Lazlo's Challenge

Lazlo’s Letter

This is a Challenge

All of us receive
emails that are political in nature.  It
is fair to say that we probably do not share some of these emails with friends
or family that might be offended by them. I am personally tired of talking
points and talking past each other as if we are guests on “Crossfire” I have
written this letter as a CHALLENGE

I challenge you to
share this with ALL of your email contacts and Facebook friends.

A challenge

When a friend who comes from a prominent democrat family,
recently attended our Two River Republican meeting; she first noted that she is
a democrat and that her husband is a republican before asking the question,
“Why can’t we all get along?”

The truth is we (most of us) do get along, as is evident by
her marriage and the fact that she knew she would be respected by the members
of our club. It is also true that we in America are very much divided
philosophically when it comes to the direction our country is heading.

With the future of our country and our children, and a
respect for our fellow citizens in mind; there may never be a better time to
focus on the things that rational people can agree on. Certainly there are many
things that are wrong right now but there are three things that are
fundamentally wrong with our government and also with our culture.

One is Fraud: The only person who would rationalize fraud is
the person who will benefit from it; but even the defense of it, is an act of
fraud in itself. Fraud covers the stealing of pension money, misappropriation
of public and private funds; misrepresentation of fact (all dishonest arguments
are a type of fraud). The use of grant monies for propaganda purposes and
partisan agendas is another example of deception at the public largesse.
Political lies and fairy tales about what the government can actually do for
you, when the fiscal reality says otherwise is fraud by deception. Of course
there are also numerous common scams that I do not need to list. Lastly, evasion,
a cowardly avoidance of reality, and a form of self delusion actually is fraud.
Reality cannot be faked and we need to recognize this, in others and ourselves.

Another is Force: People cooperate with others individually
and through organizations. Private businesses, companies and corporations do
not use force to sell their products or to hire their employees. People
voluntarily trade their time or their knowledge for money and trade their money
for products or services.  No one in the
private sector can force you to buy a product or a service, but we know the
government can. When Government uses force, it is sold as, “for the greater
good”, but there are far too many examples that contradict that theory. Can we
agree that fundamentally, it is the job of government to protect its citizens
from the unjustified use of force by individuals, gangs, cartels, other
countries, groups, and even its own leaders? Objectivist philosophy regards the
initiation of force to be a primary evil, and the enemy of its’ opposite,
“reason”.

Collusion:  Collusion
is parent of corruption.  Collusion is
present in all systems of human cooperation. There are so many examples of
government sponsored collusion that listing them would be impossible.
Therefore, rather than call attention to the obvious examples, can we not
simply agree that it is a problem?   Has
Crony Capitalism; a type of collusion not harmed our country? But do you
suppose if the country was more socialist that the level of collusion would be
diminished? Hardly; what is far more likely and provable from the lessons of
history is that the level of collusion would rise as the level of production
falls off, leaving less and less to be split up between the controlling
parties.

The solution to the problems of fraud, force and collusion
can be found in the limiting nature of the constitution. It is not the “size”
of the government but the “scope” of the government that is the problem. The
federal government has encroached into our everyday lives in a way that it was
never intended by the philosopher statesmen that founded our great nation. The
limitations in the constitution were placed there anticipating a time like
this. Essentially our philosophical problem solving pyramid has gotten turned
upside down. The natural human hierarchy of decision making rightly begins with
the individual (not the Federal Government), followed by the family, neighbors,
churches, local government; then state government and lastly with the Federal
Government.  The founders considered the
states to be “laboratories of democracy” and the reason they insisted on the
ninth and tenth amendments being part of the Bill of Rights.  Constitutionally limited government, free
markets and the consistently applied rule of
law represent the best hope of ameliorating the above problems.

So the big question is: Can we agree on these at least these
three things? Can we agree to work to solve these problems?

I would hope that open minded people would recognize that
these problems exist in both political parties. However, if reform is at all
possible, which party would be the better vehicle to restore the limiting
nature of the constitution? I would like to think that well intentioned
Democrats will realize that we do share many common values and that many of us
are working inside the Republican Party to achieve these objectives. For Democrats who
honestly believe their party holds values that are worth fighting for; will you
make a commitment to work in your party to achieve the same goals?

Will you accept the Challenge to share this with friends
regardless of party associations?

I hope that you will.

Jim Fitzmaurice