-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ======================================= NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 ======================================= For release: September 9, 1998 ======================================= For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com ======================================= Forget ignorant teenagers: Let's send politicians to the Constitution Museum WASHINGTON, DC -- Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell's plan to build a museum dedicated to the Constitution should be approved, the Libertarian Party says -- provided that every Congressman and Senator is required to take classes there. "Educating ordinary Americans about freedom and individual rights is important, but educating politicians is absolutely essential -- because only they have the power to write laws that threaten your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," said Ron Crickenberger, national director of the Libertarian Party. Crickenberger's comments came in response to Rendell's request to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week for $65 million to pay half the cost of a museum designed to educate Americans about the Constitution. To buttress his argument that Americans are "ignorant about government," Rendell cited a survey of 600 teenagers showing that more of them could name the Three Stooges (59%) than could name the three branches of government (41%), and that while 74% could name the city where cartoon character Bart Simpson lives (Springfield), just 12% know where Abraham Lincoln lived (Springfield). Building the museum in Philadelphia, Rendell said, would help reverse "the tide of ignorance" that is "absolutely critical to the health of our democracy." Crickenberger countered: "First we need to reverse the tide of ignorance in Congress. After all, in just the last two years, these politicians have violated the First Amendment by trying to censor the Internet, flouted the Second Amendment by passing the Lautenberg gun-control law, and made a mockery of the Fifth Amendment by quietly creating a massive federal database of every employee in America, mandating fingerprints for drivers licenses, and imposing a national ID card. "Politicians who habitually violate the Constitution themselves have no business lecturing ordinary Americans on this subject. Instead, they should practice what they preach -- and be the first ones in line when the National Center on the Constitution opens in Philadelphia. "And instead of hitting up taxpayers for $65 million, members of Congress should pay for it out of their own pockets, or by abolishing some of the unconstitutional agencies they have created," Crickenberger said. For example, he noted, the Pennsylvania delegation could urge Congress to come up with the money by: * Knocking out every unconstitutional pork-barrel project that Rep. Bud Shuster quietly inserted into the $217 billion highway bill that Congress passed in March, such as $800,000 to renovate a historic train station at Gettysburg and $500,000 for a study on sidewalks at the Kennedy Center. * Trimming the $65 billion corporate welfare budget by one-tenth of one percent. * Earmarking just 25% of the paycheck of every Senator and Congressional representative -- and every Capitol Hill staffer making over $100,000 -- for a single session of Congress. * Eliminating just one of the hundreds of unconstitutional federal agencies Congress has created, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, which has a budget of $100 million a year. Then, after attending classes at this museum, members of Congress should have one other requirement, said Crickenberger. "Before graduating from their class on the Constitution, these politicians should be required to prove their knowledge by repealing every unconstitutional law they ever passed," he said. "That's the best way to set an example for American teenagers -- and it doesn't require building another museum in Philadelphia." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNfbSuNCSe1KnQG7RAQE8gAQAvrV8hv96Yfkrz7gOvLXEHtu0aY9zxZ1E wILr9VVw1u2lLig6C/9V8gt1Feio7iCuRvTdG3FI9I9JTvT/Y/QdzLajkNrbHb+V Oa8YTGgTfVAhpF3MX5M6SHiBua5dsYZtUZ5wLnpTE4oiWSI04hrD612Jf+0CZTCH JbaOzaW7wnw= =xN7R -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 For subscription changes, please mail to <announce-request@lp.org> with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line -- or use the WWW form.