The Problem with Taxes

In a free market economy, individual people get to choose winners and losers. We do this by purchasing goods and services at specific privately owned businesses that provide us a good product at a good price. Businesses that do not provide that aren't patronized, and eventually go out of business. Businesses that cater to their customers grow.

It is this free interaction between individual citizens that makes the system work -- through millions of individual interactions every day.

No private business can force individuals to purchase their product or service, nor can the business force anyone to work there. Their product must be something both affordable and desired. Likewise, employment at a private business is an individual contract between the employee and a representative of the business owner to perform specific tasks for a set fee.

The individual wanting the job must decide how much the portion of his/her life he is giving to the employer is worth, while the employer must decide what that person's experience, skills, and effort is worth to the business. If one or the other decides it is not worth it, they go their separate ways.

The individual holds all the cards under the free market.

Government businesses and services are different. Doing business with the government means you have no choices. They can force you to pay for a product or service regardless of whether or not you use it. It is able to seize a portion of your life in payment for services you don't even receive.

We are not forced to send our children to local schools. We are allowed to personally pay for our children's education at private schools or to teach our children ourselves.

However, home owners are forced to pay for the education of the masses, regardless of whether or not they use that government service.

Government holds a near monopoly on primary education in San Angelo. They don't have to turn a profit. They can charge whatever they believe they can get away with, as they can force people to pay for an inferior service. They can lavish employees with benefits not found in private businesses, such as free health care and defined benefit pensions. Their budgets never take into account economic fluctuations that private business has to consider.

When government competes directly with private business, private businesses generally lose. The government doesn't have to turn a profit. When government holds a monopoly on a product or service, they have all the power.

The worst part is that every dollar seized by government is a dollar that cannot be spent by the individual in the local economy. It is largely a "zero sum" game.

When the local government (or government school district) raises taxes, that money can no longer be spent in the local economy. Writ large, the federal $800 Billion "Stimulus Package" failed precisely because most of the money went to state and local governments. That provides very little impact on the economy, which depends on individuals, not government, having the money.

The government's role in the economy is the same as it should be in other aspects of one's life: to protect the individual from those who would infringe on their rights by force or fraud.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Agenda for the June 20th Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Libertarian Party of Tom Green County will be held June 20 ^th 2011 at Hidalgo's West on Sherwood Way.

The meeting room will be available at 6:00pm for dinner and socializing before the meeting and the meeting will start at 7:00pm.

1. Future Meetings
   • The July meeting will be held on July 11 ^th 7:00pm at Hidalgo's West. Future meetings will be tentatively scheduled for the 2 ^nd Monday of each month at Hidalgo's West.

2. Introduction of the executive committee
   • Each member of the executive committee will give information on their involvement with the party. Volunteers to fill a vacancy on the committee will be recruited.

3. Preliminary goals for the local party will be discussed. These include
   • Running for and winning local offices.
   • Lobbying for City Council meeting times that are friendly to citizen work schedules. There should be evening and weekend meetings to encourage greater participation in the process.
   • Engaging younger audience, especially at ASU.
   • More letters to the editor by Libertarians and from a libertarian point of view.

4. Volunteer Training
   • If there is enough interest, we would like to conduct a short letter writing class with some simple reference materials.
   • Let us know what other training our local Libertarians would find useful.

5. Request for Ideas and input
   • We plan on ending future meetings with ideas, input, and feedback from the people at that meeting. We especially need to update our statement of principles. Please let us know what you expect, what you hear, what you see, and what you need.

Hope to see you all there.

June Libertarian Party Meeting

The next meeting of the Libertarian Party of Tom Green County will be at Hidalgos West on Sherwood way on June 20th at 7:00pm. The room is reserved from 6:00 so come early, socialize, and enjoy a good meal before the meeting.

Hope to see you there.

Next TGC LP Meeting

The Libertarian Party of Tom Green County will have another meeting on May 16th, 6:00 PM at Cheddar's. We will be discussing local issues, like the garage sale ordinance that will be on the agenda of the May 17th City Council meeting. After this meeting, we will try to settle down to monthly meetings.

Hope to see you there.

Are Libertarians Anarchists?

Libertarians believe that a smaller, efficient government best serves our city, county, state and our nation.

Libertarians seek to reduce government to a size necessary to efficiently support its constitutional responsibility and get rid of unnecessary programs and agencies. Libertarians support balancing the budgets at all levels of government by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.

As government debt, unfunded obligations, and unnecessary spending are eliminated, the generated savings must be returned to the people of Texas in the form of lower taxes.

Libertarians want government limited to it's primary functions: to protect your freedom and your constitutional rights of Life, Liberty, and Property -- all crucial rights for building a free and prosperous society.

Libertarian Party Meeting

You will have a chance to meet the new Libertarian Party of Tom Green Party Chairwoman at Cheddar's Casual Cafe on May 3rd at 6:00pm. We will probably be on the patio unless it rains. See you there.

Libertarian Party County Chair

We now have a new Libertarian Party of Tom Green County Chair: Barbara Pratt. She will be on facebook soon. Read here first article and make her feel welcome. She has a tough job ahead of here and she will need all of our support.