Dear Friend of Liberty,
Wes Benedict,
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
Last week, a gentleman wrote to me that he had found out at a company meeting that Obamacare was negatively going to affect him and his family and that he needed to start doing something to get this stopped. He asked, “What can I do? Where should I go? Who should I contact?”
I gave him the number to call and told him where to go — so everything should be OK, right?!
If only it were that easy.
Unfortunately, we’ve let government get so big and intrusive that it’s not going to be easy to stop Obamacare or any other government program. Congress might pretend to try stopping parts of Obamacare, or simply rename certain provisions, but I don’t think they’ll really stop the substance.
It’s not just our president’s or Congress’s fault, either. For decades, Democratic voters have asked their elected officials for more government spending on education, health care, and welfare. Meanwhile, Republicans have asked their elected officials for more military spending, more surveillance, and new taxpayer-funded football stadiums. More surprisingly to some, Republicans initiated the 2003 socialist Medicare prescription plan and the 2008 bank bailouts. Meanwhile, John Stossel informs us that Democrats start more wars than Republicans!
As famed journalist Matt Drudge recently tweeted, “It’s now Authoritarian vs. Libertarian. Since Democrats vs. Republicans has been obliterated, no real difference between parties…”
People and politicians of both major parties have cooperated for more than a century to build a bigger government, program by program. There’s no number to call or person to contact to stop this. Big government is not just current culture — it’s now part of American heritage. The New Deal started eighty years ago and hasn’t stopped. Some even say that the conservative Heritage Foundation provided the foundation for the worst aspects of Obamacare.
To actually stop Obamacare and other government programs, we have to change American culture. It’s not going to be easy.
What can one person do to help?
Robert Sarvis put his life on hold and has spent more than $15,000 of his family’s money running for governor of Virginia.
Gov. Gary Johnson spent more than three years running for president to help promote liberty.
The other Gary Johnson, the one from Austin, Texas, who now serves on our national board, gave $25,000 to the David F. Nolan Memorial Fund to help make our national headquarters more efficient and more effective.
We list 145 Libertarians serving in elected office (up by three from last week). You could contact a few of them at random, thank them, and encourage them to run for re-election.
Fifty people serve as chairs of our 50 state affiliates. Those are tough jobs — not that treasurer or secretary is much easier.
Perhaps you don’t think you have what it takes to run for office or to run a state affiliate.
Well, you can join the Libertarian Party if you aren’t already a member — or, if you are, make another donation. Then you can contact your friends and family and let them know why you joined the Libertarian Party. You can ask them to join, too. Double the LP has some tools to help with that.
We must grow our numbers to be more successful. You can sign up for a monthly pledge, which helps fund people who are trying to provide others with more tools to help grow the Libertarian Party. You can join in the lively discussions on our Facebook page to get even more ideas on how to help.
Or you can simply send me an email asking why the Libertarian Party hasn’t done more to stop Obamacare.
What’s it gonna be?
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
