Campaign Blog
Gary Nolan's
Campaign Blog
Remembering Aunt Helen
I was on the campaign trail in Illinois two weeks ago when I got a call from my sister back in Cleveland. Aunt Helen had passed away.
I left the campaign trail for a few days so I could return to Cleveland, line up pallbearers for the funeral, and pay my final respects to a wonderful woman who had a profound impact on my life.
Aunt Helen was like a second mother to her 20 nieces and nephews and 22 grandnieces and grandnephews. That was especially true for my sister and me, since our mother died when I was just 28.
She was a first generation American, who spoke English without the hint of an accent while also speaking the native language of her parents. Amazing what people were able to accomplish before “bilingual education” became the norm in government schools.
Although Aunt Helen never went into business for herself, she helped two of her sisters (including my mom) with their taverns and a third sister in her vending machine business. Back then, all you needed to earn a living was the willingness to work. Today, the government buries entrepreneurs in licenses, regulations, red tape, and taxes. No wonder people are having trouble finding jobs, and why so many jobs are being outsourced overseas.
In addition to helping her sisters in their businesses, she helped care for her father, my mother, and her sister Vicki during extended illnesses. No one in my family thought to palm this responsibility off to government – caring for loved ones was a family responsibility.
I credit Aunt Helen, along with my parents, for my deeply-held belief that individuals can accomplish almost anything, provided that they’re willing to work hard, and if government will simply stay out of their way. That’s why I’m running for President – to do my part to restore liberty, opportunity, and that sense of community to America.
Indefinite Occupation
During last night’s news conference, President Bush reiterated his pledge to transfer sovereignty back to the Iraqi people by June 30th.
One central commitment of that mission is the transfer of the sovereignty back to the Iraqi people. We have set a deadline of June 30th. It is important that we meet that deadline.
He also acknowledged, in a rare moment of candor, that the U.S. is an occupying power in Iraq, while claiming that America does not support indefinite occupation:
As a proud, independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation, and neither does America. We're not an imperial power, as nations such as Japan and Germany can attest. We're a liberating power, as nations in Europe and Asia can attest as well.
Perhaps the Iraqi and American people would have more confidence in that statement if the U.S. didn’t still have troops stationed in Germany and Japan, fifty-nine years after those nations were defeated and occupied.
Howard Stern and Victoria's Secret fall prey to FCC's Creeping Censorship
The chill of creeping censorship is descending on America.
The FCC under the President Bush has levied massive fines against Clear Channel Communications for three “indecent” incidents on a single episode of the Howard Stern Show, based on ONE listener complain. In a first for the FCC, EACH “indecent” utterance was treated as a separate incident and Clear Channel was fined for EVERY station that aired the show, not just the one that generated the ONE complaint.
Six stations – 3 incidents per station – the maximum $27,500 fine for each violation -- $495,000 in all.
Clear Channel, which had “suspended” Stern right before its executives were scheduled to testify before a Congressional subcommittee holding another indecency witchhunt, has now permanently removed the Stern show from its lineup. Not surprising, given that pending legislation would raise the maximum fine from $27,500 to $500,000 per station per incident – and authorizing fines against on-air talent like Stern in addition to fines against stations. If enacted, this ONE incident could have resulted in a fine of $9 MILLION against the Clear Channel, with similar fines levied against Stern. No wonder they caved to the pressure and stopped carrying his show.
The fallout is spreading. The lastest show to fall victim to the FCC’s creeping censorship is the annual Victoria’s Secret show on ABC. The company isn’t willing to risk airing a show that might draw the ire of the FCC censors.
Stern thinks the FCC has set their sights on him because of his criticism of President Bush. He may well be right. That’s what’s so dangerous about allowing the government any power to censor what people say. If we allow government the power to censor “indecency”, even indirectly through intimidation and fines, it won’t be long before “indecent” political views get censored as well. Our founding fathers knew what they were doing when they added the First Amendment to the Constitution. Now it’s up to us to defend our right to speak freely.
Unintended Consequences
The Bush administration seems to be succeeding in its drive to get the Iraqi people to stop fighting each other and unite into a single nation. Unfortunately, they’re uniting against us. One of the many unintended consequences of this unnecessary war.
I’m sure members of the administration are surprised by the current level of armed resistance, although those of us who opposed this war certainly aren’t. They seem to be perpetually surprised that the Iraqi people, glad as they are to be rid of Saddam, don’t want to be ruled by us, even if only for a little while and for their own good.
The people of Iraq are like people everywhere – they want to control their own destiny. It’s time we let them do so.
We need to return sovereignty to the people of Iraq by June 30 as promised and not allow ourselves to be drug into a protracted guerilla war. And we need to look to Iraqis to take the lead in restoring order, even if the resulting government in some areas is anti-American. We cannot impose order and stability at the point of a gun – the people of Iraq have to achieve order and stability themselves.
“Pig Book” only scratches the surface of government waste
Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) unveiled their 2004 “Pig Book”, documenting a record $22.9 billion in government pork. While CAGW should be commended for their tireless efforts to bring attention to ridiculous pork-barrel spending, the “Pig Book” only scratches the surface of government waste.
Eliminating every single project documented in the “Pig Book” would reduce the current budget deficit of $529 billion by less than 5%. That’s a good start, but not nearly enough.
Most of what the federal government is currently spending money on either doesn’t need to be done at all, or could be done more effectively and efficiently by individuals, private businesses, voluntary organizations, or by state and local government.
We need a fresh approach to federal programs & spending: If something isn’t specifically delegated to the federal government in the Constitution, then the federal government shouldn’t be doing it and shouldn’t be spending your tax dollars on it. That’s what’s needed to bring runaway federal spending under control.
Cost of Compliance
Millions of Americans are receiving an unexpected jolt as they fill out their income tax returns – the “alternative minimum tax” (AMT).
Intended to catch wealthy individuals using deductions and “loopholes” to escape taxation, it now snares millions of middle-class taxpayers, wiping out some of the benefits of the Bush “tax cut.”
Time wasted doing AMT calculations is just one small example of “compliance costs”, which collectively add a 20% surcharge to what individuals, businesses, and non-profits pay in income taxes.
Besides wasting your time, compliance costs waste your money. Compliance costs drive up the price of everything you buy, lowering the standard of living for every American and making our goods and services less competitive.
Compliance costs increase dramatically each time the tax code is changed. In fact, increased compliance costs have more than offset the economic benefit of the Bush tax cuts, and continue to grow.
We aren’t going to solve this problem by “simplifying” the tax code – changing the code invariably makes the problem worse. The only real solution is to get rid of the income tax entirely – and thereby eliminate the costs of complying with it.
We don’t need an income tax to fund the basic functions of the federal government as outlined in the Constitution. Everything else either doesn’t need to be done at all, or could be better handled by state or local government.
Welfare Queens
Who are the biggest “welfare queens” in America? Here are some of my top contenders:
#3 The seven Democrats who ran (or are still running) for President, not one of whom will be on the ballot this November. As of April 1, here’s how much of your tax money each has received to fund their failed campaigns:
Wesley K. Clark $7,552,570.68
John R. Edwards $6,108,375.37
Joseph Lieberman $4,233,709.85
Richard A. Gephardt $4,104,319.82
Dennis Kucinich $3,075,300.72
Lyndon H. LaRouche $1,276,465.03
Al Sharpton $179,708.99
That’s right – your tax dollars are going to con artists like Al Sharpton and Lyndon LaRouche, as well as paying for Dennis Kucinich’s self-indulgent tour of America.
Collectively, that’s $26,530,450.46 of your tax money down the drain, with zero benefit to the country.
# 2 The Democratic and Republican parties. Each will receive $14, 924,000 from the taxpayers to put on their national conventions. Together, that’s another $29,848,000 added to the national debt. Do you see any benefit to you, your family, or your community from this government largess?
#1 President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry. They declined political welfare in the primary so they could raise and spend campaign funds without any limits. However, both are happy to let the taxpayers pick up the tab for their fall campaigns. President Bush and Senator Kerry will EACH receive $72,640,000, courtesy of you and me. That’s another $145,280,000 of government waste that needs to be eliminated.
All together, these political “welfare queens” will spend over $200 million dollars of your tax money to run their political campaigns and conventions, at a time when the government is running $500 billion deficits, Social Security and Medicare are insolvent, and the acknowledged national debt exceeds $7.1 trillion.
None of these candidates or parties can solve our nation’s financial problems – they created the problems. Booting them off the dole won’t solve our financial mess, but it’s a good place to start.
More Pork on Wheels
Friday, the House passed another pork-filled highway bill by a veto-proof, bipartisan majority (357 to 65). The bill contains nearly 3,200 “earmarks” for specific projects in member districts, up from 538 in the 1991 bill and a mere 10 back in 1982.
Taxpayers for Common Sense has compiled a complete list of earmarks, many of which have little or nothing to do with transportation, including:
$7 million for construction of "Renaissance Square" in Rochester, New York, including a performing arts center
$4 million for new parking building in Oak Lawn, Illinois
$4 million for graffiti elimination in New York
$3 million for a riverwalk project with a continuous river-edge walkway creating a system of parks in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.
$2.5 million for improvements to the Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax, Virginia
$2 million for a high-speed catamaran ferry in Massachusetts
$1.5 million for Improvement of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan
$1.5 million for the construction of pedestrian streetscape improvements on Ocean Boulevard and Anaheim Street in Long Beach, Calif., including lighting, landscaping, irrigation, seating, drinking fountains, bicycle racks and trash receptacles.
Giving the Republicans control of the House, Senate, and Presidency clearly hasn’t worked to control Washington’s appetite for spending. And we know the Democrats have no interest in shrinking the size and expense of government. If you vote for Democrats or Republicans, you’ll telling them that you like spending and deficits, and that you don’t care about the financial mess we’re leaving for our children and grandchildren.
The only way to stop runaway spending in Washington is to vote for candidates who are really serious about making it happen. That means voting Libertarian.
Why we need to get rid of the Income Tax
With Tax Day (April 15th) fast approaching, this is a great time to look at some of the things the President and Congress are forcing you to pay for. From the omnibus spending bill:
$1.8 million for exotic pet disease research in California
$50 million for an indoor rain forest in Iowa
$250,000 for an amphitheater park in Illinois
$200,000 for the University of Hawaii to make a documentary film “Primal Quest”
$255,000 for the Wheels Museum in New Mexico
$6 million for sea lions in Alaska
$450,000 for the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center in my home state of Ohio
$1 million to fight Mormon cricket infestations in Utah
$90,000 for fruit fly research in Montpellier, France (yes, France!)
and the list goes on … and on … and on.
Yes, these are small amounts in the context of a $2.4 trillion dollar budget. But they starkly illustrate how little regard the President and Congress have for your hard-earned money. If it was their own money they were spending, you can bet they wouldn’t be spending it on ridiculous stuff like this.
Falluja: What should we do now?
I hope that no one is surprised by the ambush in Falluja. Atrocities like those committed on four American civilian contractors should be expected anytime we go to war.
So what should we do now? The same thing we should have been doing before the ambush. We should be doing everything possible to turn the governance of Iraq over to the Iraqi people so we can bring our troops home.
The longer we stay, the easier it becomes for terrorists to paint the U.S. as occupiers, not liberators, and the easier it becomes for them to recruit gullible people to their cause.
The best way to prove that our true intent was to liberate Iraq from Saddam is to complete the transition to Iraqi self-governance as rapidly as possible and leave them to work out their own destiny.
