The campaign is in serious need of funds to enable us to spread the message, and I have a challenge for supporters. If supporters raise $20,000 or more between Valentine’s Day (it’s a rEVOLution, after all!!) and February 20, I will donate an additional $5,000 of my own money. This is a significant amount for me personally, and is not a candidate loan but a donation. The challenge is if campaign supporters and donors are willing to make a significant contribution towards saving our country, I will do so with my wallet as well as with my time. During the week, grassroot supporters are holding two money bombs, and totals from both these will count towards the weekly total. Updates on the totals will befound here on February 15, and in the comment thread below.

Through December 31, 2009, 387 donors have raised $16,400 for the campaign, including over $2,000 from myself. As a small independent campaign, we do not have a fundraising coordinator, so all funds raised has come from grassroot supporters in the district and nationwide. The median donation is about $25, so no donation is too small.

$16,400 may not seem like a lot compared to Republocrat totals, but it appears to be the highest total raised byany independent for the 2010 US House race per the FEC.  The funds have been spent as best as possible given my level of political experience (which was zero back in May 2009 when the campaign began). The results – one of the Republocrat’s poll reports the campaign already at 8% in January, and likely 40% is all that is necessary to win. While the only poll that counts will be on Election Day in November, based on supporter feedback, many people will be turning out who have not troubled to vote in years.

Campaign volunteers have distributed over 20,000 flyers to residences over the district in the past two months, and the number of supporters spreading the word in the district grows daily. Several half-page newspaper ads like the one below were placed in January newspapers and over a hundred people, most of them completely new, have attended Towne Halls to ask questions. Hundreds of yard signs are up all over the district to promote name recognition. This past week I appeared on the locally well-known Bobby Gunther Walsh radio show, and appeared on FOX News with Judge Napolitano for the third time.  I have met and interviewed with every person who has asked, in addition to going door-to-door all over the district – though I have a lot more to cover

The total of $25,000 was not picked out of thin air. It is how much I believe is necessary to wage an effective campaign against the Republocrats well into this election year. The money will be used for additional advertising, to fund campaign events, door-to-door campaigning, and to assure ballot access when signatures are permitted to be collected starting March 10.

JAKE TOWNE “FIRE CAKE” MONEY BOMB, Monday, February 15th

During the Pennsylvania winter of 1777-78, Continental soldiers got their nourishment from “fire cakes” – a tasteless mixture of flour and water – at Valley Forge. February 15, 2010 is the 278th anniversary of George Washington’s birthday.

The campaign has paid special attention to veterans and to follow the foreign policy of George Washington outlined in his 1796 farewell address that guided our country for most of the following century. See Our Veterans plank,Iraq War plank, and Afghanistan War plank. Thanks to legalizeliberty of dailypaul.com for organizing this money bomb!!!

LIBERTY CANDIDATES rEVOLution MONEY BOMB, Wednesday, February 17th

Towne for Congress is one of four liberty candidates selected by this group to take part in this money bomb. Thanks to Gigi Bowman for organizing this money bomb!!!

Besides spreading the message in a very cost-effective manner, please check out this post “Why Donate?” which also has the latest donor report.

• I have promised to only take the median household income and will donate the remainder to local non-profit hospitals, not enlist in the super-lucrative congressional pension plan, nor the elite congressional health care plan.
  
• I do not and will not take donations from lobbyist PAC groups and corporate PAC groups like my career politician opponents. I will never sell out the people of my district to DC lobbies and corporate interests.  100% of all contributions to-date have come from individuals.
• We have very little overhead expenses, such as no expensive office to maintain, and there are no staff salaries to pay since the campaign is all volunteers.
• As an independent, there is no primary so your donation will go towards a liberty candidate assured to be in the November 2nd, 2010 general election as the signature gathering is not expected to be a challenge.

Let me be straightforward. My competitors have already raised well over $1 million, and the party machines are expected to rain cash on this particular district. Success is by no means assured… but there is no real difference between Republocrat A and Republocrat B.   These career politicians have yet to contribute a single penny to their own campaigns, so that tells you how badly they want to win it.

If campaign volunteers and I succeed at spreading the message, the US House of Representatives will have, for the first time in a LONG time, an independent voice that has not accepted corporate PAC or lobbyist money, and will speak the truth to power. This is a voice that not only the district, but our entire country sorely needs.

When implemented, a keystone of my campaign, the “Open Office” will shine a little sunlight into the gloomy halls of DC, and maybe, just maybe, spread like wildfire to other districts and disinfect our country of the parasites and lawless rogues who have broken their oaths to the Constitution of the United States.

A brighter dawn is on the way. All that must be done is to defend individual liberties, ruthlessly wage peace, and promote the prosperity of our society by ending government interventions with the economy.

That Freedom Shall Not Perish.

TOWNE FOR CONGRESS

February 8, 2010

Article Archive

The path I have chosen in 2010 is to run as an independent under no political party in 2010.  As a candidate for United States Congress, this was – and still is – the best possible route for myself to win the November election and fulfill the campaign’s mission statement.   I have a severe dislike for both the Republican and Democrat politicians and party leaders as they are taking my country  - OUR country – on a path to both moral and economic ruin.  In my particular district, third parties are unfortunately not active and (locally in my district) have largely missed the boat on addressing the economic unrest.

However, as your fellow citizen, I want to share with you all the most effective way to become politically active, and that is to join with one of the two major parties and run for committeeman or committeewoman.  This gives you a vote in selecting local party leaders, and both major parties can be taken over on the local level by a determined minority.

America’s greatest and strangest political secret is that, in the dead of the winter, the two parties have a brief signature gathering process and then each precinct (usually just the few streets around your home) elects a committeeman/woman.  In Pennsylvania, just 10 signatures are required to be listed on the May 18 primary ballot.  The signature gathering is from February 16 to March 9, hence the timing of this post.  The May primary vote elects the precinct committeemen/women.

These party precinct committee members then elect the party leaders, and the party leaders then pretty much decide which candidates to support and endorse and how to control funds on the local level.  (Yes, it’s a little bit like a democratic mafia.  Stay true to your principles.)

Of course, I am not writing this post for my own political gain.  My campaign was never about my own personal gain, and it’s certainly not about my monetary gain -  I could be continuing my career as an engineer instead of running a campaign with no pay for 18 months.  Plus, I have promised that I will only accept the median household income when elected. My campaign is about winning back our liberties, and it is unfortunate I personally cannot take the steps I recommend here.  I hope to see significant inroads locally in both parties in 2010, but I project this will have little effect in 2010, but quite possibly a large effect in 2011 and 2012.

In fact, any elected committeemen and -women are typically banned from endorsing non-party candidates, so it is even possible this may impact some of my supporters.  The Republocrats exhibit typical exclusive clique and collectivist behavior, not really any different from popularity contests in a high school since party leaders do not have principles, or even have principled candidates for that matter.

Definitely also watch Jim Condit Jr.’s 13-minute video at www.WagTheDog2010.com and visit The Precinct Project.  While both of these sources are targeted at the Republican party, any citizen can select which party to join.  For instance, one of the few redeeming qualities of the Democrat party in recent years (ie. 2006) was to end our expensive nation-building wars and occupations abroad.  The below 3-minute video can be watched starting at 01:00 until the end.  Don’t be put off by the captions and music at the beginning.

February 7th, 2010

Article Archives

Throughout 2009, DC Downsizers ALONE called for Congressman Paul to re-introduce the three “Honest Money” bills using our “End the Inflation Tax” campaign. We had specifically called for the Congressman not only to resubmit these highly important levers to destroy the government’s inflation tax and to “End the Fed,” but we’d also encouraged every member of Congress to re-introduce these three bills in ONE NEW BILL.

We applaud Ron Paul for doing exactly that. Here is the Statement of Congressman Ron Paul Introducing the Free Competition in Currency Act HR 4248 (edited for publication, with emphasis points added) . . .

Currency, or money, is what allows civilization to flourish. In the absence of money, barter is the name of the game; if the farmer needs shoes, he must trade his eggs and milk to the cobbler and hope that the cobbler needs eggs and milk. Money makes the transaction process far easier. Rather than having to search for someone with reciprocal wants, the farmer can exchange his milk and eggs for an agreed-upon medium of exchange with which he can then purchase shoes.

This medium of exchange should satisfy certain properties. It should be . . .  

* durable, that is to say, it does not wear out easily
* portable, that is, easily carried
* divisible into units usable for every-day transactions
* recognizable and uniform, so that one unit of money has the same properties as every other unit
* scarce, in the economic sense, so that the extant supply does not satisfy the wants of everyone demanding it
* stable, so that the value of its purchasing power does not fluctuate wildly and,
* reproducible, so that enough units of money can be created to satisfy the needs of exchange.

Over human history, gold and silver have been the two metals that have most often satisfied these conditions, survived the market process, and gained the trust of billions of people. Gold and silver are difficult to counterfeit, a property which ensures they will always be accepted in commerce.

It is precisely for this reason that gold and silver are anathema to governments. Gold and silver is limited in supply by nature, cannot be inflated, and thus serves as a check on the growth of government. Without the ability to inflate the currency, governments find themselves constrained in their actions, unable to carry on wars of aggression or to appease their overtaxed citizens with bread and circuses.

At this country’s founding there was no government controlled national currency. Foreign coins continued to circulate within the United States, and did so for several decades.

Any power a government arrogates to itself, it is loathe to give back to the people. Just as we have gone from a constitutionally-instituted national defense consisting of a limited army and navy bolstered by militias and letters of marque and reprisal, we have moved from a system of competing currencies to a government-instituted banking cartel that monopolizes the issuance of currency.

In order to reintroduce a system of competing currencies, there are three steps that must be taken to produce a legal climate favorable to competition.

The FIRST step consists of eliminating legal tender laws.

Article I Section 10 of the Constitution forbids the States from making anything but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. States are not required to enact legal tender laws, but should they choose to, the only acceptable legal tender is gold and silver, the two precious metals that individuals throughout history and across cultures have used as currency. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that grants the Congress the power to enact legal tender laws. We, the Congress, have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, but not to declare a legal tender. Yet, there is a section of US Code that purports to establish US coins and currency, including Federal Reserve notes, as legal tender.

Historically, legal tender laws have been used to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency. Gresham’s Law describes this phenomenon, which can be summed up in one phrase: “bad money drives out good money.” A king might mint coins with half an ounce of gold and force merchants, under pain of death, to accept them as though they contained one ounce of gold. Each ounce of the king’s gold could now be minted into two coins instead of one, so the king now had twice as much “money” to spend on building castles and raising armies. As these legally overvalued coins circulated, the coins containing the full ounce of gold would be pulled out of circulation and hoarded.

We saw this same phenomenon happen in the mid-1960s when the US government began to mint subsidiary coinage out of copper and nickel rather than silver. The copper and nickel coins were legally overvalued, the silver coins undervalued in relation, and silver coins vanished from circulation.

These actions also give rise to the most pernicious effects of inflation. Most of the merchants and peasants who received this devalued currency felt the full effects of inflation, the rise in prices and the lowered standard of living, before they received any of the new currency. By the time they received the new currency, prices had long since doubled, and the new currency they received would give them no benefit.

In the absence of legal tender laws, Gresham’s Law no longer holds If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society. Merchants would have been free to reject the king’s coin and accept only coins containing full metal weight.

The SECOND step to reestablishing competing currencies is to eliminate laws that prohibit the operation of private mints.

One enterprise which attempted to popularize precious metal coins was the Liberty Dollar. Evidently the government felt threatened, as Liberty Dollars had all their precious metal coins seized by the FBI and Secret Service in 2007.

The (THIRD) step to ensuring competing currencies is to eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins.

Under current federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are… assessed at the collectibles rate of 28 percent.

Furthermore, these taxes actually tax monetary debasement. As the dollar weakens, the nominal dollar value of gold increases. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth, and taxes accordingly. Thus, the more the dollar is debased, the more capital gains taxes must be paid on holdings of gold and other precious metals.

Just as pernicious are the sales and use taxes which are assessed on gold and silver at the state level in many states.  Imagine having to pay sales tax at the bank every time you change a $10 bill for a roll of quarters to do laundry. Inflation is a pernicious tax on the value of money, are only on the order of 4% per year. Sales taxes in many states can take away 8% or more on every single transaction in which consumers wish to convert their Federal Reserve Notes into gold or silver.

Competing currencies will allow market participants to choose a currency that suits their needs, rather than the needs of the government. The prospect of American citizens turning away from the dollar towards alternate currencies will provide the necessary impetus to the US government to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government’s ability and incentive to inflate the currency, and keep us from launching unconstitutional wars that burden our economy to excess.

With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system.

Now, you can join Ron Paul as he urges his colleagues to consider the redevelopment of a system of competing currencies and cosponsor the Free Competition in Currency Act. You can send your personalized messages using DownsizeDC.org’s proprietary Educate the Powerful System.

Then, please be sure to Digg this Dispatch at the DownsizeDC.org blog. Help us get 200 Diggs by midnight (an account with Digg is required).

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer,

Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Official email newsletter of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation.

Bankrate: What do you think of the health care reform package?

Ron Paul: It’s a disaster! As a matter of fact, it was in the early ’70s when the Republicans started accelerating intervention and having managed care. That’s when the tax codes changed and there were mandates. It was the government all of those years that has participated in pushing the cost of medicine up and causing it to become bureaucratic and causing the charity hospitals to go out of business. Managed care has been around (since) about the same time as we lost the gold standard, and it’s managed care that we should blame.

The real problem with medical care is it costs too much. Nobody would complain if it didn’t cost so much. But it costs so much because of inflation plus the bureaucracy we’ve created.

Read the full interview here.

(Thanks to Minnesota Chris)

With today’s unexpected decline in December payrolls, the cry for more job-related stimulus will grow even louder. But the sad truth is that any new stimulus or jobs bills will ultimately swell the ranks of the unemployed, thereby raising calls for an even bigger federal effort. If we are not careful, government regulations, subsidies, and spending, all designed to fight unemployment, could push the labor market into a death spiral.

Regulation acts like a tax on job creation. By subjecting employers to all sorts of extra expenses when they hire people, regulations increase the cost of employment far beyond the wages employers actually pay their workers. In fact, some regulations are specifically tied to the number of workers employed. This provides some employers with a strong incentive to stay small and not hire.

The minimum wage law, which is really just a very visible workplace regulation, actually makes it illegal for employers to hire certain individuals and destroys entire categories of jobs. For instance, faced with high labor costs, some restaurants will avoid hiring dishwashers by switching to plastic utensils and paper plates. On a larger scale, factories may decide to switch to robotic assembly lines if human labor gets too expensive.

Other types of regulations, such as those that prohibit discrimination, create incentives for employers not to hire individuals that fall within the protected class. This is the result of potential litigation costs that may result from wrongful termination lawsuits. In other words, the more expensive government makes it to fire workers, the less likely they are to hire them in the first place.

Subsidies produce the opposite effect of regulation, but sometimes the results can be just as harmful. Government subsidies divert resources towards politically favored activities, resulting in more jobs in areas such as health care and education, but fewer jobs in other sectors such as manufacturing. The net effect of this transfer is to diminish the productive capacity and efficiency of the economy, which lowers real economic growth and diminishes employment opportunities.

Although not as visible as regulations and subsidies, government spending also plays a large role in job destruction. The more money government spends, the more resources it drains from the private sector. The fiscal 2011 budget proposed by President Obama contains $3.8 trillion in federal spending. Think of government as a cancer feeding off the private sector. The larger it grows, the more jobs it kills. Unfortunately, most politicians follow the misguided advice of economist John Maynard Keynes, who advocated government spending as a means of job creation. In reality, government spending merely results in government jobs replacing more efficient private sector jobs.

Some economists point to taxes as the primary job killer, and argue that lower taxes will boost employment. While I have sympathy for this view, it misses the larger issue that the burden of government is not what it taxes but what it spends. The proposed fiscal 2011 federal budget contains “only” 2.4 trillion of taxes. The remaining 1.4 trillion of spending is borrowed (incredibly, for every dollar the government collects in taxes, it now spends almost $1.60). I would argue that a dollar borrowed kills more jobs than a dollar taxed. Therefore, cutting taxes and borrowing the shortfall kills more jobs then it creates. This is true because jobs require capital and government borrowing more directly crowds out private capital investment than taxes do.

In the end, I fully expect the government to directly provide make-work jobs to the armies of the unemployed. This will accelerate the pace of private sector job destruction and make our economy even less productive than it is today. This means that while the government may be able to provide people with jobs, the wages they pay will provide little in the way of purchasing power. In the end, we will become a nation of government employees, with plenty of work but little to show for it.

Some question whether or not the Federal Reserve is a government entity. I don’t. It has government written all over it. It was created by the government and, like most government creations, it is a failure.

Congress created the Federal Reserve primarily to stabilize the dollar and the U.S. economy. Prior to the creation of the Fed the dollar was relatively stable. Following the creation of the Federal Reserve the dollar has declined nearly every year, but especially since the early 1970’s. By this rather essential measure, the Federal Reserve is a colossal bust.

Over 100 Democrats have co-sponsored Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve. They agree with Paul that the Fed is a monumental failure. Yet many of these same Democrats somehow believe that the government can effectively provide health care for a majority of Americans.

Let’s make an assumption (a seemingly unlikely one these days) that the Democrats’ version of health care reform passes in the next few months or few years. I wonder if 100 years from now there will be a giant bipartisan effort to audit and/or end government health care after it proves to be an expensive failure. I hope we never have to find out.

Let today’s failed Federal Reserve be a warning about what the future likely holds for health care reform, should it become law. Both are perfect examples of expensive and unconstitutional efforts that purport to do good, but in the final analysis, do the most harm to those they aim to help.

The Federal Reserve makes the poor poorer through the “inflation tax”. As the Fed prints more money each dollar becomes less valuable and will by fewer goods. Poor Americans are hurt the most by this because they don’t own as many dollars as the rich.

The proposed government health care reforms hurt the people required to use it the most. There will be rationing and long waiting lists. Additionally, innovative procedures will be disallowed due to their risk and expense. We can make this claim based on America’s long history of failed government programs and the high demand that the new government health care system would generate.

Haven’t we learned by now that when it comes to government-granted wishes… you’d better be careful what you wish for?

by John Browne – Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

President Obama’s State of the Union message only serves to reinforce my forecast that investors will continue to find better returns in markets outside America and in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Indeed, the reward gap may well increase.

Nothing in the President’s speech indicated willingness to do the hard work of cutting spending. Rather, he reiterated his commitment to a costly new healthcare entitlement and more spending on make-work programs. Only days later, his budget acknowledged that, even before factoring in the cost of his proposals, the federal government is unlikely to be in surplus for the foreseeable future. In response, Moody’s has issued a warning that the United States’ triple-A credit rating is not unassailable. In short, the trend set some ten years ago will continue.

Since 1999, those who invested in U.S. stocks, as measured by the S&P Index, have lost about half of their wealth, in real terms.[i] On the other hand, those who invested abroad, measured by the Morgan Stanley Emerging Market Index,[ii] [iii] have doubled their investments in real terms. This is because capitalism is flourishing abroad, while being curtailed progressively in so-called advanced economies, where the projected aggregate growth rate for 2010 is now only some 2.5 percent. Somewhat optimistically, this assumes no double dip recession. [iv]

Most of the emerging economies are far less leveraged than those of the advanced countries and are relatively well insulated from the massive dollar deleveraging that began in 2007. Crucially, their government spending is geared largely to infrastructure and far less to expensive government bureaucracy and wealth-depleting entitlements. Most importantly, even formerly communist governments, like that of China, have embraced free-market capitalism, while many in the advanced governments are flirting with socialism.

As the most leveraged of the major economies, America in particular faces great problems with regard to regenerating consumer demand. Looking at the future of U.S. stock markets, the following five bearish observations stand out.

First, it appears that the ruling Democratic Party is out of touch with the realities of economics. Paying little apparent heed to their sensational defeat in Massachusetts, President Obama and his Democrat Congress are making no realistic attempt to rein in, let alone cut, runaway government spending. Yet, the current path leads to spiking debt costs, huge tax increases, and unprecedented U.S. dollar debasement. In addition, because many Congressional Democrats were elected by disaffected conservatives during the Bush years, the party cannot agree to terms on reform legislation. This leaves businesses fraught with uncertainty as to how they will be impacted.

Because of the focus on new spending, we have only seen empty gestures with regard to tax-cutting. This is the ultimate form of “stimulus,” but one that must be earned through reduced spending. While President Obama has talked tax cuts, his actions indicate only a redistributionist impulse to set up federal programs for which business and the productive classes must pay. Whether or not that satisfies his ideological goals, it is a recipe for economic disaster.

Second, while the Fed has signaled that it will hold interest rates down for the foreseeable future, it is likely that in the medium and long end of the yield curve the market will soon force rates higher. This will lead U.S. bond and equity markets to better reflect their real values, and end the nominal recovery we have seen thus far.

Third, despite increased government hiring in wealth-consuming jobs, total employment, and especially private, wealth-creating employment, continues to fall. [v] Those jobs are moving abroad. Last year, the U.S. witnessed the steepest drop in demand for H1B visas in recent history. [vi] This indicates that America is losing its appeal as the place for the world’s enterprising young minds to strike it rich.

Fourth, the Dow has risen at a historically fast rate over the past nine months, while volume has thinned. [vii] In other words, the rally is being pushed by speculative traders, not long-term investors. It is, therefore, highly vulnerable to collapse.

Finally, political uncertainty, rising unemployment, and an outlook for increased taxes are destroying any looming consumer confidence. Fourth-quarter GDP grew an annualized 5.7 percent on inventory restocking, but no one is in the mood to spend. [viii] Consequently, those stockpiles will drag on GDP growth for several quarters.

With this somber picture at home, it was not naïve to have hoped the President would shift to a common sense agenda in the State of the Union. Unfortunately, this Administration may not have the fortitude to implement an austerity program. One way or another, the U.S. is going to have to face the economic reality; the longer we wait, the bigger head-start we give to our competitors in the developing world.

Then again, I suppose the article did go into  detail about the clothes everyone was wearing in addition to the politics angle.

Ron Paul’s cluster had more gravitational pull. Wearing a roomy charcoal suit and comfortable black shoes, Paul led a spirited discussion of the pricing index. People with business cards that said “T.E.A. Party Patriots” and “ConservativeEdge Political Commentator” waited impatiently to shake his hand. Economists and self-proclaimed entrepreneurs offered him copies of his book “End the Fed” to sign.

A few feet away, Rand Paul stood in the middle of his own circle, wearing a lighter gray suit with a checkered pattern, and comfortable black shoes. Sharon Weaver, 63, drifted from the father to the son and asked Rand to sign Ron Paul’s book “The Revolution: A Manifesto” below his father’s signature.

Read the full article here.

You may copy or borrow from the following letter . . .

I demand that you oppose President Obama’s $3.83 trillion budget with its $1.56 trillion deficit. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9715793

* the deficit alone will be larger than individual and corporate income taxes combined http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/classic.html#usgs30210
* the cost of the federal government will be over $36,000 per family
* of which $17,000 will be new debt http://www.washingtonwatch.com/blog/2010/02/01/washingtonwatch-com-digest-february-1-2010/

The cost of the federal government is vastly greater than the benefits it provides. And the American people don’t want such a bloated budget. According to a January 29 Rasmussen Report . . . http://tinyurl.com/yb7v9tp

**53% of likely voters now believe that decreasing the level of government spending will help the U.S. economy**

They’re right! A report by the Heritage Foundation shows that . . . http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg1831.cfm

* numerous studies indicate that growth in government spending harms the economy and increases unemployment
* nations such as Ireland, New Zealand, and Slovakia experienced tremendous growth once they slashed the size of government

This is because government spending is less efficient and often destructive . . .

* government spending is less efficient because it allocates resources based on politics, not on market price signals
* if the spending is funded by taxes, private consumption and saving is reduced
* if the spending is funded by borrowing, there is less capital for private investment
* borrowing could also lead to monetary inflation, resulting in price inflation
* government programs distort personal incentives in many areas, such as retirement savings and healthcare

Follow the will of the American people. We understand that Big Government is harmful. Make it your priority to work on cutting the size of government and reforming our entitlement programs. The proposed spending freeze isn’t enough, and is clearly fraudulent given the fact that federal spending will continue to soar. Give us real spending cuts, not con jobs.

If you take the lead on this issue, you will be rewarded, but if you don’t, you may be fired from your position.

END LETTER

You can send your message using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System. https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/104

Please also consider making a contribution or starting a monthly pledge to further our work. https://secure.downsizedc.org/contribute/

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h

Official email newsletter of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation.

The text of the legislation sponsored by Jill Holtzman Vogel reads as follows:

No resident of this Commonwealth, regardless of whether he has or is eligible for health insurance coverage under any policy or program provided by or through his employer, or a plan sponsored by the Commonwealth or the federal government, shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.  No provision of this title shall render a resident of this Commonwealth liable for any penalty, assessment, fee, or fine as a result of his failure to procure or obtain health insurance coverage.

This is a big win for Virginians, the 10th Amendment, and liberty. The fight is not over though. I highlight the word “individual” above because it worries me. Does this mean the federal government can mandate family coverage?

Hopefully this ambiguity will be remedied as the bill moves further along in the legislative process.

Five Democrats voted for the bill. You can find the vote tally on the bill’s tracking page here and more information is available here.