Libertarian Party response to 2014 State of the Union address
Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict issued the following statement today in response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:
Thanks to unprecedented levels of government interference and government coercion, Americans’ rights are violated like never before. We are harmed by taxes, regulations, prohibitions, and shocking privacy intrusions.
Unfortunately, most of the harm and injustice of government occurs because too many Americans support existing government policies. We’re suffering under a tyranny of the majority. Our Libertarian hope is that we can convince enough Americans to change their minds. We hope voters will come to understand that government is force, and force is unjust.
Here are some of the problems we see.
The government debt situation is atrocious. Government debt is a terrible thing, because it forces future generations to pay off debts they never agreed to incur. From 2001 to 2008, George W. Bush doubled the debt, mostly with the support of a Republican Congress. Since 2009, Barack Obama and the Democrats (and Republicans) have nearly doubled it again. It doesn’t matter whether Republicans or Democrats control the government. Libertarians would quickly balance the budget by cutting spending on everything, including entitlements and the military.
Thanks to the work of Republicans and Democrats, America has declined in the Economic Freedom Index. We’ve been sliding for years, and now we’re down to #12. We’re below Australia, Canada, and Denmark. Libertarian policies would get us back to #1.
Government should stop creating programs to fight economic inequality. Some economic inequality is natural and healthy in a free society. Actually, government often creates artificial inequality by granting special privileges to certain businesses or classes of people. Republicans and Democrats do that all the time. Libertarians prefer a level playing field.
The employment situation is still pretty bad. Why? Because government gets in between employers and employees, and tries to dictate everything. Minimum wage laws, hiring laws, firing laws, subsidies, and business taxes all make it harder to create jobs and find jobs. These laws are supported by both Republicans and Democrats. Libertarians would eliminate the minimum wage, employment red tape, and business subsidies and taxes.
Since 2001, the federal budget has exploded. Whenever the government spends money, it displaces it out of the private sector. That means the government is making more choices about how we use our resources, and free people are making fewer choices. That inevitably harms our economy. Libertarians would eliminate most programs, and cut spending on the rest.
If there’s one thing we have learned since 2001, it’s that we can’t trust what government officials say. They lie. Bush and Cheney said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. James Clapper (Director of National Intelligence) said under oath that the NSA does not collect data on Americans. Those are a couple of the most outrageous lies, but there have been many others. The more power government has, the more government officials will have the opportunity and incentive to lie. Libertarians would greatly reduce government power.
Government should not be trusted to tell the truth about global warming, or to create restrictions in the name of fighting it. Look at the waste and environmental damage caused by government ethanol subsidies!
It used to be that if you said the government was watching you, people thought you were paranoid. Now, partly thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden, everyone knows it’s true. Between the Patriot Act, the IRS, the FBI, and the NSA (and probably other agencies as well), Americans have no idea whether ANYTHING they do is private anymore. Government should respect people’s privacy, not violate it. Libertarians would end foreign wars, and end the War on Drugs, which would take away most of the government’s excuse for spying. Libertarians would also repeal the Patriot Act and other invasions of privacy.
What about Obamacare? The problems with American health care go far beyond Obamacare. The problem is the whole huge mess that government interference has created. For decades, the government has done nothing but undermine health care by interfering in the health care market, and creating mandates and prohibitions that override our choices. Obamacare took a bad situation and made it worse — but let’s not forget that it was already very bad. And that’s thanks to the efforts of both Democrats and Republicans. As stated in our platform, Libertarians would “recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want (if any), the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions.”
Libertarians believe that government should have no involvement in education whatsoever. That goes double for the federal government. Unfortunately, the federal government massively interferes with education today: subsidies for preschool, subsidies for K–12 education, subsidies for higher education, and lots of mandates and regulations thanks to efforts like the Republicans’ No Child Left Behind law. Our children would be much happier and better educated if government would get out of the way. Libertarians would eliminate the Department of Education and repeal No Child Left Behind.
Republicans and Democrats have also created a mess with immigration. The immigration debate has nothing to do with border security; it’s all about employment. Currently, millions of foreigners work here illegally, because Republicans and Democrats have made it almost impossible to do legally. Libertarians would make it very easy for foreigners to come here, live here, and work here.
How about the military? The Libertarian attitude is pretty simple: the U.S. military should leave other countries alone, even if their governments are unstable, and even if there are people living there who hate Americans. We need to cut military spending a whole lot. Try getting Republicans or Democrats to support ANY cuts to military spending.
Amid all this gloom, we do see a bright spot: the War on Drugs. In 2012, voters in Colorado and Washington passed initiatives to end prohibition of marijuana. Recently the New Hampshire House of Representatives did so too. A majority of Americans now believe that marijuana should not be prohibited. As time goes on, we believe that more and more Americans will join us in opposing the War on Drugs. We’re pleased President Obama is moving in our direction on this issue.
All in all, the state of our union is a big mess created by Republicans and Democrats. Libertarians offer a path forward to peace and prosperity. Our 149 elected Libertarians nationwide work to implement libertarian policies directly. Hundreds of other Libertarians run for office each election cycle.
How about 1 more law? Lets make it illegal for tax dollars, federal, state, or local to be offered as an incentive to private enterprise.
Just imagine, no more: “if you do not pony up, we will take our business to another state”
Is forcing business to stand on its own two feet a bad thing? I don’t think so.
If people want to give to a business let it be voluntary and with their own money, you know, like buying a share of stock. Wow, what a revolutionary idea.
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So…let’s say you’re a business owner, say a medical device engineering firm, your business employs 150 employees averaging $85,000 annually. You are located on the west side of Evansville (this is not my company, but it is an every day occurrence in the country) and have just secured several multi-year contracts for new products that will increase your business and employee needs by 45%.
So, you need more working space, actually a new facility. GREAT NEWS for everyone…new business, spending money on the facility, hiring new employees who will be buying houses and moving into the area, great for the local restaurants and places where everyone at the company shops….the benefits are terrific just keep rolling.
And lo and behold, Posey County comes in and says “We would love to have your company based in the county, and our lower municipal, county and property tax savings will save your Firm 75% compared to you staying Vanderburgh and Evansville.
“Move across the county line, and we will agree to further motivate you to do that by abating your property and municipal taxes for the first two years.” Posey County does this for a whole host of reasons not difficult to imagine…helps schools, development, tax base…on and on.
My point is, municipalities and local governments compete with one another for businesses every single day.
1. Are you saying they both (Vanderburgh and Posey County) should sit by and do nothing?
2. They should not sit down with the business owner and review this and consider alternatives for keeping that business in the area?
So this party supports opening up the borders, flood the market for workers so business can pay 3rd world wages?
More people will have to be put on the government teat to survive for these displaced workers don’t just disappear!
Lower wages create less taxes paid to the various government. Does this mean that business will take up the slack on paid taxes? I doubt it!
World War II vets fought the Axis power to maintain our USA government as it was in the 40″s, not for what it seems your group see it as a “business only” success and the **** with the working class.
This is so far off base, I’m not sure where to begin. I’ll focus on just one issue, that of immigration. The reason for allowing unfettered immigration is so more Americans could employ themselves and a management team in this country and find workers willing to do the work for the price they can afford to pay to be competitive. Allowing immigration ensures that all the jobs are not simply shipped overseas, which is what’s happening now.
If I had access to workers willing and legally able to come here and work for $3 or $5/hr, I would pay someone to clean my house, do my shopping, nanny my daughter, I’d perhaps start a factory building something, or use my additional time focus on being more productive.
Let’s use an example… Lets say I wanted to start a factory building toasters. I couldn’t possibly build a single affordable toaster in this country with its minimum wage laws and immigration policies. No American would want to work in my factory for minimum wage, and even if they did, I couldn’t possibly sell a toaster for what I’d have to charge to make a reasonable profit that would attract investment even at that wage. The consumer has gotten the taste for cheap Chinese and Mexican-made toasters, and they simply will not pay more.
The alternative is to bring the people willing to do the work to us, rather than building the factory abroad. This way, at least a few American jobs would be created in upper management and the Chinese or Mexican worker would be working and paying taxes in America.
The only groups who dislike this idea are the following: unions who can’t compete on value or merit and therefore must cry to government for protectionist policies, politicians who want to use the talking points of populism and nationalism to secure a voting block, xenophobes who see an influx of foreigners as a threat to their neatly constructed isolation from other languages and cultures, and the weak-minded peons who buy into the propaganda coming from one or more of the aforementioned groups.
Maybe you could strike a deal with ONB on those toasters if you give them naming rights.
And lets not forget that all those new workers are also going to be new consumers. In fact, they’ll likely want to buy one of those toasters for themselves. The immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century actually helped boost the average American standard of living to the fastest growth rate in our history.
True. Not only will they buy a toaster, but they will visit the restaurants, the local grocer, they’ll take their kids to a movie, they’ll save and reinvest their money in their own startup businesses as well. They will also live in and fix up some of these dilapidated homes blighting old, neglected neighborhoods.
Immigrants are largely hard-working. Many Americans feel entitled.
brad i often agree with you but on illegal amnesty the libertarians are dead wrong…….with the welfare state the commie liberals and their brothers the progressive gop have set up these 10 20 30 million illegals will not work for low wage when they can make more on the the government hand outs……..amnesty ha you can forget about conservative or libertarian ever winning the office of president big government handouts will win elections…….the immigrants of the 19th and early 20 century had to make it their was no welfare….. http://therightscoop.com/must-listen-mark-levin-on-how-to-destroy-america/
Could the “entitlement” be the business sector wanting those $3-5 wage workers?
The current legal residents would like to visit the restaurants, grocery stores, kids to movies (@$8-10 a person), save and invest, and fix up their own residents.
Cannot be done on your wages!
“Old workers” displaced will still be here, and will rely on the government teat!
Immigrants was fine when the country was young and growing. They came in “legally” and they had a way to support themselves without taking another persons job. With this so called “globalization” has put this once proud first rate powerhouse almost to its knees. Trade balance cost of “trillions” over last decade because of jobs hemorrhaging overseas for the lack of “civic pride” of the business sector that use cheap workers.
Call me a “Unionist”, a no good son of a “*****”, whatever you can think of, but don’t call me a “Libertarian”.
Sad that I actually like several of this parties
thoughts, but the $3-5 wage rate and open borders puts the nail in the coffin for me and many others.
If $3-5 wage rate is your “area of expertise” in business you have issues. But again, I’m sure if you feel that “civic pride” in your wage rates, I’m sure you could get at less 20 of your direct relatives and close friends to fill those jobs!
Better yet, consider moving to, and living among those third world wage workers countries and out of the protection of the United States of America. We don’t need this type of business thinking here.
brad i agree with you most of the time but the libertarians are dead wrong on illegal immigrants…….with the welfare state the commie liberals and progressive gop has set up the 10 20 30 million illegals will make more on the government dole then working and they will figure that out and it will overload the system……in the 19th and early 20th century the immigrants had to make it there was no government handouts…..also with millions more illegal immigrants on the government dole you can forget about a conservative or a libertarian ever becoming president……….http://therightscoop.com/must-listen-mark-levin-on-how-to-destroy-america/
I usually disagree with your thoughts 100% of the time, but I found to agree with you mostly on this. I guess there is “some” common ground for everyone here at some time or another!
I didn’t say ‘illegal’ immigrants. I think they should come here legally, and we should make the process clear and easy. But I also believe we need an elimination of the welfare state and an elimination of protectionist economic policies. If you want to see America start its economic engine again, these are the steps to follow.
Legal or not, you still want to pay $3-5 hour.
The process had been “clear and easy” until last 30-40 years. Corporate American and the other snakes in the grass wants $3-5 hour wages here. Flood the borders and they went to the very corporations, snakes that had their open arms. 1986-87 was the “amnesty” to end all amnesty. Here we are again in 2014 with mega millions illegal again because of corporations and snakes.
Globalization has killed this nation that had good paying jobs with governments coffers mostly balance,
but now are pissing away money to keep those under employed, displaced workers here surviving.
Trillions of dollars of bad trade balance, and investing of U S A dollars by corporate American overseas instead of here to make goods to bring back here is what needs to be fixed.
Those in most part on so called welfare is the by- product of what I mention above.
There is always a percentage that has no desire to work if given a chance to earn enough to survive on.
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