution form if its okay to publish your name here . . .

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN MAY: Don Matesz, Silvy Berman, David Jones, Barbara Baxter, Nancy Kovar, Ryan Ackroyd, WM Michael O’Brien, John C Houghton, James Alan Speedie, THREE unlisted

Or, if you’d prefer to make a one-time donation, please let us know if its okay to publish your name here . . .

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN MAY: Arlene Lindstrand, Dee Clary, Joan Garro, Jennifer Tarling, Richard Linchitz, Steven Palmer, Bruce N. Liddel, Ernest P. Eusea, Chris Reulman, David Anthony, Christopher T Wagner, Thomas Sartwelle, Jr, EIGHT unlisted

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quote of the Day: “The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be, and has often been . . . the main source of mischief and disaster.” — Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) Economist and social philosopher

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has pledged to review/reconsider the REAL ID national identity card.

It’s not hard to see why. Many Americans hate REAL ID, and 22 states have refused to comply with the program. DC Downsizers alone have bombarded Congress with 112,227 message demanding that REAL ID be repealed. So . . .

Should we be happy that Napolitano wants to review the REAL ID program? Not very. At best, we believe the outcome will be to . . .

* Repackage the program, perhaps under a new name
* Divide the program into parts, so it can be implemented in stages, such as with the TWIC program
* Concoct ways to bribe and coerce state governments to submit to the revised program

It’s hard to envision that REAL ID will really disappear, until or unless we compel Congress to repeal the authorizing legislation. In fact, we believe that REAL ID, in one form or another, is part of a grand scheme to empower the federal government to track everyone and everything at all times! This grand scheme includes . . .

* The National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
* A new system being devised to track food products
* The NSA system of universal warrantless spying on Americans
* And the new federal program to create universal electronic health records

We believe that all of these programs will eventually be combined to give the Feds “total information awareness.”

Are we being hysterical? Many would claim that we are, and they could point to aspects of current government plans that fall far short of being able to “track everyone and everything at all times.” But such criticisms miss a crucial point. The evidence is overwhelming that government programs . . .

* Tend to grow larger
* Nearly always come to include features the politicians promised they would never have

We predict that, should some version of REAL ID come into existence, it will eventually be combined with all the other tracking and surveillance systems described above. Most importantly . . .

We predict that your REAL ID will be combined with universal electronic medical records to control the kind of health care you receive.

We see the writing on the wall, and it says that the federal government is going to turn the entire United States health system into a giant HMO, with all of your medical procedures controlled by far off bureaucrats. This control will be enforced through something resembling REAL ID, tied to your electronic health records.

Is this what you want? If not, please use our Educate the Powerful system to ask your representatives to repeal the REAL ID Act. Use your personal comments to object to . . .

* The vast array of databases and tracking systems the politicians are creating
* Any attempt to implement something like REAL ID in bits and pieces

Tell them you want REAL ID repealed, not revised.

If you’ve used our Educate the Powerful System before, the best way to send your message, given our current technical difficulties, is to log-in using the log-in button at the top of our home page.

Then, click on the campaign button on the navigation strip at the top of the page, then click on the “REAL ID” campaign button at the top of the left hand column. That will call-up the page for sending your message.

If you’re sending your first message to Congress, click on this link, fill out the simple registration form for first time users, and send your message.

Ask your friends to join you in taking action by forwarding this message.

And consider Digging this Dispatch from the home page blog.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. Yesterday, 24,773 subscribers received the Downsizer-Dispatch.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quote of the Day: “Big brother is bad enough. Do you really want him working for the DMV?” – Knute Berger, Seattle Weekly, January 18, 2006

Politicians exploit crises not only to expand their own power, but also to make us forget previous transgressions. We doubt they do this intentionally, but we’re certain they do it continuously.

The government created financial crisis will continue to occupy our attention, but we must not be diverted from fighting old wrongs, like the REAL ID Act, especially since REAL ID now threatens your health care.

Remember, the REAL ID Act forces state governments to create a national identification card connected to a centralized federal database. You’ll need a REAL ID to board a plane, hold a job, or BE A PERSON! But it gets worse . . .

We’ve long maintained that REAL ID cards will eventually contain biometric identifiers. Now our prediction is coming closer to reality. The scam-stimulus bill contained two terrible provisions . . .

* You must have a single, searchable electronic medical record by 2014
* A new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will collect your electronic medical information and potentially monitor your health care choices

Whenever there’s the potential that the government will do something, you might as well say that it’s inevitable. All of this is part of a step-by-step plan to completely fund and control all health care from the top down.

We predict that the REAL ID card, perhaps by a different name, will be connected to your electronic medical records to control and ration your health care!

Eventually, you’ll need a REAL ID card to receive medical care, and the kind of care you receive will be determined by far-off bureaucrats. This will be done in the name of controlling health care costs, but it will actually make health care more expensive, cumbersome, and less effective.

We must stop this from happening!

DC Downsizers have so far bombarded Congress with 109,963 messages demanding the repeal of REAL ID. Twenty states have also refused to comply with the law. But we must keep pushing. The health care provisions in the scam-stimulus bill make it even more imperative that we kill REAL ID.

Please use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful System to once again instruct your elected representatives to repeal REAL ID.

Use your personal comments to object to the new electronic health care records, to the new National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, and to SCREAM POLITELY that you do not want your health care records connected to the REAL ID or monitored by federal bureaucrats.

In addition, consider sending a message to repeal the Transportation Worker Identification Card. Since the federal government couldn’t rope all of us into their Real ID scheme, they started with people in the marine, rail, and land transport industries. They’re “picking off the herd,” one industry at a time, hoping to eventually rope all of us into their scheme. Use our free Educate the Powerful System to tell Congress to ”reverse course.”

Please educate and recruit other people by sharing this Dispatch with them, and by Digging this message on our blog.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC army.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Upon entering office, U.S. Presidents must pledge:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Similarly, members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives must affirm:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

If our public servants aren’t held to their oaths, then the oaths are rendered meaningless.

In similar fashion, Bruce Fein has opined in the San Francisco Chronicle, that the actions of President Bush and Vice President Cheney have violated the Constitution in a variety of ways, and indeed deserve censure.  Here’s a piece of what Fein had to say:

By wielding the threat of international terrorism, the Bush-Cheney team put the nation on a permanent war footing – the first time in history that war has been undertaken against a tactic. They maintained that the entire post-9/11 world is an active battlefield where United States military force may be used to kill suspected members of al Qaeda irrespective of international boundaries.

They claimed executive privilege and state secrets to conduct secret government – thereby circumventing political and legal accountability. This included directives to former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to flout congressional subpoenas for testimony. They detained hundreds of people (including American citizens) as enemy combatants without accusation or trial. They authorized torture (waterboarding and extraordinary rendition), abductions, secret prisons and illegal surveillance of American citizens.

Like its immediate predecessors, the 110th Congress eagerly yielded its authorities – even the power of the purse – to the president. The Iraqi War Resolution, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendments, and the declination to hold Rove in contempt of Congress were emblematic.

If left unrebuked, the Bush-Cheney usurpations of power will become part of the constitutional firmament and risk creating a safe harbor for future presidential abuses. Every member of Congress, moreover, is required to take an oath to “support (the) Constitution” pursuant to Article VI. There is no corresponding oath to support the Republican or Democratic parties or to subordinate the Constitution in the name of political harmony. Censure would be no novelty.

Read the whole article.

Quote of the Day: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” — William Shakespeare

Subject: Not your usual post-election commentary

The media describes every election as historic, the most important in a generation, etc. When the voting is done they tell us a new era has dawned, that things will change, that nothing will ever be the same, blah, blah, blah.

One aspect of these claims is true, this time. It is both historic and meaningful that the United States has elected its first African-American president. We applaud and celebrate this. We think the significance of this event transcends mere symbolism. Otherwise, the election was what all other elections have been . . .

” . . . a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Can we support this harsh assessment? Consider . . .

The election thoroughly repudiated the Republican Party. They lost the White House in a landslide, and got clobbered in Congressional races. We might assume from this, if elections really produced change, that many Republican policies of the last eight years will be reversed. We predict that almost none of them will be.

The Republicans were responsible for . . .

* Enacting the largest new entitlement in decades — the prescription drug program
* Passing social engineering schemes like “No Child Left Behind”
* Starting an un-provoked war
* Gutting constitutional liberties
* Running-up vast deficits

Will the Democrats reverse any of these actions? Sadly, we think the answer is “No.” What, then, was the point of the election?

Was it merely to punish the Republicans while leaving their sins uncorrected? Was the purpose to give the Democrats permission to pursue all of their own pet projects for social engineering, and to spend, spend, spend to their hearts content?

Undoubtedly this last item is the message Democratic politicians will claim they heard. After all, they received a mandate, and if the mandate was not to pursue their dreams then the word has no meaning.

Of course, some voters can say, “Don’t blame me, I voted Libertarian . . . or for the Constitution Party . . . or the Greens.” Didn’t these voters, at least, send a clear message about what they want?

We think not.

What does the average person assume when he or she sees third party candidates listed in his newspaper with tiny vote percentages next to their names? We think he or she assumes that . . .

“Those are fringe candidates with fringe ideas that no one supports. Therefore, I need not consider what they have to say.”

The system is rigged against third parties. This guarantees low vote totals for those parties. It also guarantees that the ideas those parties represent will always be viewed as marginal.

Third parties don’t promote ideas, they marginalize them!

Oh yes, we know all about the exceptions, like the Socialists and the Progressives, both of whom had ideas adopted by the major parties. But please notice, those ideas made the politicians, and even tax-funded intellectuals in the school system, MORE POWERFUL. That’s the real reason those ideas were adopted; it wasn’t because the Socialists and the Progressives managed to score a few points on Election Day.

So what does voting for partisan candidates actually accomplish? What does it communicate? As far as we can tell the answer is nothing, except that . . .

It gives the victims of the con game — the American people — an illusion of control. But we have no control — no say so.

Voting in the partisan electoral contest merely gives sanction to the con-artists who constantly victimize us. That’s the role of the voter, to sanction what the politicians do. That’s it. It’s like Emma Goldman said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.”

Is this the way you want things to be?

The ways of the future do not lie in the ways of the past. The ways of the past involved hoping the new boss would be different than the old boss. But many decades have come and gone, and the new boss has always been the same as the old boss. We should abandon the old ways and adopt new ways.

The way to a better future lies in withdrawing our consent and issuing direct orders to our supposed public servants. Votes send confusing signals. But plain talk is rarely misunderstood.

The new way involves building a new social force with the power to make public servants miserable. Withdraw consent. Issue orders. Make the public servant submit.

The politicians are busy right now convincing themselves that the public wants top-down, centralized, Democratic social engineering. Who can disabuse them of this notion? After all, the votes have been cast. The people have spoken.

Only YOU can disabuse the politicians of their self-serving interpretations of inarticulate votes. The Republicans were repudiated. Therefore, the things the Republicans did must also be repudiated. This should be the mandate for the new Congress. Fortunately, we have a vehicle for doing just that . . .

Ron Paul’s “American Freedom Agenda Act” would repeal a good chunk of the bad things the Republicans did. Use our Educate the Powerful system to ask your elected representatives to pass this bill.

Use your personal comments to tell your elected representatives that the Republicans were repudiated, therefore the things the Republicans did must also be repudiated.

And stay tuned for new steps in a new direction, starting next week.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
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While one likes to assume that the government would never use this power for anything but good, we must remember that the government is composed of human beings.  Melanie Scarborough writes on examiner.com that, “Perhaps the most alarming aspect of Real ID is that it transfers to the government ultimate control over citizens’ movements. The ID card of a citizen not in good standing could have a hold put on it, just like a credit card can. If your ID card is declined, you will be unable to travel, access your money, get a job, enter buildings, or go about the basic routines of life until you have restored favor with your government.”  The government constantly justifies its over-controlling behavior with reasons such as security and thus it is easy for anyone to see how quickly our rights to privacy will disappear.

Please read the whole article.