May 6, 2021, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to Vice President Kamala Harris’ denunciation of Supreme Court packing in El Salvador:

“Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed their deep concerns about the state of ‘El Salvador’s democracy” on Sunday after President Nayib Bukele and his supporters in the legislature voted to fire all five of the Justices on the El Salvador Supreme Court in retaliation for their striking down some of Bukele’s policies as unconstitutional.

“Has there ever been a less self-aware administration in American history than the Biden-Harris group?

“Here is America, President Biden and Vice President Harris’ supporters in Congress are actively pushing a scheme to pack the U.S. Supreme Court out of fear that the Court might strike down some of Biden’s policies as unconstitutional. Exactly what the Bukele regime is doing in El Salvador.

“If Harris wants to set an example for El Salvador about the importance of an independent judiciary, she and her partner in the White House could urge passage of the Keep Nine constitutional amendment to ensure that neither political party can change the make-up of the Court without the much more difficult amendment process.

“Currently, HJR 11 in the House has 160 sponsors, and SJR 9 in the Senate has 18 cosponsors.  Shockingly not one of them is a Democrat.  The Vice President should either prove her support for an independent judiciary by opposing court packing in America, or quit worrying about it when a foreign nation steals a page from the Democrats’ playbook.

“When it comes to court packing, it is time for the Vice President to practice what she preaches.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or media@limitgov.org.

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May 5, 2021, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the Arizona legislature to adopt legislation that would prohibit critical race theory in public schools:

“The Arizona State House is properly exercising its powers to set curricula at the state level, which is protected under the Federal Constitution by the Tenth Amendment, in prohibiting any requirement to teach radical critical race theory that divides classrooms by not teaching equality, but instead white privilege and institutional racism in every facet of society. It does not create conditions for national reconciliation, but instead the civil strife we see today that endangers the very fabric of our nation. Every state should follow Arizona’s and others’ lead in reestablishing authority over its curricula, not just for the sake of our children — but for the preservation of the Union.”

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National Association of Scholars President Dr. Peter Wood, PhD. issued the following statement commenting on the dangers of critical race theory in public education:

“Critical Race Theory (CRT), is more of a pedagogical weapon than a theory. It encourages division among people who have genuine common interests and common humanity by concluding that the color of one’s skin defines one’s identity by placing them in one of two categories: oppressed or oppressor. In the name of antiracism, it plays with the minds of vulnerable children who are in no position to assert their own intellectual independence. To teach this theory as fact in K-12 schools or forcing its usage in mandatory seminars in college violates both intellectual and political freedom.

“College education has long been subjected to this divisive ideology, but it has moved from campus to culture quickly. CRT is now being taught as the de facto answer to race relations in the United States at K-12 schools. This should shock parents nationwide. Proponents of CRT often stigmatize and shame some children while giving victim status to others, all on the basis of race. Such racial stereotyping in education and employment already violates federal law, yet this is unlikely to stop the push into K-12 education since ‘positive discrimination’ is the goal of some CRT proponents.

“Schools that welcome and endorse Critical Race Theory may believe they are advancing a noble goal. In fact, they are sowing the seeds of misery for a whole generation of Americans and causing irreversible damage to the way students understand their nation, their neighbors, and themselves. Arizona’s state legislature will act for the welfare of its citizens by enacting legislation to prevent the forced indoctrination of young children into Critical Race Theory. And while it should be banned in K-12 schools where students have no means of escape, it should still be subject to voluntary intellectual inquiry at colleges and universities.”

NAS contact: contact@nas.org (917) 551-6770

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or media@limitgov.org.

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Launches StopDOJ.com to end political prosecutions by the Justice Department  

Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to recent civil rights abuses by the Justice Department:

“America is worth fighting for. Our basic constitutional liberties including the Fourth and Fifth Amendments have been eviscerated by the administrative state at the Justice Department that has been put on steroids by President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. Citizens of the United States have a right to the presumption of innocence, a right protecting them from the government engaging in malicious prosecutions against political opponents and to be free from the surveillance state snooping into personal business with no probable cause.

“In light of recent actions by the Biden administration including the Alaska, which fortunately did not end up in gunfire and death as happened with Breonna Taylor, it’s time that Congress wake up regardless of party and stand against executive branch abuses of power and the ongoing politicization of federal law enforcement agencies.

“That is why Americans for Limited Government has launched StopDOJ.com. If the executive branch becomes a hit squad to go after the president’s political opponents, then there will be no more liberty. After all, the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments prescribe that the federal government should protect individual liberties from any government encroachment. When it comes to individual rights, there can be no compromise.”

Click here to go to StopDOJ.com to take action against government abuses of civil liberties.

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

‘Recovery policies would tie Americans’ hands with velvet rope of government money’

Fairfax, Va. – This morning’s U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced the Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting the continued economic recovery, reopening of establishments, and continued government response related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement in reaction:

“In spite of President Biden’s attempt last night to claim credit for the Trump economic recovery, today’s announcement that the First Quarter Gross Domestic Product increased at an annual rate of 6.4 percent is 100 percent a result of President Trump’s economic recovery policies.  While Biden was urging state economies to remain closed, President Trump was creating the economic cushion to allow for a rapid economic comeback from the disastrous effects of the China virus in the first half of 2020.

“In fact, there is evidence that Biden’s insistence that unemployment benefits be increased by $300 a week in his ‘recovery’ package is likely the biggest drag on the economy as employers in many sectors cannot find people to employ even though more than 3.8 million Americans are claiming regular unemployment insurance and an additional 6.9 million people claiming pandemic unemployment insurance. Even Biden’s economic advisors must know that if people get paid more not to work than to work, they will sit at home or enter the black-market economy while still collecting government checks.

“This is so obvious that one can only surmise that team Biden wants tens of millions of Americans unemployed and dependent upon their largesse.  After all, their recovery policies amount to little more than tying as many Americans’ hands together with the velvet rope of ‘free’ government money.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at cmortensen@getliberty.org or 703-478-4643.

State election officials reject signatures at a rate 33 times higher than in 2020 election

Fairfax, Va. – California’s Secretary of State has rejected nearly 20% of all the signatures gathered thus far to force a recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom, according to figures released this week. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement in reaction to this:

“Apparently signature verification only matters when protecting the Democrat elites.  California’s rejection of 19.8 percent of signatures on the Gavin Newsom recall petition reeks of corruption as election officials who oversaw one of the least secure elections in history suddenly are worried about whether i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.

“Her party is engaged in a blatant abuse of power. The predominantly Democrat election officials rejected nearly one-in-five signatures on this recall petition compared to rejecting just .6 percent of absentee ballots in the 2020 election due to signature verification.

“This is a bad look for the home state of Nancy Pelosi as she tries to eliminate all state voter identification laws. Now she wants the same system imposed on the rest of the country.  Hers is a system where the political elites in Washington, DC would have absolute control over federal elections across the country.  What could go wrong? Based upon California’s current example, you don’t even have to imagine it.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

President Joe Biden cannot say he is tough on China and then transfer advanced pharmaceutical patents to them.

Fairfax, Va. – U.S.- based corporations have developed the most effective vaccines against the Covid virus and are generously distributing them to other countries. But sharing the vaccine “formula” with other countries would pose a national security risk. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in reaction to demands from other nations to access the intellectual property of America’s advanced biotech labs.

“Because the United States is the most generous country in the world, we are sharing our Covid vaccines with less developed countries. But sharing the intellectual property that underlies those vaccines poses a national security risk.

“Many countries are demanding the U.S. waive the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement that was made at the World Trade Organization in 1995 on pandemic-related products in order to get their hands on our advanced biotech knowledge that was critical to develop the vaccine in the first place.

“This national security concern is why the Trump administration explicitly rejected waiving TRIPS last year, and the Biden administration should do the same, as waiving would give sensitive national security-developed biotech to the rest of the world including China, which is in a race to build its own biotech arsenal.

“President Joe Biden cannot say he is tough on China and then transfer advanced pharmaceutical patents to them and other competitors  to exploit and bury U.S. manufacturers. If Congress wants more vaccines distributed globally, it can choose to appropriate more money to do that, but the American people have every right to expect that we will get our doses first.

“Americans for Limited Government strongly urges President Biden to put national security and the interests of U.S. citizens first by refusing to waive the TRIPS agreement.”

For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Fairfax, Va. –  Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in reaction to the Michigan Board of Canvassers rejecting a petition to limit Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s authority to keep her state in lockdown:

“Stand Up Michigan has done the near impossible in getting more than 500,000 voter signatures on a petition to limit Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s power to keep the state shut down.  Now, the Michigan Board of Canvassers, which certifies petitions, has done the unthinkable by not allowing the petition in a 2-2 partisan vote. Their vote effectively ends the right of citizen petitions in the state.

“In Michigan, we are seeing the living embodiment of the old saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. After Gov. Whitmer’s husband violated shutdown rules last summer, and the governor and her staff violate her admonition about flying to open states due to COVID concerns, it is the height of hypocrisy for the Democrats on the Canvasser Board to deny a citizen petition to allow all Michiganders to engage in the same freedoms that the governor herself enjoys. She blithely ignores her own edicts.  I do not begrudge Gov. Whitmer flying to Florida to visit her ailing father, I am, however, angered that through her illegally retained powers, she has denied tens of thousands of Michiganders that same ability to visit their ailing relatives.

“Gov. Whitmer should thank Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for rejecting the policies she follows and allowing her and anyone else to comfort and enjoy parents, spouses and children who are in their final days.  In a free country that is the individual’s decision not the government’s.

“The ugly scene of Whitmer supporters on the Board of Canvassers voting to stop a legal effort to afford the rest of Michigan the same rights that the governor freely enjoys is the ultimate example of Democrat privilege.”

For media availability, contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.

Kerry would willingly destroy hundreds of millions of lives through economic destruction.

Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement responding to White House climate envoy John Kerry’s concession that even if China and the U.S. eliminated all of their carbon emissions, it would still not achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Accords:

“John Kerry says that even if China and the U.S. eliminated all of their carbon emissions, it would still not achieve the arbitrary goals set out by the Paris Climate Accords. I want to welcome John Kerry to the opposition of the Paris Climate Accords. It is unconscionable that this ‘agreement’ gives China, the world’s largest polluter, free rein to continue developing until 2030, encouraging even more manufacturing outsourcing to the communist polluters in Beijing. We also are excited that Kerry concedes that the goals set out by the agreement are unachievable and futile, calling the whole enterprise into question. At best, the goals are a wish list that has been made even worse in the recent deal to increase these unachievable goals.

“Where we part with Kerry is that he would willingly destroy hundreds of millions of lives through economic destruction resulting from starvation on account of the policies he advocates, consigning developing countries to energy poverty. Under Donald Trump, America exceeded the Paris Climate Accord’s goals without even being a party to them. What’s more, the real cost of an expanded environmental regulatory regime from the U.S. government is the exportation of factory jobs to places like China where pollution is a way of life.

“We hope John Kerry is smart enough to understand the ramifications of his admission that no matter what America does, it will never be enough. But history has shown us that John Kerry isn’t that smart.”

For media availability, contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org .

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