Some of the latest news on Joe Kennedy, independent libertarian in the US Senate special election in Massachusetts:
Download a podcast of the latest debate here (H/T Kennedyseat.com). As the Boston Globe summarized it, “Kennedy, a libertarian, lumped his opponents together, accusing them of supporting bigger government and greater intrusion into people’s lives. He said that he would file bills to dismantle agencies that aren’t effective, reverse tax increases, and bring home the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Kennedy put out an issue comparison of the candidates, similar to one posted earlier by Arkady at Right Connection.
| Issue | Kennedy | Coakley | Brown |
| Government Run Health Care | Against | For – Federal | For – State |
| Iran / Afghanistan | Against | For – Will Support President | For |
| Income Tax | Against | For – Expanding | For |
| Sales Tax | Against | For | For |
| Prop 2.5 Override | Against | Unknown | For |
| Social Security | Make Voluntary | For | Unknown |
| Federal Dept of Education | Abolish | For | For |
| Same Sex Marriage | For | For | Against |
| Cap & Trade | Against | For | Against |
| HR 2943 | For | Unknown | Against |
| Federal Reserve | Against | Unknown | For |
TV commercial quality ad put on youtube by RightMarch PAC. I don’t know whether it’s made it to any broadcast media.
Position paper on spending and taxes:
No candidate who advocates for continued military spending or who advocates a significant raise in entitlement spending, such as the one proposed in the Health Care Bill, is being truthful about cutting spending and cutting taxes. For decades politicians have promised to give people entitlements to get their votes. At the same time, the same politicians promise to cut taxes to get other people’s votes. It’s not possible, and I will not do that. Here, detailed below, is the spending I will cut; and how I will address taxes afterwards.
We do not need targeted plans and complicated programs to cut taxes. Those only complicate the issues, leave loopholes to be abused, and only benefit specific segments of the population, be they the wealthy, the poor, or large corporations. If we genuinely want to end the recession, we will have to cut spending and cut taxes. We can accomplish this with simple, but broad strokes.
To cut taxes we must cut spending, and I pledge to do the following in Washington:
* I will author and file legislation to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saving hundreds of billions of dollars yearly and saving countless American lives.
* I will write and file legislation to repeal every plank, every dollar, and every dime of the Obama Health Care Plan.
* I will write and file legislation to repeal every ill-conceived corporate bailout and return every cent to the American taxpayers.
* I will write and file legislation to repeal the federal employee pay increase put forth in the $1.1 trillion dollar spending package; a pay raise now is just shameful, and its even more so when so many Americans are out of work and struggling through this recession!
* I will write and file legislation to repeal every tax increase, every unnecessary hack job, and every costly expansion that has happened during the current administration.
* I will go after the Federal Reserve Bank and back the existing legislation to publicly audit the Federal Reserve; and if we find corruption in the halls of the Fed, I will without hesitation co-sponsor a bill to end the Fed.
* I will then begin to look at the 43% increase in spending that occurred during the George W. Bush administration, and where I find waste I will repeal and cut that spending as well.
* I will zealously seek out and garner support and co-sponsors for the legislation I will submit to end the Federal Income Tax and return that money to the people it belongs to, the American citizens.
* I will go to Washington with a big eraser in hand. Every place I find a wasted dollar I will write legislation to repeal that waste and return the taxpayers’ money. When legislation that cuts waste gets caught in committee, I will call-out the people responsible for holding up that legislation and let the taxpayers judge their actions.
For Massachusetts, I am currently drafting a bill, which I will ask to be sponsored by any State Representative or State Senator on Beacon Hill willing to end the Massachusetts Income Tax. We had a referendum last year on the ballot and many people on Beacon Hill including Senator Brown opposed that referendum. That bill would have meant an average of $3,700.00 back to the working families of Massachusetts. Think of how much $3,700.00 per year could do for the working families of Massachusetts. How many homes could be saved from foreclosure? How much more money would consumers have to put into the economy and stimulate jobs?
If they weren’t serious about cutting government last year during the deepest depths of the recession, then why should we be fooled into thinking they would do it now? Empty rhetoric and half-hearted campaign promises will not fix the problems Massachusetts and the nation faces; only swift and determined action will!
If State Senator Brown were truly serious about cutting taxes, then he would be submitting legislation to do so at the state level right now. And, one would think, he would have done so already, in the years preceding his candidacy. He is not, and has not done so, not now, not then. So it stands to reason, that he will not do so in the future either.
Attorney General Coakley, on the other hand, unabashedly supports a dramatic expansion of government entitlement programs, and therefore a dramatic increase in government spending! Her support for all those fiscally irresponsible programs would have to be eradicated if she was truly serious about cutting spending or taxes.
In short, if you’re not willing to put forth the legislation, then you are just paying lip service to the problem and making empty promises to the voters. I will do more than just talk the talk, I will walk the walk! I am working on the legislation right now, and I ask any State Representative or State Senator on Beacon Hill who is willing to submit it after the winter recess. If you can’t cut overall spending you can’t cut taxes. Talk is cheap. Actions are clear.
Endorsement from 2008 Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate Wayne Root:
Earlier on IPR:
Massachusetts 3-Candidate radio debate draws equal publicity for all three candidates posted by Cody Quirk 1/5
Massachusetts: Independent Libertarian Joe Kennedy participates in third of five debates posted by Paulie 1/5
Previously on IPR: Rasmussen Pretends Joe Kennedy Does Not Exist Posted by d. eris 1/5
Joe Kennedy updates: internet ads, Israel/Palestine position, marijuana legalization Posted by Paulie 1/3
Joe Kennedy starts off with “The most important thing here is spending. Ya can’t be pro-war and smaller spending. It’s not possible.” . . . lovely to hear that off the lips of a candidate for Senate.
Last Conservative // Jan 6, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Don Lake, “how can Luther and Calvin be your personal heroes? They were anti-semitic, anti-liberty control freaks. ”
******** Hey, I gave qualifications. Some thing that a blow hard know it all like LC might wish to consider **********
“Calvin’s idea of predestination was totally wrong. And the Catholic Church is the only true church”
********* Ah, more divine instruction in 21st Century English ?????????? Ah, organizational infallibility! Ah, 1822! Ah, Bruno, Galileo, Joan D’Arc! Nothing like pontificating on stuff you are absolutely, absolutely sure about! **********
Don Lake, how can Luther and Calvin be your personal heroes? They were anti-semitic, anti-liberty control freaks. Now I’m pretty anti-liberty myself, but Calvin’s idea of predestination was totally wrong. And the Catholic Church is the only true church; it is ncessary for it to come back to power in order for the correct order of monarchist feudalism to return to the world.
LG, I think Catholic Trotskyist would agree with you, but me personally, I care a lot more about the political order that Christianity brings, rather than what Jesus actually thought.
LG may think that I am another Colbert humorist like CT, or that I may even be the same person. You may believe that if you want.
And coakley, Brown and Joe Kennedy are all commies.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/09/lp-monday-message-reagan-not-serious-about-cutting-government-says-redpath/
September 28, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
During the 2008 primary, many Republican presidential candidates claimed to be like former President Ronald Reagan. This was apparently intended to mean that they supported small government. I recently listened again to this speech promoting free enterprise, which Ronald Reagan gave in 1977 (before he was elected president).
I found Reagan?s scripted speech to be inspiring, but I could hear him falling away from these principles when he answered impromptu questions about farming and other issues.
William Redpath, Chairman of the Libertarian National Committee, recently taped an interview for ReasonTV. It?s posted here.
When asked when he became a Libertarian, Redpath responded that he had been a Democrat in high school, a Republican in college, and then in the early eighties, ?I decided Ronald Reagan was not serious about cutting the size of government.?
I agree. I think President Reagan?s record shows he was a typical big-government conservative Republican.
For example, during Reagan?s eight years in office, the federal government spent a total of about 22% of GDP. (That?s the biggest-spending eight years since World War II.) Spending grew from $678 billion to $1.14 trillion. So much for cutting government.
Reagan also escalated the War on Drugs, heightened trade barriers, and increased farm subsidies. And of course, he sent the federal debt through the roof.
In the book Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty, Ivan Eland ranked Reagan near the bottom, at 34th out of 40.
Barack Obama, like Ronald Reagan, gave some inspiring speeches during his campaign for president. He talked about ending foreign wars and bringing our troops home. He even claimed to support a ?net spending cut?! However, Obama is turning out to be just another big-government war-supporting Democrat.
Maybe one of Obama?s worst hypocrisies (so far) is his support of George W. Bush?s ?state secrets? doctrine, which he hopes will protect his administration from civil liberties lawsuits.
Republicans and Democrats sometimes make good promises, but they never deliver. By supporting Libertarians, you send a clear message that you want more freedom and less government, and you?re not buying the hypocrisy of the Rs and Ds.
I hope you?ll get involved helping to prepare your local and state Libertarian Party affiliates for the 2010 election season. We?re doing our best to get organized and build things up here at the national headquarters so we can better serve you in upcoming elections. I hope you?ll show your support by contributing to the Libertarian Party today.
Also, we?ve got a new poll on our home page.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
Thane Eichenauer “Face it, Reagan is the best of the rest (even if that is because the mob of them were worse).”
“………. It isn’t as if he can call on the name of John F. Kennedy.” possibly the worse Chief Executive of the 20th Century, surely the post WWII era!
Thank you. we’ve got ‘fawlty’ heroes Truman and Ike and then a herd of second and third raters, with a possible half nod to the Roosevelts ………
To libertariangirl // Jan 6, 2010:
I’m an anti christian christian , I dig Jesus , and I am his spiritual follower, but out of the early, early first century christian [communal, spiritual] church came the over religious ‘first churches’ in Roma, Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Greece, Constantinople! A specific ‘how many pins can dance on the head of an angel’ mentality.
Altho Martin Luther and John Calvin are personal heroes of mine, they also have gone over board on the micro management of that cloudy nebula of ‘faith’.
His followers scare the crap out of me: think of all of the lives, every day folk and brilliant lights like Bruno [burnt to death] Joan D’Arc [ditto] and Galileo [house arrest until death] whom were hurt or even killed over current opinions of books written years and years before in a different language.
[It is called ‘faith’ for a reason!] The Talmud, New Testament, or Koran were not written in 21st Century English! Not one! Not one word!
The world /universe created in six days ????? In archaic Greek, six indeterminate time periods. Genesis ??????? A lay man’s description of the Big Bang!
Evolution ??????? The assent of man [kind] was presented to two passages —— the second one clearly states that the physical progress proceeds and then the spiritual awaking (the ‘breath of life’ in an already living human being ……..) occurs.
Let’s all go out and ‘kill a Commie for Christ’!
OK folks, I think we can all (or most of us anyway) agree, endorsement good, Reagan bad.
Anyone have thoughts about the debate, issues comparison, youtube ad, or spending and taxes position paper?
“Thane Eichenauer // Jan 6, 2010 at 8:45 pm
The reason Root brings up Reagan is because there is no American political figure in recent memory who had more positive accomplishments than Ronald Reagan. What other US president is he going to mention? Howard Taft? Face it, Reagan is the best of the bunch (even if that is because the rest of them were worse).”
Why did Root have to bring up any political figure? He could have just endorsed Joe Kennedy without name dropping Ronald Reagan or anyone else. And if he had to mention a political figure, he should have picked one with a better record, Ron Paul being the most obvious choice.
@ Thane
Au contraire – see
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/bill-redpath-don%e2%80%99t-waste-your-vote-vote-democratic/
I do think that it is nice that Wayne Root endorsed Joe Kennedy, and I also think that it is nice that he contributed money to Joe Kennedy’s campaign.
I just don’t like the Ronald Reagan reference. It gives the wrong impression. Republicans/conservatives will hear this and it will further their delusion that Ronald Reagan was pro-liberty and that since he’s a Republican icon that Republicans are pro-liberty. Democrats/liberals will hear this and be turned off by Libertarians due to the insinuation that Libertarians have something to do with Ronald Reagan. This also sends the wrong message to independents and non-voters.
I am so sick of this myth that Ronald Reagan was pro-liberty. Reagan increased the size of governemnt, increased the national debt, saved Social Security (instead of ending it), ratcheted up the War on Drugs, supported an interventionist foreign policy, and even favored gun control laws. If you look past his rhetoric and examine his record you’ll find that Ronald Reagan was far from being a Libertarian, so it does the Libertarian Party no good to perpetuate this myth that Ronald Reagan was pro-liberty.
The reason Root brings up Reagan is because there is no American political figure in recent memory who had more positive accomplishments than Ronald Reagan. What other US president is he going to mention? Howard Taft? Face it, Reagan is the best of the bunch (even if that is because the rest of them were worse).
It isn’t as if he can call on the name of John F. Kennedy.
“libertariangirl // Jan 6, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Im an anti christian christian , I dig jesus , his followers scare the crap outa me”
Then you are not really an anti-Christian Christian.
Im an anti christian christian , I dig jesus , his followers scare the crap outa me
Check out that closing statement from Joe @ #5. Awesome, nails it!
ROFL.
Not from the campaign…
Andy,
I’m obviously not a big Root fan, but hey, he’s endorsing Libertarian candidates. That’s a good thing.
Root calls himself a Reagan Libertarian. YUCK! That’s like being an anti-Libertarian Libertarian. That’s like being an anti-Christian Christian. It’s a contradiction since Reagan was not a libertarian.
It’s nice that Root endorsed Joe Kennedy, but I really wish that he’d drop the Republican-Lite references.