Time: Sat Nov 09 05:06:00 1996 To: Bill Utterback <butterb@connecti.com> From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: Letters to LeRoy #2 Cc: Bcc: Yes, I have a court authority from California which says that voting and running for office are both fundamental Rights. /s/ Paul Mitchell At 02:51 AM 11/9/96 -0600, you wrote: > NOTA: None of the Above > >LeRoy: > >At 11:10 PM 11/8/96 -0500, you wrote: > >>You must consider that holding elective office is not >>a right but a privilege. The constitution already limits >>the holding of office by age, why not limit the duration. (L) > > >No, sir. Running for office is the right of every citizen who >meets the requirements of the state or federal constitutions and >the election codes. It is NOT a privilege, subject to the >capricious whims of government. Perhaps state election codes >might be altered by state legislatures to require term limits if >that is not contrary to the individual constitutions of the >several states. As for term limitations on federal offices, that >could only be accomplished by constitutional amendment. It is the >right of the people to cause such an amendment to be enacted to >the federal constitution by bringing pressure on their >representatives. State constitutions can also be amended by >lawful process. This makes term limits potentially lawful; it >does not - in my opinion - make term limits advisable nor >desirable. (BU) > >The basic problem is that often voters are given only a tweedeldum >or tweedledee choice by the national political party and its two >branches, the Republicans and the Democrats. Witness our recent >Presidential election (thanks to the media blackout of Harry >Browne and the predictable refusal of the Republicrat Debate >Commission to allow him in the national Presidential Debates.) >A far more elegant and workable proposition would be to add NOTA >(none of the above) to each office on every ballot. When NOTA >receives a plurality of votes, either different candidates must >run in a new election or the office remains unfilled. In the 1996 >Libertarian Party of Texas District Convention for a U. S. >Congressional District, NOTA won the election. For whatever >reasons the voters chose not to elect any other candidate than >NOTA. There was then no Libertarian candidate in the race for >that congressional district on November fifth. (BU) > >Any way you look at it, term limits would limit both the Liberty >of the individual to run for office and the Liberty of the voter >to vote for the candidate of their choice. Solving problems by >infringing on personal Liberty is the road to slavery. Today, >we have a problem with criminals who have guns. Some people want >to solve that problem by mandating that all honest citizens >register their guns. (I know it doesn't make any sense, but that >is what some people want.) Historically, gun registration has >always led to gun confiscation and gun confiscation has always >led to conditions of essential slavery for the citizens. In my >opinion, enacting term limits would be a step along that same >road. (BU) > > >>You must also consider the current seniority system. >>Just a few thousand people in Georgia control who and >>how the entire House will be run and what bills will be >>considered. (L) > > >So elect Liberty candidates. If not offered such candidates, vote >for NOTA until you are offered a Liberty candidate for whom to >vote. I believe that you will find the incumbent career >politicians a lot more eager to enact NOTA than to enact term >limits, especially when they can adopt the cause of enacting NOTA >instead of term limits. NOTA would at first seem less threatening >to their careers. I doubt that they would recognize that NOTA is >actually a greater immediate threat to them than would be term >limits. Would the sight and sound of 100,000 citizens >surrounding the state legislature chanting no-ta, no-ta be likely >to get their attention? What about 500,000 chanting citizens >surrounding the federal Congress? If we can not muster these >numbers for a totally non-partisan patriot effort, then we may as >well start getting our slave collars fitted. This is an effort >where Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, pro-life, pro-choice, >pro-gun, anti-gun, black, white, young, old, male, female, >northern, southern, and all Americans can get together and be >AMERICANS together again for a change. (BU) > > >>Consider the Senate. Look how few people vote for >>Byrd and Kennedy. But look at the power they >>have wielded over such a long period of time. (L) >> >>Is it fair for these few people to have such power and >>control for an unlimited period of time? (L) >> >>After all, the one who continue to vote for these >>people are the ones getting the pie while the rest >>of us are forced to pay for it. Is this really >>representative government? (L) >> >>LeRoy > >No, of course not, but you are getting into a totally different >problem here - the problem of federal politicians buying votes by >passing out goodies. Term limits will not stop this problem. >What will solve this problem will be to elect Liberty candidates >who will restore limited, constitutional government. Then there >will be only a tiny flow of money from state governments to the >federal government and NO flow of money or goodies from the >federal government going anywhere. First, with the help of NOTA, >we need to elect patriots to state legislatures who will pass >Tenth Amendment Acts and Fully Informed Jury Acts. We need to be >working at the same time to elect Liberty candidates to federal >office but electing them to state offices can be done sooner. >This will require patriots to get off their asses and WORK for >Liberty candidates. (BU) > >for Liberty, >Bill > >* Bill Utterback butterb@connecti.com >* "It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen >* from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to >* keep the Government from falling into error." >* U.S. Supreme Court in American Communications Association v. >* Douds, 339 U.S. 382,442 > >
Return to Table of Contents for
Supreme Law School: E-mail