Robert M. Pritchett for State Rep

This is the personal campaign web site of Robert M. Pritchett, the Libertarian candidate for Texas State Representative for district 100. You may also wish to see the old pages from my previous campaigns for Dallas County Justice of the Peace.

I'm 54 years young and a native Texan, and I've been living in the Dallas area since 1977. I have no experience in our political system being a judge, a lawyer, a politician, or a government bureaucrat. Of course, maybe that's a good thing. :) I do have years of experience working hard and running a computer consulting business, helping people work effectively and profitably in situations that otherwise might not be feasible. I'm succeeding in (and gradually reforming) an industry that's besieged with discriminatory tax laws and predatory power-brokers who for years have used Congress to help them put small independent consultants and other hard working Americans out of business. They've been able to get away with this government-sanctioned conspiracy of fraud and racketeering because Government is like a blind and half-deaf dinosaur constantly turning about to try to hear the rich and powerful screaming their demands, and totally oblivious to the people being trampled underfoot in the process. The sole legitimate purpose of Government (read the Declaration of Independence) is the protection of the rights of every individual. Instead, the government has become a pawn for special interest groups to oppress and rip off the American public. The vast majority of laws and regulations today are violating your rights rather than protecting them. The government and its favored cronies routinely commit acts of terrorism and other atrocities which would be considered crimes if done by the average American citizen. No, I'm not some radical kook or fanatic; I'm a hard-working law-abiding native-born born-again red-blooded American, and the Libertarian Party has opened my eyes to what America really means and what we need to do to save it. Government is part of the problem, not the solution - we need to get our country back to basics, back to the founding ideals, and get our government back to performing only its legitimate Constitutional functions. And by the way, the Preamble is not (as is commonly misconstrued) a laundry list of things to let the government do; it clearly states that those desirable goals are achieved by establishing the Constitution to limit the functions and power of the government.

So why am I running for State Rep?

Since (like most libertarians) I have a better understanding of what's going on and why, I wanted to become part of the solution. I was going to run for JP again but the Libertarian Party of Texas called and asked me to consider running for State Rep, and I accepted. I know I'll make a good legislator, helping to repeal bad laws and enact good ones, because (like most libertarians) I understand the real problem (see above) and how to fix it.

My race is about doing what I can to help, and getting more Libertarians elected to do the same. It's about giving people a real choice on the ballot; a chance to just say no to more government.

Issues

Here are some issues of concern, and some interesting ideas to solve them.

Business tax - Although the "franchise tax" (a thinly disguised income tax on net business profits) was replaced by a "margins tax", this is even worse, an income tax based on gross income with limited deductions, and it was applied to more types of businesses than before. This even further discourages entrepreneurs from creating new businesses (and thus new jobs) in Texas, or moving their businesses to Texas. And since businesses have to pass along the cost of taxes anyway, it only taxes the people. It would be much better to get the State and local governments to quit spending money on things that governments shouldn't be doing in the first place. Then the existing sales taxes would probably be more than enough to pay for all legitimate functions, and we could get rid of income taxes, property taxes, and probably all others.
Form of business - LLC's have been around for a long time now, but Texas mishandles them, at least for unemployment purposes. Texas law seems to treat LLC members as employees rather than partners, thinking that an LLC is more like a corporation than a partnership - but this is obviously wrong as anyone with an LLC knows; an LLC is usually governed by a document that's more like a partnership agreement than most anything else, most LLC's are not governed at all similarly to most corporations. An LLC is more like a Limited Partnership (just a special kind that does not have to have any General Partners) than a corporation. All State laws concerning LLC's need to be checked on this issue and fixed. It would also be useful to have Texas law explicitly recognize Series LLC's, and make sure to copy the correct original Delaware version, not the messed up Illinois version which defeats the purpose. And as long as we do have income taxes on businesses, we should get rid of the unique, overly complicated and confusing way they're taxed and more closely mirror how the IRS taxes them for consistency. There are more details not included here...
Education - While this is one of many areas where government should not be involved, some interim measures can make useful progress, even without stopping the Federal interference. In 1980, Libertarian presidential candidate Ed Clark proposed the correct implementation of vouchers, essentially a tax credit, where the people get their own money back (not handouts) to spend on the school of their choice for their kids. Unfortunately, politicians have twisted the voucher idea into another scheme for the government handing out more money extorted from the taxpayers. This misses most of the point, since every dollar received or spent by government creates economic distortion because it was misdirected from its intended use. Still, even this kind of voucher would be an improvement over the current system. So, a first proposal would be to give the people vouchers based on their share of the education budget, so they could spend them on either public of private schools, whichever they choose. Then, change the vouchers into tax credits against any and all state or local taxes as applicable, such as property taxes, sales taxes, etc. so that people actually get their own money back to spend. Those without kids should probably be able to sell theirs to parents, so the parents will have enough to use. Renters could use them as credit against the portion of property taxes they're effectively paying in their rent (the landlord would have to give them a breakdown), or they could sell them to property owning parents, businesses, etc. Businesses might even use them to help with the education expenses of their employees or their kids. The free market would help make sure they get into the hands of those who need them most. At any rate, this would keep people from having to pay for public school when they don't even have kids in school, or having to pay for both public and private school. this would put public and private schools on a level playing field, which would force public schools to become more efficient and better serve their customers. The good teachers would also be more easily able to find better jobs at private schools, with less bureaucracy and government interference, and better motivated students and parents. The best public schools would stay open and probably convert to private schools with no disruption and ultimately the taxpayers would be rid of the whole problem. This would also get rid of the entire controversy about prayer, sex education, etc. in public schools. Most importantly, since most people learn all about the government in schools owned and operated by the government (a built-in conflict of interest, the fox guarding the henhouse), this brainwashing would be greatly reduced after the "public" schools are phased out and the students are all in private schools.
Money - While this is primarily a Federal issue, States may actually be able to address it for themselves. As most of you know by now if you've heard Dr. Ron Paul, governments all over the world have replaced real money (gold and silver) with fiat currency, so they can print more (and amplify it via fractional reserve banking) at will, thus making your money even more worthless. It's like a stock swindle where someone sells a 1% share in his company to each of a million people, not just 100 people. I remember when gas was $0.23/gallon; a silver dollar would buy 4 gallons. Most of the time since then, that same amount of silver would still buy 4 gallons. Gas hasn't gone up, the dollar has gone down. While it's no longer feasible to actually go back to the gold or silver standard, it is legal for people to create and voluntarily use any agreeable medium of exchange, as long as it's not confusingly similar to official government money (that would be considered counterfeiting). However, since Americans are not used to dealing with foreign currencies and having to look up exchange rates and calculate values, most people would not be comfortable using gold and silver rounds by the ounce. The Liberty Dollar takes the opposite approach for convenience, but has other problems as a result. Hugo Salinas Price has proposed an in-between solution for Mexico which could easily be used here: a new type of silver coin with an announced dollar value, which the government would periodically update to keep just ahead of the value of the silver content, but which would never go down, even if the price of silver goes down. This way the people would be confident to spend, receive, and save it, knowing that they could not lose value either in terms of silver or dollars. Since the US Constitution prohibits States from creating official coins but allows them to declare gold and silver coins to be legal tender, Texas could declare a selected privately created suitable coin to be legal tender throughout Texas, and implement the Salinas plan using that coin. Since counties and cities are subdivisions of States, it's possible that any county or city could do this as well, declaring it legal tender within that county or city. The important thing is that this could be done by state or local governments without waiting for the Federal government to do it, which they probably never will because they benefit from inflation. State and local governments are victims of inflation just like the people, so they have more incentive to do this. The first state or local governments to do this for their people will be the first to gain this protection from inflation, so we should do it asap. I'm working on the details.
Real ID - Texas should join the growing list of States that have told Uncle Scam where he can put his Real ID card. Definitely not here! Not only is it the Mark of the Beast, it's another mandate, more bossing around by Washington, DC (District of Communism) telling the States and the people what to do, when it's supposed to be the other way around, that's what America was founded upon! Almost everything the Federal government does these days is a violation of the 9th or 10th Amendment.
Illegal immigration and border security - This is a complex issue and I'll have to flesh this out further later.
CPS - While no one wants to see children left in abusive or dangerous situations, it appears that CPS has been overly zealous and has too much power to remove children from their homes and keep parents away without due process of law, a clear violation of the US Constitution. I read somewhere on the Internet that CPS is essentially paid to break up families! Certain minorities appear to be especially targeted. All this needs to be thoroughly investigated.
TTC/NAU - The Trans-Texas Corridor appears to be a key part of the planned North American Union, effectively merging America with Canada and Mexico. The US government is not only destroying the sovereignty of the states and the individual, but America as well! All of this is probably a step toward an eventual New World Order, a single worldwide government, all the people of the Earth ruled by the Beast! The UN is even trying to take over the oceans as well, and tax the world's countries, including America! This must be stopped at every turn, at every level.
Highways - There's plenty of outcry about the TTC, but this does not mean that private enterprise is bad or that the government should do everything. The devil's in the details, as they say. Diverting the gas tax to pay for non-highway-related expenses was probably misappropriation of funds. Converting roads built by taxpayer funds into toll roads is double charging. Setting up non-compete clauses or similar restrictions which prevent non-toll highways from being properly maintained is forcing a monopoly upon the people. But possibly the worst outrage is awarding the contract (whether directly or indirectly) to a foreign company. As a Libertarian, I appreciate the free market, and while I'm not happy about the offshoring of American jobs and expertise, I can see the point of allowing private individuals and companies to get their goods and services from whomever and wherever seems best. But government gets its money ultimately by theft at gunpoint ("tax" is just a euphemism), so as long as it continues to do that, the money it does spend should go back into the local economy, to at least approximately benefit mostly the same people whose money it stole. It's not as good as actually giving each person his money back or not stealing it in the first place, but it's better than spending it on other people and companies entirely. All American governments should buy their goods and services only from American citizens and companies and organizations, both directly and indirectly; that is, all tax money spent by any American government should stay in America until it safely winds up in the hands of American citizens, who can then spend it anywhere. Texas is big enough to implement the same rule here, at least as much as possible, with America as a backup. I doubt that there's anything which simply cannot be obtained here, but this should be checked.
Eminent Domain - This is outright extortion and should be stopped immediately. The Kelo decision shows how far the Supreme Court has turned away from its intended role as protector of the Constitution and has instead joined the government's continuing crusade to destroy it.
Anti-smoking laws - These are usually local, but like most government approaches to any problem, they use a nuke to swat a fly, thus causing collateral damage, violating everyone's rights and pitting people against each other unnecessarily. The obvious solution is for restaurant and bar owners to post signs indicating if they do not have non-smoking areas or handicapped accessibility, so that customers can easily go elsewhere. Then the free market will sort it out. Those restaurants and bars that accommodate customers with sensitivity to smoke or other handicaps will get more business, and those who can't afford extensive remodeling (as might be required in some cases) would still be able to function with their existing customers. I hope we don't need a state law to prohibit cities from passing laws that don't allow for this approach - perhaps just the idea would prompt cities to adjust their ordinances accordingly...

There are probably lots of other issues that could come up, but a libertarian solution to them is usually best. Disclaimer: I have not had the time and resources to research all of these issues as thoroughly as I would have preferred. Thus, my positions are based on partial information and are subject to change if I find significant, credible, contradictory information.

Interesting Organizations

Here are some compatible organizations, some of which have endorsed or mentioned me or I have endorsed or joined some of them.

Americans for Prosperity - I am among the many Libertarian candidates who have endorsed their TAxpayers Bill Of Rights - in fact, I think it's not strong enough. By the way, my opponent made this group's Hall of Shame.
Independent Texans - I have joined this group of independent-minded voters because we agree that government should not discriminate against 3rd parties and independents in the political process, and that voters should have a real choice.
Tenth Amendment Association - This group strives for political reform to make the US quit trying to run everything. The Federal government should mind its own business and let Texas take care of itself. I founded this group because I'm proud to be a Texan.
Common Law Institute - This international organization promotes returning to Common Law as defined by the Non-Aggression Principle, upon which America and Texas were founded.
Stonewall Libertarians is fighting discrimination and bigotry, and I agree with their statement: "I believe in full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals regardless of their sexual orientations or perceived gender identity or presentation. I would call for the immediate repeal of federal and state "Defense of Marriage" Acts. I would do away with the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, thus allowing our gay and lesbian service men and women to serve their country openly and proudly. I oppose the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment and all state constitutional amendments seeking to define marriage as a bond between one man and one woman. I would do away with all special benefits and privileges granted to individuals on the basis of their marital status. I would like all state governments and localities to get out of the business of granting marriage licenses and allow people to enter into contractual relationships to order their lives as they see fit, but so long as the government continues to grant marriage licenses to heterosexual couples, I believe gay couples are entitled to the "equal protection" of the laws and should be allowed to obtain government issued marriage licenses as well. I do not believe the government should require religious institutions to perform marriage ceremonies that go against their church doctrine. I oppose all laws that discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered Americans and feel they deserve full equality under the law." - Notice that this group's statement is not supporting special privileges or preferential treatment for sexual minorities - only the same rights that most of us take for granted. By the way, not that it's anyone's business, but I'm not gay - you don't have to be a member of a sexual minority to support the equal rights of sexual minorities, just as you don't have to be a member of any specific race or religion to support the equal rights of racial or religious minorities. It's a matter of principle.

These non-profit organizations are worthy of your support, regardless of whether or not I win this election.

Definitions (case-sensitive)

A libertarian (with a small l) is someone who believes that it is wrong to commit acts of violence or dishonesty (except as reasonably required for self-defense), and that it's wrong no matter who you are or what lofty goals or organization you claim to represent - no double standard allowed. This Non-Aggression Principle is the ideal that America and Texas were founded upon, and it is also the ethical core of most religious beliefs - indeed, it is the true and ultimate Common Law. Most Americans are libertarian; they just never realized that there's a name for what they believe in. The real political spectrum cannot fit on one left-right line; take the World's Smallest Political Quiz to see whether you're liberal, conservative, totalitarian, or libertarian.

A Libertarian (with a capital L) is a member of the Libertarian Party, an organization dedicated to promoting libertarian principles and candidates who follow them.

The Nature of Government

The overall underlying trend is for government power to increase and the rights of the individual to decrease. Since the political establishment has the general public bamboozled into thinking that the political spectrum is one-dimensional (left vs. right), and that therefore there is any significant difference between the Republocrats and the Demoblicans; they continue to paint any alternatives as Commie/Nazi/fringe/loony/whatever. People watch the pendulum swing from left to right or vice versa, but they don't notice that the pendulum itself is mounted on a rolling cart on a slight incline perpendicular to the left-right axis, so that each swing jostles it further down the slippery slope.

Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz

The real political spectrum is two-dimensional as in the picture (although the picture is tilted like the pendulum analogy above). Visualize a graph with the horizontal x-axis = economic freedom, the right to control your property, and the vertical y-axis = civil liberties, the right to control your life. Properly understood, these 2 are co-requisites, not competitors. Ultimately you can't have one without the other. Only libertarians are in the 90-100% upper right corner on both axes. Totalitarians of course are in the 0-10% lower left. The one-dimensional fake political spectrum lies on the compromising diagonal, giving voters a choice of sacrificing civil liberties or sacrificing economic freedom. Each time the pendulum swings to the left, more economic freedoms are lost than civil liberties regained, and each time it swings to the right, more civil liberties are lost than economic freedoms regained. The overall bias is sloped toward the lower left, the totalitarian corner, where everything is either required or prohibited. As someone said, it is only necessary for good people to fail to act in order for evil to triumph. That's why the libertarians who founded the US so heavily distrusted government and set up limits, which unfortunately proved to be woefully inadequate, as they were overconfident in the public's ability and inclination to remain aware of the evil nature of government and keep it in check, e.g. eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

The compromising diagonal of the fake political spectrum exemplifies the government's approach to limiting what alternatives the voters see. Anderson, Perot, the Greens, etc. are not seen as a threat because they are still part of the More Government Party along with the Republocrats, they're all socialist to some extent. Only the Libertarians are different enough to be considered a threat, which is why, when the League of Women Voters was about to finally realize that they should include the Libertarians in their debates, the government took over the debates with their Republocrat-controlled debate commission. Meanwhile, the government still calls for free elections in other countries, to distract the voters from realizing that we don't have them here (between the government controlled debates and the discriminatory ballot access and financing laws). This is the standard con artist trick of accusing someone else (often the victim) of doing what the con artist is doing.

The government does not want the people to realize that it's even possible to have both economic freedom and civil liberties, or to have both security and freedom; it continually pits these against each other, forcing people to give up one or the other or both. One of the founders of our country said that those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither. Fear is a favorite weapon of governments everywhere. The so-called Patriot Act exemplifies the government's willingness to use any excuse to take away more of your rights. The excuse is that the government needs more power to fight terrorism. This of course plays right into the terrorists' hands, it does exactly what they want, encourages the US to give up more of its freedom and become more like the terrorist dictatorships. It's like the old Twilight Zone episode where there were UFO sightings and everyone's power got cut off except for a few people, and their neighbors were ready to string them up for collusion - the aliens noted that they didn't have to do anything, just get the people to fight among themselves, and the aliens would be able to take over. The politicians should take a cue from the TV commercials where people say they won't give in to terrorism, they won't stop living their lives; the commercials should include some Congress people saying they won't overreact to terrorism by passing repressive legislation.

Anyway, since government doesn't produce anything but only consumes, wastes, and diverts resources from their natural destination, it changes what would be a positive sum game (a free market economy) to a negative sum game (with government as the cancer sucking the lifeblood out of the economy), thereby pitting the people against each other unnecessarily, e.g. race, age, religion, and any other way the government can find differences to aggravate and exploit. Like in the book 1984 where the world coalesced into 3 countries, always at war to use up resources that would otherwise allow the people to have some prosperity, and whenever 2 countries would be on the verge of beating the 3rd, one would switch sides to keep the war going. As someone said, war is the health of the State (not the country, the government). I think it was Thomas Paine that said that it is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government.

More to be added later.... See the Dallas County and Texas branches of the Libertarian Party for more information.

If you are a Christian, this page is especially for you. Warning, if you're conservative, you might consider it radical. But so was America.

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Political advertising by and for Robert M. Pritchett, who lives in State Representative district 100 and receives campaign mail at 1515 N. Town East Blvd., Suite 138-340, Mesquite, TX 75150. This web site has been provided strictly at my own expense and effort; not at the expense of or using the services of, and does not represent a contribution or subsidy by, the business that owns the primary domain, or any other business. It is a subdomain and there was plenty of additional space and bandwidth available on the primary domain's web site at no additional cost, and the work was done by myself personally at no charge. All contents Copyright 2002 and 2006-2008 by Robert M. Pritchett, all rights reserved, except for items (such as logos) which obviously belong to other parties. No affiliations (except for my Libertarian Party membership) and no endorsements are implied by any logos or links on this site unless otherwise specified. The contents are general observations, and nothing herein is directed against anyone currently in or running for office, except in obvious specific cases.