End the income tax in Massachusetts
Oct 24, 2008 Campaign for Liberty, Ron Paul, economy, politics
from Campaign for Liberty:
Urgent Message to You from Two Strong Ron Paul Supporters
from Carla Howell and Michael Cloud
Dear Fellow Supporters of Ron Paul,Ron Paul campaigned to Repeal the Income Tax – and dramatically shrink the size and power of government. Now you have the opportunity to take the first step to make Ron Paul’s dream a reality – by helping us to repeal the income tax in Massachusetts this November 4th.
We are co-sponsors of Ballot Question 1, the legally-binding ballot measure that will END the Massachusetts state income tax.
Maybe you’ve read articles about our ballot initiative in the ‘Wall Street Journal,’ ‘the New York Times,’ ‘the Boston Globe,’ ‘National Review,’ ‘Reason,’ ‘CATO,’ ‘the National Taxpayers Union,’ or at LewRockwell.com. Or seen us on CNN or Fox News.
Do we really have a reasonable chance to win? Or is this just another fantasy?
Four different polls show us dead even. One poll shows support for ENDing the income tax at 45% — with 45% against. 9% undecided. Two other polls show 45% For and 45% Against – with 10% undecided. One strange poll showed 37% For and 37% Against - with 26% undecided.
This is the second time we’ve put this END the income tax initiative on the ballot. Last time, with a few hundred volunteers - and a total advertising budget of $89,000 – we got 45.3% of the vote. 885,683 votes.
50/50 odds of repealing the state income tax. And a chance of setting in motion a series of state-by-state repeals of income taxes.
Why will Massachusetts voters vote YES – and END the income tax? What are the benefits to them?
1. Our Ballot Initiative will give back over $3,700 each to 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers. $3,700 average. Each worker. Not just once. Every year.
2. It will take $12.6 Billion out of the hands of Massachusetts Big Government – and put it back into the hands of the men and women who earned it. Not just once. Every year.
3. In productive, private hands this $12.6 Billion a year will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in Massachusetts.
4. This will force the state legislature to streamline and cut the waste out of the Massachusetts state spending.
5. This will force the state legislature to get rid of the failed, flawed government programs that don’t work – and often make things worse.
6. It’ll make the state legislature accountable to Massachusetts workers and taxpayers – instead of the government employees, lobbyists, and special interests who profit from high government spending.
7. With less government and no income tax, Massachusetts will become a magnet to private, productive businesses and individuals. More good jobs and more good workers.
8. And with 3,400,000 Massachusetts taxpayers getting back an average of $3,700 each in their take home paychecks, this just might radically reduce home foreclosures.
Wouldn’t these huge, immediate, direct benefits get you to the polls on November 4th?
But there’s a huge 900 lb gorilla standing between us and victory.
Who? The Teachers Unions.
Massachusetts Teachers Association, S.E.I.U. (the government employees union), AFL-CIO (who get plush government construction pay), and the other unions who get tax-funded jobs.
Union dues have already bankrolled $2,090,100 of the NO on 1 War Chest. That’s 99.93% of the anti tax-cut funding!
In addition, these unions and their allies also reported $443,437 in in-kind donations.
In addition, these unions have mobilized an estimated $1,200,000 worth of paid and unpaid union activists to stop us from ending the income tax.
Plus, with the Massachusetts Teachers Association driving this effort, the unions and their political allies are generating widespread news coverage of Ballot Question 1.
Over 53 newspaper articles and opinion pieces in just the last 10 days!
The unions are very effective. 100% of the newspaper editorials oppose our Ballot Question 1. Over 96% of opinion columns are against us. Over 83% of the newspaper articles are indisputedly against us. The remaining articles usually lean 50% to 70% against Ending the income tax.
Despite our opponents’ $2,090,100 in union dues dwarfing our fundraising, despite their several thousand paid and unpaid union activists being over 100 times the number of our volunteers, and despite their overwhelming advantage in Newspaper and TV support –
WE ARE STILL DEAD EVEN IN THE POLLS.
Some polls show us and our opponents each at 45% — with 10% undecided. One poll shows us and our opponents each at 37% — with 26% undecided.
With everything they’ve thrown at us, we’re still tied.
With less than three weeks left, we can beat them.
We and our team are doing media interviews, debating our opponents, appearing on talk shows – and we’re reaching more and more of the 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association and their allies have already begun as much as $5,000,000 in Negative Ads and Fear Ads in these last 2 or 3 weeks.
To win, we probably need to run $500,000 in our high-impact ads. Or as close to that amount as we can.
We have $49,816 in the bank. We need to raise $450,000 immediately – if not sooner.
Our ads can tip the scales – and give us victory for the taxpayers.
We’ve developed and tweaked an advertising language, message and approach that’s viral. Contagious. Infectious. Persuasive and unforgettable to Massachusetts taxpayers.
Each $20,000 in advertising will produce an additional $40,000 in positive news coverage, publicity, and word of mouth.
Together, you and we CAN win if you donate as much as you can, if your donation helps us run just 10% of the advertising our opponents are running.
Join us, and be an indispensible member of the Army of Davids that ENDS the Massachusetts income tax in less than 3 weeks.
Will YOU please contribute $500 or $250 or $150 right now – so we can produce and place the first wave of advertising?
If you are successful in your career, if you have enough cash or credit to make a larger donation, you will make a huge difference. Will you please donate $10,000 or $5,000 or $2,500 or $1,000 today?
Your donation is our advertising budget – to END the income tax. It’s our campaign budget.
Other Ron Paul donors are counting on YOU to give what they are giving. To join them. They need YOU to donate now. Will you please donate $85 or $65 or $45 today?
Even $5 will help.
Don’t wait. Please contribute now by credit card by clicking:
https://secure.bluehost.com/~savyonco/ms/sga/sga2.php
Or please write your check today and mail it to:
The Committee For Small Government
6 Goodman Lane
Wayland, MA 01778
Make history. Make a donation today.You will remember this for many, many years. Thank you.
Small government is possible.
Your friends and allies,Carla Howell & Michael Cloud
Co-Sponsors, Ballot Question 1 to END the Income Tax
Tags: Campaign for Liberty, Income Tax, Massachusetts, Ron Paul
Jonathan Lebed on the $700 billion bailout
Oct 9, 2008 Ron Paul, economy, politics
Jonathan Lebed, a stock promoter ,market genius, and Ron Paul supporter commented on Bernanke and Paulson’s $700 billion bailout in a recent email (subscribe here). Lebed has consistently heralded his distaste for Bernanke, Paulson, and the current financial system (of monetization of debt and deficit financing) of this country. Since I wholeheartedly agree with Lebed on the subject, I simply quote his email:
It is amazing how Bernanke and Paulson were able to scam America into believing the $700 billion in “illiquid” mortgage-backed securities they are about to purchase, will somehow be resold in the future to recoup the money or potentially even make a profit.
If a homeowner stops paying their $400,000 mortgage, instead of the bank foreclosing on the home… they will simply sell the mortgage to the government. A year later, the government will call the borrower and offer to reduce the mortgage to only $200,000 and refinance it at a 30-year fixed rate… allowing them to stay in the home.
If all these borrowers pay their new reduced mortgages, it is theoretically possible the government could recoup $350 billion of the $700 billion over the next 30 years.
What these Congressmen are too stupid to realize is… the millions of responsible Americans who are paying their mortgages on time… will realize they can get their mortgages cut in half too if they only stop paying. Therefore, the $700 billion in bad mortgages will quickly multiply to as much as $3 trillion.
At this point… everybody will rush to max out their credit cards and not pay any of that money back… which will add another $1 trillion. Of course, nobody will pay back their student loans either.
So while the intention of this bailout was to get credit flowing again, it will have the complete opposite effect… and destroy what is left of the credit market.
The dow dropping another 600 points today is a painful reminder that Ron Paul was in fact correct about the consequences of our monetary policy.
Tags: bailout, Bernanke, economics, Lebed, Paulson, politics, Ron Paul
Ron Paul Republicans - Don’t be Fooled by Sarah Palin
Sep 10, 2008 politics
While she may have called Dr. Ron Paul “cool” and “independent of the party machine”, Sarah Palin is unfortunately still far from acceptable to a true liberty minded Ron Paul republican (or independent).
On the spending front, it appears that Palin has no problem spending taxpayer’s money, but we can’t be too hard on her for that. As long as Washington is dishing out taxpayer’s money in the form of earmarks, I have no problem with politicians trying to get it back to the people in each state rather than waste it on a federal project. However, Palin has come across as a bit less than honest on her positions.
Palin, during her speech at the RNC, said “thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere”, despite supporting the bridge to Gravina Island and its earmark during her run for Governor. In fact, she was insulted by the words “bridge to nowhere”.
This year alone, Palin sent earmark proposals to Senator Ted Stevens totaling $197 million, more per person than any other State in the Union. Even McCain criticized Palin’s earmarks during her term as Mayor of Wasilla.
However, the single most important issue that Ron Paul Republicans (or Independents) need to focus on is her acceptance of the neoconservative foreign policy of intervention and imperialism which costs the American people trillions of dollars. Foreign Policy being the single most important issue to Ron Paul supporters in this election, Sarah Palin is not acceptable in this area and thus does not make the Republican ticket for 2008 any more attractive. Nice try, McCain, but no cigar.
Tags: bridge to nowhere, earmarks, imperialism, independent, intervention, John McCain, liberty, neoconservative, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, taxpayers, Washington
Why the GOP is a one issue party
Sep 9, 2008 Ron Paul, politics
Major points of the video:
After Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Palin became the life of the party, and an admittedly formidable foe to the Democrats because of her out-of-the-beltway conservatism, and has made everyone forget that party leaders are uninterested in the conservative values that she represents.
Conservatives have been uncomfortable with John McCain because of his support for capaign finance reform, opposition to drilling in ANWR, his vote against the Bush tax cuts, his suscribing to global warming histeria and his support for a bill that would have granted amnesty to illegal aliens.
However, despite McCain’s liberal positions on other issues, Republicans seem to think that he is the best man to fight the war on terror.
Rudy Giuliani and Joe Lieberman were selected to represent the party at the RNC. Giuliani is extremely similar to Hillary Clinton in almost every area except for the war, but his ability to invoke 9/11 suddenly makes him a Republican star. Lieberman, despite being further to the left than Obama, is also selected to speak. Lieberman was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. He supports universal health care, supports partial birth abortions, he is anti-gun, and opposed Samuel Alito’s appointment to the Supreme Court.
When WTMA host Richard Todd asked Cindy Mosteller why the Republicans were embracing Joe Lieberman, she said “Because he understands the importance of 9/11. This is a big tent party.” However, the tent was apparently not big enough for Republican congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul, who was not allowed normal credentials at the RNC, despite his own convention (rally for the republic which drew more than 12,000 people) discussing reducing the size of government, returning to the constitution, and bringing the Republican party back to its conservative roots, and Ron Paul being introducted by Barry Goldwater Jr. whose father, Barry Goldwater, was the conscious of the conservative movement for half a century. Paul was not even let into the doors at his own party’s convention due to his opposition to the Iraq war, despite him getting more votes in the primaries than Rudy Guiliani and Fred Thompson, who both had speaking roles at the RNC.
When Cindy Mosteller was asked why anti war Republicans like Ron Paul, North Carolina congressman Walter Jones, or Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel are not given a voice at the convention, she replied, “If you get a tent too big it’s bound to have holes in it.” She added, “Hagel could not even get up on a national stage and even make a case… and you know why? Because the surge has, by God, worked.” So much for the big tent.
You are not to be tolerated in the Republican Party if you agree with the majority of Americans who are against the war in Iraq, yet being pro gun control, pro socialized health care, pro-choice, and pro-amnesty is perfectly acceptable as long as your are pro war. If you are a staunch conservative, yet against the war, you are no longer welcome in the Republican Party.
The definition of a neoconservative is one who believes that America’s greatness is measured exclusively by our willingness to dominate the globe politically and militarily. For neocons, foreign policy is primary and every other issue is secondary.
The 2008 McCain campaign (and nomination) represents the takeover of the Republican Party by neoconservatives. Sarah Palin, who once supported anti-war conservative Pat Buchanan for president, now mouths the same neoconservative foreign policy rhetoric that defines the new GOP.
Sarah Palin, like Spiro Agnew to Richard Nixon and Dan Quayle to George H.W. Bush, will be a conservative vice president who has virtually no impact on the moderate President they serve. McCain will more likely appoint Joe Lieberman as Secretary of State than give Sarah Palin any responsibilities more important than office secretary.
The only reason McCain picked Sarah Palin as Vice President is to pacify traditional conservatives on the many issues they still care about so that in Republican victory, McCain and the neoconservatives can get to work on their only issue - War.
Tags: 9/11, Al Gore, amnesty, ANWR, Barry Goldwater Jr., Bush tax cuts, campaign finance reform, Chuck Hagel, Cindy Mosteller, conservatism, conservative values, constitution, Dan Quayle, democrats, Fred Thompson, George H.W. Bush, global warming, GOP, gun control, Hillary Clinton, illegal aliens, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, neoconservative, Obama, partial birth abortion, Pat Buchanan, rally for the republic, Richard Nixon, Richard Todd, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Samuel Alito, Sarah Palin, Secretary of State, Spiro Agnew, supreme court, surge, universal health care, Walter Jones
Republicans make history, nominate another liberal
Sep 4, 2008 politics
I watched the Republican National Convention last night, and it was disappointing as I had expected. Sarah Palin delivered a breathtaking speech about how crappy of an opponent Barack Obama was, and empty promises of lowering taxes and giving the government back to the people. Since she had positive words to say about Ron Paul, I like her a tiny bit (and because she’s from Alaska), but she is about to get caught up in the same entrenched power she so adamantly denounced in her speech. She has become part of the Republican machine. I wonder, how are they going to lower taxes when John McCain already has a $68.5 billion per year spending increase proposal?
John McCain got the nomination by a landslide because all of the other candidates were silenced long before the RNC. The Texas Republican Convention was railroaded just like the RNC was, and rest assured only a few Ron Paul supporters made it through to the RNC (at least 15 votes, which was falsely reported by the convention Chairman as 5 votes for Ron Paul).
So, the question is, did the Republican Party officially die, or will we have better luck in 2012 with liberty minded candidates, or will this be the rise of a third party, and the death of the Republican party, much like the fate of the Whigs?
Tags: John McCain, republican national convention, RNC, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, spending
Jenna Bush may support Ron Paul
Apr 24, 2008 general
When asked which candidate she would support, Jenna Bush said, “I don’t know.” Larry King responded, “A-ha! Are you open to…” to which Jenna Bush replied, “Yeah, of course. I mean, who isn’t open to learning about the candidates and I’m sure that everybody’s like that.”
Since Jenna didn’t say who or what party she supports, we can safely assume that she may support Ron Paul. Via a write-in campaign, of course.
Tags: CNN, Jenna Bush, Larry King, Ron Paul