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25 March 2014

Representative John Sarbanes Would Restrict Freedom of Speech

Representative John Sarbanes, Democrat, Maryland, is polling his constituents on their desires to limit the influence of Big Business on Big Government.  I am in his most incredibly gerrymandered district.  Here is his letter to me:

Dear Friend,

Many Americans feel their priorities get left behind in Washington and the priorities of billionaires and big corporations receive undue attention. Many tell me their voices are being drowned out by the special interests. I'd like to know how you feel about the role of big money in politics. Please share your thoughts with me in the survey below.


Do you believe big money politics is corrupting our government?
Yes
No
Do you think everyday Americans deserve a way to fight back against special interest spending?
Yes
No
Would you support a proposal to amplify the voices of everyday Americans in our elections
Yes
No
Earlier this year, I introduced the Government by the People Act (HR 20) - a bipartisan bill with more than 140 cosponsors that would empower millions of everyday Americans to take back their government from big money special interests. To read more about the proposal and become a citizen cosponsor, pleas visit http://ofby.us
Sincerely,

John P. Sarbanes
I listened to John Sarbanes address the House on the bill he is sponsoring, along with many another Democrat in the House, and he only railed against Big Business.  He never mentioned any other type of special interest.  His bias is anti-business.  Of course he especially hit oil companies and made the many times debunked claim that they are heavily subsidized by government simply because they take the tax deductions provided to most businesses.  He had no complaints directed at the big political campaign donations of labor unions, trial lawyers, government employees, so-called green energy companies, teachers, and accountants who love complex tax codes.

The Sarbanes bill would provide everyone a tax credit for making a political donation, provide taxpayer's money to candidates based on how many people made donations to them, and provide additional money in the last 60 days of a campaign if some bureaucrat decides that a super PAC is slamming a candidate too hard in that time period.  So, let us see what this means:
  • It now will cost a person nothing to aid the campaign of a candidate.  If it costs him nothing, he has even less reason to understand the candidate's purpose and the consequences of his political viewpoint.
  • Hard-working, more productive people and corporations will have to provide funding for candidates who wish to use government force to redistribute their money to the many who pay little or no taxes through the taxpayer campaign financing requirement.  This enables such politicians to better buy the votes of those who pay little in taxes.
  • Some bureaucrat, perhaps in the thrall of the President and his political party, will decide which candidates are being unfairly attacked by a big PAC and provide that candidate with taxpayer money.  I wonder if that will work any better than having the IRS decide who can set up a non-profit organization based on whether the organizational name has Patriot or Tea Party in the name or its purpose includes teaching the provisions of the Constitution?
 My response to him:

John,
As usual, your questions belie a bias based on a naive view of the role of government.
When government becomes big and dictates values to the People and starts micromanaging their lives, we all suffer for these quite obvious reasons:
  • Government is too big for the elected officials to manage it well.
  • The People cannot understand what the government is doing and all of the consequences of its actions.
  • The People can no longer choose their representatives adequately.
  • As the People lose control and understanding, they lose confidence in their government.
  • Special interests step in to fill the power vacuum, manipulating just those policies that benefit themselves with no regard for the individual rights and welfare of most of the People.
The special interests include:
  • Labor Unions
  • Some Big Businesses
  • Welfare Recipients
  • Environmental Extremists and Global Warming Alarmists
  • Trial Lawyers
  • Government Employees including Teachers
  • University Employees deriving income from Government Grants
  • Exporters using Government Loans
  • Banks using money printed by the Federal Reserve
  • Ethanol Manufacturers and corn growers
  • Some Farmers
  • Shipping Line Operators
  • PPACA Website Programmers
  • Health Care Insurance Providers
  • Really Bad American Car Manufacturers
  • Power-Hungry Politicians
  • Campaign Contributors to Power-Hungry Politicians
  • Accountants due to Unintelligible Tax Laws Forcing Americans to Buy their Services
  • Regulatory Consultants due to Unintelligible Regulations
No, John, you are not addressing the real problem.  The real problem is the Size of Government.  The one and only way to end the control of government by special interests is to reduce it to its very limited constitutional role of providing for the national defense, the post roads, and handing foreign affairs issues.  Then the national government will do much, much less harm to the People, be much better understood by them, and be much more capably managed by our Representatives.

I do not suppose I will get any special interest favors from John Sarbanes!  I am surprised he is up to so much mischief in Congress.  One would think he would be spending all of his time traveling between the far-flung isthmuses of his kingly domain, the 3rd Congressional District of Maryland, shown here in brown:



Only Big Government could create and love such a creature.
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