L i b e r t y W i r e
*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|
Why I'm Excited about Downsizing D.C.
by Harry Browne
I'm enthusiastic about the new American
Liberty Foundation project to repeal the income
tax and dramatically downsize the federal
government. To me, this is the project we've
been aiming at in building the Foundation.
There are three key reasons I want to
support this project in every way possible.
1. The Classic Issue
First, it's the ideal libertarian issue.
This one goes straight to the heart of
libertarian ideology:
Not only is the government taking your
money, it uses your own money to destroy
your health-care system, your children's
schools, and our society.
It opens the door to all the principal
truths about government:
* Government programs never produce the
results promised for them.
* Government programs usually hurt the very
people they're supposed to help.
* Government programs never operate the way
you thought they would be run.
* Government uses legitimate social concerns
to allow politicians to reward their
friends and punish their enemies.
* Government programs give politicians the
power to run your life the way _they_ want
to run it, not the way you want to live.
* Forcing people to do something almost
always leads to unintended consequences
and bad results.
If you persuade someone that gun laws
promote crime, or that the Drug War is a
disaster, or that the Iraqi war was a terrible
mistake, or that the Clinton health-care
program was a big boondoggle, you've gained a
convert on one issue -- but only one issue.
Most people can't generalize from one issue to
a universal principle.
But when you've persuaded someone that we
need to repeal the income tax and reduce
government accordingly, you've gained a new
libertarian. And this new libertarian is much
more likely to see that a new gun law, the Drug
War, a foreign war, a new health-care bill, or
any other political proposal goes against what
he's come to believe -- that we should be
moving toward _smaller_ government, not more
government programs. He'll know that the latest
political proposal won't achieve what it
promises -- and, in fact, will undoubtedly make
things worse.
In other words, everyone we bring to our
side on _this_ issue will most likely be on our
side on almost _all_ issues.
That doesn't mean I think libertarians
should give up working on other issues. But
everything we do to promote the Downsize D.C.
concept will help _all_ libertarian issues.
2. The Easiest Issue
Second, in 45 years of promoting libertarian
ideas, I've found that this issue is by far the
easiest to sell.
You and I both know that ending the Drug War
would make America a much more peaceful country
with much less government snooping. We know
that repealing the gun laws would make America
safer by reducing violent crime. And we know
that government regulation reduces our incomes
and increases the prices of products we buy.
But the average person finds concepts like
these difficult to accept at first glance. You
have to lay a good deal of groundwork to
demonstrate the bad consequences that flow from
programs that are supposed to produce good
results.
But repealing all forms of federal income
tax means an immediate gain to the average
family of around $10,000 a year. That's
something anyone can understand without a long
dissertation.
It's easy for someone to believe his child
_needs_ that student loan, or that his parents
would be adrift without Medicare. You could
spend a good deal of time trying to explain
either issue -- showing that these programs
make the _country_ worse off.
But it doesn't take any time at all to ask
the simple question:
"Would you give up your favorite federal
programs if it meant you'd never have to
pay income tax again?"
Suddenly everything's in focus. That
piddling subsidy the person has been cherishing
no longer looks so valuable. Suddenly he
realizes how much he's giving to the government
in return for a tiny bribe.
Now you have his attention. From there it's
much easier to talk to him about any related
issue.
3. All Gains Are Good
The third important benefit of this issue is
that it goes right to the heart of libertarian
thinking -- so that every gain is valuable.
This isn't an all-or-nothing matter. If in
five years we haven't succeeded in repealing
the income tax, we won't have wasted our time -
- because we'll have transformed thousands of
people into libertarians. And those people will
be helping us by recruiting more libertarians
and by spreading the word on this and other
libertarian issues.
But we shouldn't approach this with the idea
that this is just a symbolic issue -- that we
can't actually repeal the income tax.
Again, this is the most powerful issue to
sell. So even with the odds against us, we
shouldn't be surprised if we do succeed.
The 2002 Massachusetts initiative to repeal
the state income tax got no help from the
state's media. No major newspaper reported on
the campaign. Every politician who acknowledged
the initiative's existence came out against it.
Every newspaper that took a stand opposed it.
Every public figure and organization that
deigned to mention it came out against it.
Still the initiative won 45% of the vote --
without any lengthy arguments in favor of it.
Think what we can do when people get a
chance to see how much they'll gain in cash in
their pockets -- and how much better their
health-care system, their schools, their
charities, their companies, their employment,
and their lives will be with a much smaller
government.
Think how nice it will be when you have a CD
you can give that hard-to-convince friend to
play in his car on the way to work -- a CD
acquainting him with the sheer benefits of a
truly free country.
Think of the response when we run radio ads
asking people whether they'd give up their
favorite federal programs in exchange for never
paying income tax again -- and freeing their
children and grandchildren from the income tax.
This Is our Issue
You may not be aware of it, but most people
are sick to death of big government.
They generally aren't going to vote against
it, however. For one reason, most of them
aren't aware of any direct way to vote against
big government. So they try to decide which of
the two major parties is causing the least
harm. And the people most vehemently fed up
with government may not be voting at all.
Newspapers and TV commentators have no
motivation to explore or acknowledge the strong
anti-government sentiment.
But it's there. During my presidential
campaigns, I asked taxi drivers, hotel clerks,
salespeople, bellmen, strangers on airplanes
whether they thought government was too big,
too small, or just about the right size. Over
90% of the answers were an emphatic "Way too
big!"
I asked people whether they'd give up their
favorite federal programs if it meant they'd
never have to pay income tax again. The most
popular answer I received was, "_What_ favorite
federal programs? I don't have any favorite
government programs."
It's up to us to give these people hope and
inspiration -- and to give substance to their
latent feelings by showing them how much better
off they'd be if we could reduce government
dramatically.
The easiest way to do that is to ask them
how they'd use a $10,000 raise in take-home
pay. To put their children in private schools?
Start a business? Buy a better home? Support a
favorite cause or charity?
This is our issue. And now the American
Liberty Foundation is putting together a
package of persuasive radio ads, an audio
program, and a website -- tools you can use to
convert the people who don't respond to
philosophical arguments or intellectual
dissertations.
I hope you'll help us make this happen. To
contribute to this important project, please
click here:
https://www.fbs.net/alf/web-contribute.cfm
Whatever you can contribute will be
appreciated. Thank you.
Harry Browne
Director of Public Policy
American Liberty Foundation
>*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|
L i b e r t y W i r e
is the official email list of the
American Liberty Foundation -- a non-profit
educational organization promoting the ideas of
individual liberty and personal responsibility.
VISIT the Foundation's web site at
http://www.AmericanLibertyFoundation.org
CONTRIBUTE to the Foundation at
http://www.AmericanLibertyFoundation.org/gateway.htm
UNSUBSCRIBE from this list by sending an email to
distribution-request@...
with the word
unsubscribe
on the first line of the body of the message.
Please leave the rest of the message blank.
SUBSCRIBE to this list by sending an email to
distribution-request@...
with the word
subscribe
on the first line of the body of the message.
Please leave the rest of the message blank.
CHANGE your subscription address by subscribing your
new address and unsubscribing your old address.
You are encouraged to forward this message to
friends and business associates, and permission is
hereby granted to reproduce any items herein as
long as attribution is provided for articles and
the subscription instructions above are included.