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CITIZENS
for
Limited Taxation & Government
Post Office Box 408 Peabody, Massachusetts
01960 (617) 248-0022
E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org Web-page: http://cltg.org
CLT&G
Update
Thursday, October 1, 1998
Greeting activists and supporters;
A couple of days ago I received an email message from one of our longtime members and
loyal supporters that, quite honestly, has bothered me since. I have given it a lot of
thought, and it still bothers me, probably because it confuses me coming from a longtime
supporter.
My first reaction was defensive: I haven't literally
committed the last decade of my life to this cause for any reason other than that I'm
worried sick about what's happening to us, our state and country, our liberty and our
future.
The conclusion I've reached is that the writer
perhaps doesn't see the connections; he is only concerned with the confiscatory amounts of
his income the government takes from him, and stops short at what intrudes on the freedom
of others.
On principle alone I oppose confiscatory taxation and
unlimited government spending. In practice, I don't earn enough to waste my time fighting
the amount of taxes I pay.
Taxes are the primary mission of CLT&G -- that's
what the C-L-T stands for -- because if we can shut off the unlimited funding spigot, then
we can cut back what government can afford to do to us.
But for me the "G" in CLT&G is what
it's all about -- limiting government's intrusion into and control over our lives, the
lives of a once and allegedly still "free" people.
I look around and see us being overwhelmed with more
and more government control coming at us relentlessly from every direction: tobacco
controls and bans and taxes, invasive national I.D. smart-cards, seat belt laws, expanded
auto inspections, DWI roadblocks, random drug-testing and no-knock searches, civil
forfeiture property seizures, and yes, more and broader gun control laws, to name but a
few of the endlessly benign usurpations of our freedom.
Every nook and cranny of our lives every time we turn
around today is either mandatory, regulated, or outright verboten. In "the land of
the free and the home of the brave" both terms have ceased to apply except in our
imaginations.
Stop and think for a moment: How many things today
are left that you can decide to do based completely on the merits and your own
preferences, without a mandate, regulation, permit or fee, that are not forbidden,
outlawed, banned, restricted or somehow controlled by government, its permission necessary
at a price?
My message-writer wrote:
Your information on the legislative proposal is a
definite service to your supporters. Thank you.
Please however, attempt, even if it is difficult, to
distance yourselves in your bulletins from your enthusiasm for gun owners' causes.
You will do yourselves great harm from those of us
that still support Barbara and Chip but at the same time have no use whatsoever for guns,
guns ownership and the Montana frontier mentality.
The two do not mix. If you want to get your volume of
support back from past prop 2.5 folks, don't mention guns again in these bulletins.
Get your own gun group together if you wish but KEEP
THEM SEPARATE.
There are those of us who are sick of children being
killed by gunners' lack of control of their collections and the assassination mentality of
our newer American immigrant populations.
Responsible gun ownership & control is essential
and your promoting free and easy removal of controls is sickening and does not co-exist
with the various taxation issues.
From his message, I can't help but get the impression
that freedom from unlimited taxation is the writer's only concern. Apparently it should be
the only concern of CLT&G too. In his view, government can do as it will to us so long
as we have some little grip on the amount of money it can expropriate from us.
This one doesn't like guns, so take away that freedom once you've got a tyranny of the
majority. He doesn't want one and doesn't think you need one either.
That one doesn't like smoking, so take away that
freedom once you've got a tyranny of the majority. She doesn't smoke and besides, it's bad
for your health.
Another one doesn't like butter, so force margarine
on the public once you've got a tyranny of the majority. (This is no exaggeration!) It's
better for you anyway!
And on it goes, one little bite at a time, everyone's
got a little pet grievance, and here we find ourselves.
With a big enough, well-funded enough P.R. campaign
and the relentless patience borne of zealotry, eventually they always drum up a mindless
tyranny of the mob majority. They build enough support to stifle and marginalize that
minority which stands against the loss of first a little, then just a little bit more
"ridiculous" and inconvenient freedom.
"First they came for the Jews, but I wasn't a
Jew, so I didn't say anything . . . and then they came for me and there was nobody left to
say anything."
"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good
men to remain silent."
"Give me liberty, or give me death."
Chip Ford --
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