Reducing the size of government; how to go about it?

[LookingForward]

The ‘ABC Poll/Cato’ thread got me thinking; what are some realistic ways to go about reducing the size of government? Where do we start?

Are there websites that offer realistic steps to cutting government programs and wasteful spending?

Are there any groups out there that offer private solutions that could replace wasteful government run programs that people have come to depend on? Are there ways to smoothly transition people off of government programs and into private solutions?

 

[cswake]

In my humble opinion, even if we were lucky enough to get 25% of Congress filled with liberty-friendly individuals, they wouldn't be there long enough to change the entire thing piece by piece. The starting point is to get the new Republicans to commit to passing a balanced budget amendment with no exclusions (ie. war, social security, etc.) and pair it with abolishing legal tender laws.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Easy! - Build a supercollider under DC and have a little "oopsie" while making black holes...

DownsizeDC.org
ATR.org

-t

 

[lester1/2jr]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/30-day-plan.html

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/next-30-days.html

 

[Stary Hickory]

Pay each federal employee 1 million dollars in a deal to terminate the job. Sounds costly but is it? We can eliminate wasteful progras and departments without an outcry from government workers.

Seems unfair, but I'd be more than happy to see this occur. Hell you might even break even while doing it by cutting down on overhead costs.

 

[sratiug]

Pass this or something very similar. It would give us 10 years to cut the government to a reasonable size such that it could be supported by a reasonable tariff rate.

The American Free Trade Amendment

1. All internal federal taxes and fees shall be replaced within a period of 11 years of ratification of this amendment by a flat across the board tariff applied equally to all goods and to all product sources. The tariff shall be set at the beginning of each year at a percentage sufficient to raise an amount of money equal to all projected federal government expenditures forecasted by the Congressional Budget Office for that year.

2. One year from ratification of this amendment a 10 year phaze in process will be enacted whereby each year the percentage of projected federal government expenditures raised by the tariff shall be 1 divided by the number of years remaining of the ten. For each of these same ten years all internal taxes and fees shall be reduced across the board by a percentage that will eliminate an equal amount of federal revenue.

 

[MN Patriot]

The ‘ABC Poll/Cato’ thread got me thinking; what are some realistic ways to go about reducing the size of government? Where do we start?

Are there websites that offer realistic steps to cutting government programs and wasteful spending?

Are there any groups out there that offer private solutions that could replace wasteful government run programs that people have come to depend on? Are there ways to smoothly transition people off of government programs and into private solutions?

The Cato Institute has published their Handbook for Congress for many years, making their libertarian proposals of how to reduce government. http://www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/

Republican caucuses are coming up to make these sort of proposals. Join your local CFL group and get involved. Make it happen.

I am going to propose ending the income tax. That will separate the neo-cons from the libertarians. If the Republican Party doesn't propose ending the income tax, time for a third party revolution to put them out of business.

 

[Slutter McGee]

I have read some of the Catos stuff. Really great on the how to do it, but the problem is how to get into a position to do it. That is the real question.

I believe that to let the government spiral completely out of control, will make our job harder rather than easier. Not only is it almost impossible to get rid of new government programs, but I don't want to see an inflationary depression, and if we did have one, I don't believe it would be fundamentally conducive to liberty. So I believe that the election of Scott Brown is a good thing for us, even if he in and of himself is no true friend to liberty or fiscal responsibility. The more of Obama's agenda that gets passed, means the more we have to attempt to repeal later on. So slow down Obama...at least until the next election.

I think number two is to support as many true Liberty candidates as possible. Schiff, Rand, Kokesh, Medina, etc. Not everyone will get elected, but just one or two will bring more credibility in the eyes of the Republican Party. I know many here don't care what the Republicans think of us but I think that is a big mistake. I think that most here have come to the realization that the Republican Party is our best shot at accomplishing our agenda.

Which brings me to my next point. I think we have to support the libertarian, constitutionalist, and federalist Republicans in the primaries, and support the Repubicans, assuming they are correct on fiscal actions, regardless in the general elections. I say this because I believe that attacks on our economic liberties are more dangerous than attacks on our social liberties at the present time. What I mean is that we can't be afraid of supporting true fiscal conservatives such as Jim Demint and Michael Williams.

If we can get the country back on semi-sane fiscal footing, I think we can begin to push state nullification as a way of slowly eliminating federal programs.

And then, if we do that, comes the time to push social liberties as well.

Sincerely,

Slutter McGee

 

[MN Patriot]

I have read some of the Catos stuff. Really great on the how to do it, but the problem is how to get into a position to do it. That is the real question.

We need to deliberately SEEK POWER. If we don't, we will be powerless.

 

[Ethek]

We need to deliberately SEEK POWER. If we don't, we will be powerless.

The real power is controllign the value of the currency. Productive people need to protect the products of labor from inflationary government spending. Debt financing is THE biggest tool Government uses to work outside its constitutional limits. force the government to work within the contraints of a commodity backed currency.

That and drastically expand the size of the house of representatives. It sounds contrary... but check out www.thirty-thousand.org

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Get rid of the fed and the system implodes..


The federal reserve is like the head dracula in the vampire movies... instead of going after all the little vampires all you gotta do it take out the head dracula and then all the little vampires turn back into humans.

 

[mczerone]

The problem with just "shrinking govt" or cutting programs is that the fed gov has usurped many positive and necessary services that used to be, and still could be, provided by the free market.

The solution must focus on transitions back to a competitive system, not just on cutting monetary commitments. For many functions, like Dept. of Ed., passing the responsibility to State govts will be a decent start. For others, like the FED, the duties should be passed to segmented competitive units (for the FED, this could be the regional banks), which must develop their own funding sources free from govt' privilege.

One way to incentivize the govt to allow this decentralization is to starve it - no taxes, fiat money, or interest rate control in a central bank cartel. This Hydra must be slayed all at once, the remaining heads are too dangerous when they've been upset. Start a tax revolt and the currency will collapse. Return to commodity currency and the FED will just allow large banks more cheap leverage, causing another banking crisis. Break the banking cartel and the FED won't be able to skim profits from inflation which just forces higher marginal tax rates.

So how do we shrink the govt?

We don't - we just prepare for it to eventually implode (piece by piece or all at once), and try to make sure the transition to whatever is next is peaceful, and the replacement system is better suited for liberty and prosperity.

 

[jclay2]

By electing liberty minded candidates like Scott Brown.

I couldn't help myself....

 

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

The ‘ABC Poll/Cato’ thread got me thinking; what are some realistic ways to go about reducing the size of government? Where do we start?

Are there websites that offer realistic steps to cutting government programs and wasteful spending?

Are there any groups out there that offer private solutions that could replace wasteful government run programs that people have come to depend on? Are there ways to smoothly transition people off of government programs and into private solutions?

1. Geographically organize a majority
2. Screw to a majority
3. Convince a majority
4. The government majority system implodes

That's it but most people won't own up to some real strategy and are in a fantasy world that getting 3 or 4 more people in congress will actually do something. Let me give you some real scoop. The Ron Paul revolution is not the reason independents are popular right now. The shitty economy is the reason independent ideas make news. The popular momentum independents have right now for limited government spending is going to come to a screeching halt when the economy recovers. Fortunately that is going to be a while yet but when it does happen the message will disappear from the mainstream media.

Some really smart people have been working on #3 for 200 years and in my book that makes #3 unlikely based on history. As we can already see by the current under funded campaigns we can't afford #3 every year as a minority for the rest of our lives. #4 might happen. #2 is the same strategy spoken by MLK.. multiply. #1 is legal, requires no civil disobedience, and can happen in one generation. I like #1 but it is not a popular solution yet.

 

[lx43]

http://www.nathannewman.org/cgi-bin/NBS/report.budget06.pl

When I get disgusted with my elected federal rulers, uh I mean elected leaders, I go to this site to fantasize about how I would fire all of them by slashing the federal govt to $100 billion a year in annual spending. Its almost as good as sex. lol

I wish they would update to the site for current year expenditures, but then again, I'll get depressed again when I see how much it has grown.

 

[MN Patriot]

1. Geographically organize a majority
2. Screw to a majority
3. Convince a majority
4. The government majority system implodes

That's it but most people won't own up to some real strategy and are in a fantasy world that getting 3 or 4 more people in congress will actually do something. Let me give you some real scoop. The Ron Paul revolution is not the reason independents are popular right now. The shitty economy is the reason independent ideas make news. The popular momentum independents have right now for limited government spending is going to come to a screeching halt when the economy recovers. Fortunately that is going to be a while yet but when it does happen the message will disappear from the mainstream media.

Some really smart people have been working on #3 for 200 years and in my book that makes #3 unlikely based on history. As we can already see by the current under funded campaigns we can't afford #3 every year as a minority for the rest of our lives. #4 might happen. #2 is the same strategy spoken by MLK.. multiply. #1 is legal, requires no civil disobedience, and can happen in one generation. I like #1 but it is not a popular solution yet.

The liberty movement doesn't need a majority. The majority of people don't really give a crap one way or another. We need enough people in positions of power to defend individual freedom. Look how many people are in the Establishment. 10,000? Maybe less than that. Politicians and corporate powerhogs. The rest of us just mind our own business and follow the rules they created.

 

[Danke]

Easy! - Build a supercollider under DC and have a little "oopsie" while making black holes...

Ban air conditioning and heating in all government buildings in DC.

Most politicians would spend more time in their home districts and many local bureaucrats would not go to work on hot and cold weather days.

 

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

We need enough people in positions of power to defend individual freedom.

That requires a majority (of voters)

Let me know when you get out of fantasy land.

 

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

Ban air conditioning and heating in all government buildings in DC.

seen this reply when I replied. funny hehe

 

[JEQuidam]

... and drastically expand the size of the house of representatives. It sounds contrary... but check out [URL="http://www.thirty-thousand.org"][url]www.thirty-thousand.org[/URL][/URL]

Thanks for mentioning Thirty-Thousand.org (TTO). Please read these two articles.

"Political Monopoly Power" by Walter Williams. Note what he says about representational enlargement and Thirty-Thousand.org.

"Freedom and Legislative District Sizes" by me.

And listen to Lew Rockwell's podcast interview of Dr. Mark Thornton.