CAVEAT: Challenging convention one person at a time.


	ISSUES AND ANSWERS By Constitutional Author & Lecturer, Michael Badnarik "The Democrats and Republicans stand at two extremes characterized by which parts of our lives they emphasize desire to control. Libertarians reject both extremes in favor of the government leaving control of your life to you." Michael Badnarik, 2004 Libertarian Party Convention EMPLOYMENT/DOWNSIZING Establishment politicians don't have solutions that work in the real world because they aren't asking the tough questions: "Why are jobs becoming scarce? Why do we have so much downsizing and so many corporate mergers?" The answer is too much regulation and too much government spending. In the 1980s, the number of federal regulators fell from about 122,000 to barely 100,000. The private sector added 3,500,000 jobs as a consequence...From 1987 to 1992, the number of regulators swelled once more to pre-1980 levels. The 3.5 million newly-created jobs were destroyed as a result. The number of regulators has continued to increase, costing additional jobs as well. Was your job among them?[1] FREE TRADE/FAIR TRADE The managed trade that we see today, where politically connected corporations and favored nations get special deals, is anything but free; it is no more and no less than mercantilism... inefficiency and aggression of imperial governments endowing special privileges to state-sponsored cartels and forbidding those without power to exchange with each other in peace.[2] OUTSOURCING (T)he reason business leaves the country is that government regulations make it prohibitively expensive for all but the richest companies to compete in America.[3] NGOs It is a dangerous misconception to think of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and other international quasi-governmental structures as free trade organizations. They rely on thousands of pages of confusing regulations and corrupt agreements between multinational corporations and oppressive governments.[4] INSTITUTIONAL RACISM "Prejudice is fading, yet minorities still lag behind economically. A labyrinth of licensing laws and regulations constitute the hidden roots of modern racial and ethnic discrimination." Minorities, the poor, and the disadvantaged have a difficult time jumping these costly hurdles. Without the ability to go into business for themselves, their opportunities are much more limited than the average middle-class American. Employers can more easily exploit them when self-employment is not an option. I promise to end the economic discrimination that government regulations and licensing laws have imposed upon minorities. The legal precedents set by...libertarian litigators...will help make that possible. [5] AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Establishment politicians propose more quotas and affirmative action, creating animosity between those who are favored by such legislation and those who are not...Minorities don't need preferential treatment to get ahead they are just as intelligent, hard-working, and ambitious as other Americans.[6] SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (W)hen state power declines, corporations and special interest groups no longer have an unfair advantage...[7] NATIONAL DEFENSE (A) libertarian foreign policy is one of national defense, and not international offense.[8] THE MIDDLE EAST The U.S. government has meddled in the affairs of the Middle East far too long, always with horrendous results. It overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran and replaced him with the Shah...gave weapons, intelligence and money to Iran's mortal adversary, Saddam Hussein...propped up the Saudi monarchy...and gave assistance to Osama bin Laden.[10] DEMOCRATIZATION The U.S. government has never succeeded in establishing freedom and democracy in any of its foreign adventures in the last fifty years. Freedom and democracy are blessings any people must establish for themselves.[11] THE DRAFT If a free America were ever subjected to attack, most Americans would be more than willing to defend themselves, their homes, and their families against the foreign aggressors. The very fact that too few Americans are volunteering to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan illustrates that too few Americans view the actions being taken by our government as integral to the preservation of our freedoms. Conscription is wrongly associated with patriotism, when it really represents collectivism and involuntary servitude...(it) assumes our nation's young people belong to the state. Yet America was founded on the opposite principle; that the state exists to serve the individual. The notion of involuntary servitude, in whatever form, is simply incompatible with a free society.[12] WAR POWERS The founders of this country knew that war should not be initiated at the president's whim, and so the constitutional authority to wage war rests with Congress. Libertarians understand the importance of adhering to the Constitution... it is designed to limit the power of the state here and abroad...(W)e especially understand the danger of war, which expands the power of the government far beyond its constitutional limits.[13] WAR FOR PROFIT (W)artime economic measures...blur the line between business and state, allowing politically favored corporations to profit at the expense of taxpayers.[14] FORGIEN AID It is the poor people in all countries that suffer the most, whether they are taxpayers in the United States or peasants in the Third World who are forced to pay back debts racked up on their behalf "and against their will" by their own oppressive rulers.[15] GLOBALISM/GLOBALIZATION Most protesters of the WTO oppose globalization of trade, but not globalization of government. They have in common with multinational corporations a glorified view of international government, disagreeing only on the specifics.[16] CIVIL LIBERTIES The erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11 does not represent a new phenomenon. It represents an acceleration of long-existing trends.[17] THE BILL OF RIGHTS In crafting the Bill of Rights, the framers were careful to acknowledge "implicitly and explicitly" two key truths: (G)overnment does not grant rights it acknowledges them. They exist independently of government. They're part of who and what we are...as Jefferson noted in the Declaration of Independence, the only legitimate function of government is to secure them. (S)econd...government is a servant to whom we delegate powers, not a master who dispenses privileges. The Constitution carefully enumerates the powers we, the people, delegate to our government and it specifically denies that government any powers not so delegated. Our rights...are sacrosanct. Any government which infringes upon them is engaged in an intolerable usurpation.[18] HEALTH CARE Health care and insurance costs will plummet if excess regulation is eliminated and malpractice awards are made only on the basis of strict liability. Lower costs, along with the savings from downsizing regulatory bureaucracy, will fund tax credits for those who establish Health Savings Accounts for themselves, their families, Medicare/Medicaid recipients, and the needy.[19] Excess regulation has increased new drug development time by a decade since the 1960s and multiplied development costs 5-fold. Consequently, our seriously ill die waiting for life-saving medicines and pay exorbitant prices when they finally can purchase them. Since these excess regulations kill many more people than they save, they can be safely eliminated, slashing pharmaceutical prices virtually overnight![20] GUN CONTROL (S)tatistical evidence supports the idea that crime increases exponentially wherever gun control is instituted as the governing policy. Washington DC, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles have the strictest gun control policies in the United States...(and) the highest murder rates...[21] GAY MARRIAGE Marriage partners, not government, should define the terms and spiritual orientation of their union in accordance with our nation's guarantee of religious freedom.[22] THE DRUG WAR The Drug War has led to some of the worst violations of the constitutional liberties of Americans, as well as to the worst wave of violent crime...since...Prohibition...The Drug War also has funded terrorists; providing them with opportunities for enormous profits, and even by giving foreign aid to such regimes as the Taliban...[23] MEDICAL MARIJUANA According to nearly every scientific study...medical marijuana provides unique relief to patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other illnesses, and the drug does not have the same addictive properties as alcohol...(O)ne of the many insanities of federal drug policy...(it) catagorizes a plant that has never been shown to kill anyone as more illeagal than cocaine, and certainly more illegal than alcohol. [24] Sources: [1]How to Keep the Economy Up and Employment Down! [2]Free Trade Vs. State Corporatism [3]Ibid [4]Ibid [5]Ibid [6]How to Empower Minorities Without Reverse Discrimination! [7]Ibid [8]Military Policy and the War in Iraq [9]Ibid [10]Ibid [11]Ibid [12]Ibid [13]The Draft [14]Military Policy and the War in Iraq [15]Ibid [16]Free Trade Vs. State Corporatism [17]Civil Liberties [18]Ibid [19]How to Make Health Care Affordable [20]How to Slash Pharmaceutical Prices Virtually Over Night [21]Should Gay Couples Be Allowed to Marry? [22]Gun Control Means Being Able to Hit your Target [23]Marijuana and the Federal War on Drugs [24]Ibid All material © 2004, Michael Badnarik HOME \| QUIZ \| ISSUES \| FAQS \| MEDIA \| ACTIVIST \| LINKS CAVEAT & CAVEAT LOGO © 2004 IN [EX]HILE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.