Manic Melon

As a result of Tuesday's elections, we can expect the growth in government to continue unabated – and probably to accelerate.

We can be reasonably sure that the new Congress will pass a flood of bills that intrude government ever-more-deeply into our lives, as well as make government more costly (and even more inefficient).

How can I be so sure?

Because the winners in the congressional races are virtually all advocates of big government. The winning incumbents have never bothered to introduce a single bill to reduce government in any significant way, while they have been reliable supporters of all sorts of new big-government schemes.

The few new congressmen and senators come from the same mold. In their campaigns, they told us about their grand plans to "fix" the nation's schools, get government involved in prescription drugs, and use your money to take care of anyone who says he needs it.

Big government, big government, big government.

Mea culpa

And now I must offer a confession.

I wrote this article Monday evening, before the elections.

And yet, I stand by every word of it.

It doesn't matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats won control of the Senate. Government will get bigger, more intrusive, more expensive, and less efficient.

It doesn't matter whether the Democrats or the Republicans won control of the House. Government will get bigger, more intrusive, more expensive, and less efficient.

Nothing has changed in the past 75 years.
* We elect a Republican Congress – and government gets bigger.
* We elect a Democratic Congress – and government gets bigger.
* We elect a Republican president – and government gets bigger.
* We elect a Democratic president – and government gets bigger.
* Congress passes a "tax cut" – and government gets bigger.
* Congress makes "tough budget cuts" – and government gets bigger.

Despite what they tell you, there really is no significant difference between the two major parties. They are both devoted to power, to big government, and to rewarding those with the most political influence.

Your culpa

If you voted for a Democrat or a Republican, you didn't waste your vote.

You used it to congratulate your candidate for all his big-spending schemes. So you can take part of the credit for the coming increases in government.

You may have thought you were voting to limit the damage – to prevent the "greater of two evils" from being elected. But that isn't the way your vote will be interpreted.

Your candidate will look at his victory and say, in effect, "The public has endorsed my plan to 'fix' government schools with a new government program. The voters have said they like my ideas to involve government in prescription drugs. The people have spoken, and they have endorsed every vote I've made in Congress and/or every new government program I outlined in my campaign."

Oh sure, your candidate may have said that government is too big or too intrusive. But that doesn't mean he'll do anything to stop it.

Republicans complain loudly about Democratic spending programs – and then vote for them.

Democrats complain loudly about invasions of civil liberties and a reckless foreign policy – and then vote for them.

And your vote has told them that you endorse what they're doing. Whatever you thought your motivation was, nothing says 'I love big government' like your vote for someone who is supporting big government in Congress.

In other words, when you vote for the "lesser of two evils," you shouldn't be shocked when what you get is evil.

No, a vote for a Republican or Democrat isn't a wasted vote. It's a self-destructive vote – a vote for the very things you've spent the past two years complaining about.

No culpa

If you voted Libertarian, you at least know you didn't endorse big government. Since Libertarian vote totals usually aren't announced on election night, you may not have been able to make any kind of "statement."

But at least you don't have to blame yourself for endorsing big government.

The future

It may seem that you have to vote for the lesser of evils among the major-party candidates.

But since government grew just as rapidly with Ronald Reagan as president as with Bill Clinton in the White House, and since the Republican Congress expanded government at the same speed as the Democratic Congress, it's obvious that your vote doesn't change anything.

There is no lesser of evils between the two major parties.

Your vote achieves only one thing: It tells the people you voted for that you love big government – that there's no program they can support that's so bad that you won't vote for them anymore.

Your vote provided a big boost for big government.

Is that what you wanted?

Originally Published in 2002 at World Net Daily

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." -- Karl Marx

"The truth is most Americans don't want much. Folks don't want the whole pie. Most Americans feel blessed to thrive a little bit, but that's out of reach for them. The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more." -- Michelle Obama

"This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably." - Barack Obama

"Globalization and technology and automation all weaken the position of workers, and a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably." - Barack Obama

"Democracy is the road to socialism." - Karl Marx

vs...

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." - Thomas Jefferson

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." - Thomas Jefferson

" I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson

"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." - Thomas Jefferson

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." - Thomas Jefferson

"It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it." - Thomas Jefferson

" My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. " - Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson

"I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas." -- Ron Paul

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

"Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons." -- Ron Paul

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

"A free society is based on the key principle that the government, the president, the Congress, the courts, and the bureaucrats are incapable of knowing what is best for each and every one of us… A government as a referee is proper, but a government that uses arbitrary force to direct every aspect of society threatens freedom… The time has come for a modern approach to achieving those values that all civilized societies seek. Only in a free society do individuals have the best chance to seek virtue, strive for excellence, improve their economic well-being, and achieve personal happiness… The worthy goals of civilization can only be achieved by freedom loving individuals. When government uses force, liberty is sacrificed and the goals are lost. It is freedom that is the source of all creative energy... I reject the notion that we need a president to run our lives, plan the economy, or police the world… It is much more important to protect individual liberty and privacy than to make government even more secretive and powerful." -- Ron Paul

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams

Congratulations Barack Obama

I didn't want John Mccain either. If I were forced to choose, I choose a rejection of the GOP. I did so in my vote for Baldwin and support of the constitution. But, I believe that you have more potential to reform the GOP as well as awake conservatives than Mccain does. So in that effort, I support you.

Btw, the video will be removed before Obama takes office, as I do carry respect for the office of the President of the United States, regardless of who is holding it. Once again, just glad it's not Mccain.

Look at the important Ron Paul swing votes in play in key states:

• PA: 129323
• OH: 50964
• MO: 26464
• NC: 37260
• IN: 31611
• FL: 62887

I for one hope that Ron Paul supporters do not cave into voting to continue our two party system.

I made my choice:

Thanks Ron Paul