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Meet the President

Dr. Mary J. Ruwart



First One Hundred Days: The Next Deal Replaces the New Deal

Welcome to our Virtual District of Columbia, where The Libertarian Party is the majority party, and the first woman President who is also the first Libertarian President-- Dr. Mary Ruwart-- has just been sworn in.

By now, the Republicans and Democrats have admitted they are essentially the same, and for survival purposes, they have merged. Even combined, the Republicrats have a minority of seats and the Libertarians have a veto-proof majority. Here, we will pretend it is January 20, 2009 and beyond, and watch the new Commander in Chief and her Libertarian controlled Congress put together a first one hundred days to out-do (and in many respects un-do) FDR, in what President Ruwart has called "The Next Deal." This should be fun.

To set the stage: The new Libertarian government has inherited the same economic situation we are facing today. The approach couldn't be more different. Fasten your seat belts.

Note: For a rationale behind the actions taken, see "A Libertarian Political Program . See also our issue pages on any issue addressed here, and the "What's In it For Me." summary, link below.


 

First Action, a Libertarian approach to bail-out and stimulus: A trillion dollar tax refund!


By consensus of the President and the new Congress, the first act of legislation before crafting the Next Deal (above and below) is return the last trillion dollars in taxes collected by the Federal Government. Instead of doing the trillion dollar bail-outs of banks and bankrupt companies, the Libertarian government decided the best stimulus is to give everyone back the taxes they've paid, pumping a trillion dollars immediately into the economy to be used in the free market as people choose to use it. That should sell a lot of cars, repay a lot of private debt, and finance a lot of business expansion, all of which will jump start the economy much quicker than any other solution proposed by the Republicrats.
Presidential Leadership

President Develops and Articulates the Next Deal, Enlists Congressional and Popular Support.

Campaign Speech (On Bail-out's): Our Republicrat opponents are taking the usual knee-jerk defecit spending approach to the current crisis as they always do. They have no new ideas.

They have no ideas at all. They simply assume that the more government interference in the economy the better, the more money printed the better, but this makes no more sense than the logic of the drug addict who responds to the crisis of withdrawal by obtaining another fix. Each fix must be stronger and more frequent than the previous one, just to maintain the feeling of normalcy, and yet there is nothing normal about it.

The addict becomes increasingly impaired, increasingly disabled, increasingly dependent on an increasing amount of drugs at any cost, by any means, and still there is no relief.

Our nation has become addicted to the needle of Big Government injecting their fix into our veins. Whenever another fix is injected we seem to feel better for a sort time, but in less and less time each time it happens, we need another fix, another bailout, and we become more impaired and more unable to function as a nation.

We need fiscal rehab, not another fix. We need to get off the drug of government fixes and government bailouts cold turkey. It will result in a very uncomfortable period of withdrawal. Our economy will experience cold sweats, seizures, pain-- just as if we were a literal junkie going through de-tox, but ask anyone in recovery, it's worth it. It's the only solution.

Innauguration Address (On Privatization):  We will heal our economy and enhance our financial health as a nation, as individual businesses and citizens by spending our way out of this crisis, but not by government spending but private initiative.

Until now, the government has given itself and used the authority to steal from its citizens and its corporations. This legalized theft has been called "taxation."  With your money, stolen from your paycheck, the government has amassed huge assets in infrastructure, has monopolized services that could have been provided in the free market, and has required everyone to pay for such services whether they wanted them or needed them or chose to utilize them or not.

By ending government theft from its citizens and its monopoly on services that can almost always be provided much more efficiently and effectively by private enterprise, we allow a huge infusion of capital into the economy. Instead of depending on government bailouts that are nothing more than the financial equivalent of a heroin fix, I will present a comprehensive bill to Congress today, entitled, "The Next Deal," that will replace "The New Deal" as the blueprint for government's role in our lives-- or the lack of which. According to this proposed legislation, the Federal Government will divest all non-essential assets, use the proceeds to retire our national debt, and establish an endowment to fund what little is left to the government purview.

The vitality this will bring to the economy by private enterprise and competition in the provision of services formerly rendered by the government-- everything from highways to education to security and law enforcement in some situations-- will provide the quickest possible way out of our current economic crisis.

The end of tax witholdings from every paycheck in America will feel like a 30-40% raise for every hard working American. Talk about a stimulus package? Talk about an infusion of cash into the economy? How could this approach not revive our economic vitality more quickly and dramatically than any government intervention?

State of the Union Address (On War): It is time to come to terms with the fact that for practical as well as moral reasons, War is no longer a viable policy. What is war? It is a policy, an activity, a behavior that no self-respecting democracy should espouse except in the most drastic circumstances, when one's own property and liberty have been attacked and less drastic options have been exhausted or have no time to be implemented.

War is the undemocratic attempt to impose or inflict the will of one group upon another group. Finally we get it. War is destructive in every aspect: morally, financially, and socially. Any war. Military war. War on Drugs. War on Terror. War is war. War is violence. It is destruction. There is no war without casualties. There is no war without collateral damage. It is a policy of pitting power against power, fighting fire with fire. It is legalized violence.

But violence begets violence. Force begets force, escalates the conflict between opposing interests. The only way to prevail in war is to continue to escalate, to ratchet up, to employ bigger and bigger guns, bombs, jails, armies, and so forth. War is synonomous with escalation, force, aggression, violence. War divides, draws unrealistic black and white distinctions devoid of nuance. It oversimplifies. It sanctifies our side and demonizes the other. And in almost every situation, war is impossible to win. Now more than ever.

In this age of guerilla warfare and insurgency, the small and the weak have discovered how to use violence to destroy if not defeat a much larger, more powerful enemy. In this new era, the tables have been turned, the field has been leveled-- which is a blessing in disguise.

It is a blessing in disguise because it is now absolutely impossible to defeat an enemy that is determined to fight to the death. And now that it is impossible, perhaps we will finally be able, as the civilized, morally superior nation we claim to be, to try a new appraoch. 

We must end this idea of being at war on multiple fronts. Today we will unilatearally end all wars this country has been embroiled in, from Iraq and Afghanistan to the nebulous war on "Terror" which has been nothing more than a war on our own liberties, to the war on drugs which has done nothing but bring warfare to our streets between police and dealers, between this gang and that gang, this crime family and that mob.

Speaking of the so called war on drugs: we learned the lessons of prohibition where alcohol was concerned but apparently were unable to apply this learning to other substances. That will change. We will make drugs safe and cheap for those who are determined to use them, just as alcohol and tobacco have been legal drugs for most of our history. We will cease the needless harassment of our citizens in their private lives and personal decisions. Because the War on Drugs, the War on Terror-- pick a war, any war-- is a war on our own people in one way or another.




Congressional Action

Congress Passes the Next Deal Legislation as a Package with no Ammendments, 60-40, votes down a filibuster attempt by the Republicrats.

Summary Outline of Next Deal:

Downsizing Government: Departments of the Federal Government reduced to
  • The Department of Foreign Affairs (combining State and Defense)
  • The Department of Liberty and Justice (replaces the old Justice Department)
  • The Department of Economics and Markets (replaces Treasury, Commerce)
  • The Cabinet now consists of the Vice President and the three Department Secretaries.
  • Congress is reduced to a part-time, volunteer body, its role primarily seen as simplifying and reducing the Federal legal code, and only passing the occasional new law or policy, only when it enhances the cause of liberty.

Ending Taxation and Government Debt:
  •  Legislation passed to rescind and abolish all taxing authority currently given to the Federal Government and immediately retroactively pardoning anyone convicted of a tax offense throughout history.
  • Passage of a Constitutional Amendment to permanently preclude any level of government from levying or collecting taxes, and requiring government to raise its own funds by means other than taxation.
  • Passage of a Constitutional Amendment requiring the Federal Government to maintain a balanced budget.  

Privatizing Almost all Government Services, Functions and Operations:
  • Auctioning off of government owned infrastructure.
  • Auctioning off of Services and Operations not essential to or efficiently provided by government.
  • Using the proceeds of the above sales to retire the national debt and establish an endowment to fund ongoing essential government services.
  • With the Constitutional Amendment prohibiting any level of government from levying and collecting taxes, most public school districts have chosen to go private.

Decentralizing Government:
  •  Remaining Federal Government offices and agencies are located in state and regional centers with minimal staff in Washington.

Restoring Liberty
  • With the end of the war on drugs comes the end of legal prohibitions against any choice or activity done in private that has not direct adverse effect on anyone other than those choosing to engage in such activity. This includes the repeal of all laws against drug use or sale, mutually consenting sexual conduct between adults, etc.
  • The repeal of all traffic laws, removal of government as the gatekeeper of driving privileges and the related function of managing identification of drivers. This also includes the repeal of real ID laws. As all infrastructure, including streets, roads and highways are to be privatized, the owners of the infrastructure and/or providers of the service of automobile rights of way, are free to establish any rules or regulations regarding the use of their facilities as they deem necessary for purposes of safety or liability. However, the roads with the most regulations may face a competitive disadvantage.

Humanizing our Criminal Laws and Consequences:
Part of the Next Deal is a complete reorientation of the Federal Criminal Code. From this point on, criminal justice will be administered with four equally balanced values and priorities: The codification of natural consequences for criminal behavior rather than artificial and punitive consequences, The emphasis on restitution over punishment, The restoration or compensation  of the victim by the offender, The physical safety of the public, The humanity of the system including the acknowledgment of the fact that criminals are human beings and citizens and deserve basic respect regardless of their decision or action which has denied respect to their victims. As a result the following criminal justice reforms are enacted:
  • An immediate end to the use of incarceration or detention in any form as a consequence of criminal activity. The housing and feeding of criminals in government institutions simply increases the cost of crime for all of society and prevents the offender from paying for his or her crimes in an economic sense.
  • Only violent offenders will be incarcerated and only as long as they are certified to be a public safety threat. While detained they will contribute their labor to a privately operated facility that is required to pay for itself and provide a means  by which the residents  are able to support their dependents (if any) pay their own bills and debts (if any) and provide financial restitution to their victims. Those who are detained will be treated with respect and provided with basic comforts and security,  and will be allowed regular conjugal visits since the purpose of  incarceration is public safety, not punishment or torture of the criminal.
  • Those who are not in need of incarcertation for safety purposes will be expected to support themselves through work, as well as pay restitution including the cost of prosecution and court fees.

 

 


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WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?





 


 

 


 

 


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"A GOVERNMENT THAT DOES EVERYTHING FOR YOU CAN TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU."