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.They continue to make the welfare state bigger.No ChangeAnd so, with Republicans in power, what has changed?Is government any smaller than it was before?If you are in business, have the regulators stopped harassing you? Do youhave fewer forms to fill out?124Media Watch, February 1995.200 Harry Browne / Why Government Doesn t WorkDo you expect any improvement  lower taxes, less intrusions, smallergovernment  to occur in the next year or two?In effect, the issue between Republicans and Democrats is whethergovernment should take 48% of your life or only 47.9%.WHY GOVERNMENT KEEPS GROWINGEven if the Republican leadership wanted to cut government, they would fail because they don t understand that you can t cut government one program ata time.Put almost any government program to a vote of the American people, and alarge majority would choose to eliminate it entirely.But in most cases the cost ofa single program to the average American is negligible.So, no matter how silly aprogram is, no one is inspired to go to Washington to lobby against it  noreven to write or phone his Congressman to demand that the program beeliminated.Meanwhile, there are a handful of people who profit handsomely from theprogram, and who will lobby intensely to keep it.The press joins in with horrorstories of people whose lives will be shattered if the program is cut.So all the pressure is on one side  to retain the program, and to increase itsfunding.The PackageIs there no hope then?Yes, there is.But only if the elimination of a program will affect the averageAmerican profoundly, so that people everywhere will pressure Congress to getrid of it.How do we do that?By combining all the cuts in a single package  one bill that will eliminatefarm subsidies, foreign aid, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, all theunconstitutional departments and agencies, all the activities of the federalgovernment that never should have been started in the first place.And that single package must also reward Americans directly andimmediately for all the cuts  by freeing them from the income tax.Only thenwill everyone have an incentive to see the federal government reduced toConstitutional levels.Almost everyone has a favorite federal program he will wish weren t in thepackage.But whatever the program, most likely it won t mean as much to him asescaping the income tax.For once, the pressure will be reversed  the gain toNeither of the Two Old Parties Will Save Us 201the taxpayers will be great enough to mobilize them, to make them the majorinfluence on the outcome.This is the only way to overcome the well-known contradiction that mostAmericans want government to be much smaller, but they don t want their ownfavorites to be eliminated.This is what I call THE GREAT LIBERTARIAN OFFER:Would you give up your favorite federal programs if it meant thatyou d never have to pay income tax again?Not only is it impossible to cut government without repealing the incometax, it s impossible to repeal the income tax without cutting government.The Republican proposals to replace today s progressive income tax with anational sales tax or a flat income tax will never pass.The rate for the new taxwill be much too high  20% or more  because government will remain solarge, and so the voters won t support the plan.So you can t repeal the income tax without cutting government dramatically.And you can t cut government without repealing the income tax.The two stepsmust be part of the same package.PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS ARE NO HELPSince the Republicans haven t combined spending and tax cuts, they re noteven able to pass mild spending cuts.But it s doubtful that they care.The current system suits them just fine.Biggovernment gives them the power of life or death over companies.We can texpect them to lead the fight to change things.The Democrats are no different  as we saw when they controlledCongress.We can t rely on politicians to deliver on anything.They profit fromgovernment as it is.We will put an end to big government only when we electcitizens who don t want political careers  people who will go to Washingtonfor a few short years, clean up the mess, and then go home to enjoy their newlyrecovered freedom.THE THIRD PARTY IS COMINGNeither major party will do anything to take government out of ourpocketbooks, our privacy, or our lives.They profit too much from the status quo.Our only hope is a third party.202 Harry Browne / Why Government Doesn t WorkThe public has expressed a strong desire to see a third alternative in the 1996presidential race.In 1995 the Gallup Poll found that:125" 60% of Americans want a third party to be in the 1996 race." 56% would be inclined to vote for a third alternative if the twoold parties nominated Bill Clinton and Robert Dole." 54% would vote for the best candidate even if he seemed tohave no chance of winning.That doesn t mean all these people will vote for a third-party candidate.Itmeans only that they want the opportunity to do so  they want an alternative toTweedledum and Tweedledee.With other surveys showing that 73% believegovernment is too large, it s not hard to figure out what Americans want from athird party.The press, however, is determined to ignore the obvious.Political punditssay the public wants a third party to avoid the extremes of the Democrats on theleft and the Republicans on the right.They say the voters want a  centristcandidate  a moderate who won t be a big-spender but won t cut governmentdramatically, someone who will make government more responsible.In otherwords, someone who can make government work.But government doesn t work.And the American people are coming torealize that.They aren t looking for someone to slip into the center between theRepublicans and Democrats.The gap between the two parties is so small thatanyone squeezing in there could get crushed.The voters want a third party to shrink the government the two old partieshave built.THE THIRD PARTY HAS ARRIVEDFortunately, there is such a party already.The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 by David Nolan.It is the onlynationwide party whose platform has consistently opposed big government.Ithas run a candidate in each presidential election since 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