Small Government News* "Help Stamp Out Toxic Talk & Negati..

Small Government News*
Friday, August 20, 2004


The official newsletter of the Committee for Small Government,
Sponsor of Massachusetts 2002 Ballot Question 1 to End the Income Tax
http://www.SmallGovernmentAct.org

"small government is beautiful*"
- Carla Howell

Publisher: Carla Howell
Editor: Michael Cloud


"The press has become the greatest power within the Western countries,
more powerful than the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary."
- Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

"Get government's hands off business. Get business' hands off
government. Privatize Business."
- Michael Cloud

"Little changes are the enemies of great changes."
- Bertolt Brecht


+++ IN THIS ISSUE +++

- "Help Stamp Out Toxic Talk & Negative Political Campaigning" by
Michael Cloud
- "The Big Government Spending Shell Game" by Carla Howell
- $5,000 for Libertarian Candidates
- New Schedule for "Art of Libertarian Persuasion" Seminar


+++ "HELP STAMP OUT TOXIC TALK & NEGATIVE POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING" by
Michael Cloud +++

Tens of millions of dollars in Attack Ads on TV tell us that George
Bush is dishonest, incompetent, venal, untrustworthy - and must be
voted out of office.

Tens of millions of dollars in Attack Ads on TV tell us that John
Kerry is weak, wavering, wrong, and unfit to serve as President.

Thousands of hours of Cable TV shows bring on Democrat and Republican
partisans to accuse and attack, spit and spin against Bush and Kerry.

Plus thousands of hours of talk radio bashing of John Kerry - and a
couple of dozen hours of smackdown on George Bush.

Plus countless gigabytes of email, blogs, and websites with their
cyber slash and burn, damage and destroy assaults on both George Bush and
John Kerry.

The enemies of George Bush and John Kerry are flooding us with Toxic Talk
and Negative Political Campaigning.

Why?

Because they believe that "Going Negative" will help them defeat their
hated enemies.

It often does.

"Going Negative" a book by Steven Ansolabehere and Shanto Iyengar
(1995) examined the empirical studies and other evidence to determine the
impact of Attack Ads and Negative Campaigns.

Their conclusion? "Going Negative" drives down the turnout of
Independent Voters - and sharply polarizes the Republican and
Democratic voters who do show up to vote -- usually against the
opponent.

They found that "Independents are generally unresponsive to political
advertising, with the important exception of negative commercials." (p.64)

"Attack ads produce the highest drop in political efficacy and in
intentions to participate among nonpartisans. Most of these people
have shed their traditional party attachments not because they feel
ambivalent about which of the two parties they should support, but
because they dislike politics in general. The hostile tenor of
campaign advertising further reinforces their contempt for candidates,
parties, and government. As a result, negative campaigning divides the
American electorate into a voting public of party loyalists and a non-
voting public of apathetics." (p.148)

Would you like to radically reduce Negative Campaigning? Do you want to
dramatically dial down the Toxic Talk?

1. If you vote for George Bush for President, you reward - or fail to
penalize - the Republican Attack Machine. Whatever gets rewarded, gets
repeated. Next election, they'll drown us with more Negative Campaigning.

2. If you vote for John Kerry for President, you reward - or fail to
penalize - the Democratic Attack Machine. Whatever gets rewarded, gets
repeated. Next election, they'll bury us with more Negative Campaigning.

3. If you stay home - if you don't vote - political commentators and the
news media will say you're satisfied with Bush and Kerry - or you are too
apathetic to vote. If you don't vote, you reward - or fail to penalize -
both the anti-Bush and anti-Kerry Attack Machines. Next election, they'll
pollute our lives with more Negative Campaigning.

4. The ONLY way you can penalize and punish this Negative Campaigning is
to vote Libertarian for President of the United States. The ONLY way you
can send them a message they can't ignore, a message they'll never forget
- is to vote Libertarian from the top of the ticket to the bottom of the
ticket.

5. The ONLY way your friends and co-workers can punish the Bi-Partisan
Attack Campaigns is for them to vote Libertarian for President. Tell them
how and why voting Libertarian is a message the Partisans cannot ignore or
confuse or forget.

If you want to help stamp out Toxic Talk and Negative Political
Campaigning, remember this:

Voting Libertarian Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry.


+++ "THE BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDING SHELL GAME" by Carla Howell +++

You might expect a welfare check from the Federal Government to come from
Health and Human Services. But it comes from the IRS.

Once upon a time, government programs for mentally retarded juveniles were
funded by a state human services agency. But now they are part of the
public school budget.

You'd think a federal grant for cancer research would be issued from the
National Institutes of Health. But it comes from the Department of
Defense.

The government's logic is impeccable. Once there's a cure for cancer, no
one would ever attack the United States. Right?

If it seems incredible to you, consider the impact of this Big
Government Spending Shell Game. Consider how it allows Big Government to
hide and obscure its spending.

Politicians have funded hundreds, if not thousands, of state and
federal government programs under departments that, fundamentally,
have absolutely nothing to do with the alleged function they provide.

This is the Concealment Strategy: hide the program and spending in a
department where normal people wouldn't dream of looking.

This is more of the Confusion Strategy: make it complicated enough,
make it hard to unravel and follow, and voters will give up trying to
understand it.

Why? Government Shall Not Be Held Accountable. Hide a government
activity in an unrelated department, blend and mix and mingle its
authority and spending where sane individuals wouldn't look, and few will
notice the wreckage, waste, and insanity.

Who benefits from this Shabby Shell Game? The Big Government
Politicians who do whatever they can to preserve and expand high
levels of spending and taxation.

The Big Government Spending Shell Game is just one more of their
tricks.

What state and federal programs have you seen funded by unrelated
departments? Please let us know by sending us an email to:

feedback DeleteThis @smallgovernmentact.org

We're collecting examples to post at our web site, which we'll revamp and
release this fall.


+++ $5,000 FOR LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATES +++

Michael Cloud has raised over $8,300,000 for Libertarian Campaigns in 11
years. National, state, and local Libertarian campaigns. If you are a
Libertarian candidate, he wants to show you exactly what to say and do to
raise a fast $5,000 for your campaign. Dozens of Libertarian candidates
have used Michael's $5,000 Formula. Every Libertarian candidate who used
this simple method - with no hands-on help from Mr. Cloud - easily raised
$5,000 or more. 100% success. Zero failure.

Discover exactly "How You Can Raise $5,000 for Your Libertarian
Campaign, Sitting at Home, in Just 2 Evenings."

For Libertarian candidates only. To get this FREE REPORT, in printer-
ready text for your convenience, just send us an email with your request
to:

info DeleteThis @smallgovernmentact.org

and include in the message:
- Your name
- Office, district and state where you're running
- URL of your campaign web site (if you have one)


+++ NEW SCHEDULE FOR "ART OF LIBERTARIAN PERSUASION" SEMINAR +++

Harry Browne and Michael Cloud will help you become a master
communicator of libertarian ideas!

The "Art of Libertarian Persuasion" seminar is fun, informative, and
inspiring. You'll improve your communication skills almost immediately.

It's coming to these cities:

* Dallas, Texas (September 18-19)
* Seattle, Washington (September 25-26)
* Columbus, Ohio (to be announced)
* San Francisco, California (October 16-17)
* San Diego, California (October 23-24)

To learn more -- and get a big Early Bird Savings on tickets -- call (800)
932-1776. Or visit: http://www.theadvocates.org/seminars.htm


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please forward this issue of Small Government News* to several people you
know who want to know the truth about government spending, who are
concerned about tax cuts and Big Government.

Please ask them to subscribe to this newsletter for a pro-freedom,
small government perspective (and please remove the Change and
Unsubscribe instructions below, which contain your email address).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

* "small government is possible", "small government is beautiful", and
"Small Government News" are Service Marks (SM) of Carla Howell and Michael
Cloud. "Personal Responsibility Sets Us Free" copyright Michael Cloud
2004.

To SUBSCRIBE, send an email to: subscribe DeleteThis @SmallGovernmentAct.org
(no message or subject is needed)