Idaho GOP wants to abolish Federal Reserve

Idaho Democratic Party executive director Jim Hansen reminds us all at the state party website that the state Republican Party is on record as wanting to abolish the Federal Reserve. A snip:

There are few people alive who remember the 1929 stock market crash and the devastating depression that followed. If Idaho Republicans got their way, a crash of similar or greater impact would have happened this month.

It is clear that years of irresponsible lending fueled by Republican economic deregulation policies has accelerated into a dizzying series of near-disasters in the global economy. To put on the brakes and prevent the economy from completely derailing, our government must turn to a tool that Franklin D. Roosevelt created during the Depression: The Federal Reserve.

Read it all here. Jim raises an interesting question: Do Bill Sali, Jim Risch, Mike Simpson, Mike Crapo, Larry Craig, Butch Otter, and other Idaho Republicans actually stand behind this plank in the state GOP platform? Also, isn't it interesting how 1st CD candidate Bill Sali lashed out against the financial market bailout package before he knew anything about it - and now he's having to promise he'll keep an open mind? In complex times like this, we need leaders who think before they talk.

Update 9/24/08: Check out what Kos pointed out Tuesday afternoon (h/t Jill) ... this passage from the Republican Party Platform adopted mere weeks ago:

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.

I can only imagine the moral confusion that free-market zealots are experiencing this week, as they realize that their black-and-white positions don't work in the modern world.

Comments

[HOOSIERS FOR FAIR TAXATION]

We are tax activists in Indiana with a solid track record of successes.

Mike Pence, our courageous Senior Congressman from Indiana, was first to stand down the Fed against the bailout.

Please call and fax his Indiana Office. Tell him to hold his ground and to co-sponsor HR 2755! There is much ground support and he's getting calls from high places to co-sponsor the Act to Abolish the Federal Reserve.

The numbers below are for his campaign office. People will be there this weekend. If no answer, send a fax and leave voicemails. It doesn't matter if you are not from Indiana.

REP MIKE PENCE INDIANA OFFICE
PHONE: 765-643-9503
FAX: 765-643-9514

[Abolish the Fed]

As a liberal, you should be in favor of abolishing the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve inflates your currency, which hurts the middle class and the poor more than the rich. The Federal Reserve is also a monopoly, which liberals are supposed to be against. Lastly, the Federal Reserve, when created, was referred to as a tool and creation of Wall Street for the benefit of Wall Street. You can now see the evidence of that.

Greenspan kept interest rates at artificially low levels for far too long. It created a credit bubble. This boom/bust cycle has made people on Wall Street very wealthy. It leaves people on Main Street without jobs and a devalued currency.

When these secretive entities called central banks attempt to manipulate the market, they wind up making some people incredibly wealthy. The most obvious example of this is George Soros (look up Soros and "Broke the Bank of England" for further explanation).

It was a liberal, Dennis Kucinich, that questioned why the Federal Reserve was given so much power and cloaked in so much secracy.

http://www.monetary.org/video/kucinich/quick_broadband.html

It was another liberal, Ralph Nader, that questioned the unbelievable power given to the Federal Reserve.

http://www.nader.org/interest/111599.html

If you support the Federal Reserve System, then you support the continued debasing of your currency and consequently the continued damage to the middle class and poor. ***The Federal Reserve monopoly has nothing to do with the free-market. In fact, it is the antithesis of a free-market.*** The control they exert over interest rates leads to credit bubbles. It is impossible for economists in dorky glasses to correctly price interest rates using their computer models.