2000

2000

Ron Paul

Lowest House Scores
     The lowest score in the House was registered by Engel (D-NY). He was one of four Democrats to achieve a perfectly awful zero, on the economics portion of the index, the others being Berman (D-CA), Gephardt (D-MO) and Kennedy (D-RI). By scoring a zero on the economics portion of the index, Minority Leader Dick Gephardt established himself as the true counterpart to Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), who scored a 100 in a prior year.
     The lowest scoring Republican in the House was Gilman (R-NY), with a 30. Six Democrats, all Blue Dogs, got as high as 69. Congressman Virgil Goode, a Democrat turned Independent from Virginia who was endorsed by the Republicans for re-election, scored a 76 and was categorized as a "libertarian." Feels good, Virgil, to be free!

Difficult House Votes
     From the Republican perspective, the most difficult vote was continued funding for the Space Station. Eight Republicans voted completely for free enterprise except for one vote. Four of these Republicans voted for continued funding for this billion dollar techno-boondoggle.
     From the Democratic perspective, the most difficult vote was liberalizing the embargo on Cuba. Twenty-four Democrats voted completely against free enterprise except for one vote. Nineteen of these Democrats voted for limited trade with that communist country. We who believe in free trade believe it will be mutually-beneficial and will, in the long run, undermine authoritarian rule in that country. What must those nineteen extremists in the Democrat Party be thinking?

Senate High Scores
     In the Senate, a four-way tie for first place, with Senators Bennett (R-UT), Gramm (R-TX), Kyl (R-AZ) and Nickles (R-OK) each scoring 85. Other high scorers were Grams (R-MN), Gregg (R-NH) and Hatch (R-UT), 84, Santorum (R-PA), 83, and Crapo (R-ID) and McConnell (R-KY), 82. One perfect 100 was achieved, on the economics portion of the index, by Kyl.

Senate Low Scores
     The lowest scores in the Senate were registered by Reed (D-RI), 12, and Reid (D-NV), 13, which brings up the old saying, "Beware of Democrats in the Senate whose names are pronounced ‘Read’." One perfectly awful zero was achieved, on the economics portion of the index, by Wellstone (D-MN).

Difficult Senate Votes
     From the Republican perspective, the most difficult vote was continued authorization of heavily-subsidized crop insurance. Five Republicans voted completely for free enterprise except for one vote. Four of these Republicans voted for continued authorization of heavily-subsidized crop insurance.
     From the Democratic perspective, there was no identifiable "most difficult vote." Three Democrats voted completely against free enterprise except for one vote, each on different votes.

Index Compilation
     As the past, the 2000 Liberty Index of Congress is based on eighty roll call votes, forty each in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Twenty of these votes, in each house, address economic liberty, including votes on spending, taxing and regulatory policy. The other twenty address personal liberty, including freedom of speech and of religion, the right to keep and bear arms, equality before the law, and the proper deference of the federal government to the primacy of the individual, of the voluntary associations into which individuals join, and of local government.
     This year, votes concerning economic liberty included the overall level of spending, subsidies to a variety of industries, elimination of the marriage tax penalty and of the estate tax, land policy and free trade. Votes concerning personal liberty included intervention in the internal affairs of Colombia and of Kosovo, federal regulation of religious organizations and of firearms, choice in education, equal rights, the tobacco settlement, and campaign finance reform.
     As always, care was taken to insure that the final list of votes was fair in representing the libertarian viewpoint. For example, in the economics portion of the index, to have both votes in which the libertarian position coincided with the parochial interests of "the west" and votes in which the libertarian position coincided with the parochial interests of "the east." Also, so as to differentiate among members of Congress along a scale from Authoritarian (0,0) to Libertarian (100,100), to have some "easy" votes as well as some "tough" votes.

Rating Considerations
     As in the past, it was more difficult to assemble the votes for the personal liberties portion of the index. The main reason for this, we believe, is that the political spectrum has not yet completely re-positioned itself along the authoritarian to libertarian axis. There remain many people who continue to think like old-fashioned Liberals and Conservatives. We therefore have to infer a libertarian viewpoint from the available votes concerning personal liberties.
     Having mentioned the re-positioning of the political spectrum, it should pointed out that in the twelve years that I have been constructing an annual Liberty Index, a partial shift has been evident. Very few members of Congress fall along the old-fashioned Liberal to Conservative axis. While Republicans still suffer some inconsistencies in their dedication to liberty, it is clear that they are better on economic issues and no worse on issues of personal liberty.
     Even the word "libertarian" is assuming a new meaning in political discussion, something like a Conservative who is "principled" or "consistent," and who is more concerned with policy than with partisan political advantage. Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), who came to the 2000 Republic Liberty Caucus convention in Atlanta, Georgia, is representative of this "new" meaning. While we continue to disagree on certain issues, regarding most issues before the Congress, we are mainly in agreement.
     Increasingly, our small but growing numbers in the legislative chambers of our country, both at the state level as well as at the federal level, are viewing people such as Barr as allies in our great cause. Just as we believe free trade with people living under authoritarian rule will, in the long-run, spread human rights, so too we should believe that interaction with people like Barr will likewise advance the cause of liberty.

Clifford F. Thies e-mail

Past Chairman, Republican Liberty Caucus
Professor of Economics and Finance
  at Shenandoah University