Friday, October 01, 2010
Kick The TARP Lovers Out!
Libertarians challenge 89 TARP-supporting incumbents in Congress
WASHINGTON - This November, Libertarian Party candidates are challenging 89 incumbent members of Congress who voted for the TARP bailouts in 2008. View the list here.
The list includes 27 Republicans and 62 Democrats.
LP Chair Mark Hinkle commented, "Few acts of Congress have evoked as much fear, ire, disgust, and disapproval from Americans as the 2008 TARP banker bailouts, passed with bipartisan support in Congress, and signed into law by Republican President George W. Bush."
Hinkle continued, "Bailer-in-chief John McCain, who famously suspended his 2008 losing Republican presidential campaign to rush back to Washington DC to vote for TARP, tops our list. He'll face Libertarian Party co-founder David Nolan in November."
[Note and correction: An earlier emailed version of this release incorrectly stated the number of Libertarians at 97.]
According to Congressional Quarterly, twelve of these TARP incumbents are in close re-election battles (classified in the "tossup" or "leans" category). The Libertarian Party hopes to help kick them out of office. "They tried to justify TARP by claiming our economy was going off a cliff. Let's push their teetering careers off a cliff," said LP Executive Director Wes Benedict.
The twelve most vulnerable TARP incumbents in races with Libertarians:
Harry Mitchell (D-AZ, District 5)
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ, District 8)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA, Senator)
Dan Lungren (R-CA, District 3)
Kendrick Meek (D-FL, incumbent Rep. running for Senate)
Bill Foster (D-IL, District 14)
Brad Ellsworth (D-IN, incumbent Rep. running for Senate)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN, District 2)
Roy Blunt (R-MO, incumbent Rep. running for Senate)
Ike Skelton (D-MO, District 4)
Joe Sestak (D-PA, incumbent Rep. running for Senate)
Chet Edwards (D-TX, District 17)
CQ Senate ratings
CQ House ratings
Benedict continued, "The Tea Party revolt is one potentially positive reaction to TARP. But any Tea Partier who votes for a TARP-supporting Republican is a plain old hypocrite, just as bad as the incumbent he or she is pushing back into office. Every Tea Partier should take a pledge to vote against ALL incumbents who voted for TARP, period.
"Liberals should also vote against TARP incumbents. Hundreds of billions for Wall Street bankers and their stockholders and bondholders is not what Democrats are supposed to stand for. Any liberal-leaning voter who votes for a TARP-supporting Democrat, when a Libertarian alternative is available, sends a callous message to the middle class and poor: Thanks for your taxes! Get another job if you can find one -- we want even more of your money to pass up to the Wall Street fat cats!
"Fortunately, these voters have a better option: Libertarian candidates who would have proudly voted against TARP, and who will consistently vote against other foolish, unconstitutional, taxpayer-abusing measures.
"After the TARP bailouts passed, Republicans repeatedly tried to defend their support, sometimes saying that they hadn't done a good enough job explaining it to the American people. Now the recent pandering Republican 'Pledge to America' says 'End TARP once and for all.' Which is it, Republicans? Was it a bad sales pitch, or are you trying to pretend that you never supported it? I suspect that the Republicans don't know what to think. That's a problem with many ignorant and spineless members of Congress today.
"Some incumbents have tried to make the excuse that they voted for TARP because President Bush and Secretary Paulson scared them, or because drops in the stock market made them worry. Such worthless excuses are beneath the dignity of their office. Voters should not let TARP-supporters make excuses for themselves.
"Last year, William A. Niskanen of the Cato Institute wrote this article describing five instances in which the members of Congress caved in to executive-branch hysteria, leading to disastrous consequences. (TARP is #4 chronologically.) Each time, the members of Congress failed to uphold their crucial responsibility to view all executive requests with care and skepticism.
"If all it takes is for a president to shout 'The sky is falling!' to get Congress to pass whatever he wants, then we might as well make the president a king, and give him all the power.
"In addition to the huge transfer of wealth from taxpayers to bankers, TARP created tremendous moral hazard by sending this loud message to bankers: 'Your goal is to get big, because then you can claim you're too big to fail, and you can get Congressmen to force taxpayers to bail you out for whatever stupid or self-serving decisions you make.'
"It's hard to think of another government program that did more to reward stupidity and punish prudence.
"TARP is both a short-term and long-term failure. We would be better off today if Congress had done nothing."
The Libertarian Party has 21 candidates for U.S. Senate and 170 candidates for U.S. House in the upcoming November 2010 elections.
For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP Executive Director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.
The LP is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets and civil liberties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party at our website.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Spider Webs For The Rich & Mighty
"Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider
webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak,
fishing nets in the hands of the government." - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Sunday, September 26, 2010
No Wonder Our Country Is Going Broke
BURNETT, Texas - The war in Afghanistan may cost another 60 billion dollars and last ten more years, even if U.S. forces start leaving the country in 2011, potential Libertarian presidential candidate R. Lee Wrights said today.
A NATO training-mission document recently uncovered by the Associated Press estimated it would cost about 6 billion dollars a year to train Afghani military and police forces. Gen. David Petraeus, the new commander in Afghanistan, has said that a successful counter-insurgency operation could last another ten years.
“That means this war will cost at least another 60 billion dollars to finish a job we never should have started,” said R. Lee Wrights. “No wonder our country is going broke.”
Even with the training the NATO document acknowledges that Afghanistan will remain largely dependent on U.S. forces for security for years. The document also includes plans for large-scale infrastructure projects for “establishing enduring institutions” and “creating irreversible momentum” according to AP sources.
“The only ‘irreversible momentum’ we’re creating is the irreversible momentum driving America deeper and deeper into debt,” Wrights said. “And the only ‘enduring institutions’ we’re creating is the enduring institution of a welfare-warfare State that supports corrupt governments under the guise of fighting terrorism.”
Wrights said he’s troubled by comments Petraeus has made about the withdrawal of American troops, which is supposed to begin in July 2011.
“He seems to be hedging his bets,” Wrights said. After nine years of war, Petraeus said that it is just now that the United States has the organization and people in place to fight a counter-insurgency operation.
“The general is reputed to be an expert on this type of warfare and has said it can take years, even decades, to wage successfully,” Wrights says. “So if we are just getting started now, it could take ten more years to ‘finish the job.’ That’s unacceptable.”
Wrights is also troubled by the fact that the general refers to July 2011 as the date “when a process begins, the pace of which is determined by conditions on the ground.” Petraeus characterized the process as a “thinning out” of U.S. forces, rather than a “turning over” of security for their own country to Afghanistan’s citizens and authorities.
“We have already endured one war where the generals and politicians kept telling us they were seeing the ‘light at the end of the tunnel,’ but that light never got any closer,” Wrights said.
Petraeus recently spoke out against plans by a Florida minister to burn the Qur’an, saying that the action would put American troops in danger.
“What is a greater danger to American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen is keeping them in a war we should not have started in the first place, helping prop up a corrupt government,” Wrights said. “If we truly want to keep our troops safe, we should bring them home now.”
Wrights is considering seeking the LP presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 should be a loud, clear and unequivocal call to stop all war. He has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be spent for ballot access so that the stop all war message can be heard in all 50 states.
R. Lee Wrights is a writer and political activist living in Texas. He is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. Contact Lee at rleewrights@gmail.com.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Close The Book Of War
[originally posted at Liberty For All]It’s time do more than just “turn the page” on America’s foreign wars. We should close the book and put it pack on the shelf, said potential Libertarian presidential candidate R. Lee Wrights in response to President Obama’s address to the nation Tuesday night.
“President Obama said he was announcing that ‘the American combat mission in Iraq’ has ended and that it was time to ‘turn the page’ on a ‘remarkable chapter in American history,” Wrights said. “It is time to do more than just turn the page. It is time to close the book of war, put it back on the shelf, and never refer to it again.”
“There is nothing remarkable about this chapter in American history,” Wrights said. “If the president really wanted to end the war he would simply tell the joint chiefs to draw up a plan to remove every last American solider, sailor, airman and marine from the region as quickly and safely as possible.”
“If the president really wanted to honor the sacrifices made by America’s men and women in uniform, he would not continue to put them in harm’s way unnecessarily,” Wrights said.
Wrights said that President Obama was elected on the expectation that he would end America’s interventionist foreign policy, but from the words he used in this address it appears he is going to continue this policy and use different language to obscure his intentions.
For example, Wrights noted that while the president said the combat mission is ending, he said our commitment to Iraq is not. The president also said a transitional force will remain to advise and assist Iraqi security forces, support Iraqi troops in targeted counter-terrorism missions and protect civilians. In fact, as the last “combat” troops leave Iraq, fifty thousand troops will remain behind.
“In other words, our soldiers and marines will still be going on patrol, getting shot at, and possibly getting killed, but the president won’t call it combat operations,” Wrights said. He noted that the infantry brigades still in Iraq have been renamed “advise and assist” brigades.
“It is shameful the way politicians will parse words in order to justify and obscure their actions; and, it is disgraceful that any president who refers to himself as the commander-in-chief would use such a tactic to disguise the service of the men and women he is supposed to command.”
“It is disturbing the way the president casually dismissed the fact that this war was fought for a lie,” Wrights said. The president said that what began as “a war to disarm a state became a fight against insurgency.”
“It is distressing that President Obama admitted that the war has cost us one trillion dollars, most of it borrowed for other nations, and contributed to our debt, yet he doesn’t miss a beat in calling for even more government spending,” Wrights said. “He shows absolutely no signs that he is going to change anything in American foreign policy when he said America ‘must use all elements of our power to secure our interests and stand by our allies.’”
Wrights is considering seeking the presidential nomination because he believes the Libertarian message in 2012 should be a loud and unequivocal call to stop all war. He has pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be spent for ballot access so that the stop all war message can be heard in all 50 states.
R. Lee Wrights is a writer and political activist living in Texas. He is the co-founder and editor of the free speech online magazine Liberty For All. Contact Lee at rleewrights@gmail.com
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Monday, August 02, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
This American Government
"[This American Government] never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.…
Trade and commerce, if they were not made of india-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievious persons who put obstructions on the railroads."
Henry David Thoreau
Trade and commerce, if they were not made of india-rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievious persons who put obstructions on the railroads."
Henry David Thoreau
Thursday, July 08, 2010
The State Commands It
"the interests of the State and those of the individual differ fundamentally and are antagonistic. The State and the political and economic institutions it supports can exist only by fashioning the individual to their particular purpose; training him to respect "law and order;" teaching him obedience, submission and unquestioning faith in the wisdom and justice of government; above all, loyal service and complete self-sacrifice when the State commands it, as in war."
Emma Goldman
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Lee Wrights Explores 2012 Presidential Run
WRIGHTS FOR PRESIDENT 2012 EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE
For more information:
Thomas Hill
Phone: (704) 621-8621
E-mail: thomasbhill@msn.com
Wrights forms presidential exploratory committee
BURNET, Texas (July 4) – R. Lee Wrights, a former Libertarian Party national vice chair and the editor and co-founder of Liberty for All online magazine, announced today he is forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for a possible bid to seek the Libertarian nomination for president in 2012.
“The Libertarian Party faces a critical test in 2012 and I want to make sure that we’re up to the challenge,” Wrights said. “The Libertarian message in 2012 must be loud and clear – Stop the Wars! Stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop the war on drugs and alternative lifestyles, stop the war on civil liberties.”
Wrights said that it’s time to stop supporting politicians, regardless of party, who don’t even come close to fulfilling their campaign promises.
“President Obama was elected on a platform of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Wrights said. “Instead of supporting the troops by bringing them home, he has sent thousands more young men and women to die needlessly to prop up a corrupt government in Afghanistan.”
“Now he’s wavering on his promise to bring the troops home by July 2011,” Wrights said. “He calls the war in Afghanistan a ‘war of necessity.’ It is no such thing. It is unnecessary, irresponsible and a dishonor to the founding principles of our republic.”
The president has also reneged on his promise to reverse the trampling of civil liberties which began under the Bush Administration. “He’s done just the opposite,” Wrights said. “He’s expanded federal power to invade our privacy and curtail our rights. He might not call it the ‘war on terror,’ but President Obama still uses 9/11 as an excuse to justify voiding the Bill of Rights.”
Wrights said he is most appalled by the way the president turns every issue he faces into a war by labeling anyone who opposes him as an enemy.
“Not content with just warring with the Republicans in Congress, the president has turned the Gulf oil spill into a war on oil companies. He’s used the financial crisis, which was largely caused by government regulation, interference and incompetence, to continue waging war on banks and financial institutions,” Wrights said.
“Even after his major victory in ramming through a massive health care bill which imposes federal government bureaucrats into our most intimate and personal health care decisions, President Obama continues to wage war on insurance companies and health care providers,” Wrights said. “Now, he’s opened a new front in Arizona over that state’s attempt to deal with an illegal immigrant situation his administration has failed to address.”
“Where will it end?” Wrights asked. “Is anything or anyone safe from being labeled an ‘enemy of the state’ and incurring the wrath of the federal government’s war-making power?”
Wrights pledged that 10 percent of all donations to his campaign will be given to the LP for ballot access. “Whoever is the 2012 Libertarian nominee for president, we must take our message to all 50 states and our message must be clear and unequivocal – Stop the Wars,” Wrights says.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Friday, June 04, 2010
Antiwar.com's Week In Review (June 4th)
Antiwar.com's Week in Review | June 4, 2010
Israel, Gaza
On Sunday night, Antiwar.com covered news of Israel’s deadly raid on the Gaza aid flotilla hours before the MSM. By Monday, Jason Ditz refuted claims of self-defense by Israeli soldiers, adding that – whether it carried metal sticks or not – the Mavi Marmara was "violating no international laws in trying to deliver medicine and food to civilian victims of an Israeli blockade. Israel, on the other hand, was most assuredly violating international law in attacking an unarmed aid ship on the open sea."
If indeed these facts check out, according to Philip Giraldi, "then Tel Aviv is guilty of piracy, kidnapping, and murder, while the armed attack on a Turkish flagged vessel might be construed as inviting a military response from NATO."
While Obama has said little, members of Congress have since come out in favor of Israel, and Vice President Joe Biden stated that Israel "had a right to know." Filing from Israel exclusively for Antiwar.com, Ran HaCohen found the local outrage conspicuously absent. "How can you turn millions of fairly educated citizens into silent lambs, or worse, into supporters of their own state’s terrorism?" HaCohen looked for answers in the press.
Ultimately, if "the only way we can make the Israelis feel ‘secure’ is by allowing them to engage in international piracy on the high seas," said Justin Raimondo, "then perhaps this is the sort of high-maintenance relationship we can no longer afford."
For more on the Gaza aid raid:
- Antiwar.com Founder Eric Garris on Antiwar Radio
- Raimondo: An American among the nine
- Eight Turkish citizens slain, yet Turkey is the villain?
- Israel: Burden, not asset to U.S.?
- Ivan Eland: there is a silver lining
- Can Israeli spin machine overcome international fallout?
Terrorism: Cause and Effect
If the government does anything well, fomenting fear is high on the list. The Bush rhetoric of "terrorism 24/7" – inherited with open arms by Obama – has done a great deal to keep people afraid, but has it done anything to keep them safe?
In "Terrorism – Cause and Effect," Jack Smith argued that U.S. intervention abroad is often the cause of terrorist action, not the solution to it. He discussed five major policy decisions made in the last "65 years that turned public opinion in the Middle East against the United States and largely generated the conditions that led to the creation of al-Qaeda, jihadist warriors, and suicide bombers."
If the U.S. is more interested in perpetuating war than in defeating terrorism, perhaps Washington is the real enemy worth fearing.
Milestones Not Worth Celebrating
This week we officially passed the $1 trillion dollar mark for the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only does the U.S. lead the world in "defense" spending – a whopping 800 percent more than runner-up Russia – but we account for 44.32 percent of the total global tab.
And no sooner could AP tally the 1,000th U.S. military death in Afghanistan than Pentagon officials dismissed exit strategy timetables, saying that our eight-and-a-half-year long war could continue "way beyond July 2011."
Amid a devastating economic recession and despite warnings from the Congressional Budget Office that across-the-board cuts will need to be made, it seems that no amount of blood or money can deter the War Party.
Antiwar Radio
Antiwar Radio is expanding! As of June 7th, Liberty Radio Network will carry Scott’s show Monday through Friday from 12–3 p.m. ET. It will also continue to air on KAOS Radio 95.9 FM in Austin, KPFK Pacifica Radio 90.7 FM in Los Angeles, 98.7 FM in Santa Barbara, KUCR 88.3 FM in Riverside, and of course on Antiwar.com.
This week’s guests included:
- Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project, questioned Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ halfhearted fight against Pentagon waste and wondered why our always increasing Pentagon budget paradoxically results in the worst-equipped military in a generation.
- Flynt Leverett, former senior director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, discussed WMD myths and Iran’s nuclear program with guest host Gareth Porter. "Iran is a critically important country … and at this point, given the relative decline in American standing and influence and the relative increase in Iranian standing and influence, [we’d] argue that the United States …can’t achieve its own objectives" without improving relations.
- Thomas Woods, co-editor of We Who Dared to Say No to War, reviewed the propaganda behind U.S. foreign policy and the slaughter of Iraqis. "If this government is run by liars and thieves and killers and I don’t trust a word they say on anything else, then I’m not giving them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their monopoly on the use of military force. I’m just not going to do it ,and I don’t believe that that’s anti-American."
Listen to all of this week’s guests here, and don’t forget you can chat with other listeners during the show at the Stress Blog.
We Make It Easy to Support Peace
Have you applied for your Antiwar.com Capital One credit card yet? A percentage of everything you buy on the card comes straight back to us! Not only will we receive $50 after your initial purchase, but Capital One will send you a quarterly statement of your contributions.
Also, bookmark this link and use it when you buy books and other merchandise on Amazon.com. Questions? Contact Angela at akeaton@antiwar.com or call 323-512-7095.
Meet Our New Communications Director
In an effort to raise awareness in the press and reach more people with the message of peace, Antiwar.com has hired Communications Director Wendy Honett. Honett formerly served as the publicity director at the Independent Institute and holds a bachelor of arts degree in both political science and mass communications from the University of California at Berkeley. She will be working closely with Antiwar.com Founder and Managing Editor Eric Garris, Executive Director Alexia Gilmore, and Development Director Angela Keaton to implement several strategic initiatives for Antiwar.com.
Connect With Us!
You know about our Web site, of course, but are you following us on Twitter? Check out @Antiwarcom, @Antiwarnews, and @Antiwar2 for updates. Or friend Justin, Scott, and Angela on Facebook and drop by our causes page.
Thank You!
Thank you to our loyal readers for your words of encouragement during the fund drive and, of course, for your generous contributions. We made it to $70,000, and we at Antiwar.com send our utmost appreciation. For information on donating, please contact Development Director Angela Keaton at akeaton@antiwar.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)