As the US government's debt creeps past the $10.5 trillion mark and President-elect Barack Obama warns Americans to expect trillion-dollar deficits in coming years, the Boston Tea Party modestly proposes a new approach: Repudiate the debt and yank Congress's borrowing privileges.
"Dump it," says the party's national chairman, Douglass Gaking. "Throw it in the harbor. Tell the bond speculators who plunked down money in the expectation that we'd milk our children and grandchildren to pad their portfolios that they lost their bets."
On Friday, the party's national committee unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment repealing Section 4 of the 14th Amendment (which states that the debt "shall not be questioned"), repudiating the existing debt, and forbidding future deficit spending.
"Since the birth of the republic, our government has operated on the assumption that it can borrow money and place the burden of repayment on future generations,"
The presumptive personal debt burden of each and every American -- man, woman and child -- for past US government expenditures now exceeds $35,000 and is growing at a rate of more than $3,000 per year.
The committee's resolution was prompted by the activities of libertarian activists. Last week, an Arizona-based group launched an Internet video campaign encouraging children to make "it's not my debt" videos; earlier this week, a BTP committee member launched an Internet petition calling for the constitutional amendment.
The Boston Tea Party, a new libertarian party which ran its first presidential slate in 2008, campaigns on a one-sentence platform: "The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose."
Boston Tea Party Web Site:
http://www.bostontea.us
"It's Not My Debt" video campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/
Petition to Repudiate the National Debt:
http://www.petitiononline.com/
