Howard Phillips on Government Reform

	Howard Phillips on Government Reform 2000 Constitution Party Nominee for President

Taking matching funds is stealing from taxpayers

Our party believes in governing by the laws of the Ten Commandments, and “Thou shalt not steal” is one of them. Taking matching funds is tantamount to theft. I agree with Jefferson: It is tyrannical to force a man to give his money to a cause or a candidate he does not support. We’re against welfare for individuals and for corporations, and for politicians. My concern is with building a party, and we won’t be able to defend the party if we violate our own principles. Source: Phone interview on Orvetti.com , Sep 20, 2000

Restore Constitutional accountability; enforce 10th Amend.

The Constitution of the United States specifies the powers granted to the Federal government. The 10th Amendment stipulates that the states and the people retain all those powers not expressly delegated and enumerated. Today our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. operate in defiance of the Constitution by legislating in areas where they have been granted no authority.

As President, I will fulfill my duty as the chief defender of the Constitution, and veto any and all enactments which violate the supreme law of the land. No funds will be approved for any agency, program, or activity which is not specifically authorized by the Constitution, and I will repeal all unconstitutional Executive Orders and Declarations of Emergency which usurp congressional authority.

Source: ConstitutionParty.com “Candidate Profile” , Sep 9, 2000

Close NEA, NPR, CPB: funding “good works” corrupts them

We will close down subsidies to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, the Legal Services Corporation, the National Endowment for the Arts, or even a putatively Christian group which seeks government subsidies for its good works. The ancient truism that “he who pays the piper calls the tune” is a fact of life - when Christians take the government dollar, over time they learn to sing the government song. Source: Campaign 2000 Presidential Nominee Acceptance Speech , Sep 4, 1999

Abolish FEC; unlimited & disclosed campaign contributions

The Federal Election Commission restricts and represses the right of a free people to replace the one-party politicians who govern them and fire their hand-picked appointees who serve on that Commission. We will abolish the Federal Election Commission. We will eliminate all ceilings on individual contributions. We will require full and immediate disclosure of campaign contributions. Source: Campaign 2000 Presidential Nominee Acceptance Speech , Sep 4, 1999

Cut the federal government down to constitutional size

Our simple, straightforward intention is to cut the Federal government down to Constitutional size, and to restore the separation of powers, the checks and balances, and the systems of accountability postulated by the Framers. Source: Campaign 2000 Presidential Nominee Acceptance Speech , Sep 4, 1999

Legislation is only for Congress, not federal agencies

Article I of the Constitution [states] “All legislative Powers... shall be vested in a Congress”; we shall strip legislative authority away from Federally-funded advocacy groups, from Federal regulatory agencies, from the Federal judiciary, from the Federal bureaucracy, and from all the institutions of the New World Order. None of them will any longer be permitted to assign our tax dollars or set policies governing our affairs. We will withdraw from all of those unconstitutional entities. Source: Campaign 2000 Presidential Nominee Acceptance Speech , Sep 4, 1999

FEC reforms have corrupted politics: abolish FEC

Federal programs invade our privacy

We must insist on a Constitutional budget, coupled with the elimination of all taxes which unfairly and improperly enable Federal bureaucrats to invade our privacy, regulate our conduct, or steal from us [our] savings and earnings, on which civil government has no legitimate claim. We must stop agreeing “to lose as slowly as possible”. We must resolve not to be content merely changing drivers on a bipartisan, Big Government, “business as usual” train, which will take us all over the cliff. Source: (X-ref Tax Reform) National Affairs Briefing, Memphis, TN , Jan 19, 1996

Eliminate income tax & most federal taxes

We must insist on a Constitutional budget, coupled with the elimination of the income tax, the corporate tax, the estate tax, and all taxes which unfairly and improperly enable Federal bureaucrats to invade our privacy, regulate our conduct, or steal from us the savings and earnings to which we and our families are entitled, and on which civil government has no legitimate claim. We must stop agreeing “to lose as slowly as possible”. Source: National Affairs Briefing, Memphis, TN , Jan 19, 1996

When govt usurps power, we are accountable

Our goal must be not merely to forestall and limit further usurpations of power by those in government, but to reverse the wrongful acts of aggrandizement which have already occurred, diminishing our liberty, subverting virtue. and unjustly confiscating the fruits of our labor. The central premise of a free society is accountability: to the degree that control over resources and over decision-making is governmentalized, it will to some extent remain accountable to us through the electoral process. Source: Speech to National Christian Home Educators Conference , Nov 5, 1993

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