Reform Party Is Only One Out to Protect Taxpayers

In a vibrant economy with seemingly unending prosperity, some might argue that there is no need for a new political force--the Democratic and Republican parties are doing just fine for the people of America.

However, the people of Minnesota said otherwise when they elected Jesse Ventura governor last year.

Why would the voters of Minnesota choose a governor from the Reform Party? The answer is that the Democratic and Republican parties really haven’t been acting in the public’s interest for some time and people know it.

President Clinton recently announced that the budget surplus would be approximately $115 billion, the largest in American history. The president and the Democratic Party want to spend part of this surplus on education and Medicare, while the Republicans have countered this by proposing a large tax cut.

Each sounds like a reasonable use for taxpayers’ money. However, someone needs to remind these parties that there is a $5.6-trillion national debt to be paid. Someone also needs to remind them that they are the ones who put our nation in this hole in the first place.

Without the Reform Party, the third and most popular alternative, paying down the national debt would not be on the table. The Democrats would rather spend the surplus on a variety of social programs to appease their favorite special interest groups; the Republicans would rather give the surplus back in the form of huge industry tax breaks, to appease their favorite special interest groups.

The problem is that paying down the debt, although it would be the most responsible thing to do, would not buy favor with any special interest constituency. Saving hundreds of billions of dollars per year in interest on the debt, although of genuine interest to Jane and Joe Taxpayer, doesn’t seem to bring in the big campaign cash needed to win elections, which is what both parties are after. The Democratic-Republicans, who act like two different wings of the same big-money party, have worked the system to keep their gravy train flowing, while never really paying the political price for their favoritism.

The Democratic and Republican parties have also colluded to fix the election process, ensuring that they alone maintain their grasp on the seats of government. This isn’t merely done by keeping true campaign reform off the front burner, but by locking out other candidates to prevent insurgency.

Regardless of whether the public would actually have voted for him, polls at the time indicated that 75% of the public wanted Reform Party candidate Ross Perot in the 1996 presidential debates, especially because the public financed the Reform Party nominee’s campaign to the tune of $29 million. However, the Democratic and Republican parties felt that it was in the nation’s best interest to prevent them from hearing the Reform Party message, colluding to lock him out of these debates.

Of course, these two parties learned in 1998 what could happen if a Reform Party candidate were allowed into the debates; he might actually defeat them both and become governor of Minnesota.

In a country that thrives on market competition, the political marketplace is limited to two flavors, both of which agree on the rules of engagement to protect their own shares. When political parties act to protect their own interests rather than those of the public, new political forces must arise to challenge them.

The Reform Party wants to pay down the Democrat- and Republican-created debt and make the American tax dollar go farther, rather than paying hundreds of billions of dollars of interest every year.

We want to open up the political process to the 50% of Americans who have lost faith and do not participate in our democracy. We want to use common-sense solutions to provide the best education system for our children and to preserve our environment for generations to come.

The Reform Party wants to ensure that the next generation has more opportunities for success than the last, keeping the American dream one that people from all walks of life can still dream.

A greater vision for America, rather than cynical pandering to special interest constituencies, is what the American political system must embody. The Reform Party strives for these very endeavors--and that is why I participate in it.