American Policy Center » 2006 » June
- If Bill Gates Doesn’t Want the Money, I’ll Take It!
- Journey Through Hallow Ground
- “Comprehensive” Sellout Illegal immigration, the Senate and the White House
- Protecting the Republic from Federal Judges
June 26, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
He might be a whiz at creating computer software, but beyond that, Bill Gates has proven time and again that he hasn’t got a clue about why and how a free market works.
He constantly teams up with anti-free market types like the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to produce “educational” programs that misdirect unsuspecting children with political propaganda. In 2002 he gave that group $600,000 worth of software to help the environmental radicals run their programs to block the drilling of American oil. Apparently Gates doesn’t understand that we need oil to create power to run computers.
When the Justice Department filed an anti-trust suit against Gates, rather than stand up in defense of his company and openly defend his business practices that made his company so successful in a free market, Gates denied it all and turned his back on the very free market principles that made his success possible. Instead Gates admitted the government had the moral high ground in controlling the market place.
Now comes this from the confused mind of Bill Gates: Recently, Newsweek listed Gates as the world’s richest man, ($50 billion). In response Gates said “I wish I wasn’t. There is nothing good that comes out of that.”
Nothing good comes from being successful and rich? I’ll bet his legions of employees would be unhappy to hear that. Apparently Gates fails to understand that it is only through success and money that he is able to hire them. How would his wife and family feel to learn that Bill Gates finds nothing good in their comfortable life style or the special opportunities he can now provide to his children?
The world, of course, would be a very different place without Bill Gates’ software creations. Most of us would be much harder pressed to go about our daily routines without it. Of course, none of it would be possible if Bill Gates hadn’t been successful and therefore rich, in order to pay for the development of his ideas. But according to him, nothing good has come out of any of it.
What Bill Gates has failed to understand is the true nature of money. He sees it as an evil to be controlled by some self-appointed moral authority. Money, of course is simply the means by which we measure and reward success. As Ayn Rand so clearly put it, “Money is a is a tool of exchange that can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them…Money is made possible only by men who produce.” There is nothing evil about it. The evil comes from those who loot from those who create. It is simply a sign of moral depravity to loath such a result of honest effort. The only substitute for the free exchange of money among producers is the muzzle of a gun.
Bill Gates is certainly the modern socialist businessman. Rather than standing strong in defense of the system that allowed his success, he feels guilty about his wealth. Perhaps he would be much happier if he were just another government employee working in his cubical, carrying his lunch pail, shoulders hunched, frown permanently on his brow, joyless, oppressed, nothing special.
I’m sure that if he truly wanted to turn his entire company and all of his assets over to the government and let it run his company, the government would be more than happy to accommodate him so he can live out his days, guiltless and plain.
The only problem for the rest of us is that once the government consumes yet another piece of the free market system there will soon be a sever shortage of computer software.
June 21, 2006
By Peyton Knight
Just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s dreadful Kelo v. City of New London decision that sparked a national outcry against government eminent domain abuse, some in Congress are preparing to bring a new threat to property owners in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) wants to transform the entire Route 15 corridor, from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, into a National Heritage Area (the “Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act,” H.R. 5195). National Heritage Areas are best described as preservation zones where the National Park Service and designated preservationist groups team up to influence how an area is developed (or not developed).
According to Representative Wolf, “The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor holds more American history than any other region in the country and its recognition as a National Heritage Area will elevate its national prominence, as deserved.” He also claims this initiative is an “effort to create economic opportunity by celebrating the unique place in American history this region holds.”
However, Representative Wolf’s flowery, innocuous rhetoric is little more than sheep’s clothing used to disguise what amounts to a pork-barrel earmark awarded to preservationist interest groups. Worse yet, instead of merely providing pork Representative Wolf’s earmark is purchasing lobbyists.
H.R. 5195 would essentially deputize the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), along with other like-minded preservationist groups and the Park Service, to oversee land use policy in the corridor. This consortium of preservation elitists and federal bureaucrats would form a “management entity” and be given a federal mandate to create an “inventory” of all property in the area that it wants “preserved,” “managed” or “acquired” because of its “national historic significance.”
In an effort to downplay concerns from property rights advocates, a spokesperson for the Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) Partnership (the umbrella group that is spearheading the Heritage Area effort) claims, “A National Heritage Area … does not interfere with the local authority at all.” Such a statement signifies either extreme ignorance of the legislation or outright dishonesty. In reality, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act is specifically designed to interfere with local authorities.
The “management entity” would have the authority to disburse federal monies to “States and their political subdivisions” to promote land use policies that are favored by the entity (including land acquisition) in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. However, taxpayers would not vote on the entity’s leadership or have a say in its direction. In addition, eligibility for membership in the board of directors of the “management entity” would be limited to members of the partnership just prior to the legislation’s enactment.
The special interests couldn’t ask for much more than what Representative Wolf is providing them: a congressionally ordained, members-only club funded by taxpayers for the express purpose of making taxpayers live under the club’s rules.
The bill lists as one of its “purposes” that all “significant historic, cultural and recreational sites in the Heritage Area” should be managed “in a manner consistent with compatible economic development.” And, of course, which sites are deemed “significant” and which types of development are deemed “compatible” is up to the discretion of the JTHG conglomerate.
One of the chief beneficiaries of Representative Wolf’s earmark is The National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization with a clear anti-property rights agenda. Peter Brink, senior vice president of The National Trust, also serves as vice-chairman of JTHG’s board of directors.
As author James Bovard has observed: “Preservationists have ‘progressed’ from targeting specific buildings to targeting neighborhoods and even entire valleys and states for strict, government-enforced controls … The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the premier preservationist organization, has gone from seeking to educate Americans about historic treasures to clamoring for maximum restrictions on private land use across the nation.”
In a much publicized case last year a Louisa, Virginia man who simply wanted to renovate his home ran into stiff opposition from NTHP. Emily Wadhams, The National Trust’s vice president for public policy, argued against the rights of the homeowner in a hearing on Capitol Hill, testifying, “[P]rivate property rights have never been allowed to take precedence over our shared national values and the preservation of our country’s heritage.”
There is little doubt that those who make this ground “hallowed” would take umbrage with Wadham’s brash attempt at revisionist history. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.” Yet, Wadham’s words and NTHP’s deeds make it clear: Fundamental property rights are merely inconvenient barriers to the National Trust’s rigid management agenda.
The National Trust has worked to defeat state ballot initiatives designed to restore the private property rights of landowners. For instance, citizens in both Oregon and Washington have had to contend with the National Trust political machine in their battle to receive fair compensation when the government devalues their land by taking their property rights.
The group also vehemently opposes common-sense road improvements. NTHP lobbied to kill plans for a much-needed “outer connector” that would have brought traffic relief to the heavily congested area near Chancellorsville Battlefield in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Why? According to the National Trust, the connector “would pass within a mile of the park boundary.” How, exactly, a road one mile away from the battlefield would harm it is not clear.
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground debate is about more than how land in the area should be managed. It is a question of who should be doing the managing: Local officials and the citizens to whom they are directly responsible or unaccountable special interest groups and equally unaccountable federal bureaucrats?
We should never seek to honor the heroes of our nation’s founding by trampling the sacred principles for which they fought and died—namely property rights and limited, local government.
Peyton Knight is director of environmental and regulatory affairs at The National Center for Public Policy Research.
June 15, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
There are moments in history when destiny is determined. President Bush and the U.S. Senate now face such a moment as they determine the course of U.S. immigration policy. For this is not simply a policy decision to be based on petty political maneuverings of the day. Ultimately they are deciding the future of the United States of America. Greatness divides the statesmen from the political hucksters.
Last December, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an immigration reform bill that takes several steps to restore order from the chaos that now defines America’s southern border. The bill calls for construction of a security fence; it streamlines federal and local law enforcement cooperation on immigration matters, specifically allowing local police to arrest illegals. And the House bill mandates that employers verify the legal status of workers. The bill passed the House with strong bipartisan support.
The House took this action because the current system is broken. It doesn’t serve the national or economic security interests of our country. Our porous borders and lax interior enforcement create opportunities for criminal activity. The smuggling of illegal aliens has become big business for a criminal element. The influx of these illegals are causing economic breakdowns in our neighbors, our schools and our hospitals. Smuggling of illegal drugs plague our cities and our children. Huge holes in the border allow potential terrorists who seek to do us harm to come and go at will, undetected.
At risk is the very make up, traditions and culture of our nation as those who invade our borders express no interest in assimilating as has literally every other immigrant movement in the nation’s history. Truly we are at a crossroads for the future make up of this nation.
The House did a rare thing in today’s political atmosphere by passing its immigration reform act. It took action in response to massive outcries of more than 80% of the American people who are demanding that something be done to stem the invasion of illegals. Even rarer, it has stuck by its guns in support of the bill as hundreds of thousands of illegals and their supporters marched in the streets against it; as the White House derides it; and the Senate ignores it.
Statesmen look beyond their own political needs and consider those of the nation as a whole. The House took the action that was necessary, though many considered such strong action politically incorrect and even dangerous to political careers.
Not so in the United States Senate. On May 25th, the Senate passed its own “comprehensive reform” bill, which bore little resemblance to the House version. It bares even less relationship to anything the overwhelming majority of Americans demanded.
On the day the Senate bill was passed, California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher pointedly told the House “The bill that passed the United States Senate is a travesty, It is a cruel hoax on the American people, using the title “Immigration” to let people think that something is being done that will in some way curb this massive influx of millions of foreigners into our country. It will not. It will make the situation worse, and any rational analysis of this bill will lead to that conclusion.”
Anyone who knows anything about the cause of illegal immigration knows that the first order of business must be to cut off the flow of free benefits paid for by oppressed American tax payers. Stop welfare benefits; stop the free access to medical care; stop the free access to schools, etc.
The Senate bill, far from doing anything to curb illegal immigration, opens the doors to encourage more. As Rep. Rohrabacher said, “This ‘shamnesty’ bill spells out the level of contempt the Senate has for middle-class Americans.
The “comprehensive” Senate bill includes:
· In-state tuition for illegal aliens – while American kids have to pay full price if they cross state lines.
· All temporary “guest workers” have to be paid a prevailing wage.
· All agricultural “guest workers” cannot be fired – except for what the bill calls “just cause.”
· Illegal aliens are made eligible for Social Security benefits. Not only will they receive retirement benefits, but their children will receive survivor benefits should the parents pass away. This is all in a time when the massive influx of baby boomers reaching retirement age threaten to bankrupt the system.
· Increases the number of immigrants who may come here, even as our cities are overrun with foreigners.
· Employers of illegals are granted amnesty too. Employers would be exempt from civil and criminal tax and criminal liability under the Senate bill.
· Taxpayer dollars to radical immigration groups like La Raza (THE RACE) so they can help illegal aliens “adjust” their status. Millions of American tax dollars will go to the same groups who organized the massive demonstrations.
· Will not bar illegal aliens convicted of felonies from obtaining citizenship.
“This bill,” said Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), “constitutes treachery against U.S. sovereignty. This allows every illegal alien in America to use the fraudulent document industry they have created in the criminal back alleys of our country to claim they have been here 5 years and can now stay forever. They (the Senate) have granted blanket amnesty for citizens of foreign nations against tax fraud, Social Security fraud, Medicare fraud, identity fraud, and bank fraud – all crimes for which there is no forgiveness or mercy for citizens of the United States.”
Meanwhile, President Bush is on an all out campaign to convince us that the Senate bill does not provide amnesty. And that the bill simply helps some good honest folks become American citizens in search of the American dream. The President speaks of a “solemn obligation of the federal government” to secure our borders. He makes a big show of sending National Guard troops to the border. Yet just a few months ago he said building a wall was “impractical.”
Obviously he is talking out of both sides of his mouth as he tries to quietly implement an immigration policy that complies with both international agreements he has signed on to and with personal assurances he has given Mexican President Vicente Fox that the border between the two countries will be eliminated.
While the illegals were marching in our streets, President Bush was in Cancun, Mexico meeting with Fox and celebrating the one year anniversary of the creation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). This is a White House plan being perpetrated by the Bush Administration to construct a new super-regional structure completely by executive orders rather than through legislation. What the Administration has in mind is a NAFTA-Plus or a North American Union on the lines of the European Union to be fully implemented by 2010. Yet, President Bush has said not one word about it in a single speech.
As Jerome Corsi wrote in the May 30th addition of Human Events, “Anyone who has wondered why President Bush has not bothered to secure our borders is advised to spend some time examining the SPP working groups’ agenda. In every area of activity, the SPP agenda stresses free and open movement of people, trade, and capital within the North American Union. Once the SPP agenda is implemented with appropriate departmental regulations, there will be no area of immigration policy, trade rules, environmental regulations, capital flows, public health, plus dozens of other key policy areas that the U.S. Government will be able to decide alone or without first consulting with some appropriate North American Union regulatory body. At best our border with Mexico will become a speed bump, largely erased, with little remaining to restrict the essentially free movement of people trade and capital.” That explains a lot. Obviously the Senate bill is specifically designed to fit into the SPP plan.
Meanwhile, Vicente Fox talks, not of immigration, but of “migration.” He told the Utah state legislature, “Since the beginning of my administration, the government of Mexico has promoted the establishment of a new system that regulates the movement of people across our border in a manner which is legal, safe and orderly.” He also told Canada to accept more low-skilled Mexican workers in its temporary work force, making his push for guest workers a continent-wide affair. Now we know what he means. He was in a small way revealing the plans for the North American Union that he and President Bush have been secretly hatching.
American are angry. They will become angrier still as they are ignored in their demands for an end to the illegal alien invasion of our nation. We must stand behind the House efforts to pass its version of immigration reform. To do so would put a mighty road block in the secret plans of Bush and Fox.
Americans must come to grips with the fact that a sinister plan to destroy the sovereignty and independence of the once mighty United States of America is underway. The Senate bill is not pushed through in arrogance. President Bush is not acting out of ignorance or lack of understanding. What we are witnessing is the wholesale sell out of our freedom.
June 8, 2006
By Tom DeWeese
In California, a majority of voters supported a ballot measure to stop illegal aliens from receiving tax-funded services such as schools, hospital care and social services. A federal judge declared the measure null and void and forced policy over the legal wishes of the electorate.
In Oregon, a majority of voters supported a ballot measure to require the government to compensate landowners when property was taken through environmental regulations. A federal judge declared the measure null and void and forced policy over the legal wishes of the electorate.
In Alabama, Judge Roy Moore was forced to remove the Ten Commandments from the State Supreme Court grounds. A federal judge declared the monument unconstitutional, ignored the 10 Amendment and forced his will over the legal wishes of the electorate.
The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, forcibly overturned the abortion laws of all 50 states though its Roe V Wade decision. The Supreme Court ignored the 10th Amendment and forced its will over the legal wishes of the electorate.
Unclear environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are being interpreted by federal judges (who are working hand in hand with non-governmental organizations and private foundations) to implement radical policy, resulting in the taking of private property in every state.
The common term today is “activist judges.” So great is their power that school boards are literally banning everything from school prayer to wearing a tee shirt with a Christian message, for fear federal courts will take action against school officials. Now, even state and local courts are making identical rulings from fear of being overturned by a higher federal court.
Activist federal judges have declared themselves the power over state legislatures, school boards, and city councils. Prayer in public places, personal privacy and now marriage laws are under siege from federal courts. The courts, in turn, are responding to a battery of lawsuits filed by such predatory activist groups as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – making the ACLU more powerful than locally-elected officials.
As a result, the federal government grows ever more invasive, as the states become ever more subservient. The Republic for which we stand is quickly disappearing. Obviously, that’s not what our Founding Fathers had in mind.
To the rescue is Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) as he introduces a new bill called the “We the People Act.” As Rep. Paul explained upon the bill’s introduction, “Federal judges are undermining republican government by imposing their preferred policies on states and local governments, instead of respecting the policies adopted by those elected by, and thus accountable to, the people.”
Rep. Paul rightly addresses the real problem with activist judges. It’s not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with the outcome of a federal court ruling. “Some may claim that an activist judiciary that strikes down State laws at will expands individual liberty,” said Paul. “Proponents of this claim overlook the fact that the best guarantor of true liberty is decentralized political institutions, while the greatest threat to liberty is concentrated power. This is why the Constitution carefully limits the power of the Federal Government over the States,” he concluded.
Courts that are free to overturn State laws at the whim of a judge or from the pressure of an activist group’s lawsuit literally nullify the Tenth Amendment’s limitations on Federal power. “Furthermore,” says Paul, “when Federal judges impose their preferred policies on State and local governments…republican government is threatened.”
“Perhaps more importantly,” Paul says, “attempts to resolve, by judicial fiat, important issues like abortion and the expression of religious belief in the public square increases social strife and conflict. The only way to resolve controversial social issues like abortion and school prayer is to restore respect for the right of State and local governments to adopt policies that reflect the beliefs of the citizens of those jurisdictions.”
Paul’s “We the People Act” forbids Federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from adjudicating cases concerning State laws and polices relating to religious liberties or “privacy” including cases involving sexual practices, sexual orientation or reproduction. The We the People Act also protects the traditional definition of marriage form judicial activism by ensuring the Supreme Court cannot abuse the equal protection clause to redefine marriage.
In order to hold Federal judges accountable for abusing their powers, the act also provides that a judge who violates the act’s limitations on judicial power shall either be impeached by Congress or removed by the President, according to the rules established by the Congress.
Every American who wants our Federal government to fall back within the boundaries of control, as established by the Founding Fathers must call or write their Congressman to demand they support and co-sponsor Rep. Ron Paul’s We the People Act.
Concluded Rep. Paul, “The Founders would certainly have supported congressional action to reign in Federal judges who tell citizens where they can and can’t place manger scenes at Christmas.”
