Mark Souder discusses Mark Foley

Fort Wayne Observed has a great interview with Mark Souder. Please check it out at:
<http://indiana.typepad.com/fwob/2006/10/souder_foley_an.html>

I just posted a LONG comment. I hope Mitch Harper posts my comment...

I have copied it below.

Comment By Mike Sylvester on Fort Wayne Observed:

Mark Souder warned Republicans last Saturday "That story you heard about Mark Foley that broke last night is gonna get worse," he told them.

I find this to be very interesting. This story broke on a Friday afternoon in Washington DC. Mark Souder came home and the following day Mark Souder knew the scandal was going to get worse.

How did Mark Souder know that this scandal was going to get worse? Did he know something the rest of us did not? Was it such common knowledge among Republicans that Mark Souder knew something about Rep. Foley BEFORE the media storm hit?

I think Mark Souder summed up the situation perfectly when he said "we have [an] idiot who turns out to be a pedophile among us, with young pages."

Then Mark Souder went on to discuss past Democratic sex scandals like the rest of The Republican Talking Heads. The truth is that both Republicans and Democrats have had disgusting sex scandals in the past. I dislike every one of the politicians who have been involved in these scandals, I do not care what Party they belong to.

On one topic Mark Souder is 100% correct. Democrats have in the past defended their members who have been accused of these crimes and that is 100% wrong. I would like to see The Democrats stop this disgusting behavior.

Why has Democratic Rep. Jefferson not resigned? The FBI caught him on videotape accepting a bribe and later the FBI retrieved it from Rep. Jefferson's freezer... Where is the Democrats outrage?

Gerry Studds was mentioned by Souder. Gerry Studds was re-elected several times and his actions were far worse then what Rep. Foley is currently accused of. Gerry Studs did not resign and was in fact re-elected several times.

Mark Souder fails to bring up the fact that the Republicans in Congress let Gerry Studds off the hook as well. A weak minority of Republicans wanted to force Gerry Studds out...

Another thing Mark Souder conveniently "forgets" is that Republicans keep running as being the Party of morals... Where are those morals today?

The end of Souder's interview contains this disingenuous quote "Ultimately, at the end of the day, both sides are gonna make mistakes, but the question is, which philosophy of government do you want to run your country? Do you want one that's for bigger government or less government? More taxes/less taxes? Pro-social conservative values/less social conservative values? More regulation/less regulation? Stronger national defense/weaker national defense?"

This must be analyzed. What Party is strongest on the issues Mark Souder mentioned?

1. Bigger or smaller government. Even discounting ALL SPENDING on defense and Homeland Security the Republicans have increased the size of government in the last six years FAR MORE then Bill Clinton did in the previous eight years. The Republican Party and Democratic Parties both stand for larger government. If Mark Souder believes in smaller government he should vote Libertarian. The Libertarian Party is the only Party that stands for smaller government.

2. More or less taxes. The Republicans are for smaller taxes then The Democrats. The Republicans have made the tax code far more complicated and had added the wasteful Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the last six years. They have lowered taxes and made them more complicated. This is a difference between Dems and Reps. Both the Libertarian Party and Republican Party stand for smaller taxes.

3. Pro-social conservative values/less social conservative values? The Republican Party is more in favor of socially conservative values then either Libertarians or Democrats.

4. More regulation/less regulation. In the last six years we have added more regulations then we did in the previous eight. The Republicans have increased government rapidly. The Republican and Democratic Parties BOTH believe in too many needless government regulations. The Republicans have become the Party of seat belt laws, smoking bans, and the like...
The only Party that believes in less regulation is The Libertarian Party.

5. Stronger Defense/Weaker Defense. This is certainly up for debate. As a military veteran I think we need a strong national defense. The Republicans seem to think that as long as we spend big piles of money on defense we will have a strong one. I think there is more involved... Out of the three Parties I feel that The Republican Party is strongest on this issue; however, they have a lot to learn.

It sounds like to me that Mark Souder is advocating that everyone should vote Libertarian...

It is time to get involved in politics. If you think we need a smaller government and less government regulations there is only ONE political Party that advocates those stands, it is The Libertarian Party.

Mike Sylvester
Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Allen County