Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message: > From: "Ralph Nader" <[email protected]> > Date: October 22, 2010 10:30:24 AM PDT > To: [email protected] > Subject: Ten Questions for Tea Partiers > > Here are ten Questions for Tea Partiers that they want or do not want to > answer. I say it this way because people who call themselves Tea Partiers do > not have the same view of politics, government, Big Business or the > Constitution. Their opinions range from pure Libertarian to actively > furthering the privileges of plutocracy. Their income and occupational > background vary as well, though most seem to be middle-income and up. > > My guess is that most Tea Partiers come from the conservative wing of the > Republican Party who are fed up with both the corporate Republicans like Bush > and Cheney, as well as the Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. > > With the above in mind, the following questions can serve to go beyond > abstractions and generalizations of indignation and get to some more specific > responses. > > 1. Can you be against Big Government and not press for reductions in the vast > military budgets, fraught with bureaucratic and large contractors’ waste, > fraud and abuse? Military spending now takes up half of the federal > government’s operating budgets. The libertarian Cato Institute believes that > to cut deficits, we have to also cut the defense budget. > > 2. Can you believe in the free market and not condemn hundreds of billions of > dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, subsidies, handouts, and giveaways? > > 3. Can you want to preserve the legitimate sovereignty of our country and not > reject the trade agreements known as NAFTA and GATT (The World Trade > Organization in Geneva, Switzerland) that scholars have described as the > greatest surrender of local, state and national sovereignty in our history? > > 4. Can you be for law and order and not support a bigger and faster crackdown > on the corporate crime wave, that needs more prosecutors and larger > enforcement budgets to stop the stealing of taxpayers and consumer dollars so > widely reported in the Wall Street Journal and Business Week? Law enforcement > officials estimate that for every dollar for prosecution, seventeen to twenty > dollars are returned. > > 5. Can you be against invasions of privacy by government and business without > rejecting the provisions of the Patriot Act that leave you defenseless to > constant unlawful snooping, appropriation of personal information and even > search of your home without notification until 72 hours later? > > 6. Can you be against regulation of serious medical malpractice (over 100,000 > lives lost a year, according to a study by Harvard physicians), unsafe drugs > that have serious side effects or cause the very injury/illness they were > sold to prevent, motor vehicles with defective brakes, tires and throttles, > contaminated food from China, Mexico and domestic processors? > > 7. Can you keep calling for Freedom and yet tolerate control of your credit > and other economic rights by hidden and arbitrary credit ratings and credit > scores? What Freedom do you have when you have to sign industry-wide fine > print one-sided “contracts” with your banks, insurance companies, car > dealers, and credit card companies? Many of these contracts even block your > Constitutional access to the courthouse. > > 8. Can you be for a new, clean system of politics and elections and still > accept the Republican and Democratic Two Party dictatorship that is propped > up by complex state laws, frivolous litigation and harassment to exclude from > the ballot third parties and independent candidates who want reform, > accountability, and stronger voices for the voters? > > 9. If you want a return to our Constitution—its principles of limited and > separation of power and its emphasis on “We the People” in its preamble—can > you still support Washington’s wars that have not been declared by Congress > (Article I Section 8) or giving corporations equal rights with humans plus > special privileges and immunities. The word “corporation” or “company” never > appears in the Constitution. How can you support eminent domain powers given > by governments to corporations over homeowners, or massive week-end bailouts > by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department of businesses, even reckless > foreign banks, without receiving the authority and the appropriations from > the Congress, as the Constitution requires? > > 10. You want less taxation and lower deficits. How can you succeed unless > you stop big corporations from escaping their fair share of taxes by > manipulating foreign jurisdictions against our tax laws, for example, or by > letting trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street go without any > sales tax, while you pay six, seven or eight percent sales tax on the > necessities you buy in stores? > > Let’s hear from you Tea Partiers. Meanwhile, see the work of > video-journalist, Steve Ference, who has interviewed and given voice to those > among you in his new paperback “Voices of the Tea Party” published by > Lulu.com on July 4, 2010. Contact [email protected]. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Tell your friends to visit Nader.Org and sign up for E-Alerts. > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
