BILL REQ. #:  S-3002.1 

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The economic prosperity of the United States is best served by embracing individual liberty, representative democracy, and free-market economics, as has been the tradition of the American people since prior to the formation of an independent country; and
     WHEREAS, We recognize the truth of human nature, that failure is critical to growth, and the right of people to innovate, the freedom to experiment, and the freedom to succeed, must be equally accompanied by the freedom to fail; and
     WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan once said, "We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success – only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development"; and
     WHEREAS, Our Declaration of Independence states that we hold it to be a self-evident truth that we are each endowed by our Creator with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which was clearly understood at the time to include property ownership, and that governments are instituted to secure these rights; and
     WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence further lists among the crimes of King George that "He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance;" and
     WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"; and
     WHEREAS, This country's free-market principles and private ownership of capital have made it the strongest, most prosperous, and freest nation in the history of the Earth; and
     WHEREAS, Today that legacy of freedom - independent people and free and open markets - is under serious threat from out-of-control spending, unprecedented government growth and encroachment into the free market, and overtaxation; and
     WHEREAS, Our current economic crisis is, in part, due to government interference in the housing market and massive debt created by overspending and the unbridled growth of government; and
     WHEREAS, This problem was compounded by irresponsible spending at the state level during periods of economic boom, especially in Washington state; and
     WHEREAS, The government response to this crisis has been one massive bailout after another, all on the backs of the taxpayers; and
     WHEREAS, The September 2008 $29.5 billion bailout of Bear Stearns, even after adjusting for inflation, was nearly thirty times what it cost to build both the Hoover Dam and Panama Canal combined; and
     WHEREAS, That bailout was immediately followed by a $97.2 billion bailout of Bank of America, a $97.4 billion bailout for auto companies, and a $112 billion bailout for AIG. In comparison, the United States only spent $115 billion on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II; and
     WHEREAS, That was still not enough, and taxpayers were forced to provide $139 billion for General Electric and $235 billion for CitiGroup, making a grand total of $710 billion to bail out banks and big corporations; and
     WHEREAS, Taxpayers are spending another $300 billion for homeowners who cannot pay their mortgages, $400 billion to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, $700 billion to buy up bad loans through the Toxic Asset Relief Program, and $787 billion for the economic "stimulus" or spending plan; and
     WHEREAS, All of this government spending to date totals more than $4 trillion, which is eight times more than the "New Deal" and even more than the $3.6 trillion spent on World War II; and
     WHEREAS, The government has committed to spend up to an additional $7.8 trillion, for a total of $12 trillion being spent on this crisis; and
     WHEREAS, History has proven that no nation can spend its way into prosperity; and
     WHEREAS, This unprecedented level of spending will leave a legacy of big government dependency and national debt for generations of Americans to come; and
     WHEREAS, Many proposals both in Olympia and in Washington, D.C., attempt to pay for this reckless and irresponsible government spending by singling out specific individuals, income levels, and businesses for a disproportionate burden; and
     WHEREAS, Karl Marx's slogan "To each according to his need, from each according to his ability" is the first step in the ultimate erosion of the American principle that each individual is entitled to "the right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness," and equal justice under the law; and
     WHEREAS, Political leaders in both Olympia and in Washington, D.C., have proposed massive cap-and-tax proposals that would further cripple our economies, destroy whole industries, cause the cost of electricity, heating fuel, and gasoline for consumers to skyrocket, and lead to a loss of personal freedom for individuals; and
     WHEREAS, The responsible taxpayers of this country and the state of Washington are tired of bailing out irresponsible governments, banks, businesses, and individuals, and having their liberties constrained by a completely unrestrained federal and state government, and have demonstrated as much through numerous spontaneous and planned "Tea Party" protests;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully request that the United States Government divest the American people from all private-sector corporate entities that received bailout funds as soon as is practically possible; reduce the size of government to its proper Constitutional size by limiting its functions to its proper Constitutional role; reduce marginal tax rates to spur economic growth, as was successfully done by President John F. Kennedy, President Ronald W. Reagan, and President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003; and reject all further attempts to redistribute wealth through the tax code or by any other means, as "spreading the wealth" is completely alien to our national character and founding principles.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.