In response to the current 2013 Government Spending Crisis (deceptively called the “fiscal cliff”), the Lehigh Valley Tea Party (LVTP) asks our Representatives and Senators, as a first step toward a solution to this crisis, to vote for legislation cutting the size and power of government.
The federal government cuts should start with eliminating the wasteful cost of departments performing improper functions of government at the federal level. The first federal departments to be abolished with the control of these functions picked up by the states are: Education, Energy, Health & Human Services, Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency. These department eliminations will help to eradicate costly waste in addition to the abuse of power by government operatives and regulators.
Further, the LVTP asks our Representatives and Senators to work on legislation dissolving the Federal Reserve System and returning the banking function to its rightful place in the private sector. The Federal Reserve has failed to maintain a sound currency which should have been its primary function.
The LVTP asks our Representatives and Senators to work on legislation that replaces “baseline budgeting” by the federal government with “zero-based budgeting” to terminate the perpetual and unjustified growth of Big Government.
The LVTP asks our Representatives and Senators to fight against and vote against any future attempt to raise the debt ceiling, and especially to fight against any unconstitutional attempt by President Obama to seize Congress’s rightful power to control the debt ceiling and, thus, government spending.
The LVTP judges that these dramatic cuts to government size and power and reductions in government interference in the economy are the only morally, politically, and economically justifiable method for delaying the effects coming from massive and unjustifiable government spending. We hope that these measures will delay the American people having to suffer the collapse of the dollar by inflation or the enslavement of future generations by massive government borrowing. The destructive inflation would be caused by the Federal Reserve System printing outrageous amounts of money (i.e., Quantitative Easing, QE1 & QE2) in order to support unjustifiable government spending. The destructive borrowing would be the result of incurring massive debt to foreign nations that are hostile to Individual Rights in order to support unjustifiable government spending.
-- Executive Board of the Lehigh Valley Tea Party
christie is a socialist, reagan was one too. those are the facts.
youtube can be great to see how the words just flow from their own mouths
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldfIzxc_k4E
Yes, I am full of.... opinions. Which is a bit better than what you appear to be full of, seeing how you respond with taunts and name-calling instead of ideas of you're own. Of course, having nothing to add is an opinion in itself - a government that picks the winners and losers (mostly losers) with it's regulations, subsidies, & loan guarantees - guess you love that status quo. And no, I will not run for office on the recommendation of people who will never vote for me.
As for 47% of Americans not paying any income taxes, you do realize that without the tax cuts put in place since 1980 (almost all at the encouragement of the Republican Party) that only 21% of Americans would pay no income taxes. Why whine about the logical result of policies put in place by the people you're purporting to support? Or are tax cuts only for the rich? And if they are because they're job creators why shouldn't we tie the cuts directly to job creation rather than making them just be there and hoping for the best?
Wars end. It's sensible to borrow to fund something that's going to end. That has been the past model that you are making reference to. What we have now is totally different from the past, deficit spending on entitlement programs and departments that not only do not end, but are constantly growing. Since 2010, Social Security has been running a permanent cash-flow deficit - that is not ending. This means SS payroll taxes collected are not enough to cover the benefits paid to retirees. That falls under the borrowing "40 cents on the dollar" dilemma. Medicare is in similar dire straits. Every year the trustee report literally begs for lawmakers to take action, and every year it's a political hot potato. Yes, we've been a federal system for over 200 years - no one is denying that or suggesting we go back to the Articles of Confederation. Like I said, much of what was proposed to go back to the states was with the states 30-40 years ago. America became a great nation without these departments.
"...Social Security and Medicare which are fully funded government insurance programs paid for by FICA contributions (not part of the general budget and not drawing on it either)." You are mistaken. It has not been fully funded by the FICA contributions since 2010. Benefits out are exceeding revenue in. This has been the most predicable "fiscal crisis" ever since it is simply a factor of demographics, more and more retirees and less workers. The fictitious lock-box of a trust fund was spent and IOU's need to be paid back to send out the checks. Where does that money come from? There may be some magical accounting trick that tells you that the "trust fund" is supplying the check money (this is what the lying politicians are telling us) but where is the trust fund (IOUs) getting the cash? Borrowing and adding to the deficit. Now, if we want to continue sending the checks to grandma we better find someplace else to cut. We must stop buying the politician's smoke and mirrors accounting gimmicks and demand accountability.
So the glassy green-eyed envy of the "soak the rich crowd" gets temporarily sated with a tax which barely scratches the total debt while favored businesses continue to pay nothing and federal departments that have demonstrated their inability to preform continue to grow. Welcome to the New Year, same as the old year...