Dear Editor:

Successful politicians avoid change like a plague. David Axelrod confirmed that on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” when he used perfect “think-speak” to argue that “eliminating tax cuts while adding in new middle-class tax cuts doesn’t mean raising taxes.” He also argued how it was important that some, but not all, people get some relief now.

How paternalistic! Almost 50% of our population has 100% relief from income taxes already! They are beholden to the government for their Earned Income Credit.

I believe that it is time for the rest of us to receive our 100% relief from personal income taxes! Are we surprised when heavily taxed New Yorkers move to Florida where there is no income tax? No. If America had no personal or corporate income taxes, would we be surprised to see the most productive people and largest corporations from around the world relocating to America?

Mr. Axelrod’s message was not for change, just a little fine tuning. All Americans deserve a better, bolder response than this from a team that ran on a platform of change. In Congress there is a bill to do just that. It is the Fair Tax, a bold major restructuring of how we the people would pay taxes. You would control when you paid this tax, not the IRS. There would be no IRS. When you bought something, you would pay this national sales tax. When you saved money no taxes would be paid. Wealthier people would pay more, less wealthy less and the poorest would receive a monthly pre-bate of the taxes on their necessities.

Act quickly! Inform your Representatives and Senators that we want bold change that will free the taxpayer from the politics as usual of economic manipulation! Adopt the Fair Tax!

Lee Jackson
2009

Recently, the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party held a candidate forum for the Florida 4th District representative election. This was the seat formerly held by Ray Sansom. The five Republican candidates stood next to each other and answered individually crafted questions created by a Tea Party Committee. The one Democrat contender for state representative was invited, but did not appear.

The whole event was very smartly done. It was a testament to ordinary Tea Partiers doing extraordinary things. From a technical point of view they should be proud of what they accomplished.

But Okaloosa County does not need just another forum. It needs competition. It needs a new approach. At the end of the evening it was clear that the Tea Party forum was political routine. Government control over individuals and business will still be the only means of doing business.

The veteran politician, Jerry Melvin, who served in the Florida House for 18 years, said the way to stop rising homeowners insurance premiums was for the legislature to force competition on insurance companies. He proposed solving traffic problems by creating a super multi-county bureaucracy to replace small local ones. When was the last time you saw a government bureaucracy go away by building another one, or the state foster business competition other than by getting out of the game altogether?

The businessman, Kabe Woods, proposed extending the state’s legal sovereign immunity to doctors and clinics as a means of reducing health care costs. He also proposed the state form some sort of transition health insurance for students. Saying that the state should not pay for retirement, he suggested changing state retirement from defined benefit (pensions) to defined contribution (401k, IRA) both of which are still government controlled markets.

The attorney, Matt Gaetz, emphasized that the most critical need in Okaloosa County was jobs, and the best way to get jobs was to build on the military mission. He apparently saw no contradiction in building jobs on a government department while at the same time saying government doesn’t create jobs. He lamented that his generation inherited the greatest America but may pass on a diminished America. Building on government will lead to such circumstances.

The city councilman and FBI agent Bill Garvey said he considered it a form of personal sacrifice to seek government office in Tallahassee, just as when he was an FBI agent he considered it better to be in the field than assume more bureaucratic FBI positions. His priorities would be anti-terrorism first followed by the economy.

Even the mayor, Craig Barker, who, in my opinion, spoke the most libertarian of the group, (in favor of the 9th and 10th amendment, opposition to any bill not allowed by the US constitution, leaving tort reform to the states, and the only candidate to talk about the rash of criminality that has given our county the nickname “Scandaloosa,”) voiced his strong support of protections to the military mission. Like it or not, military spending is a major part of why the nation’s finances are in such poor shape.

The same men, doing the same thing, using the same method, will produce the same results. It’s a pity the Tea Party did not bring this out in the forum. The Tea Party was born out of anger over taxation, bailouts, mountainous debt, blatant fraud in government, ignoring the constitution, and the destruction of the American concept of the rule of law. People did not and still do not know what to do. The political status quo has led to the situation where people do not recognize their country anymore, and the Tea Party forum was more of the status quo.

The answer is to reduce government intervention in everything, let a free market operate, and protect individual rights. It is a libertarian concept, one that candidates sometimes use to gain votes, but quickly dump after an election in order to govern like Republicans and Democrats.

If the Tea Party is the new wave in American politics, what will we get out of the Florida 4th district representative race?

I am sorry to say more of the same.

Labels: Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, Tea Party

The Federal Reserve, our national bank, is criminal brilliance...

It looks like a government agency, but is a private corporation that has a government given monopoly on the creation of money. It can create money, literally, at will.

Its edicts must be followed by the entire banking industry, and are punishable by law. Federal Reserve Notes (otherwise known as cash) must be used as a payment of debt, or the refusal can lead to prison.

It looks and talks like it is a free market proponent, but it artificially controls the price for money (interest). It is actually anti-competition in the banking industry.

It has cultured an image of a wise sage of American business, but has sucessfully resisted any open audit of its operations for 100 years. It says it returns any profit it makes on its regulating functions to the U.S. Treasury, but how does anyone know? They control their own books with no outside oversight. It assumed control of the US gold supply as one of its first actions.

To the average person, it looks relatively unimportant compared with working hard and putting food on the table, but it actually takes a cut of every loaf of bread put on that table. It determines whether you will stay in your house, send your kids to college, or even retire in your old age. It robs the value of your savings through purposefully induced inflation.

It looks like a regulator, but it regulates the for profit private banks that compose itself. It oversees its own operations, which, combined with natural human greed, is a recipe for corruption. It enables and encourages the bank practice known as fractional reserve lending, something which if you or I did would land us in jail.

Although prohibited by law, the Federal Reserve is the owner of Hilton Hotels, Red Roof Inns, and the Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City, just to name a few. They can openly create money at will, and be the owner of property as well while everyone else has to sweat for it.

It can, and has, used its power to move our whole economy for its own advantage. In the last century National Bank Chairman Biddles publicly threatened President Andrew Jackson to bring down the U.S. economy if he didn't continue the charter of the National bank. Jackson refused ushering in the greatest era of economic growth this country has ever seen, until the creation of the Fed.

Few people understand it, and of those who do, most are coopted by it because of their own self interest (if you can't beat em, join em). Our government politicians and bureaucrats love it because it allows deficit spending that simply could not happen otherwise. If money gets short, Congress just says have the Fed print up some more.

It regularly convenes with other central banks, from foreign nations, swapping our currency for various favors from these banks, so as to manipulate world trade and the value of the dollar. This can amount to as much as $500 billion dollars at a time. Moreover, these meetings are largely unreported and completely unaccountable to any branch of government.

The Congress bickers over $700 Billion in misguided bailout funding, and the Fed creates $12.8 trillion in loans and gurantees for government business (GM, AIG, Chrysler, Fannie, Freddie) without so much as a peep in Congress.

And then, after screwing up the economy so badly the system may collapse, they request more power to regulate the what, where, when and how you use your earnings for your own benefit...slowly, you become a debt slave...

Mind bogglingly brilliant...

End The Fed.

Labels: banking, central bank, criminal, End the Fed

You are few, but you are strong. You have the answer that so many are looking for in today’s America.
But they do not know it.
Some of the beautiful things Libertarians strive for are the right to be left alone from intrusive government, and to be responsible for your own life. America needs to be a place of voluntary action, free from government force or fraud. Happiness and prosperity come from living by that ideal.
I am asking you to extend your hand to help others see this.
Take action to support the Libertarian Party of Okaloosa County.
Volunteer to help us with our many public events.
Make a donation. It really is true that as little as a dollar a month can keep us growing and active.
Attend our meetings and social events, such as the Billy Bowlegs Parade or the Libertarian Party of Florida Convention to be held 24/25 April in Panama City.
Make comments on this website or in local media. Tell people about us. Tell us what you think.
It will be one of the best things you can do for yourself, your family, and your neighbors.
Remember, the best parts of America are Libertarian. Only you can keep it that way.

Yours Truly,Pete Blome, Chair