By Steve Brawner
Nathan LaFrance of Bella Vista, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in Arkansas, today announced a “Leading by Example” pledge stating that he would serve no more than two terms if elected and would donate all after-tax income earned above his 2014 income to cha
rities serving Arkansans.
LaFrance, an employee of the Walmart corporate offices’s Energy Department, said in a press release that he is promising “to live the changes he will fight for in Washington, D.C.” He supports term limits in Congress, including two terms for senators, and he proposes “the phase out and elimination of all federal income redistribution programs, to be replaced by private charitable organizations.”
As part of the pledge, LaFrance also promises that his office “will be available to all Arkansans on a first come, first serve basis. … A corporate CEO will wait their turn in line behind a dairy farmer; a millionaire will wait their turn in line behind a working parent struggling to put food on the table.”
LaFrance received 2.5 percent support in a poll released this week by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College.
Excellent pledge by Mr. LaFrance. Thanks for reporting on this, Steve.
Thanks, Ken.
Sounds good, but there is a big problem with Mr. LaFrance’s doctrine. He wants to “eliminate all federal income redistribution programs, to be replaced by private charitable organizations.” First, we have to define what constitutes income redistribution. It seems to include nearly endless items–from basic taxes on. Second, he has far too great confidence in the strength of private charitable organizations, particularly if he has churches in mind. I had a 44 year career as a church professional including 7 years as a supervisor of churches over a very large geographical area. The majority of churches are just barely hanging on right now. Most are barely paying a pastor and keeping the doors open. They have very few resources to provide for needs beyond their 4 walls. And the church is declining year after year all over North America.
Even if most Americans decided today to have limited, constitutional government it would take decades to undo the welfare state. So this is not something Mr. LaFrance nor I are saying can be done overnight. However, the sooner we start the sooner we will get there, even if it takes 40 years to achieve. The mindset of Americans toward the welfare state has to be totally changed.
Hi, Sandy and Ken. Sandy, meet Ken – the Libertarian candidate for Congress in the 4th District. Ken, meet Sandy. You too could have an interesting dinner conversation because you both think very deeply about right vs. wrong.
The thing about the Libertarians is that they consider themselves the “party of principle,” and when they say they support less government, they mean it. They go much farther than I could go. While I do support less government, I do believe in a social safety net. However, I appreciate the fact that they are willing to stand on principle. I actually vote for Libertarians for some national offices because I want more choices, because they are uncorrupted, and because they, unlike Republicans and Democrats, supported a restrained use of the military. No more unnecessary wars, please!
A safety net can be constitutional on the state level.
It looks as though I stumbled into a world in which “welfare state” is really a dirty word! I just don’t share that point of view.
As a Hayekian, not a Rothbardian, this article on Hayek’s view of welfare is quite interesting:
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/05/hayek-on-serfdom-and-welfare-states/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BleedingHeartLibertarians+%28Bleeding+Heart+Libertarians%29