* Freedom means not only that our economic activity ought to
be free and voluntary, but that government
should stay out of our personal affairs as well. Freedom
means that we understand liberty as an indivisible
whole. The government should stay out of our wallets, out of
our privacy, out of the way we educate our kids,
and
out of our lives.
*
Government should respect our right to privacy, rather than
invading it on phony pretenses. Instead of
trying to correct our bad habits at the point of a gun, it
should defer to families and the normal channels of
civil society to instruct people on moral conduct.
*
Bush amassed great power during his presidency, and now the
Democrats have it. Those who cheered him
on are partly to
blame for whatever Obama does to invade our privacy, our
finances, and our liberties.
*
The congressional pay raise scheduled to automatically take
place in 2010 should not be allowed to go
through. They should have to cut back and sacrifice just
like their constituents.
*
During these tough economic times, stopping the pay raise
would show that Washington is serious about
fiscal responsibility.
* At
the very least, a vote should be taken instead of allowing
the raise to automatically happen. The
Obama administration should welcome this move to increase
transparency and accountability.
*
After decades of deficit spending and unconstitutional
entitlement programs, each American's individual
share of the federal government's liabilities is now
$184,000... and rising. The current budget deficit is more
than
at any other time in history. This happened under a
so-called conservative president/congress. We have
to
find our way again.
*
Economic freedom is based on a simple rule: everyone has the
right to his or her life and property.
* In
the United States, many citizens seek to use the government
to enrich themselves at their neighbors'
expense. This is immoral. We should stop using the
government to do things that would be considered morally
outrageous if done by a private individual. It is a shame
that a Republican administration that was backed by
conservatives presided over one of the biggest thefts in
history: the bailout of the banks and automotive
industry. We have to find our way back to fiscal sanity
before we can dream of winning an election.
*
Why would we expect a system based on legal theft, as ours
is, to be a net benefit to the poor or middle
class? Every one of the special benefits that have been
enacted by both Republicans and Democrats makes
companies less efficient and competitive, and the economy
more sluggish. This is exactly what will happen
with
Bush's bailouts and Obama's social spending.
*
There should be no income tax, national sales tax, or any
other such scheme on the federal level. The US
income tax implies that government owns you and graciously
allows you to keep whatever percentage of the
fruits of your labor it chooses. This is incompatible with
the principles of a free society.
*
Conservatives criticized Obama for having a lavishly
expensive inauguration amidst a time of economic
hardship for America. But these millions of dollars are
nothing compared to the billions and trillions
squandered by both parties in the last decade. It seems like
targeting the inauguration is an easy way for
people to sound fiscally conservative while ignoring what's
really bankrupting the taxpayer: too much
government spending and debt.
*
Elected Republicans are sounding more financially prudent
every day, now that they have lost Congress
and
the presidency. But let us remember how spendthrift they
were in power. For talk about fiscal restraint to
be
anything more than a way to score partisan points, we as a
people need to rethink the role of government
on a
fundamental level.
*
Obama claims the issue is not big government vs. small
government, but making government work. Well,
elected Republicans have surely abandoned any role as the
party of small government, so, tragically, he might
have
a point. Obama also says programs that don't work will be
eliminated. I'll believe it when I see it: almost
never does anyone from either party eliminate a government
program.
* We
can't expect to have a limited government at home while we
have an interventionist foreign policy
abroad. The two are intertwined, as the last 8 years have
shown us. If we truly want limited government, then
we
need to stop policing the world.
*
Our fighting men and women are stationed on over 700 bases
in more than 100 countries. It is time to
bring them home to protect our own country instead of
focusing on guarding other nations.
*
The war on terror has awakened more Americans than ever to
the way government exploits fear, and
even
its own failures, to justify eroding civil liberties. You
cannot have limited government at home while
having a big-government foreign policy. The Bush
Administration and willing conservatives presided over the
largest increase in government because they forgot this
reality.
* A
strong national defense doesn't mean policing the world,
launching preemptive war, or having troops
stationed on every continent. Those things weaken our
national defense by spreading our resources too thin
and
bankrupting our government at home.
*
Hopefully, conservatives will now recognize that government
has limits in foreign policy as well as
domestic.
*
Obama promises to expand the war in Afghanistan. It has been
a nation-building disaster for seven years,
and
I have little hope he will turn it around. He has already
begun to show force against Pakistan. So much for
the
anti-war candidate.
*
Republicans talked as though the commander-in-chief could do
no wrong when Bush was in power. I hope
they
realize they were wrong and dissent from Obama's foreign
policy when they believe it is not in the
nation's
interests.
