CRAIGforCONGRESS
Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2008
OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, May 31, 2008, 10:30am

A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the May 31, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the President's Address -- Issues Facing Congress

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Next week Congress will return to Washington after its Memorial Day recess. I hope Members of Congress return rested, because they have a lot of work left on important issues and limited time to get it done.  (continued below)

How the President Differs from the American vision of "Liberty Under God":

  1. Nothing in the President's Agenda reduces socialism and promotes Free Markets. Nothing moves us closer to "Liberty Under God."
  2. The President has forgotten the promises made by the Republican Party Platform when he was elected.
  3. The President has forgotten the limits placed on his authority by the Constitution.
  4. If the federal government did not undertake the task of overthrowing Saddam Hussein, destroying hundreds of billions of dollars of Iraqi infrastructure and killing hundreds of thousands of people, and replacing the secular Baathist government with an Islamic theocracy, would Americans still be free?
  5. The United States government was founded on a policy of non-intervention in foreign affairs:
    The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."

    — Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s emphasis]
    I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

    — Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
    6. This policy would preclude U.S. intervention in Arab-Israeli affairs.
  6. "Democracy" was not a goal of America's Founding Fathers.
  7. No war in American history has been good for the ideal of "Liberty Under God." None of them should have been fought. Those who died, died in vain.

President Bush's
Saturday Morning Radio Address

Another Perspective:
"Liberty Under God"
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Next week Congress will return to Washington after its Memorial Day recess. I hope Members of Congress return rested, because they have a lot of work left on important issues and limited time to get it done. Nearly all of these issues have been covered in previous Saturday morning radio addresses by the President. See, for example, the previous radio address regarding Congressional vacations:

Click here to go to a replay of the December 1, 2007 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: Congressional Action Between Vacations:
The War, Domestic Surveillance, Taxes, and the Budget
Congress needs to pass a responsible war funding bill that puts the needs of our troops first, without loading it up with unrelated domestic spending. Our troops in Afghanistan are performing with courage and honor, delivering blows to the Taliban and al Qaida. Our troops in Iraq have driven al Qaida and other extremists from sanctuaries they once held across the country and are chasing them from their last remaining strongholds. Our men and women in uniform are risking their lives every day, and they deserve the resources and flexibility they need to complete their mission. True, a "war funding bill" should not include subsidies for domestic special interests. But Bush's unconstitutional and immoral war should not be funded.

Every blow that our troops deliver to one member of al Qaida is an incentive for terrorists to recruit his three cousins to take vengeance on "the Great Satan." And why not? If Communist China were to do to the United States what the United States is doing to Iraq, many Americans would become "insurgents" and attempt to prevent Chinese "regime change" in our country.

Click here to go to a replay of the April 12th, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: Assessing "The Surge" in Iraq

Click here to go to a replay of the January 5, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: The President's Entangling Alliances in the Mideast
Congress needs to support our military families by passing an expansion of the GI Bill that makes it easier for our troops to transfer unused education benefits to their spouses and children. It is critical for this legislation to support the all-volunteer force and help us recruit and retain the best military in the world. Click here to go to a replay of the May 24th, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: "Memorial Day"

Bush will veto the GI Bill if it doesn't meet his specifications.
Congress needs to ensure that our intelligence professionals have the tools to monitor terrorist communications quickly and effectively. Last year, Congress passed temporary legislation that provided these tools. Unfortunately, the law expired more than three months ago. Congress needs to pass long-term legislation that will help our intelligence professionals learn our enemies' plans before they can attack and put an end to abusive lawsuits filed against companies believed to have assisted the government after the attacks of September the 11th. And Congress needs to act soon so we can maintain a vital flow of intelligence. Click here to go to a replay of the February 16, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: The Protect America Act

Click here to go to a replay of the February 23, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: The Protect Telecommunications Companies Act

Click here to go to a replay of the March 8th, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: Government Torture of Terrorist Suspects
Congress needs to approve the Colombia free trade agreement so we can open a growing market for American goods, services, and crops. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives is blocking a vote on this vital agreement. Unless this agreement is brought up for a vote, it will die. This will hurt American workers, farmers, and business owners. And it will hurt our Nation's strategic interests in a vital region of the world. Click here to go to a replay of the April 19th, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: The Columbia "Free Trade" Agreement
Congress needs to confirm the good men and women who have been nominated to important government positions. There are now more than 350 nominations pending before the Senate. These include highly qualified people I have nominated to fill vacancies on the Federal bench. And they include talented nominees who are needed to help guide our economy during a time of uncertainty. For example, three nominees to the Federal Reserve have been waiting for confirmation for more than a year. And because of Senate inaction, the Council of Economic Advisers is now down to a single member. This confirmation backlog makes it harder for government to meet its responsibilities - and the United States Senate needs to give every nominee an up-or-down vote as soon as possible. Click here to go to a replay of the February 9, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: Senate Confirmation of Presidential Nominees
One nominee who needs to be confirmed right away is Steve Preston. A month has passed since I nominated Steve to be the next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Unfortunately, Senators have stalled this nomination over an issue that has nothing to do with Steve or his qualifications for the job. With all the turbulence in the housing market, this is no time to play politics with such a critical appointment. So I call on the Senate to give Steve Preston a prompt vote and confirm this good man without further delay. Can you imagine a federal "Department of Groceries and Suburban Development?" First, it's completely unconstitutional. Government has no authority to act in the area of groceries and suburban development. Power over Groceries is not a constitutionally enumerated power.  Second, it's a violation of the great principles of America: freedom and competition in a Free Market. Capitalism gives Americans the greatest range of choices and quality for the food they buy their families, far greater than every socialist economy.

The analogy is clear: the federal department of Housing and Urban Development is another example of unconstitutional socialism.

We do not have a "Grocery Crisis" because we do not have a Federal Department of Groceries. We have a "Housing Crisis" because we have a federal Department of Housing (and additional government control over the mortgage industry). Government departments are initially created to give government control and power, which soon create "crises." Return those fields of endeavor to a competitive Free Market, and the "crises" will disappear.

Most voters in Southwest Missouri are Republicans, and should vote Libertarian because Libertarians make better Republicans than Republican Politicians. When our current Congressman was first elected in 1996, the Republican Party Platform repeated the promises made when Ronald Reagan campaigned for President:

As a first step in reforming government, we support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding or privatization of agencies which are obsolete, redundant, of limited value, or too regional in focus. Examples of agencies we seek to defund or to privatize are the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Legal Services Corporation.

Libertarians would actually keep the promises made by Ronald Reagan in the 1980's and Republicans in 1996: abolish the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
At a time when many Americans are concerned about keeping their homes, Congress needs to pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans. And at a time when Americans are concerned about rising gas prices, Congress needs to pass legislation to expand domestic energy production. Click here to go to a replay of the March 29th, 2008 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall -- Subject: Tax Rebates and the Housing Market
In all these areas, Congress has failed to act. The American people deserve better from their elected leaders. Congress needs to show the American people that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time. You sent your representatives to Washington to do the people's business, and you have a right to expect them to do it - even in an election year. Partisan bickering characterizes Congress even in non-election years.

Gridlock is America's best hope.
Thank you for listening.  

Kevin Craig's Platform:

Communicating with Government and Media

  • Contact Congress -- this is from the JBS website, powered by "CapWiz," from Capitol Advantage. Lots of organizations use capwiz. If you don't want to go through the JBS, search for capwiz on Google and find another organization that uses it.
    Notice that you can also contact media through this webpage.
  • Action E-List
    Sign up for the JBS Action E-List and be notified when you can make a critical difference on important issues.

John Adams once wrote that the American Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis began legal challenges to the Writs of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American independence," Adams wrote, "was then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15 years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence (1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20 years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."

The Democrat Party Radio Address:

The Democratic Radio Address was delivered by Barbara Boxer, Senator from California. Subject: Global Warming

Libertarian Response:

Our Global Warming page refutes every one of Sen. Boxer's myths.

Note Sen. Boxer's imaginative "creationism."

(Does Sen. Boxer always talk like a Kindergarten teacher?)

Click here for a replay of this edition of the Ozarks Virtual Town Hall