[586] in libertarians
LP RELEASE: State of the Union
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (William Winter)
Wed Jan 25 21:51:45 1995
Date: 25 Jan 95 21:45:19 EST
From: William Winter <73163.3063@compuserve.com>
To: "Alachua Co. LP" <libparty@freenet2.freenet.ufl.edu>,
*Jim Solomon <solomon@comm.mot.com>,
Vernon Imrich <libertarians@MIT.EDU>,
*Matthew Platte <73150.470@compuserve.com>,
Kay Shiel <74633.614@compuserve.com>,
*Randy Langhenry <71610.3614@compuserve.com>,
Roger Erickson <RogErick@aol.com>, *Tom Edwards <tedwards@wam.umd.edu>,
Gail Lightfoot <sufficit@aol.com>,
Wayne Parker <75024.3345@compuserve.com>,
"J. Miranda" <j.miranda3@genie.geis.com>,
LP of Arizona <safe@indirect.com>,
"\"G. Thomas Rush\"" <thomasr@cpqhou.compaq.com>,
David Nolan <73303.1612@compuserve.com>,
*Don Henson <Don_Henson@delphi.com>,
NH Politics Online <71233.255@compuserve.com>,
"*John T. Paff" <j.paff1@genie.geis.com>,
*Jim Conk <jim.conk@theorem.clark.net>,
Larry Phillips <larry.phillips@esbbs.com>,
Angel Prouty <angel@dash.com>, *Jim Merritt <presbyte@aol.com>
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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
1528 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
-----------------------------------------
For immediate release: January 25, 1995
For additional information:
Bill Winter, Director of Communications
(202) 543-1988
-----------------------------------------
Clinton's State of the Union speech:
Libertarian rhetoric, big-government reality
WASHINGTON, DC - President Bill Clinton has finally acknowledged the
most serious problem facing America -- but still doesn't have a clue what to
do about it, said the Libertarian Party today.
"In his State of the Union speech, Clinton said what Libertarians have
been saying for years -- that government doesn't work," said Libertarian Party
National Chair Steve Dasbach. "Unfortunately, his solution was just more
government programs, draped in flowery New Covenant language.
"Clinton said, 'We have to cut yesterday's government to help solve
tomorrow's problems.' He's wrong," said Dasbach. "We have to cut today's
government to solve today's problems. Libertarians know it, and the American
public knows it. But all Clinton did was crudely graft libertarian-sounding
rhetoric on top of his old-style big-government proposals.
"For example, Clinton said, 'We must not ask government to do what we
should do for ourselves.' Yet, he boasted about his National Service Corps, a
$389 million program that pays people tax dollars to volunteer -- something
which tens of millions of Americans already do without drawing a federal
paycheck.
"He acknowledged that America no longer has any significant enemies.
Yet, he called for a $25 billion increase in the military budget.
"He said that government should 'help people raise their incomes
immediately by lowering their taxes' -- but didn't offer to repeal his own
record-shattering tax increases.
"He said he 'would never infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.'
Yet, he boasted about his support for the semi-automatic weapons ban, which
clearly violates the Second Amendment.
"He said that his 'test for any proposal is: Will it create jobs?'
Yet, he proposed an increase in the minimum wage. The last hike in the minimum
wage threw at least 240,000 teenagers out of work.
"He said we must end the 'illusion that there is somehow a program for
every problem' -- then proposed a new government job training program,
defended his $40 billion Mexican bail-out, said the debt-ridden Social
Security program wouldn't be touched, said we should force television stations
to give free air time to politicians, proposed the creation of a Big
Brother-type national worker identification data bank, and threatened a
'step-by-step' government campaign to control health care," said Dasbach.
"It's clear that Clinton's timid reforms and false libertarian
language won't be enough to put out the anti-government fire that's sweeping
the country," said Dasbach. "His State of the Union speech did not deliver
what the American public really wanted. The American people want the
government cut - not reformed, re-invented, or repackaged."
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