Archive → December, 2011
Platts Report Week 15 (Dec. 18 to Dec. 24)
This is the fifteenth of many weekly analysis pieces detailing what Congressman Platts has voted on, or bills that he has sponsored/co-sponsored. I will briefly describe his action, the bill, and then detail how I would handle the same. Since it is not my full time job to read the entire bill (yet – with your help), I will read the summaries and base my decisions on those. I will also try and describe how libertarian principles apply in my decisions. During weeks that Congressman Platts is not in session or co-sponsoring bills, I will re-visit some of his older votes on legislation that has a had detrimental effect on our liberties.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope that you can find the time to sit back, relax, and enjoy some of your time during the busy holiday season. Decorating, buying presents, preparing dinners, and everything else that goes with this time of year should emphasize what is really important – spending time with your family and friends. I also want to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year that is filled with hope that our government can be returned to a limited, constitutional one, and that our long lost liberties can be returned to us.
One bill that requires discussion that was missed in last week’s Platts Report is H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011. This legislation was passed on December 14th, with Congressman Platts voting to pass the bill. The purpose of this bill is to strengthen Iran sanctions laws for the purpose of compelling Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and other threatening activities. This is one piece of hypocritical legislation! When one reads through the official summary of the bill, various pieces of the legislation stand out:
- “Authorizes the President to provide financial and political assistance to certain foreign and domestic type individuals, organizations, and entities that support democracy in Iran.” – Are we paying off other countries and organizations to “promote democracy” in another country and support our sanctions against Iran?
- “Directs the Secretary of State to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the promotion of Internet freedom and information access in Iran.” – From the government that wishes to prosecute Wikileaks for providing information to the public, and conducts closed door meetings to craft legislation that the public can only read after it is passed?
- “Terminates the provisions of this Act when Iran: (1) has dismantled its efforts to develop or acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons; (2) no longer provides support for acts of international terrorism; and (3) poses no threat to U.S. national security, interests, or allies.” – To not pose a threat to U.S. national security, interests or allies would most likely never be accomplished without complete destruction of Iran.
There is no doubt in my mind that this bill, and the sanctions it imposes, is a prelude to another war. Is the reason for ending the war in Iraq, to free up resources to invade Iran? We cannot afford another unconstitutional war. We must cease being the policemen of the world.
In other legislation, what can be said for all of the political grandstanding this week on H.R. 3765, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011? This extended unemployment benefits, a payroll tax holiday and prevented planned cuts to reimbursements for Medicare physicians. A week’s worth of grandstanding for two months of “kicking the can down the road.” The President has already signed it into law, and has touted this bill’s passage as a political victory.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) stated, “I know that the American people are pleased that we have come together to agree on this extension to give certainty and peace of mind to 160 million Americans who are concerned about losing their tax cut, the 48 million seniors who are concerned about their Medicare and the 2.3 million people who are unemployed and seeking work who are fearful of losing their benefits.”
Certainty and peace of mind? Hardly. Since no one objected, the bill passed by an implied unanimous consent as most everyone in attendance was already giving their holiday well-wishes while walking out of the door. Democracy in action ladies and gentlemen = the grandstanding of the week ended without a whimper.
This week was yet another week lost without Congressman Platts submitting a bill to return our lost liberties, regain fiscal sanity, bring our troops home, or return our government to its Constitutional limitations. This is one of the main reasons that I am challenging him in the 2012 elections. To my knowledge, he has never submitted one bill that would greatly affect a return to the principles above. He consistently submits or supports small pieces of legislation that further regulate every facet of our lives.
Follow my campaign at mikeforpa.com, Facebook and on Twitter.
You can also follow my campaign and the events of the York County Libertarian Party at yorklp.org and the York LP Facebook page.
For Liberty,
Mike Koffenberger
Libertarian Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
Platts Report Week 14 (Dec. 11 to Dec. 18)
This is the fourteenth of many weekly analysis pieces detailing what Congressman Platts has voted on, or bills that he has sponsored/co-sponsored. I will briefly describe his action, the bill, and then detail how I would handle the same. Since it is not my full time job to read the entire bill (yet – with your help), I will read the summaries and base my decisions on those. I will also try and describe how libertarian principles apply in my decisions. During weeks that Congressman Platts is not in session or co-sponsoring bills, I will re-visit some of his older votes on legislation that has a had detrimental effect on our liberties.
Congressman Platts became a co-sponsor of several bills this week. None of these bills will attempt to fix any of the major problems with our economy, federal government or reduced liberty. The bills that he became a co-sponsor of are:
- H.R. 2453 – Requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of Mark Twain.
- H.R. 376 – Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide recruitment and retention incentives for voluntary emergency service workers.
- H.R. 1511 – Authorizes the Department of Labor’s voluntary protection program and to expand it to include more small businesses.
- H. Res. 253 – Affirming the rich religious history of our Nation and expressing support for designating the first week of May as “America’s Spiritual Heritage Week.”
- H.R. 3662 – Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to modify discretionary spending limits to take into account savings from the reduction in the number of Federal employees.
The first of the five, HR 2453, is authorized in the Constitution. HR 376 and 1511 are both bills that should be taken care of in the private sector – not in the federal government. However, both of those bills fit Congressman Platts’ normal legislative activity of over regulating every aspect of our lives and business.
In last week’s Platts Report, I spoke of the dangers of a section in the Defense Authorization Act bill. There was a bill introduced this week by Rep. John Garamendi (CA-10), H.R. 3702, that states that an authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States. Of the 13 current co-sponsors, Congressman Platts is not one of them. This bill is an important “after thought” to try and right a wrong. If elected, this is a type of bill that I would strongly feel is worth fighting for. It is important to ensure that we do not give away our liberty (or have it taken away by legislation). When our Congress members do not read the bills that they sign, dangerous legislation is enacted.
Finally, news broke at the end of the week that the House agreed to pass a budget to “avoid a government shutdown.” To state that it avoids a government shutdown is somewhat misleading. H.R. 2055 funds ten cabinet departments for around $1 trillion. Was this some great compromise? No, it funds the day-to-day operations of only a small portion of our overreaching government. The fights over the proposed “Keystone Pipeline” are still to come. If our government is returned to a constitutionally limited in size one, budget bills would not have to be broken into numerous bills of thousands of pages. That will take someone in Congress to fight for limited government.
This week was yet another week lost without Congressman Platts submitting a bill to return our lost liberties, regain fiscal sanity, bring our troops home, or return our government to its Constitutional limitations. This is one of the main reasons that I am challenging him in the 2012 elections. To my knowledge, he has never submitted one bill that would greatly affect a return to the principles above. He consistently submits or supports small pieces of legislation that further regulate every facet of our lives.
Platts Report Week 13 (Dec. 3 to Dec. 10)
This is the thirteenth of many weekly analysis pieces detailing what Congressman Platts has voted on, or bills that he has sponsored/co-sponsored. I will briefly describe his action, the bill, and then detail how I would handle the same. Since it is not my full time job to read the entire bill (yet – with your help), I will read the summaries and base my decisions on those. I will also try and describe how libertarian principles apply in my decisions. During weeks that Congressman Platts is not in session or co-sponsoring bills, I will re-visit some of his older votes on legislation that has a had detrimental effect on our liberties.
This week was light on meaningful legislation. There was a bill (HR 1254) that amended the Controlled Substances Act to put certain synthetic drugs into Schedule 1 classification. Congressman Platts, in his continued effort to regulate every aspect of your life, was a co-sponsor and voted for passage on December 8th.
Congressman Platts also signed on as a co-sponsor to HR 1148 that would prohibit members of Congress from acting on inside information to their own advantage in the stock/security market. Criminal for you as a citizen, and until this bill, legal for them. This bill is in committee right now, and I question if it will eventually come to the floor for a vote this session. Here is a link to a CBS news article that discusses the 60 Minutes presentation on the topic. This is another example of the members of Congress feeling that they can legislate your life, but tell you to look the other way when it applies to them. Any member of Congress should have the ethics, principle and dedication to their oath to the Constitution and the office that guides them away from this behavior. Now we know how many of them become millionaires while “serving” in office.
More discussion continues this week about the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. This act normally determines the basics for continuing operations in the armed services. The controversial piece within both the House and Senate versions is that which appears to open the United States and our fellow citizens to the battlefield in the “War on Terror.” Wording in the bill is reported to give permission to detain anyone suspected of terrorist activity (or supporting terrorist organizations) and hold them indefinitely. An amendment proposed by Senator Udall attempted to remove this from the Senate version. Only 37 out of 100 United States Senators voted to remove the provision. Our Senators, Toomey and Casey, voted against the provision, and thus for indefinite detention without trial. Talking about these unconstitutional pieces of legislation could one day land you and I in indefinite detention for speaking out against them. Congressman Platts voted for passage of the House version of this bill. Unfortunately, our only hope depends on President Obama using his veto pen.
Once legislation like the Patriot Act gets passed, and its provisions renewed annually, Congress continues to take away our liberty with additional legislation like I just described. I hear people say things like, “If you don’t have anything to hide, you don’t have anything to worry about,” or “I’m not doing anything wrong…they can search anything they want because I want to be safe.” Trading our liberty for any temporary feelings of security is always wrong. Chances are good that we will not get our liberty back by overturning this legislation. It should be abundantly clear by this thirteenth Platts Report, that Congressman Platts will not take a controversial stance on any issue, and will certainly not vote against this type of legislation. I oppose any violation of our rights of due process, speedy trials, and legal counsel.
This week was yet another week lost without Congressman Platts submitting a bill to return our lost liberties, regain fiscal sanity, bring our troops home, or return our government to its Constitutional limitations. This is one of the main reasons that I am challenging him in the 2012 elections. To my knowledge, he has never submitted one bill that would greatly affect a return to the principles above. He consistently submits or supports small pieces of legislation that further regulate every facet of our lives.
Follow my campaign at mikeforpa.com and the home page of the York County Libertarian Party: yorklp.org.
For Liberty,
Mike Koffenberger
Libertarian Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
Platts Report Week 12 (Nov. 27 to Dec. 3)
This is the twelfth of many weekly analysis pieces detailing what Congressman Platts has voted on, or bills that he has sponsored/co-sponsored. I will briefly describe his action, the bill, and then detail how I would handle the same. Since it is not my full time job to read the entire bill (yet – with your help), I will read the summaries and base my decisions on those. I will also try and describe how libertarian principles apply in my decisions. During weeks that Congressman Platts is not in session or co-sponsoring bills, I will re-visit some of his older votes on legislation that has a had detrimental effect on our liberties.
This week had very few bills worthy of lengthy discussion. For this week’s report, I will discuss the Libertarian Party platform in regards to international affairs. The platform states the following: “American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world. Our foreign policy should emphasize defense against attack from abroad and enhance the likelihood of peace by avoiding foreign entanglements. We would end the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid. We recognize the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights. We condemn the use of force, and especially the use of terrorism, against the innocent, regardless of whether such acts are committed by governments or by political or revolutionary groups.”
“Avoiding foreign entanglements” is something that our current Congress, including Congressman Platts, refuses to do. Military aid, foreign aid and spreading Democracy around the world has gotten our country into deeper debt, destroyed lives in this country and others, and has cut short the lives of too many of our men and women in the military. When our military and our foreign policy is constrained by warring Republican and Democrat factions in our government (Republicans allowing President Bush to involve the military in Iraq yet refusing President Obama the same in Libya), our country’s image around the world, as well as the precious lives of the men and women in our military are on the path to destruction.
Congress must follow the Constitution by legally declaring war and not allowing any President the right to use the military in any form or fashion that results in an undeclared war. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 is unconstitutional. It was ignored by President Clinton in 1999 and President Obama in 2011 anyway. If we commit our military to armed combat (via land invasion or bombing campaigns), it is an act of war. Therefore, the Congress must constitutionally declare it.
Involving our country in entangling alliances, such as one with Israel, is dangerous to our country. While many of our fellow citizens see Israel as the only Democracy in the Middle East, and one we have to help protect, we have spent a lot in blood and money to do so. Israel is fully capable of defending itself militarily. It is a nuclear power and has a strong military, yet we provide Israel with at least 1/5 of our entire foreign aid budget. Not only would I call an end to taxpayer funded aid to Israel, but I would call an end to all foreign aid to any country by our government. Not only does it not produce the results it is intended for, we do not have the money to give.
Congressman Platts however, continues to provide unlimited support to Israel, no matter what the agenda. He was a co-sponsor in June 2010 of HR 5501 “America Stands With Israel Act.” Recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself is one thing. Supporting its actions of the naval blockade of Gaza, and opposing investigations into the May 2010 incident of Israel intercepting ships to Gaza that resulted in deaths, is another thing. It is for reasons such as this, where Israel created a public relations nightmare across the entire globe, why we cannot have entangling alliances. Representatives from Congress, including Congressman Platts, spent a week in Israel sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation. For all intents and purposes, this was a week for various members of Congress to be swayed by one of the biggest group of lobbyists to our taxpayer treasury.
Recognizing “the right of all people to resist tyranny and defend themselves and their rights” is a statement in the Libertarian Party platform. This principle would have made any thoughts of interfering in the recent affairs of Egypt, Libya, Syria and Iran a moot point. Yes, Libertarians advocate a strong defense, however our country does not have a strong defense. We have a strong offense. We cannot afford to continue our foreign policy course of action.
This week was yet another week lost without Congressman Platts submitting a bill to return our lost liberties, regain fiscal sanity, bring our troops home, or return our government to its Constitutional limitations. This is one of the main reasons that I am challenging him in the 2012 elections. To my knowledge, he has never submitted one bill that would greatly affect a return to the principles above. He consistently submits or supports small pieces of legislation that further regulate every facet of our lives.
Follow my campaign at mikeforpa.com and the home page of the York County Libertarian Party: yorklp.org.
For Liberty,
Mike Koffenberger
Libertarian Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives