Ted Brown Libertarian for U.S. Senator Texas

Elected officials are thirsty for more of our money to finance their programs and big plans (boondoggles) and to pay off their big campaign contributors.

Democratic and Republican politicians are always quite willing to raise taxes. Sure, Republicans cut tax rates sometimes (but fail to cut spending), but taxes at all levels are at historic high levels. Half of what we earn goes to taxes at the federal, state, and local levels. The federal income tax is the biggest government intrusion into the lives of the American people, to the tune of $2.6 trillion to be extracted from us in Fiscal Year 2022. It forces every worker to be a bookkeeper, to open his records to the government, to explain his expenses, and to fear conviction for a harmless accounting error. Compliance wastes hundreds of billions of dollars. The income tax discourages savings and creates an enormous drag on the U.S. economy.

The federal government is way too large and interferes in too many aspects of our lives. We must get rid of the hundreds of federal agencies and programs that violate our rights and drag down the economy at the same time. Sadly, it’s next to impossible to end a government program, since each program has beneficiaries and supporters who will fight to keep their place at the public trough. I want to combine massive spending cuts into a single package that includes the largest tax cut in American history — the total repeal of the federal income tax. The 100.6 million Americans who pay federal income tax would each see an average of $25,844 per person back in their pockets.

There are proposals to replace the income tax with a flat tax or a national sales tax. I will work to repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS, and replace them with nothing. Even without the personal income tax, the federal government would still collect the same total amount that they did 12 years ago – and the government was much too large even then. The Constitution allows only a limited role for the federal government, such as national defense, the post office and patents and copyrights. By reducing the federal government to its proper level, we could not only do away with the income tax, but the estate tax, capital gains tax and Social Security tax as well.

Not only does the federal government collect too much money, it spends much more than it collects, and budget deficits keep growing each year. The national debt doubled under President George W. Bush, doubled again under President Barack Obama, rose by $7 trillion under President Donald Trump 45, and rose $8 trillion more under President Joe Biden. Of course, the debt keeps growing by the minute under President Donald Trump 47. It is now approaching $39 trillion — $114,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. No one seems to care — except Libertarians. Only Libertarians will cut spending, cut the deficit, and stop adding to this insane debt level that is totally unsustainable.

Any time Congress tries to reform the problem they created, they have failed miserably. This has caused untold suffering, as well as the creation of an immigration police state, as we have seen recently by the massive increase in size and enforcement powers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

We saw in Minneapolis this year just how far these police-state techniques can go, with immigrants being seized off the street in violent encounters; warrantless entry and searches in people’s homes; locking up adults and children alike in wretched conditions in detention camps without adequate food and medical care; deporting legal immigrants quickly without any chance to contest their deportations; and even arresting U.S. citizens who are trying to record what’s happening and accusing them of being “domestic terrorists.”

ICE is so out-of-control that it can’t be reformed. I believe that ICE should be abolished, the sooner the better. CBP should be limited to the border and other points of entry (like airports and seaports) and not operate inland as far as 100 miles as currently authorized. The large number of warehouses that ICE has purchased for use as detention facilities should be disposed of immediately. Existing detention facilities need to be shut down.

As with most issues, the solution is to embrace economic liberty and free markets. That means the free movement of people across international borders, with an Ellis-Island-style immigration system where foreigners are welcome to come here but must be checked for a criminal record and communicable diseases before being let in. Currently, it’s almost impossible for most people to come to the U.S. legally. Even those who do apply through the current system face massive backlogs where their applications are ignored.

Letting people enter at any international port of entry — at the border, at airports, at seaports — would relieve Texas border towns from being overwhelmed. There would no longer be a reason to build a border wall, which is a terrible idea anyway. The new arrivals should be able to work from Day One, instead of being placed on welfare programs and told to wait for a work permit.

Unlike what you hear in the media and from right-wing politicians, immigrants (both “legal” and “illegal”) commit far fewer crimes than native-born Americans. They contribute to our economy, not detract from it. The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, and we need to recognize and embrace our rich history as a melting pot of people from all over the world, instead of falling prey to ill-informed xenophobia that hurts both Americans and immigrants alike.

Libertarians would bring the troops home and close most of our foreign military bases, especially those in the Middle East. We should also not be providing any military or financial aid to any foreign countries, especially those in the Middle East.

Our nation should be the beacon of freedom and liberty in the world, like we were for the first 150 years of our independence.  That’s not how much of the world thinks of us now, due to our misguided desire to be the world’s policeman. It is our long record of violent involvement in the Middle East that’s the main problem — from the 1991 Gulf War, to the occupation of Afghanistan, to the 2003 Iraq war and occupation, to the overthrowing the Libyan government, to the financing of Israel’s massive destruction of Gaza and other nearby countries, and currently the Trump War in Iran (Operation “Epic Folly”). Our troops, our bombs, our drone strikes, and our meddling have created more terrorists and more blowback every year. We certainly need a peaceful foreign policy with a bombing moratorium!

There is no inherent danger in running a trade deficit. Consumers benefit from cheaper goods, and trade imbalances are not the same as military weakness. Removing trade barriers lowers costs, increases choices, and helps farmers and businesses by opening markets. Congress should repeal laws that grant the President emergency tariff powers and reassert its constitutional prerogatives.

It’s clear to anyone with historical knowledge that when the President or any other government official can gain more power by declaring an emergency, they are quite motivated to turn just about any situation into an emergency to gain more powers. There are currently 51 “national emergencies” in effect, some going back decades. We learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that government officials can impose arbitrary rules and regulations on all U. S. residents without due process of law. This includes not only elected officials like the President, Governors, and Mayors, but also unelected bureaucrats like health department officials. Libertarians opposed the pandemic restrictions (like lockdowns and business closures) and would limit the power of officials to impose such rules and regulations in the future.

Under our republican form of government, which created a balance of powers between three branches of government, the Legislative Branch is responsible for passing laws, while the Executive Branch is responsible for implementing and enforcing laws. The Legislature has no right to turn over its powers to the Executive. One person should not be making arbitrary, often dictatorial decisions. This is true at the federal, state, and local levels. Americans fought a revolution about that in 1776! The President issues Executive Orders on a regular basis, not just to impose COVID regulations. In fact, since 1901, Presidents from both major parties have issued 14,647 Executive Orders. The most famous is President Roosevelt’s placement of people of

Japanese descent in internment camps during the Second World War. But every President tries to impose their will arbitrarily, without gojng through the Constitutional requirement that Congress pass all laws. Yes, going by the book is often clunky and time-consuming, but that is how we protect the rights of all Americans. President Clinton’s aide famously said, “Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Pretty cool!” No, it’s not. I will introduce a bill to require every Executive Order (and emergency declaration) to be approved by Congress before it can go into effect and to revisit all existing orders and declarations the same way.

Those who support gun control should recognize that the cities with the strictest gun control laws (like Chicago and Washington, D. C.) also have the highest murder rates involving guns. Criminals will always be able to get guns. Peaceful citizens need to protect themselves. I will work to repeal existing gun control laws, and will oppose any attempts to limit the gun ownership of law-abiding Americans. I am also opposed to “red flag” laws that try to anticipate if someone will commit a crime. Such laws are open to abuse and violation of due process.

Libertarians recognize that if government officials can’t even keep drugs out of prisons, they sure aren’t going to keep drugs out of the country. We must end the insane War on Drugs. This will take the criminal profit out of the illicit drug trade and bring some peace to our cities again. The drug war has been an excuse for police to harass and arrest African-Americans and Latinos for decades, and this must stop.

668,000 people were arrested for marijuana offenses in 2018, more than for murder, rape, robbery and other violent crimes combined. 47% of federal prisoners and 17% of state prisoners are locked in cages for non-violent drug offenses. Often drug users spend more time in jail than murderers or rapists. We need to jail violent criminals, not peaceful drug users.

Democrats and Republicans keep fighting this losing war because it makes them look tough on crime, and it gives them more power over our lives. Libertarians have never signed on to the War on Drugs. We have opposed this war since the 1970s. California Libertarians were the earliest promoters of medical marijuana, since it’s well-known that cannabis relieves pain and other symptoms of a variety of illnesses. Adults must be allowed to put any substances in their bodies that they choose. Libertarians treat people like adults, not like errant children. I will work to repeal all of America’s drug laws, starting with those against marijuana. It must be taken off the schedule of controlled substances immediately.

There are thousands of unconstitutional federal laws and regulations. Most of us have violated a few of them without even knowing it. There are 137,000 armed federal agents prepared to enforce them all. We have every reason to fear the federal government. Drug laws, firearms laws, securities laws, “money laundering” laws, tax laws, environmental regulations, “paperwork violations” and similar “crimes” without victims take up a large part of federal law enforcement. There are absurdly long mandatory sentences for these non-offenses, while it’s difficult to even lock up a violent criminal.

The U. S. (combined federal and state) has over 20% of the world’s prison population, with only 4.2% of the world’s population, as well as the highest incarceration rate in the world. Even China and Russia don’t lock people up as extensively as this country does. Americans are not worse people than residents of other countries, but instead we have far too many laws, far too many interactions with police officers, far too many arrests, and far too many tough-on-crime prosecutors who railroad innocent people into prison with no penalty for doing so. This must change.

Civil asset forfeiture is one of the most unjust weapons of government at all levels. If a piece of property (land, car, boat) is suspected of having been used for criminal activity, it is seized by government agents. They don’t even have to arrest you, let alone convict you of a crime, in order to steal your property. In fact, cops steal more property each year than regular thieves do. The property is presumed to be guilty, unless proven innocent. You have to go to court to try to prove a negative — after your assets have been seized and you can’t afford an attorney. Police agencies have been corrupted by this process, since they get to keep the proceeds from the theft of your property. I will work to immediately abolish asset forfeiture as an option for law enforcement.

If you are arrested and brought to trial, the court system is stacked against you. Prosecutors threaten defendants with extremely long sentences if they won’t take a plea bargain deal. At least 95% of all criminal cases result in plea bargains, not trials. For those who do go to trial, it has always been a tradition of common law that the jury can judge the law as well as the facts of a case. Now judges illegally tell jurors that they must follow the law as the judge gives it. In reality, jurors can find a defendant “not guilty” for any reason they choose, such as the law is unjust or misapplied. Defense attorneys are not even allowed to suggest this in court.

I will introduce a law to require judges to tell jurors that they can judge the law as well as the facts of a case; and to permit defense attorneys to defend their clients by saying that the law is wrong. I support the end of jury tampering by both prosecution and defense by seating the first twelve jurors who don’t know the parties involved and have no financial stake in the outcome of the case. I am opposed to mandatory minimum sentences. I support giving jurors the right to set the sentence in all cases — up to a maximum allowed by law.

The government education system has failed. Kids are not learning what they need to know to compete in a global economy. There is no Constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved in education. I will work to abolish the federal Department of Education. It doesn’t educate anyone, but merely takes taxpayer money and imposes massive amounts of regulations and mandates on local schools. More money from Washington has given us three generations of Americans who lack basic education in science, math, history, geography, and English composition and literature. Colleges report that a majority of incoming students need remedial courses in English and math, information they should have learned in high school.

Parents and kids have few choices in protesting ineffective educational methods. If they wish to use private schools, they must still pay taxes for government schools. Charter schools show very good results, but they are at the mercy of school boards and government officials who could shut them down in an instant. Some Libertarians support vouchers as a good first step to giving parents a choice. However, this could lead to government control of private schools. The best alternative would be tuition tax credits for parents (or anyone else) who send a child to private school. This will force government schools to compete and will enable parents to educate their kids their way.

We need the complete separation of school and state in order to guarantee decent education for future generations. A lot of parents have gone this route already, by homeschooling their kids. A lot more will follow if the current system doesn’t change.