Issue 157-8 August/September 1996
This November you will see a new party on the ballot - the Natural
Law Party. It was formed four years ago to prevent - not just react
to - the mounting problems eating away at the heart, spirit, vitality
and viability of America. Our present political system seems incapable
of making headway against crime, violence, drug abuse, declining educational
outcomes, the budget deficit and an utterly disastrous crisis of disease.
The system is largely coin-operated by special interests and the field
of politics has increasingly become a chaotic battle ground between
parties rather than a common ground for solutions.
Government is but a mirror of the people. But look at us as a society.
We are wracked with stress-causing epidemics of anxiety, fear, anger,
impulsive violent behavior, substance abuse and disease. Twenty-four
million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders. Sixty million from
hypertension. The collective stress has built up to create a sick, volatile,
disharmonious and divisive atmosphere throughout the population. Our
government, reflecting this social disorder, performs accordingly.
"Society sucks," says my bright 12year-old grandson. "All
politicians do is fight with each other and call each other names. And
kids like me across the country are afraid somebody is going to shoot
us or drive down the street in a black van and kidnap us. You adults
are screwing up our childhood." Even kids know what's going on.
Attacks by politicians on other politicians and the dysfunctionality
of party politics have soured voters everywhere. That's why more than
60% of our citizens now support the creation of a new, dynamic political
party. And that's why the Natural Law Party was created.
It was formed to promote conflict-free politics and innovative ideas
for breaking out of the stranglehold of stress and crisis. In this election
we will field some 1,000 candidates in all 50 states. Our platform can
be summarized by one word - prevention. We stand for prevention-oriented
government and proven solutions that are humane, cost effective, and
scientifically-validated. These new approaches can lower medical costs
by 50 to 70%, reduce crime by at least 40%, effectively permit a downsizing
of government, shrink the budget deficit and lower taxes through the
billions of dollars saved.
Health is an important plank in the party platform. The party supports
the widespread use of natural, prevention oriented health care, which
enlivens the body's own healing mechanisms. As Townsend Letter readers
know so well, real prevention (and not merely early detection of disease)
is how to best improve health and simultaneously reverse medical costs
- now $900 billion annually and metastasizing out of control.
Our current medical system is a disastrously expensive "disease
care" system which, in large part, has little control over the
things that really influence health - nutrition, stress, societal problems
and environmental toxins. Consequently, in the absence of prevention,
our system can never create a truly healthy society. Research indicates
that 50% of deaths and 70% of disease in America are self-inflicted
caused by an epidemic of unhealthy habits, such as improper diet, inadequate
exercise, smoking, and alcohol abuse that are further aggravated by
individual and social stress. The vast majority of disease is preventable.
Incredibly, Republicans and Democrats alike consistently ignore prevention-oriented
approaches. Medicare specifically bans funding for such prevention services.
No health care reform bills debated in Congress have focused on improving
health care. They deal only with problems in disease-care financing
and delivery, hoping to save money by streamlining and downsizing the
system.
Spiraling health care costs have dramatically increased the cost of
health insurance and 35% of U.S. citizens are either inadequately covered
or have no insurance at all. Health care expenditures have also placed
a heavy burden on American businesses and the cost of the goods and
services we produce. According to the Los Angeles Times, employee health
care costs for big business have skyrocketed from single digits to 25%
and even up to 50% of profits in recent years. If employee insurance
costs continue to rise, many companies will surely collapse under the
burden.
Now, with the baby boomer generation coming of medical age, we must
shift more resources to prevention. We have the knowledge. The research
on the efficacy of many "alternative" treatments is powerful,
yet these methods are specifically excluded from the U.S. medical care
system.
The Natural Law Party supports health strategies that focus on prevention
and strengthen the general health of the nation, thereby shifting our
national focus from disease care to health care. These programs include
prevention-oriented health education and natural methods, medicines
and supplements that work without side effects. Secondly, we support
the introduction of financial incentives that will help prevent abuse
of the health care system and ensure high-quality care. These include
(1) medical savings accounts for Medicare and Medicaid subscribers,
which will provide financial rewards for good health; and (2) vouchers
enabling Medicare and Medicaid subscribers to choose the health insurance
they desire, thereby promoting competitive costs and quality of care
among medical providers.
These kind of approaches can rescue Medicare and Medicaid from bankruptcy,
save the nation approximately $500 billion a year in health care costs,
and prevent untold pain and suffering.
Current approaches to fighting crime - more prisons and stiffer sentences
run into hundreds of billions of dollars and experts agree that they
are not effective. The cost of crime - in terms of money and human suffering
- is expected to escalate in coming years. The Natural Law Party supports
field tested crime prevention programs proven to significantly reduce
crime by both rehabilitating offenders and reducing the dangerous level
of destabilizing stress.
Among the methods we propose is an amazingly powerful technology of
consciousness that has been documented in more than 40 scientific studies.
Extensive research, published in leading scientific journals, has found
that when a small proportion of a population collectively practices
Transcendental Meditation there is a significant reduction in negative
tendencies, such as crime and sickness, and an upsurge of positive social
and economic trends throughout the population. The larger the group,
the bigger the effect.
In 1993, a widely-publicized two month demonstration of this program
in Washington D.C. reduced violent crime by 20%. Meditation dissolves
stress and generates coherence and harmony in individuals. When performed
by a group, the individual effects are magnified and radiate -just like
a radio transmitter sends out signals - into the collective consciousness
of the population.
The Natural Law Party believes that once societal stress can be reduced,
a more coherent atmosphere will be created for the establishment of
practical solutions to costly social problems.
In the area of environment and energy, the party seeks to promote renewable
and cost-effective energy production and conservation practices that
will reduce pollution and dependence on foreign oil resources. We also
support natural, sustainable agriculture. In education, we seek to employ
innovative programs to develop the inner creative genius of students,
increase IQ, improve learning ability and moral reasoning, and stem
the massive hemorrhage of school dropouts.
Politics as usual doesn't work anymore. The Natural Law Party stands
for new knowledge to revitalize America. It is the only party offering
programs to harness America's most precious resource - the health, creativity
and intelligence of all 250 million citizens thereby bringing both individual
and national life into accord with natural law. America needs this paradigm
shift, this directional shove.
For more information on the National Law Party, or to find out how
you can become involved, call 1-800-332-0000.
Martin Zucker, a health writer based in Los Angeles, is running for
U.S. Congress in the 27th District. You may contact him at 12405 Aneta
Street #6, Los Angeles, California 90066, or e-mail at 102254.361@CompuServe.com.
Natural Law Party Platform Embraces Wellness Concepts Natural Foods
Merchandiziser
Fairfield, Iowa - In the heartland of America, a new political party
was born in 1992 - the Natural Law Party. Trumpeting the importance
of sustainable agriculture, natural health care and preventive medicine,
the party now has more than 1,000 members on local, state and national
ballots for the 1996 elections.
The party has also fielded its own candidate for president - John Hagelin,
PhD, a quantum physicist who was first approached about the Natural
Law Party in 1992, and who says the timing and platform are right for
his run for office.
"A majority of U.S. citizens say they'd vote for a third party
candidate," he says. "And we have a set of ideas that make
sense. Eventually, we have to win because our solutions are the only
ones that make sense."
Hagelin says the foundation of the party platform is prevention versus
the crisis management style of the current political parties. Approaches
in line with the concepts of prevention include promoting natural health
care, energy conservation and sustainable, organic agriculture.
While skeptics say a third party win is not feasible in the high-cost
world of politics, Hagelin says a third-party candidate with the right
ideas can win, if people want to change the process. "People must
vote their conscience instead of worrying about 'wasting' a vote,"
he says. "If we don't vote our conscience, how can we expect the
legislators who win to do that?"
For more information on the Natural Law Party, contact 51 W. Washington
Ave., Fairfield IA 542556, 515-472-2040, fax 515-472-2011, e-mail info@natural-law.org.
The party also has a World Wide Web site at http://www.natural-law.org/nlp.