The Conservative Newsletter

Dr. David Marlett, Editor

February 13, 2002

Vol. III - No. 1

"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms [and] may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams

** Call to Action
** 2001 Laws Cost Taxpayers $733 Billion
** Worth Repeating
** Another Call to Action

Call to Action

The corruption in our political system is as repugnant to me as it is to you. Now, the corrupted officials want us to believe that so-called campaign finance reform will "clean up Washington" and help make them less corruptible. But the only cleansing campaign reform will do is to wash the little guy out of politics and ensure the reelection of the fat-cat incumbents.

Washington's language tricksters are hard at work -- but don't get duped by the oldest trick in the book. "Reform" should mean a change for the better, but can you name one governmental "reform" that actually improved anything? How many times has Social Security been "reformed?" How about public education? The Internal Revenue Service? Health care? The United Nations? In Washington, "reform" always means more spending, more taxes, more bureaucrats, more rules, more regulations and less freedom.

We're fed up too -- but the new laws will restrict your First Amendment rights to criticize the policies of the incumbents while allowing these same incumbents to fill the airways with unchallenged campaign propaganda.

Do you think citizens in New York need to know about Senator Chuck Schumer's plans to confiscate firearms? Speak out within 60 days of his reelection -- the time period between Labor Day and election day when every politician knows most Americans begin to pay attention to election issues -- and you would be breaking the law. Do you think citizens in California need to know about Representative Tom Lantos' allegiance to the United Nations? Speak out within 60 days of his reelection and you could end up in jail. In short, so-called campaign finance reform would mean that if The Liberty Committee made you aware of some really awful votes during the 60-day period running up to an election, its executive director -- yours truly - could end up in jail.

Incumbents love it. Bureaucrats think we're stupid. The debate is taking place now. The vote on campaign finance reform is expected to take place tomorrow at 2:00 a.m.

Tell your U.S. representative that you won't be muzzled. Express your opinion now...while you still legally can.

2001 Laws Cost Taxpayers $733 Billion

There's a Republican in the White House, the U.S. House is still run by the GOP and the country is in a recession, but that didn't stop Congress and the president last year from passing 136 laws that will cost taxpayers $733 billion - more money than ever before.

The two most expensive bills signed into law were the National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for $276 million in mandatory spending over five years, and the education law known as the "No Child Left Behind Act," which will cost taxpayers $135 billion over the next five years.

The House Republican Study Committee (RSC) has totaled the costs of all the legislation passed during the first half of the 107th Congress, the first time it has ever undertaken such a task, according to RSC executive director Neil Bradley.

"One of the goals that we set out in doing this, this year, was to begin compiling figures every year, so we can begin to compare whether we are spending or proposing to spend more of the taxpayers' money or less," said Bradley.

Another expensive item is the "Railroad Retirement Act," which will cost taxpayers almost $14 billion over five years.

The study was broken down into three major categories: mandatory spending, authorizations and appropriations.

"Mandatory spending is the spending that is re-occurring, that once Congress begins it, it doesn't end until Congress affirmatively chooses to do something about it. This is spending that will continue for now until Congress decides to change those programs," Bradley said.

The study found that the appropriations bills approach $733 billion in 2001, a historic high, according to Bradley. About $45 billion is a direct result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said, but the total is "well in excess of the levels we prescribed back in 1997 when we had a Balanced Budget Act."

"President Bush had proposed fairly substantial increases in education spending, and Congress, in particular the Senate, led by Senator Kennedy, proposed even further increases.

"Ultimately, most of those increases were included in the final bill that was signed into law," said Bradley.

Bradley also predicts, after looking at President Bush's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year, that appropriations will climb even higher.

"There are a lot of proposals to increase mandatory spending on things like prescription drugs. Also, the farm bill, which would increase the mandatory spending line. But it remains to be seen what sort of authorizations [Congress] will take up this year," said Bradley.

"Certainly, we will do another defense authorization bill, and our members believe and with good reason that that will be more than the previous year," he added.

Congress last year also passed the "African Elephant Conservation Act" and the "Rhino and Tiger Conservation Act," two items that will cost $15 million combined.

Bradley said bills such as those are "passed generally on Tuesday afternoons before members really get back into town. They usually pass under the suspension calendar, which means there are no amendments or constrained time for debate and very little discussion or fanfare."

Congress also passed 22 bills during the first session that renamed post offices and other federal property.

Pete Sepp, vice president of National Taxpayers Union, said the study showed "just how massive our federal government has become" and should "give people pause."

"The other dirty secret is, of course, that the federal government spends more than twice that amount [$733 billion] every year anyway. It means that a lot of federal spending goes on without a great deal of pause to evaluate it."

Sepp added that "there are so many programs on automatic pilot that get authorized once and sometimes every five or ten years. And they just continue on without even a peep."

WORTH REPEATING

"Most late-term abortions are performed in the womb by killing the fetus with a saline solution, injecting potassium chloride into the heart or by dismembering it. But Christ Hospital [Oak Lawn, IL] uses a method called induced-labor abortion, in which labor is induced weeks before a child is viable outside the womb. Those who are born alive are simply left to die. Despite all the publicity, it is still practiced, [former Christ Hospital nurse Jill Stanek says]. 'I knew of at least two deliveries in 2001 who were healthy,' she says. 'One little girl aborted last spring was 23 weeks [past conception]. She weighed a pound. She began breathing on her own, but she was never given any medical attention. She lived for 2 1/2 hours in the labor and delivery department after never having been seen by any neonatal doctors.' Mrs. Stanek first protested the hospital's policy in May 1999 after she discovered a boy weighing half a pound lying on a counter in a utility room.

The infant had been aborted in the 21st week of pregnancy because he had Down syndrome. The nurse discovered that no one else wanted to touch the child; the parents did not want to hold him and the rest of the hospital staff had no time. As she held him, the 10-inch-long boy gasped for breath for another 45 minutes until his underdeveloped lungs expired. ... Today, some infants who survive abortion at Christ Hospital are taken to a 'comfort room.' 'It has pretty wallpaper, and a rocking chair in a corner to rock these babies to death,' Mrs. Stanek says." --Washington Times

You may contact Larry Roy, MD, Pediatric Program Director for Christ Medical Center at <larryroy@advocatehealth.com>

Another Call to Action

Friends, this nation is in trouble. I don't think this corrupt government system has the will or the ability to pull itself out of the mire we have allowed it to get bogged down in. The party of lower spending and smaller government is alleged to be in control of the White House and the House of Representatives, where spending is supposed to be controlled, but we are seeing the largest increases in history in both spending and federal bureaucratic authority grabbing. There is no hope in the Republican Party.

The Republicans and the Democrats have conspired together to lock up the electoral process so that no other party has any real chance of getting firmly enough established to be able to make any changes. Friends, there is no hope for America to be found in Washington DC.

Why is this happening? Why are honesty, decency and statesmanship things of the past? We are in this mess because there is no more standard.

For the first hundred years of this nation's history, God's men stood in every pulpit and proclaimed without hesitation the truths of His Word. Sin was named and those who claimed the name of Christ were commanded to repent of every kind of evil work.

Today it is not so. We are told that everyone is all right and that the Bible is old fashioned and that much of it is wrong… There is no standard, and with no standard to define right and wrong, there is only confusion and the need of the moment to guide the actions of men. It will not work. It never has worked and it never will.

Pray. Get on your knees and get in touch with God. It may not be as simple for you as clicking an e-mail address and typing a few lines, but it will have more effect…. And there is much more need.

Ask God to raise up preachers with the backbone of a saw log. Men who will take a firm stand and once again raise His standard high… Men who will proclaim His Righteousness and call on His people to live godly and holy lives… Men who will not faint in the face of political correctness but who will stand before ungodly politicians, ungodly congregations and an ungodly world and proclaim as did Nathan, "Thou art the man!"

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