E TU REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS?
Mainstream Republicans are starting to notice the Republican Liberty Caucus, RLC. Founded in 1991, during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, the RLC took the stated principles of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater and Robert Taft and made them the foundation of their movement. It bills itself as ‘The Conscience of the Republican Party.’
Nineteen ninety one was about the time I stopped my almost continuous 36 year subscription to National Review. It was also about the time I switched my registration to Libertarian after I started having doubts about exactly where the GOP was headed and increasing doubts about the elder Bush’s commitment to smaller government.
After all, the Berlin Wall had fallen and the Iron Curtain had lifted off Europe. So what was the purpose of the huge totalitarian bureaucracy that we’d have to tolerate to defeat international communism that William F. Buckley had told us about? I’d begun to think I’d missed something.
What I, and many like-minded people had missed was the fundamental flaw in the assumptions of the Cold War. We all knew that communism could never match the free market in production. We all knew the Soviet Union was falling far behind us, so how could such a system, mired in bureaucracy, ever truly be a threat to us? Of course, it couldn’t.
The second thing that never occurred to us was what would happen to the military-industrial complex when and if we did defeat international revolutionary socialism. We should have known that bureaucracies never simply folded up their tents and went away. There would always be other justifications for their perpetuation. The military-industrial complex found it in Islamic terrorism.
So I migrated to the Libertarian Party, the Constitutionalists, back to the Libertarians and finally back to the GOP with the candidacy of Ron Paul. In the meantime, I did a lot of thinking and reading. I think there are a lot of people like me.
Now, John McCain, as the 2008 nominee is the head of the Republican Party but that offers no solace. But, I am sticking with the GOP because of the disastrous results of 2008. The Libertarian nominee, Bob Barr, Constitutionalist nominee Chuck Baldwin and Alan Keyes didn’t even combine for 1% of the vote despite widespread disillusionment with the two main candidates.
So now what do we do? The Barack Obama administration is far more radical that of Bill Clinton, who despite the radicals in his, had a strong commitment to free market principles for new proposals, although he was at least as committed to the perpetuation of the existing bureaucracy. There is no doubt that Barack Obama wants to expand the bureaucracy exponentially. He is far and away, the worst news for individual freedom in American history.
Elections are looming and the RLC has been growing and is flexing its muscles. We are being noticed. When Rush Limbaugh, Bill Kristol, Bill Bennett, Frank Rich and Ben Stein start criticizing the movement and its titular head, Ron Paul, you know it is scoring some big points.
The RLC was instrumental in toppling Jim Greer, the autocratic Florida Republican State Chairman. Candidates are noticing and currying our support. In Texas, the RLC has endorsed 16 candidates and it has extended its endorsement in 16 others.
For candidates for United States Senate and House, I suggest that we draw up a series of planks that any candidate seeking our endorsement pledge and sign a commitment to work for. Further, every candidate should be made aware that we will be grading them on their performance very frequently during their terms, if elected.
I can see no room for variation in this. They must be held accountable for their actions, once in office and be aware that we are watching them. As M. Stanton Evans, one of the original staffers of National Review said, once elected, an office holder should be viewed as the enemy. Any office holder should be viewed as an enemy of freedom!
I suggest the following list of positions:
- To sponsor legislation to repeal of all the Federal Reserve Acts,
- To sponsor legislation to repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment,
- To sponsor legislation to repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment,
- To sponsor legislation limiting military commitments to 90 days without a declaration of war,
- Irrespective of the outcome of the recently heard, McDonald vs. City of Chicago case, to sponsor legislation defining the Second Amendment as giving the people the right to keep and bear arms and removing the Amendment from the purview of the courts.
These five positions I submit should be regarded as nonnegotiable. Between them, they will help choke out the life of the Washington behemoth and will help bring it to heel. The first two choke it at its trachea. Without money, Washington can’t continue its assault upon the states and citizens.
Numerous observers have noted that the Seventeenth Amendment deprived the states of representation to the federal government. Unmentioned is that it also deprived the states of a mechanism to order the proposal of additional amendments. With state power thus restricted, it helped spawn the unbridled power that is Washington tyranny today.
The fifth is self-explanatory.
To sponsor legislation to either the repeal of the 1947 act that established the Central Intelligence Agency or to transfer its function to the Congress where Congress can reassert its authority over foreign policy as it is supposed to. The President does Congress’ bidding, not the other way around,
To sponsor legislation to end all foreign military involvement within 2 years and the closing of all foreign American military bases within 10 years,
To sponsor legislation reasserting Congress’ authority over the courts by removing certain issues, such as abortion, from court purview and letting them devolve to the individual state,
To sponsor legislation to end every cabinet level position other than Defense, Justice, Treasury and State and to transfer the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to the Department of Defense and to end all of sub-departments of every one of the eliminated department.
Barack Obama is shaping up for the Democrats as worse than a combination of Herbert Hoover, James Carter and George H. W. Bush combined. He is a one-termer for sure.
This is an opportunity to make these next two elections referenda on The Constitution; to force it, front and center, into the debate. In the process, hundreds of thousands of bureaucratic leeches should be sent packing back to their homes.
Everyone displays interest. Even liberal Democrats respond with interest when The Constitution is invoked. This is an educational opportunity of a lifetime.
The vilified Glenn Beck is one of the few, if the only, national radio or TV host who has seen fit to criticize both Democrats and Republicans for their excesses. I have seen him blasted by both conservatives and liberals, which to me means he’s doing something right.
Just last week he featured the World’s Smallest Political Quiz on his program. The quiz gets away from the liberal-conservative, left-right, Democrat-Republican paradigm that has been at the base of just about all political discussion in this country. It was this quiz that showed so many people that they were libertarians, at heart. Libertarian ideas are ascendant.
In a nutshell, I think that if you want to destroy yourself with alcohol, drugs, sex or gambling, you should be free to do it. Just don’t try to turn around and force me to subsidize the disasters that result.
And, you should be free to be a bigot or racist in your own affairs, just so long as you don’t hurt someone else’s physical well being or his property but once more, you’d better be ready to suffer the economic consequences of your actions. If you don’t want to associate with me or anyone else for whatever reason, you will pay a price, directly or indirectly.
And don’t come knocking on my door to send me or my children off to fight your battles. I’ll be ready to defend this country, when an enemy comes here.
Personally, I would be very reluctant to vote for any candidate who wouldn’t sign on to, at least, the first four planks. Washington, D.C. is a hydra-headed monster. The people and Congress must guard their power jealously so that this doesn’t happen again.
These would just be for starters. I am sure that any libertarian could come up with a whole group of others. So, put on your thinking caps, guys. I don’t think we’ll have another chance to save this country.
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Tue, Mar 9, 2010
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