Pubdate: Fri, 07 Dec 2001
Source: Herald, The (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Daily Herald Co.
Contact:  http://www.heraldnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/190
Author: Tony Smullin

LET'S GET FEDS BACK TO THE BASICS

In a Dec. 1 letter calling for public funding of elections, Gena DiLabio 
complains about certain members of Congress who voted for privately run 
security at the nations airports ("Election Reform: We must remove cash 
from political life"). She states that this service should be federalized 
and professionalized - a couple of terms that do not go well together.

The idea that the government is the best solution to all of our problems 
seems to be an all-pervasive American myth that flies in the face of most 
of the observable evidence.

The U.S. Constitution clearly federalizes the common defense. This is the 
overriding mission of the federal government. Yet, while law enforcement 
ran around spending billions of dollars on a drug war, and arresting over 
700,000 Americans on marijuana charges, foreign terrorist cells operated 
internally with a free hand and successfully murdered thousands of 
taxpaying citizens.

This past October it was announced that mock terrorist attacks against 
federally secured DOE nuclear facilities succeeded more than half the time. 
GAO investigators, posing as law enforcement officers, were able to 
penetrate federal security at the Pentagon, CIA headquarters and the 
Justice Department.

While the Soviets have 9,000 nuclear interceptor missiles, admittedly 
crude, we have absolutely no defense against the real threat of nuclear attack.

Until the feds show us that they can perform their primary duty of 
defending our nation without spending $900 on a toilet seat, while many 
enlisted members of our armed forces rely on food stamps to feed their 
families, I would suggest that giving them more to do can only make things 
worse.

The micro-managing of our individual lives by the federal government isn't 
working and wastes resources.

As a positive step in the right direction, let's take a good look at the 
10th Amendment, solve our social problems at the state level, and get the 
federal government back to basics, where they may have a chance at 
succeeding. As we have now seen demonstrated, our very lives depend on it.

TONY SMULLIN

Libertarian Party of Snohomish County

Everett
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MAP posted-by: Beth