Release: Constitution Museum

[announce@lp.org (by way of "Edwin E. Smith" <edsmith@IntNet.net>)]

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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
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For release: September 9, 1998
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com
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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."


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