Why I voted for Chuck Baldwin

Since when have Republicans argued against tax cuts?

Rep. Paul Ryan, the top Republican on the House Budget committee, argued that the main tax provision in the Democrats' plan -- cutting payroll taxes -- was not an effective way to jump-start the economy.

You can also check out some catastrophically bad economic analysis here:

Production of this aircraft is in jeopardy—and with it more than 95,000 American jobs, over $12 billion in national economic activity, and the superiority of America’s Air Force.

Don't get me wrong: I love air superiority. The problem is that our forces are already engaged in two theatres of war where our air force is almost totally useless. Whenever we use it, we turn the populations against us. If I learned anything from "Moment of Truth in Iraq", by Michael Yon, the only effective way to gain the trust of the general populace, and put an end to an insurgency, is to put troops on the ground with the civilian population. Effectively, putting troops in the most dangerous position possible. Air superiority does nothing.

I received the link to the aforementioned website from an e-mail from Townhall.com, a conservative news magazine. Supposedly, we're supposed to spend billions of dollars on fighter jets we don't use because we might go to war with the Chinese (according to the Townhall e-mail, not linked), and because spending this government money is funding "economic activity, including 95,000 American jobs. The fact that we are using 95,000 of our best and brightest and we are spending $12B to produce aircraft we don't use demonstrates what a tremendous drain on our productive resources the government really is.

Could the government employ these people to build schools, roads, and hospitals? Sure. Is that the best use of the money? No. The best use of the money, the people, and the resources would be to send them back into the free market to produce products that consumers are interested in purchasing.

The fact that our economy is struggling should not indicate that we should spend more money on frivolous activities; rather, it should indicate to us that we need all of the resources America has devoted to producing wealth, i.e. producing products that people want and are willing and able to buy. The more resources you devote to profitable activities, the faster the economy will correct itself. The more resources the government forces you to devote to frivolous activities, the longer the economy will stagnate.