With politicians at every level of government desperately trying to justify each year's "tighter" budgets and hefty tax increases, voters and taxpayers are increasingly discovering the price of the choices they've been asking politicians to make for them --- and noticing that they have fewer and fewer choices left to make for themselves.

Fp President and Leader Robert Metz

Name any service or industry primarily funded or regulated by government (ie. health, pensions, education, welfare, transportation) and you'll find a service or industry that's in deep, deep trouble. Despite our walloping tax burden, every government-run or subsidized industry is suffering "chronic underfunding"; despite billions of tax dollars being poured into government controlled projects, they still can't seem to stay afloat.

Is there any hope for a cure? Yes there is. But not before enough people come to realize that you can't get things just by voting for them. Social benefits and services (however "essential" or "important" they may be regarded) must be earned and paid for on a free market; otherwise, they won't exist for long.

Today's political environment has become one in which citizens are encouraged to get things by lobbying and voting for them through the democratic process, rather than by working, investing and taking risks to earn the things they want. Unfortunately, under this political philosophy, a "majority" can force a minority to fund, support, and assume responsibility for projects that, being a minority, it obviously doesn't agree with. In this way, voluntary agreement and consent can be legally replaced by forced agreement and coercion --- two conditions that would normally not be morally or socially acceptable in human relationships.

This should help explain why politics has often been referred to as a "dirty" business --- because in this regard it is. Under what other possible social circumstance can you force someone else to buy something, do something, "contribute" to something or "invest" in something against one's will --- and not be fined or put in jail for it? Voting for benefits is a temptation that can be hard to resist --- and a habit that can be hard to break. It's easy to see how the amount of effort required to vote is considerably less than the amount of effort required to earn something. For that reason, voters mistakenly assume that it is possible to get more out of the system than they have to put in.

As the tax and deficit burden become greater, individuals still proud to earn their way in life are punished in increasing proportion to the extent others vote for their benefits. A stranglehold is put on those earning a living, who become increasingly tempted to join those others in voting for a living.

When everyone suddenly discovers that what they have voted for is no longer available and that they'll have to ultimately pay far more for their benefits than they would have if they had earned them, then maybe they'll start looking for a genuine solution.

Let's create and build that solution. Let's start by admitting the truth about our political choices --- that Liberals, New Democrats and Conservatives are fundamentally the same; all are leading us down a path to social and fiscal calamity. With taxes that many find difficult to afford, and ever-decreasing options and choices in the services governments provide, politicians have aptly demonstrated how they all cater to the vote at the expense of principles and that they have nothing whatsoever to offer in the way of authentic solutions. We need a new political choice now, before it's too late.

I know there are those who would argue that having three parties is already enough. But having three parties that believe in the same fundamental political principles is really the same as having only one party to choose from. A thousand political parties wouldn't be enough if the only principle they recognized was the vote. One party would be enough if it honoured the principle of individual rights, responsibilities, and freedom of choice --- and consistently placed these principles ahead of getting votes.

But will voters ever support such a political party? Will they learn to support and vote for a political party because it represents and defends individual rights, and not majority interests? Will they learn to understand that high deficits, high taxes, fewer choices, deteriorating government services, are a direct result of voting for things? Let's face it; unless voters do learn, nothing will ever change and things will just keep getting worse.

By appealing to reason for support instead of pandering to and reinforcing voter apathy and ignorance, we can create a responsible political party that has the courage to admit and explain why voting for things simply doesn't work and why voting for things always carries a greater price tag than earning them.

In the short term, traditional voters will obviously resist such a political party. But sooner or later, with or without our help, most of them will come to realize the true cost of their voting. When that happens, it'll be up to us to offer them a real choice in the political marketplace: Freedom Party.

The time to prepare is now.

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002