January 07, 2009 10:35 AM (EST)
Quote of the Day: "When a government takes over a people’s economic life it becomes absolute, and when it has become absolute it destroys the arts, the minds, the liberties and the meaning of the people it governs." -- Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959) Source: The Guaranteed Life http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Maxwell.Anderson.Quote.981D
Subject: The New President's Promises
Politicians make promises. The President-elect made a lot of them. Chris Edwards at the Cato Institue has provided a helpful summary of some of them.
We want to draw attention to these . . .
* Eliminate “ineffective government programs.”
* Expose corporate welfare.
* Enforce tougher new standards on the Office of Management and Budget’s current “PART” program, which grades program effectiveness.
* “Enforc[e] standards when programs continually fail” by ”cutting program budgets or eliminating programs entirely” or other reforms.
* “Eliminate government programs that are not performing” by means of a “line-by-line” budget review.
These are pretty good promises. We applaud them. We'd like to help the President-elect keep them. Were he to do so, it would mark change. Other Presidents, from both parties, have made similar promises. They have not kept them.
We vote for change.
To cause change by keeping these promises the President-elect will need not only the will to do so, but also help from Congress. This is where we can assist him. Let's be helpful.
The President-elect faces a target rich environment in terms of keeping these promises. There are too many examples of
Jim Babka Posted January 07, 2009 10:35 AM (EST)
January 06, 2009 09:59 AM (EST)
Quote of the Day: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you."
Subject: Plotting to Socialize Medicine
A swift attack is coming. "We need to be on the offense," said the soon to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Daschle. He claims they learned, from the Clinton failure, how to pass socialized healthcare.
President-elect Obama believes that his health care gimmicks should be part of his economic recovery schemes. While you and I were decking the halls, and kissing our sweethearts under the mistletoe, he was stealthily advancing his agenda.
During the last half of December the Obama transition team held house meetings across the country. They took the feedback from these socialist trysts, then posted it at their interactive site, Change.gov. The Obama administration is conspiring to hit the ground running in January, using the claim that these meetings represent public support to compel Congress to act . . .
Jim Babka Posted January 06, 2009 09:59 AM (EST)
January 05, 2009 09:56 AM (EST)
Quote of the Day: "He who does not bellow out the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers." -- Charles Peguy (1873-1914) French poet, essayist and editor
Subject: Starting off the new year
We're back. Happy New Year.
We're going to start off slowly today, giving ourselves and all of you a chance to ease back into the swing of things. But we did want to tell you that . . .
Jim Babka Posted January 05, 2009 09:56 AM (EST)
December 29, 2008 11:28 AM (EST)
Subject: Good news!
We're ending this year with very good news. We're only $2,009 away from having all of our 2009 operating expenses covered. Actually, the number was $2,016 but I threw in $7 to make it $2,009 for 2009. It kind of has a ring to it, doesn't it?
If we can raise this last little amount then we'll be in a position to deploy, in 2009, eight to ten times the resources for direct outreach marketing that we've had in the previous four years combined!
James Leroy Wilson Posted December 29, 2008 11:28 AM (EST)
December 19, 2008 11:06 AM (EST)
Quote of the Day: "The search of an etymological dictionary reveals that the words 'peace,' 'freedom,' 'love,' and 'friend,' share some common origins. Perhaps they implicitly understood what we, in our overly-politicized world, can no longer grasp, namely, that 'friends' express 'love' for one another by respecting one another’s 'freedom,' and that a world so constituted enjoys 'peace.'" - Butler Shaffer, When the World Went Bankrupt
Subject: Peace to People of Goodwill
This is the Christmas season. Carols fill the air, singing of peace on Earth, and of angels who brought glad tidings of great joy to all people.
Peace is not the interest of Big Government. Big Government heralds bad news. This issue of good news is so important to me that my personal emails include the following quote beneath my signature:
"Big government harms you, hurts your family, damages your industry, and destroys your community -- it even kills people. We must Downsize DC for Human Progress."
It is normally the duty of beauty pageant contestants to say they want to work for world peace. But peace is not an empty platitude. Peace is actually a serious, noble calling. And it can only come by reducing the size, the scope, the power, and the expense of Big Government.
Big Government is a blunt force tool of coercion -- nothing more.
James Leroy Wilson Posted December 19, 2008 11:06 AM (EST)
December 17, 2008 10:26 PM (EST)
Babka on the Radio: Thursday, 2:30pm
Downsize DC President Jim Babka will appear on Waking Up Orwell, a radio show airing on the KOOP, 91.7 FM in Austin TX on Thursday, December 18 at 2:30 pm Central. He will be joined by Lowell Rogers, a longshoreman who opposes the Transportation Worker Identification Credential or TWIC card.
More details can be found here.
If you're not in the Austin area, you can listen via the Internet by going to KOOP.org and clicking the "Listen Live" button.
James Leroy Wilson Posted December 17, 2008 10:26 PM (EST)
December 17, 2008 09:46 AM (EST)
A personal message from DC Downsizer, Kraig Clark . . .
Subject: It's in your hands whether I give $25,000
I've offered to give DownsizeDC.org $25,000. I've done this because I believe in the DownsizeDC.org vision. And I also believe that in order for this organization to become "viral," significant funding is needed for outreach.
DownsizeDC.org has spent less than $6,000 on direct outreach. This is because the organization first has to cover its modest operational budget. DownsizeDC.org needs to make sure that the lights stay on, the website stays fresh and operational, while also staying on top of Congress and how they are spending our money.
Performing these functions allows DC Downsizers to send hundreds of thousands of messages to Congress so that the politicians know we're here, that we're informed, that we care, and that we're not going away.
DownsizeDC.org, despite their modest budget, has accomplished impressive milestones to date:
1) 31,358 users have registered to use the site, and sent more than 1,350,316 messages to Congress.
2) Since DownsizeDC.org was launched in July, 2004, their small staff has launched 106 campaigns.
3) Since January, 2006, DC Downsizers have sent messages resulting in 16 legislative victories, most of the time stopping bad legislation.
If that's what DownsizeDC.org can do without a real outreach budget, then imagine what could happen if more money was directed at outreach, so that, for instance, we could have four times as many members and monthly pledge totals.
James Leroy Wilson Posted December 17, 2008 09:46 AM (EST)
December 15, 2008 11:30 AM (EST)
MEDIA NOTICE: I will be guest hosting the Jerry Hughes show this week. Look for the details beneath my signature.
Quote of the Day: "It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly." -- H. L. Mencken
Subject: Today is Bill of Rights Day
This isn't some arbitrary, symbolic holiday. It's a real anniversary. The Bill of Rights was ratified today in 1791 -- 217 years ago. We believe that this event, more than anything else, was what has made the United States different from other countries.
It isn't democracy or representative government that made America unique. The Greeks, the Romans, and the British had
Jim Babka Posted December 15, 2008 11:30 AM (EST)
December 12, 2008 10:51 AM (EST)
Quote of the Day: "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." -- Groucho Marx (1890-1977)
Subject: We win! No bailout!
Today is the 16th time since January, 2006 that a critical piece of legislation has gone our way in Congress. The good result today is that the automaker bailout has died in the Senate.
We've long argued that it's possible to use the divisions between the parities, the chambers of Congress, and the branches of the government, to win major victories, just as the Founders intended!
This case is an example. The bailout passed in the House but failed in the Senate.
We think public opposition, including yours, was vital in this victory, especially with the Republicans, who may finally be remembering what it means to be a fiscal conservative. Now, if we could just get the Democrats to remember what it means to be a civil libertarian, we might really have something.
If we could get more Republicans to be real conservatives and more Democrats to be real liberals then we could swoop in with our huge army to resolve the difference in favor of the Constitution. Constant pressure can make these things happen.
What we need is to grow, grow, grow. And in a major way,
Jim Babka Posted December 12, 2008 10:51 AM (EST)
December 10, 2008 11:10 AM (EST)
This Could Be Your Last Chance
Quote of the Day: "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."
-- Herbert Spencer, (1820-1903) British author, economist, philosopher
Subject: This could be your last chance to say NO
Congress appears ready to give the Detroit automakers a bunch of money and create yet another government Czar, this time a Car Czar, to run the auto industry. Yeah, that's just what we need.
Congress may vote soon. If you don't want this bailout please tell your elected representatives to oppose it. This may be your last chance on this one.
Jim Babka Posted December 10, 2008 11:10 AM (EST)
