By Lance Lamberton
The following column ran in The Marietta Daily Journal on October 7, 2022. Franklin Roundtable does not endorse or oppose candidates for office, but we encourage you to read this and carefully consider your vote.
Lance Lamberton is a recovering Libertarian Party activist and is the chairman and founder of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
Two years ago, during the 2020 election cycle, I wrote a column for The American Spectator where I bemoaned the fact that thanks to the Libertarian Party of Georgia (LPG), we were at risk of electing two Democrat senators from Georgia because the vote totals of Republican Senators Loeffler and Perdue fell short in the general election. While they both received more votes than their Democrat challengers, neither one received 50% + 1, as required by Georgia election law. And sure enough, in the runoff, both were defeated, which resulted in handing over control of the Senate to the Democrats, completing a political trifecta which included the House, the White House and the Senate.
In my column, I expressed great concern that if that were to happen, there would be little or nothing to prevent the party of big government from ramming down our throats a reckless and disastrous tax, spend and regulatory regime. And true to their word, that’s exactly what they did, and now we are reaping the whirlwind. Let me count the ways.
Inflation rates are now higher than have ever been since 1981, making it especially difficult for lower and middle income Americans to make ends meet. In fact, according to a recent Heritage Foundation study, incomes in constant dollars rose by approximately $4,000 annually for a typical American family during the four years under Trump, but have declined by the same amount in less than two years under Biden.
The Democrat’s war on the fossil fuels industry to further their radical environmentalist agenda has sent fuel prices soaring, which once again hurts the poorest the most.
The Democrats have now passed a bill that will give the IRS 87,000 more agents to go after average American taxpayers, so as to squeeze as much money out of us as possible. In so doing, they are doing one of the things that caused us to declare independence from England; to wit; “He [the British King] has sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
Now to address out-of-control spending and inflation, the Fed has no choice but to ratchet up interest rates to a level that it admits will lead to another recession, thereby decimating the savings of millions of Americans at or near retirement age, and forcing them to delay retirement or go back into the work force and put their hopes and aspirations of a comfortable retirement on temporary or even permanent hold. All one needs to do is look at the value of your IRA both before and after Democrat rule. I, for one, can’t even look at mine. It’s too painful, and no doubt many of you are having the same experience. Yet all of these dire consequences could have been avoided had the LPG not siphoned off just enough votes to make Senators Ossoff and Warnock a reality. Moreover, two years later, we run the risk of a repeat performance where Senator Warnock could win a six-year term, and Stacey Abrams could become our next governor thanks to the gift that keeps on giving: The Libertarian Party of Georgia.
Ironically, the party that loves big government the most also loves the party that is the most uncompromising advocate for less government, because Georgia Democrats know the LPG takes away more votes from Republican candidates. That is why when the Georgia Democrat party was in charge, it gladly granted permanent ballot status to the LPG in statewide races. And back in 2002 when the Republican Party achieved overwhelming dominance, the LPG, with its pathetic single-digit vote totals, were of no consequence. But then a demographic shift occurred, leading to Georgia becoming a swing state. Now the LPG can and has wreaked havoc with our state and national politics, thereby giving more power to the party that wants the exact opposite of what Libertarians want: i.e. more and bigger government and less individual freedom and autonomy.
However, Georgia can avoid a repeat performance of what happened two years ago, so long as less people vote Libertarian than they did in 2020. While it may be fun to play the role of spoiler, when it comes to politics, the risks are too great and the consequences too dire to play games with people’s lives. Just look at the sad state of our country today under the Democrats when you go to the polls this year and avoid the temptation of throwing away your vote on the LPG.