What do you guys think of my MacroEconomics paper?

My paper had to be written about a public policy organization, so I chose "Downsize DC". I'm not necessarily a Libertarian, in fact, I'm not a HUGE supporter of any one political party, however, I just thought this was an interesting organization.

Downsize DC

"Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference." – Ron Paul

Downsize DC is a legally non-partisan organization, although many of its’ members are Libertarians, that believes that the federal government is too large, intrusive and expensive and should be smaller and more limited. They support civil liberties and low taxes. Compared to the way the U.S. government currently is, this group of people, like the Libertarian party, seems to be in favor of a more “laissez-faire” system where the government is decentralized, the IRS is eliminated and taxes are lowered so that people can have more control over their own lives. President Jim Babka is committed to spreading the statement, “Big government hurts, but liberty works”.

Founded by four men, one of whom is now deceased, Downsize DC hopes to end laws and programs that they don’t believe work well and that violate the Constitution, as well as reinforce the 9th and 10th amendments. The 9th amendment basically states that just because something is not listed as something the government is not allowed to interfere with, doesn’t mean that the government is allowed to interfere simply because something is not “specifically prohibited”, in other words, rights otherwise not listed. The 10th amendment says that the powers that are neither delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the States, in other words, to the people. These are both things that were made to limit the power of the Federal government. Downsize DC hopes to reduce it to a tiny fraction of its current size; which would essentially end deficits, Federal borrowing, and monetary inflation.

The signature campaign that they have been trying to get passed since 2005 is the RTBA (Read the Bills Act) which would force Congress to thoroughly read every bill they pass, no matter the length. They say that Congress often passes bills that no one has read and that sometimes printed copies aren’t even available to them. Also, that additions and deletions are made at the last minute and that “log rolling” is occurring (when unpopular proposals are combined with popular measures) and Congressmen feign surprise when something “accidently” slipped by them. The mantra for this campaign is, “No legislation without representation.” They want each bill and amendment to be read before a quorum in both the House and the Senate and each member must sign an affidavit stating that he/she read it in its’ entirety. They also want every bill to be published on the internet at least seven days before a vote. Downsize DC realizes that this would slow down the pace of Congress and cause bills to shrink and become less complicated, but this is precisely what they desire; a more cautious, smaller government. A coalition was formed based around the RTBA and the objective is “to apply unrelenting, inescapable, mind-numbing pressure on Congress to pass (this act)”. The members are big on getting talk show hosts, bloggers, publishers and other organizations to help spread the word. They allow support from partisanship organizations as long as this organization can get another group of a different political standing to join at the same time. This is to prevent any sort of association with any one particular political party and to, as a group, stay focused on the issue at-hand.

However, this is just one goal. To accomplish ALL of their goals, Downsize DC petitions Congress and the President to vote against or veto “bad” laws and programs and to repeal old “bad” laws and programs. The website, DownsizeDC.org, allows like-minded individuals to get involved by signing up on the site. There they can quickly send emails to the elected representatives, send emails to people they know encouraging THEM to email representatives, donate money, and receive regular reports of the organization’s progress. The website encourages supporters to post banner links to the site, to talk about it on their blogs, to suggest media outlets where Jim Babka can be interviewed or speak about the cause, all to get the word out there.

Thanks guys!

-Addie