It’s a government slowdown, not a
shutdown.
If you read this Libertarian news
release, yet continue to use the term “government shutdown” in news reports,
then you’re willfully deceiving the American people.
A government slowdown merely reduces
spending to the level of taxes collected. In other words, it balances the
budget. And that’s bad -- why?
The term “government shutdown” is
designed to scare people into thinking there can be no police protection,
military defense, road repairs, or other essential services unless Americans
cough up more money to fund the ludicrously over-funded federal government.
This is a manipulation and a lie.
Let’s review what happened during the
16-day government slowdown of October 2013:
Not a single emergency service was
suspended.
Politicians gave full back pay to 100%
of government employees who they had furloughed immediately after the slowdown
ended. It amounted to a free vacation for government employees (who already
get, on average, far more generous personal, sick and vacation time than
private sector employees).
Despite claims that the U.S. economy
would lose $24 billion, it suffered
no loss, only a shift in where money was spent.
When the slowdown ended, Democratic
and Republican politicians raised federal spending and government debt – again.
“Call it what it is: a government
slowdown,” said Nicholas J. Sarwark, Libertarian National Committee Chair. “And
tell Americans the truth: We need much more than a slowdown. We need to
dramatically and permanently roll back the federal government to an appropriate
size.”
“The federal government should be
limited to protecting American lives, liberty, and property,” he said. “We must
start by removing government barriers that prohibit or impair free market
alternatives to health care, education, finance, communications, housing,
manufacturing, agriculture and virtually every market where it improperly intervenes.
This will allow Americans to enjoy high-quality, competitively-priced goods and
services.”
“Such a small, lean, accountable
federal government with a strong military defensewould cost no more than a
few hundred billion dollars – about ten percent of current spending levels,”
said Sarwark. “This would stop mass surveillance, inflation, destructive
foreign wars, the failed Drug Prohibition, laws that disarm innocent Americans
and other infringements on our rights.”
“Government downsizing would put an end
to mounds of wasteful red tape and bureaucracy, allowing American businesses to
thrive in a competitive world marketplace,” he continued. “Transferring wealth
out of the government sector and into the private sector would create roughly
twice as many productive jobs as the number of government jobs
lost – a win for both government employees and the millions of Americans
looking for jobs or better pay.”
“What Americans should really fear is
the likelihood that, despite the hullabaloo we hear over a phony ‘shutdown,’
the government will stay big and continue to grow,” said Sarwark. “The
Libertarian Party exists to correct this. We are the only political party
in America dedicated to making government small, enabling prosperity
and advancing freedom.”
