Don't throw your vote away!

Jason A. Trommetter

A second grade teacher in South Carolina is explaining to her class that she is a Republican and how nice it is that we have a Republican president in office. She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are Republicans and support George W. Bush.

Everyone in class raises their hands except one little girl.

"Rachel," says the teacher with surprise, "why didn't you raise your hand?"

"Because I'm not a Republican," says Rachel.

"Well, what are you?" asks the teacher.

"I'm a Libertarian and proud of it," replies the little girl.

The teacher cannot believe her ears. "My goodness, Rachel, why are you a Libertarian?" she asks.

"Well, my Mommy and Daddy are Libertarians, so I'm a Libertarian, too."

"Well," says the teacher in an annoyed tone, "that's no reason for you to be a Libertarian. You don't always have to be like your parents. What if your momma was a criminal and your papa was a criminal, too, what would you be then?"

Rachel smiled. "Then we'd be Republicans."


Are Republicans and Democrats Different?

On almost all major issues the Republicans and Democrats, here after referred to as the "Republicrats," have nearly identical views. For decades, the only things we have gotten from the Republicrats is more of the same: More taxes, bigger government, more bureaucracy, less freedom, more control, more laws and more regulations.

Do you really want more taxes, more government, less freedom, and more laws? If you don't then you're wasting your vote now when you vote for a Republicrat.


Same Goals for Education

All the Republicrats have the same goal for Education — more control from the federal government. Just look at the so-called "No Child Left Behind Act." President Bush let Senator Teddy "Buy me another drink" Kennedy write the bill. What did we get? More unfunded mandates from Washington, lower educational standards and teachers are forced "teach to the test."

There's no accountability for individual teacher to do well, the teachers union wouldn't let Teddy write that into the bill. There's no provision for removing disruptive students from the classroom so the rest of the students can learn.

We don't need more directives from Washington, we need local control of our schools. Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread." Washington is directing how we should indoctrinate our children, and we're getting illiterate graduates.


Same Goals for Health Care

The Republicrats are pushing to raise the cost of your health insurance again. Of course, that's not the way they see it, but that's what will happen. Politicians want to force health insurers to cover things like chiropractors, acupuncture, naturopathy, abortions, treatments to stop smoking, cosmetic surgery, weight loss, wigs and other hairpieces, Christian Science practitioners, and dozens of other possibilities. Some of those things might be well and good, but the government has no business telling insurers they must be included.

It may be hard to believe, but back in the 1950's health insurance cost just a few dollars a month for most people — and it was available to virtually everyone, including people with pre-existing conditions.

The percentage of people covered grew steadily from the 1940s. And by the early 1970s, almost all Americans were covered by some form of insurance. Then the politicians went to work to load up policies with mandatory coverage of all sorts of conditions that may be of no use to you. More and more people decided that insurance had become too expensive and decided to risk being uninsured. By the 1990s coverage had dropped to under 70% of Americans.

What's the solution? Get government out of health care! End Medicare and Medicaid, both programs are hopelessly corrupt. I have a doctor friend who told me all the things he does to milk these programs for every penny he can get. Repeal all laws telling insurance companies what benefits to include in their policies. Make all medical expenses deductible on your income tax return then you can choose the health care system most appropriate for you.


Expanding the federal budget

The house just approved a $2.4 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal year 2005. That's trillion with a capital 'T'

There was a time when Republicans said they wanted to reduce the size of the federal government. Well, they still say that, but they dont' mean it. President Bush has presided over the largest budget increase since 1993 when big-spender Bill Clinton was in office. The only thing that kept Clinton from spending more was a Republican controlled Congress.

Now that the White House and Congress are both controlled by Republicans, they're spending money like drunken sailors on shore leave. Wait, that's not a fair comparison — it insults sailors on shore leave. Congress is spending other peoples' money, drunken sailors can't spend any more money than they have in their pockets.


Don't Waste Your Vote!

If you keep voting the same way you always have, you will keep getting the same results you have always gotten. Doing the same thing over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. We must send a message to the Republicrats that we won't accept business as usual anymore.

Vote Libertarian and win a free country!