Posted on 04/05/2011 8:27:51 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON - In response to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's new budget proposal, Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle issued the following statement today:
"Americans hoping to get real about our national debt just got sucker-punched by Republican Paul Ryan.
"Republicans want to spend $40 trillion over ten years. That averages a staggering $4 trillion per year. As recently as 2000, federal spending was only about $1.8 trillion.
"They also want to increase the federal debt from $15.0 trillion to $23.1 trillion. I hope our children and grandchildren enjoy paying interest on that extra $8.1 trillion.
"People should not judge the quality of this Republican plan by the standard President Obama has set. Everyone knows Obama is a big spender. Democrats rarely campaign on cutting government. What this budget shows is, Republicans are hypocrites. They have no intention of cutting the federal government down to size. In 2021, Paul Ryan still wants the feds to be spending 19.9% of GDP. That's a higher percentage than during Democrat Bill Clinton's second term. In 1997, federal spending was 19.5% of GDP, and it dropped to 18.2% by 2000. Paul Ryan is worse than Bill Clinton.
"Another unfortunate but predictable thing about Paul Ryan's budget is that it continues to mollycoddle the Pentagon. Paul Ryan is the Military-Industrial Complex's best friend. He apparently can't find one penny to cut from Obama's bloated levels of military spending. Only a big-government Republican could come up with language like 'reinvesting $100 billion in higher military priorities.'
"It's interesting that when the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the White House from 2001-2006, they did nothing to shrink government, or even slow down government growth. On the contrary, back then, Paul Ryan was busy voting for expensive foreign wars, No Child Left Behind, and the huge 2003 Medicare expansion. More recently he's voted for the TARP bailouts and even ethanol subsidies.
"We Libertarians propose eliminating federal functions that are not authorized in the Constitution. Furthermore, Libertarians propose ending foreign wars and foreign troop deployments, allowing huge cuts in military spending. Libertarians would cut the federal government down to less than 10% of GDP, and we'd keep cutting once we got there."
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, civil liberties, and peace. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party at our website.
Libertarians lie and are not conservative. They are liberals who are merely cheap.
Ron Paul is insane.
Coming from a Libertarian, that might not be so bad.
Conservatives say Libertarians are worse than Democrats
This is why libertarians get about 1.0% of the vote everytime...they live in la-la land.
Why?
With “friends” like these, who needs the Left?
Libertines say: Bill Clinton rules!
Paul just doesn’t get the value of armed force. Reduce it arbitrarily, and you get unintended consequences. Such as Britain’s decision to reduce the size of then Royal Navy in 1922. That, as much as anything else, nearly cost them the war in 1940. But we seem to be doing the same thing now. China is moving into a vacuum.
The US will have to spend a trillion per year for eight years just to fix the defense damage Obama and his treasonous comrades will do by January 2013.
I’ll give Ryan’s budget a C+. It’s a start, a framework, and nothing else. There can be no real solution till we have a conservative president and majority in the Senate. It does lay some good foundation that can be built on though.
Libertarians and many others want it all today. As much as I’d like it to happen, fact is it won’t. Bottom line is they don’t have the clout to make it or anything else happen.
Well, what is it in the statement that isn’t true? If they are correct in this instance, do think that any conservative ought to be breaking out the party hats to celebrate the Ryan proposal?
“It’s a start, a framework, and nothing else. There can be no real solution till we have a conservative president and majority in the Senate.”
We’ve been down that road with Bush, and his administration fiscally was just the same old Beltway operation. You say that the Libertartians want it all today and that that isn’t realistic. Perhaps it isn’t realistic, but if we don’t get something close to all of it very soon, we won’t have a recognizable future.
“Realistically” because even people on FR aren’t serious about cutting spending it is clear to me that a financial bus plunge is inevitable.
“The US will have to spend a trillion per year for eight years just to fix the defense damage Obama and his treasonous comrades will do by January 2013.”
I believe you are greatly over-optimistic: 2013, more like 2017!
With the present GOP leadership, and their double-cross of Tea Party Grassroots support, The Usurper is going to win re-election with the help of the Corporate/Bank controlled media!
The only thing that might prevent is re-election is the loss of the dollar’s “Reserve Currency” status! - If that happens, what’s the difference, the US is toast, and will over-night become a Third World debtor!
WTF does any of that mean? Yes I realize we don’t have a great deal of time to fix it, but we also don’t control the Senate or the Executive.
You need the votes to get it done.
You don’t have the votes. Sitting there pontificating about your superior position on the issue doesn’t change that reality.
How are you going to get it done?
True. However, let's say for the sake of argument, they had the WH and a supermajority the House and Senate after the next two elections. Their "want it all today" approach would have far-reaching consequences they aren't prepared to handle. Hard to quell riots with stances like "But look at all this liberty you have."
What really irks me is that while they are talking about cutting things we’ve paid in for not a peep about cutting foodstamps and welfare. Why not they should be the first thing eliminated.
Stuff like thisis the reason I will never take the Libertarian Party seriously.
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