Free Republic

Never underestimate the anti-tax wrath of California voters. Years ago, Californians were struggling under higher and higher property taxes that were continually getting reassessed and raised, and at one point they had had enough. In 1978, Proposition 13 was proposed to cap property taxes and limit reassessments, and it passed with a huge margin despite a firestorm of opposition from every politician around. The author and chief proponent of Prop 13, gadfly Howard Jarvis, became a minor celebrity and helped author similar ballot measures in other states.

Less than a week after Gov. Jerry Brown started using robotic telephone calls and mailers to gather signatures for his ballot initiative to raise taxes, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association plans to launch its anti-tax campaign today on the conservative "John and Ken" talk radio show. The taxpayers group this morning posted a red banner on its website inviting viewers to join a "Don't Sign the Petition" campaign. The banner links to a campaign website opposing Brown's effort to raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners.

It may not be as provocative as comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words," a free-speech case that went to the Supreme Court in the 1970s. But a Washington area nonprofit group wants to take the U.S. government to the high court for banning the use of "Social Security" on its mailing envelopes.

HJTA's Ballot Recommendations For the November 8 Special Election HJTA recommends a YES vote on the following measures that appear on the November 8 special election ballot: Prop. 74 -- Extends length of evaluation for period before public school teaches are given permanent status. Prop. 75 -- Provides paycheck protection for public union workers by requiring employee consent before their dues can be used for political contributions. Prop. 76 -- The Live Within Our Means Act would slow down increases in state spending. Prop. 77 -- Reapportionment; would bar politicians from drawing lines that guarantee their re-election. HJTA recommends a...

Twelve members of the U.S. Senate are leading a "Coalition of Compromise" determined to forge a deal that allows the unconstitutional filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees to continue. Lady Margaret Thatcher once said: “To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.” It’s about time twelve members of the United States Senate were reminded of that quote. The following twelve members of the United Senate are working behind the scenes to literally forge a compromise of the...

The battle over the filibustering of judges is not merely a “political” battle. It is actually a battle over the US Constitution and this is not a battle Americans can afford to lose. You have heard the arguments against filibusters on judge nominations: “This overturns 200 years of Senate tradition;” “We demand fairness;” and “The President’s nominees deserve an up-or-down vote.” The fact is, “tradition,” “fairness,” and “deserving” are not sufficient arguments against those fighting viciously to undermine our Constitution. It’s the Constitution, Senator!

The battle over the filibustering of judges is not merely a “political” battle. It is actually a battle over the US Constitution and this is not a battle Americans can afford to lose. You have heard the arguments against filibusters on judge nominations: “This overturns 200 years of Senate tradition;” “We demand fairness;” and “The President’s nominees deserve an up-or-down vote.” The fact is, “tradition,” “fairness,” and “deserving” are not sufficient arguments against those fighting viciously to undermine our Constitution. It’s the Constitution, Senator!

Fact #1: In 1994 AARP was forced in a settlement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to pay $135 million dollars. Even while negotiating this settlement and while not paying the taxes that force them into the settlement: Fact #2: The AARP made it possible for Social Security benefits to be taxed – first in 1984 then again in 1993 by refusing to work to eliminate this tax. Fact #3: The AARP allowed for Social Security payroll tax increases on hardworking Americans (more than 18 over the last four decades). Fact #4: The AARP was taking millions in taxpayer dollars...

A battle of the Social Security polls has developed, with supporters of private accounts accusing the AARP of distorting the issue when polling its members and the AARP charging that supporters of the president's plan continually gloss over possible pitfalls in its surveys... Charlie Jarvis, chairman and chief executive of USA Next -- a conservative senior citizens group that sees itself as a foil to the AARP -- called the AARP poll "despicable," saying its "emotional language" was designed to "guide them to a preselected answer." "It's a classic push poll," Mr. Jarvis said. "Their polls are completely manipulated surveys...

AARP, more than any other group in America, bears primary responsibility for the developing financial crisis of Social Security. That’s right. This fact surprises some people, but it’s true. For four decades AARP has claimed to represent seniors. In its leadership role, this political behemoth ($20 million spent annually on lobbyists) bears responsibility for every major policy action taken on Social Security since the early sixties. AARP should be excoriated for enabling and creating the financial problems in Social Security for which they now claim to have solutions. Unfortunately, AARP’s “solutions” are the very same bad policies that turned Social...

Dear AARP Members, Sometimes the things you DON’T do hurt people more than the things you do. The examples are endless. Turning a blind eye while someone is robbed when you have the ability to stop it – or at least call 911. Staying quiet when people verbally attack a friend with facts you know are not true. Or even simply sitting by and watching as a child follows the wrong crowd down a path you know will lead to trouble.

USA Next Chair Charlie Jarvis has sent an open letter to AARP members. It concerns the AARP’s failure to oppose taxes on Social Security benefits. The letter reads as follows: “Dear AARP Members, Sometimes the things you DON’T do hurt people more than the things you do. …

This is an open letter to AARP members from Charles Jarvis, Chairman and Chief Executive of USA Next. Dear AARP Members, April 15 – exactly one month from today – is the deadline for all hardworking Americans to file their tax returns. Whether or not you’ve already filed your tax return, this letter contains important facts you should know UNLESS: • You do not pay enough in taxes and believe the government should collect more from you. • You do not care that you’re paying taxes on your Social Security benefits.

Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON USA Next engineered the recent controversial ad that branded AARP pro-gay marriage and included a photograph of two men kissing. What else are you planning? In a few weeks, there will be ads that very specifically and aggressively brand AARP for what they are, the planet's largest liberal lobbying organization. When they are honest about that, we will take a large number of their members away.

Exaggerations and sometimes outright lies historically have been part of every politically divisive issue. President Bush's plan for partial Social Security privatization is a dream for these two giant professional propagandists: •AARP, which takes a liberal approach to government handouts to older folks. It is financed mostly by its 35 million members ages 50 and older. •USA Next, a much smaller but well-heeled conservative group. It is funded mostly by younger business and industry leaders. This week, as Bush started a blitz to sell his plan, both groups geared up and faced off in print and on the air. USA...

USA Next's Chairman, Charlie Jarvis, will be on Power Lunch at 12:45 P.M. (Eastern Time) and on Your World with Neil Cavuto at 4:30 P.M. (Eastern Time) Today. He will continue to champion free market solutions to Social Security -- and expose the AARP's big liberal agenda. Check it out! Tell your family and friends to tune in!

USA Next's Chairman, Charlie Jarvis, will be on Lou Dobbs Tonight at 6 P.M. (Eastern time). He will continue his expose of the liberal AARP and the promotion of free market solutions to Social Security. Check it out! Tell your family and friends to tune in!

Charges of "flip-flopping" are flying on both sides of the aisle in the Social Security debate, as each party tries to discredit the other in the eyes of the public as dishonest. Those who support President Bush's reform plans say some Democrats, who now question whether a Social Security crisis is imminent, sang a different tune in the late 1990s, when President Clinton wanted to reform the system. "It's a deep concern to see the level of hypocrisy within the Democratic Party on this," said Charlie Jarvis, executive director of USA Next, a lobbying group that supports Mr. Bush's idea...

Bill O'Reilly takes on the AARP tonight (8 and 11 ET). USA Next Chairman and CEO, Charlie Jarvis, will help Bill smack the AARP around! Should be fun to watch! Tune in! Tell your family and friends.

USA Next's Charlie Jarvis is on The O'Reilly Factor Thursday night (TONIGHT) at 8 and 11 P.M. (Eastern time). He will launch a new line of attack on the liberal AARP. Check it out! Tell your family and friends to tune in!

USA Next's Charlie Jarvis is on The O'Reilly Factor Thursday night at 8 and 11 P.M. (Eastern time). He will launch a new line of attack on the liberal AARP. Check it out! Tell your family and friends to tune in!

Imagine waking up to a science-fiction world in which voting involves no secret ballots -- the government knows how you voted -- no opposition statements are permitted, multiple votes can be legally cast by the same voter, only property owners vote, nongovernmental friends of the political power structure literally run the elections and voters can change their votes as many times as they like before election day. Is this a scenario for the next century, the voting pattern in Saudi Arabia or Saddam's Iraq or what? No, it's what voters are now facing in Contra Costa County, with mail-in ballots...

Police Across Country Urge that Federal Assault Weapons Ban be Renewed Renewed 6/23/2004 Press Release States United to Prevent Gun Violence www.supgv.org Contacts: Carolynne Jarvis Phone: 517-321-0195 Bryan Miller Phone: 856-371-3038 800 Plus Police Chief and Sheriffs and Counting Across Country Urge That Federal Assault Weapons Ban Be Renewed and Strengthened Remarkable Grassroots Law Enforcement Support Demonstrated for Strong and Effective Assault Weapons Ban in National Outreach Project Lansing, MI - States United to Prevent Gun Violence (States United), the nationwide coalition of independent state-based organizations devoted to reducing gun violence, today delivered to all US Senators and Representatives a...

<p>Conservatives yesterday indicated more support for Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid to become governor of California.</p> <p>But they still stood ready to jump to one of two other major Republican candidates if the "Terminator" star stumbles badly in the campaign to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.</p>

California taxpayers are celebrating a silver anniversary, as 2003 is the 25th year since the enactment of California's Proposition 13, whose landmark victory in 1978 sparked a national tax revolt. It passed in a landslide vote, with some 65 percent of Californians favoring the measure. The proposition slashed property taxes by limiting property-tax rates to 1 percent of the sales price of a home, and it limited subsequent increases to 2 percent per year -- a radical concept at the time. Previously, tax rates were based on a valuation established by a county assessor. Moreover, voracious local politicians determined the...

<p>One of my political rules of thumb: No reform that has any chance of actually working can be approved without squeals of protest from the elite opinion-makers. The converse is true: Anything that moves forward in a bipartisan fashion and is widely admired in the mainstream media is bound to be a disaster.</p>

<p>Twenty-five years ago, as Californians debated the merits and madness of Proposition 13, neighbors soaking at a block party in Sunnyvale nearly came to blows over the property-tax revolt.</p> <p>It happened to be in the neighborhood of Larry Stone, now the Santa Clara County assessor and a staunch foe of the tax break that changed life forever in this state.</p>