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Americanly Yours,
Phred Barnet
I “borrowed” this cartoon from http://balooscartoonblog.blogspot.com/
Americanly Yours,
Phred Barnet
People are now estimating that Mr. Obama’s inauguration will cost at least $150 million, and possibly over $160 million. I know that the Democrats are excited to end 8 years of Bush-led Republican rule. I know that many people in this Nation are also excited that America will be inaugurating our first black president, but I don’t think that spending so much on a president’s inauguration can be justified, especially in this economy.
Lets put things in perspective:
George Bush’s inaugurations each cost around $40 million.
Bill Clinton’s 1st inauguration cost $33 million and his 2nd cost $23.6 million.
George H.W. Bush’s inauguration cost $30 million.
Obama’s inauguration is set to cost as much as all 5 of these previous inaugurations combined.
Economically speaking, these are not exactly the best of times. Unemployment is rising and people are having trouble paying their bills. In a time like this, should the American people really be forced to pay for this event? After committing trillions of dollars that we do not have to bailouts and “economic stimulus,” our government should be trying to save money wherever possible, not paying for lavish parties.
The District of Columbia has anticipated their costs for the inauguration to be $47 million. Virginia and Maryland will spend another $16 and $12 million, respectively. The states are already broke–Virginia just cut $429 million from its public education budget and $418 million from its health care budget. This is just not the right time for states to have to shell out money for a party when they cant even afford to educate their own children.
In 2005, Bush was criticized for spending $40 million on his 2nd inauguration (even though only $17 million of this money came from the government). Yet, the media is not criticizing Obama even though his inauguration is costing about 4 times what Bush’s cost. If you are interested, this BBC article from 2005 details some of the complaints of Bush’s inauguration, including a request by Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner to cancel the inauguration because he says that the government shouldnt be throwing parties while people are dying in a war. We are still at war, but ill bet that Representative Weiner is not calling for Obama’s inauguration to be cancelled. Also, I have yet to see an article online criticizing the costs of Obama’s extravagant inauguration (although, I am not surprised).
Mr. Obama fundraising during the previous election was nothing short of amazing. Why couldn’t he use his network of donors to help fund the costs of his lavish inauguration. Or, he could take the example of Jimmy Carter who intentionally scaled back his inauguration during a recession, spending only $3.5 million on his inauguration in 1977 to avoid drawing too much attention to himself while so many Americans were hurting.
Is it just me or does the story of an extravagant party for a Nation’s leader while its people suffer sound familiar? Well at least maybe Obama will let us eat cake.
Americanly Yours,
Phred Barent
I am leaving the Democratic Party to join the Libertarian Party. My fit with the Democratic Party has been less great in recent years, and I have got to the point where I no longer feel comfortable calling myself a Democrat. And, although I voted for John McCain, I cannot consider myself a Republican either. Even though I supported Senator McCain, I actually disagreed with him on more issues than I agreed with him. It wasn’t a “lesser of two evils” thing, it was just that at the time Senator’s McCain’s views were closest to mine.
Since the election, however, a wave of bailouts has swept aside our Capitalist system and has moved us towards a socialist system in which the government owns and directs the economic activities of large corporations. The government’s reaction to the recent economic crisis (which I blame on government intervention in the first place) has hardened my non-interventionist views.
I decided to join the Libertarian Party after these bailouts convinced me that I could not support the Democrats or the Republicans. I began looking at the party platforms for different parties and found that I agreed with most of the Libertarian Party’s platform. Sure, there are major areas where I disagree with them, but I feel great about joining the Libertarian Party.
Why did I join the Libertarian Party you ask? Well…
Who stood up to Republicans and opposed the Patriot Act?
Who stood up to Bush and defended the 4th Amendment to our Constitution after details of Bush’s warrantless wiretap program were revealed?
Who has stood up against the efforts of the Democratic Party to take away the rights given to Americans by the 2nd Amendment?
Who has opposed every government bailout?
Who has opposed the increasing governmental control over every part of your personal life, from how you educate your children, to what types of cars you drive, to what type of energy you use to heat your home?
Who has fought for the right of ailing patients to be allowed to use medicinal marijuana to soothe their pain?
Who has fought for an end to the immoral system of taxing human labor, investment, savings, and entrepreneurial activity?
Who is the only party that defends the Constitution, as written?
Who is the only party that promises to cut the fat from our bloated bureaucracy?
With both parties turning toward bailouts and excessive regulation, who is the only party left still advocating Capitalism?
Which party is a staunch supporter of Free Trade, knowing that it is the best way to create jobs, economic growth, and save consumers the most money?
And which party holds the fundamental belief that individual freedom and personal responsibility are natural rights which should not be abridged by government for any reason?
The Libertarian Party.
Do you get the point? The Libertarian Party is the only American political party which advocates complete economic and political freedom.
Many people say that voting for a “3rd party” candidate is a “wasted vote.” This is not true. It is true that the odds of a Libertarian candidate being elected to National office in the next elections is small.
The Democratic and Republican Parties want you to think that your vote only matters if you vote for one of their candidates. And, this is only true to the degree that you accept their argument. If you want to vote for a candidate who supports Liberty, but you do not believe that he can win, so you vote for one of the candidates from the two major parties, you are wasting your vote. You are making the Democrats and Republicans right in their assertion that a 3rd party candidate cannot win.
This is a democracy. In a democracy, there are no wasted votes. A vote for any candidate, be he Republican, Democrat, Communist, Libertarian, or a protest write-in vote for yourself is equally valid and is not a wasted vote, as long as you are voting for the candidate that you feel is the one most suited for the job. A vote is wasted if you compromise your beliefs and vote for a candidate that you do not like over a candidate that you agree with because you assume that the candidate that you agree with has no realistic chance of winning. Penn Jilette says that if you “keep voting for the lesser of two evils [you will] watch things get more evil.”
Additionally, a vote for a 3rd party candidate should be viewed as an investment in the future. A candidate may get only 5% of the vote this time, but getting 5% could encourage more people to vote for him. Maybe in the next election, he gets 10%. And as this happens, we could see a Libertarian or other 3rd party candidate win. In Georgia in November, a statewide Libertarian candidate for Public Service Commissioner received over 1 million votes and received over 1/3 of the total votes cast for his position, even winning my county by over 37,000 votes. Maybe next time, he can win.
They say that “absolute power corrupts, absolutely.” Well, I say “absolute freedom enlightens, absolutely.”
Americanly Yours,
Phred Barnet
