Topic: Political Parties
Teaching the Remnant to Use the Tool This article explores the purpose of political parties, how that purpose has been hijacked, why and how we need to participate to take it back.by Jahfre Fire Eater
(Libertarian)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Liberty demands tolerance, especially tolerance of opinions and ideas that we disagree with. Liberals have long fooled themselves by labeling their efforts to seek out and eliminate diversity of thought, action and demeanor as a 'Celebration'. Anyone whose mind is not sealed completely shut can readily see that labeling a thing does not change its nature. Naming your cat, 'Dog', doesn't cause the feline to become more canine. Calling a crusade to stamp out diversity through indoctrination, medication and judicial activism a 'celebration' of diversity does not make it any less horrific. Such folly is nothing more than grand illusion that only works on true believers. No one else is fooled.
Sadly, the GOP is quickly following suite, creating a grand illusion of monumental proportions. This is nothing new, the GOP follows trends set by Democrats; they always do, and have done so throughout the 150+ year history of the party. Many former Democratic Party initiatives have, over time, been adopted by the GOP. Not in their original form, we should be so lucky, no, over time GOP leaders take the worst aspects of the Democratic Party ideals, feed them steroids then tout them as solely Republican ideals. The result is our current political climate where the November general elections boil down to the choice between the lesser of two evils in the eyes of most Americans. We're left with no other choice but to vote against something because by the time November comes around, there is really nothing left to vote for. This article is going to explain two things, first, how this happened, and second, how that trend is rapidly coming to an end, regardless of the efforts heaped onto the latest GOP grand illusion in a massively naive effort to avoid reality by pretending it doesn't exist.
Nearly 100 years of socialist indoctrination via public schools, television, corporate marketing and currency debasement have led us to our present culture in which most Americans base their world view on misconceptions, lies and the words of false prophets. They have relentlessly, generation after generation sapped our will, sapped our intellect, sapped our integrity and sapped our spirit until we are as we see today; afraid of those who still exhibit these once respected qualities; afraid of our passion; afraid of those who carelessly jab at our fragile egos; afraid of taking responsibility for our actions as individuals and afraid to act out of unison with the herd.
The great news I'm about to share should hearten many readers because if you are reading this post you are more likely to be a registered Republican than not. The good news I have for you is that the GOP is the most powerful tool we have for regaining our dignity. However, in order for that to happen, we have to USE the tool ourselves rather than let others use it for us. Oh, silly me, others do not use the power of the GOP for us, they use it for themselves; and the use it ON us...or at least they used to. Never again on me. I have learned to use the tool for myself.
In order to grasp how to make proper use of a party, one must first understand what a party should be used for. When I was in the Navy I was required to master basic tool training. My dad was a craftsman; he made things. He was a mechanic and a carpenter for fun and thrift; He was a tool user and, by trade, a tool maker at the Ingersoll Rand. He taught me how to use tools for their intended purpose just by virtue of growing up around him. The Navy didn't ask or care if I knew how to use tools. They didn't even assume I knew what tools were called. They made us learn Navy names for Navy tools regardless of what we may have called them in rural Pennsylvania. The Navy has a well defined goal and time-tested practices for ensuring that each job is done right even though the people doing the jobs come and go, often without ever actually having to use the Navy for its intended purpose. The GOP does just the opposite. The GOP encourages people to not understand how the tool works because doing so consolidates the power in the hands of those few who know how to use it. If you have read this far and you have never known that this is done intentionally by GOP leaders, you have just finished your first lesson in politics. Congratulations! Self-education is CPR for the GOP.
Our socialist indoctrination institutions, a.k.a. public schools, do not teach citizens how to use the tools of politics for their intended purpose. I do teach that and I am here to tell you, Americans want to learn. I've been helping individuals begin to participate in the GOP for some time now and to my great satisfaction and sometimes to my wonder, they are far more eager to learn this than I initially dared to hope. This is not my opinion but a fact that I have seen with my own eyes over and over again in ever increasing numbers and, incredulously, it is totally invisible to the defenders of the status quo, the builders of the grand illusion, the fear-mongers, the empire builders, those enemies of liberty who lead both major political parties in the United States of America today, the socialist elite and the neo-conservatives; they are two sides of the same bad penny and their days are numbered. Self-education is CPR for the GOP and the beyond the revitalization of the GOP lies the salvation of our great Republic.
A political party is not a brand. It is also not a religion or a faith, a tattoo, a certification or even a club. Certainly, one can find large factions of party members who believe their party is one, or several of those things. Of course, there are shades of each of those things in the nature of a political party. But to believe your party is only those things is to miss its intended purpose entirely. A political party is a tool that individuals can use to leverage their personal values in government.
This is good time for a break. Go get some water or walk around the block. The realization that a party is a tool for you to use as an individual is something most people I encounter have never heard and have never imagined. It takes some time to sink in. Take that time, your future depends on it. Before you go though, please re-read the previous paragraph and take note of how you feel about it. Most people I talk to face-to-face suddenly feel more alive, more powerful and more hopeful than they have in a long time after discussing the contents of the preceding paragraph.
Welcome back! It is a fallacy that the GOP is a brand and that everyone who joins the party believes in the corporate image of that brand. I point out this fallacy because I believe it is leading to the accelerated destruction of the United States by fostering and encouraging political apathy among those who are willing to accept the fallacy of a party-as-brand as fact. You see, since we have only two viable parties, per such a limited definition as a brand allows there can only be a choice between brand X and brand Y. Limiting choice is a tactic of central planners and those who seek power for selfish reasons. It is a tactic that acts to stagnate and corrupt the advancement of our potential as intelligent beings. The perpetuation of this fallacy has led to our current situation where elections boil down to a choice between the lesser of two evils...although I do not personally believe in evil, it is just an expression to describe the nature of the results of certain patterns of thought.
Libertarians were the first large faction of Republicans to accept this fallacy and fundamentalist Christians are poised to be the next. As a result, decades ago, libertarians left the GOP and started their own party, their own brand. They bought into the illusion of limited options through party branding and have been marginalized by that choice ever since. As rational and logical as most Libertarians pride themselves on being, I believe they are naive, unwitting victims of an intentional political strategy to remove the conscience from the GOP. They have chosen a tool that does not work yet they spend countless hours bickering amongst themselves over what best defines a Libertarian; comparing credentials for pecking order and ego-stroking. The LP is impotent as a means of leveraging individual values in government. The same is true of every 3rd party. The only reason to register with ANY party is to be eligible to participate in the candidate nomination process, a primary or caucus system. By the time the November general elections come, party affiliations are meaningless. If one does not participate in the candidate selection process it is akin to having someone else fill your grocery cart with no input from you. You remain responsible for paying the bill whether your apathy results in a cart full of prime rib, a cart full of Twinkies or a well balanced selection of nutritious foods. Participation, USING the right tool, is your ONLY hope for influencing the outcome.
Third parties are not constructive tools at all because they produce no lasting product as in political results. At best, they are political crow-bars, only capable of tearing things down but virtually incapable of building anything useful or of lasting value. The GOP leaders smile knowingly and encourage the LP members to be satisfied with their play-skool crow-bar. It keeps them from becoming political craftsmen and learning how to use the more powerful, the MOST powerful tools that are available, the GOP primary/caucus nomination process. This, of course, leaves those most powerful tools in the hands of fewer people who know how to use them...exactly as they planned. You see what they have built with them. It is time to take the tools out of their hands for good. At best, 3rd party affiliations are badges that convey ego-based status among others who wear them. They have no influence on outcomes.
I have made it my purpose in life to teach as many people as I can how to use those GOP nomination tools again. I'll tell you why...but not just yet. I have more tool-talk to present before I reveal my personal motivations.
The internet is a tool unlike any we have seen before but in the end it is simply another tool and to get the best results from it requires planning and execution; knowledge about how to best use the tool. This tool has made freedom of association a reality rather than a platitude. The internet tool has also made self-education possible for the first time in history. Individuals do not have to rely on official sources for their information. Like-minded individuals are now not only free to associate with each other, they are actually ABLE to do so, even across vast distances. That in itself is an unprecedented leap in favor of individual liberty but that is only one part of the Internet tool's enormous ability to change our future for the better. The other major way the Internet empowers individuals is its ability to make politics and government transparent. Those who are tuned into the right on-line sources can all get the truth instantly, everywhere, with no media or government spin (which are converging towards being the same thing quite rapidly.) They no longer have to be glued to the cable news to watch endless repetition of the same headlines hour after hour just in case they miss the occasional important piece of information. They no longer have to wait until the appointed 'news hour' to get a distillation of the events of the day that has been filtered and spun, 'produced' as infotainment or propaganda for their consumption and continued indoctrination. The information age may have gotten started a few decades ago but the wonderful advancement of mankind that the information age fosters is just getting started this decade.
To put the potential of the Internet into perspective, consider America 200 years ago. There was no mass media. There were newspapers but they were not widely circulated outside the city where they were printed. Also, many people could not read. Therefore, those who could read either read news to others or just told them what they thought was important. News traveled slowly and with much spin because every individual who it passed through, adjusted it to their own imperfect understanding or deliberate manipulations. As literacy rates increased and transportation improved, newspapers became more widely circulated and read. This consolidated the power of information into the hands of a few wealthy publishers for good or for bad, there wasn't much an ordinary citizen could do to change it. Then came radio and suddenly even people who could not read were able to get the news first hand. This led to the rise of the great orators and to the rise of great seas of emotion laden people roused to action by powerful speakers such as FDR and Adolph Hitler. Still the news was controlled by a powerful few. Then came television which eventually gave rise to the image of power being more important than the words of power. Even today television shapes the way people perceive the world through the use of powerful images and sounds. But something new is taking hold, the Internet is setting the world of news and information on its ear. Instant news everywhere, free association, spontaneous organization, rapidly increasing transparency in government and finance. It is getting harder and harder to do anything without some random citizen being able to spot it, share it and act on it either individually or as a mass movement. The internet is changing the way civilization governs itself.
The future looks very bright from where I stand even though there is an adventure of epic proportions on the road from here to there. For some, the adventure will end in disaster or even tragedy. The defenders of the status quo are mighty and their most powerful tools, fear and ignorance, are all that many of their loyal followers can recognize due to their constant bathing in such vile pollutions of body, mind and spirit. They have not just developed a tolerance for it but along with that tolerance has come a severe addiction to it. Weaning them off that addiction and setting them on the course of individual liberty and the responsibility that comes with liberty will not be something they volunteer for. They will clutch and claw and wail and shriek their withdrawal pain. They will mindlessly lob grenades against those who would free them. I have no illusions that restoring the GOP to its original good intentions against the ravages of the imperialistic socialist plague embodied by Democratic Party leaders will be fun or that it will be easy or that it will be quick. I just know that it is our only hope to avoid the violence and chaos that lies ahead on our present course. The United States of America is descending rapidly on the death spiral of an empire in decline. Mankind has traveled this spiral before. Our leaders are interchangeable with the leaders of previous empires, none of which still exist. Their motivations and choices and most importantly, the consequences of those choices that we all must bear, to our immense horror, are well documented and interchangeable as well.
Holy cow, I said that the future looks bright then I painted a picture right out of hell. Sorry about that. Reality doesn't defer to our illusions. Better to be prepared for the worst and have it be unworthy than to be unprepared and have it be what it has always been in the past. The reason the future looks bright from my vantage point is that I am not blinded by a grand illusion. I see the vast sea of disgruntled, formerly apathetic conservatives who have left the tool, the GOP primary, in the hands of people who used it to build an engine of destruction, fear and hate. I see them rising from their couches, turning off their televisions and exercising their rights of free association and self-education. I see them, I know them, I am them and I am here to stay. The walls of illusion that are built so that others might more easily pretend I don't exist are full of holes. Look. See. I am everywhere. I'm your neighbor. You see me on the ski slopes and in the grocery store. You see me in traffic and in your workplace. I know you are not blind even though you try mightily to convince yourself that you are. I am part of a tsunami of political craftsmen who are learning to use the tool. Not for one election, not for one issue, nope, we're here to stay and we will not accept the fallacy of political parties being brands that exclude one kind of voter and are only open to a very narrow swath of American citizens.
I promised I'd tell you why I am devoting my every last resource of time an money towards educating the vast sea of apathetic conservatives on how to use the GOP primary to leverage their values in government. It is because those people, the 80% of registered Republicans who stay home every primary season and let other choose their candidates, they are my peers. We are all doing this together for the advancement of mankind. We do not want our children to be harnessed as breeders to provide bodies for the forever-war that our current leaders crave. We believe in peace, prosperity, smaller federal government, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty because those are the foundations of our great nation.
The best part of this historic political coup is that our enemies don't believe we exist...yet. They are fooled by illusions of their own creation and by the colorful images and sounds that their old reliable media outlets think they want to see and hear. It is a beautiful thing to watch and it will be a remarkable thing for future generations to study.
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2007 Jahfre Fire Eater, all rights reserved.
Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Last modified: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2007-10-24 04:44:33
I have three observations regarding your article.
First, it strikes me that you spent a whole lot of time arguing for using the GOP as a tool for liberty, but you gave almost no suggestions as to HOW to do that.
Second, it also strikes me that your argument could work just as well for the Democratic Party. You may have trouble believing this, but more libertarian-leaning folks come originally from the left than from the right, and I'm one of them. For me, the idea of working within either major party is disgusting, but if I had a gun to my head and had to pick between the two, I'd pick the Democrats....not because I like any of their platform (I don't) or their leading candidates (I don't), but because I just can't stomach the Republicans.
Dr. Ron Paul is a lone exception, and I hope he does well this year, but I really don't think that your analysis indicates any strong reason why it has to be the Republican Party that should be the party of choice for taking back America rather than the Democratic Party.
Third, while I understand your criticism of the LP, I have to take it to task to a certain degree. I agree that the LP has shot itself in the foot on numerous occasions and continues to do so to this day. However, the main reasons that the LP hasn't gotten anywhere (like other third parties) are not the ones you listed. The main reasons are: (1) The presidential election is determined by the Electoral College system rather than by popular vote, and there is no proportional representation in Congress, all of which effectively undermines working with a third party. (2) The campaign finance laws and ballot access laws are specifically written and designed by the two major parties to do everything possible to discourage third party activity. (3) Elections place a premium on personal popularity. If you aren't personally popular, wealthy, and famous (regardless of your positions on the issues), neither the electorate nor the media is willing to pay any attention to you except in the most extraordinarily unusual situations. Even then it's still hard to get any attention (e.g. Dr. Paul's campaign).
Posted By: Mrs. Fire Eater
Date: 2007-10-27 19:17:10
All of the commenters objections are dependent on one thing - that media, rather than individuals, are in control. The problem is not the system, the problem is folks staying home and expecting the system to work without them. Participation is required, required in order for liberty to prevail.
How? Become an active member of the party that represents your values. Attend their meetings and voice your concerns and interract with the party in a real, active way. Help the process and participate in the voting system, be it a primary or caucus.
Perhaps I am missing something, but I fail to see how the party of big government is any way representative of libertarian values. And the LP left the RP, not the DP, so I'm terribly confused. I'm a Republican because this is a republic, and it is Republican principles (if not the party's current direction) that are closest to my own. The Dems have been after our liberties from the beginning. They know what's best for everyone and will pick your pocket and legislate their morality, liberty be damned. (This is the take of the current RNC leadership that I take issue with, and must participate in the party in order to turn around. I can stay home and whine that the party doesn't represent me anymore, or I can participate and raise my voice, "Hey, you guys! That Bush fellow is a freakin' DEMOCRAT!!" hee hee) The problem with the RP is that they have been taking their cues from the Democrats and the media instead of standing up for the principles of the party - so, no wonder conservatives stay home; no wonder the masses are confused. Who's who? In my activities, I find that local Republicans (as opposed to RNC leadership and the current crop of candidates) are angry and eager to return the party to it's founding principles, which by default are libertarian principles due to the ideals of the rule of law, free enterprise, limited government and state's rights.
Walt, if you think you are a libertarian, you are either terribly confused about what libertarian means, or terribly confused about what the party platforms are or both. Or maybe I read too fast.... I misunderstand much, so feel really free to correct. It's how we learn.
How, again, because that was a great criticism of the article. (Sorry, hun.) And you are right, it works for anyone, Dem or Pub. Get thee to the party who's PLATFORM most closely represents your values and work for those values through the party. Pick one of the biggies because they are both jackhammers, while the rest are no more than bent awls. As to the system... you would prefer majority rule? As in mob rule? The very thing our constitutional government was designed to prevent? Or would you prefer Isreal, where a person wins a majority vote with only 14%?
I'll take my republic, thanks. What I can't take is the apathy. It is the lack of education and participation that is the problem, not the system.
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2007-10-27 19:51:52
Hi Walt,
Thanks for taking the time to read my article. I need to work on keeping them shorter because many people can't be bothered to read more than a few paragraphs. I see that Mrs. Fire Eater beat me to the punch, she is a prickly pear, for sure. :-) I guess Saturday evening is the best time for her and me to get around to writing since we are both fully invested in winning the GOP nomination for Dr. Paul.
You brought up some great points, many that I will elaborate on in future articles but briefly:
I didn't say the GOP is a tool for liberty. I simply said it is a tool. What it is used for depends on who is using it. What I did say is that the GOP is the most powerful tool for promoting personal values in government. I also said people who would like to promote libertarian principles have left it in the hands of people who are opposed to promoting liberty. That isn't the tool's fault. It is the fault of those who are not using it. Those who do not participate at all as well as those who choose 3rd parties. I did say very explicitly that the ONLY way to use the tool to your personal advantage is to register with the party and participate. By that, I meant participation in both the nomination process for candidates as well as the adoption of by-laws that govern that party. Only those who use the tool have any influence over what is built with it. Showing up every 4 years to vote is the only sure way to waste a vote. (I intend to write about wasted votes in the near future.)
Yep, you're right that the same can be said of the Democratic Party. I didn't mention that because the Democratic Party is NOT a useful tool for leveraging my personal values. For the past 200 years or more the Democratic Party and its predecessors have been aimed at creating a strong federal government with a small number of elite who rule over the entire land, homogenizing the States and revoking their sovereignty. So as a tool for promoting liberty of any kind, the Democratic Party isn't a good one to start with in my opinion. Especially for the past 100 years since it adopted a decidedly Socialist agenda and tactics.
Finally, yes, I agree with the reasons you mentioned for why the LP and all third parties are not useful and can never be useful as tools for influencing our government. You simply enumerated reality; we have to start from where we are. Again, the LP is a tool so I don't mean to criticize the tool. I criticize the people who would choose such a useless tool for such an important purpose as influencing the future of our great nation. We live in the United States of America with its constitution and all the laws as they are today. The electoral college is one of the primary things that holds this country together. A popular election for president would undermine the very foundations of our Republic by eliminating the concept of States. Fortunately, eliminating such a fundamental and essential aspect of our system of government can never happen so debating it is merely an exercise in academic futility. We need to start change by recognizing where we are. As in chess, you can't just randomly put pieces where they do you the most good.
I have been a libertarian for most of my life, as long as I can remember. I was even a Libertarian for a short while, as was Ron Paul. Both he and I realized that we had chosen to mine gold with a toothpick and we wised up and registered as Republicans. Not because we like what the Republican leadership is doing but because the only way to take the tool away from them is to use it ourselves. The LP can scratch away at the mother lode until the end of time and never have one flake of gold to show for it. The GOP is top-of-the-line mining equipment and the current leadership is using it to dig a cesspool...and we're all floating in it while they dig deeper and deeper. Yours in peace, prosperity and individual liberty. Jahfre Fire Eater
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2007 Jahfre Fire Eater, all rights reserved.