Calls for party unity are absurd before any attempt has been made to address the reasons for disunity in the first place. by Jahfre Fire Eater
(libertarian)
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Grand Old Party of the Republic is neither so grand nor as devoted to the Republic as many of its members apparently believe.
The Broken Tool
Tools allow individuals to leverage their input to create things. Some political parties, specifically the GOP and Democratic parties are tools individuals can use to amplify their efforts to create electable candidates; candidates who will promote and uphold the values, principles and priorities of the active members. Government leadership is the product created by party politics.
Notice the emphasis on the word "electable" - this means I do not include third parties or independents as effective political tools; they cannot reliably create electable candidates. So, I see all of them as social clubs where people who choose to self-marginalize pantomime political activism. I'm not knocking them, that choice is none of my business. I simply don't think voluntary self-marginalization is constructive political behavior.
The GOP and Democratic parties are the most powerful political tools on the planet. Leaving them in the hands of your enemies is nothing to feel all self-righteous about in my book. Today the GOP is broken in such a way that it only produces candidates and party leaders who are virtually indistinguishable from Democrat leaders in the areas of:
- Foreign policy (meddling interventionist) - Fiscal and monetary policy (Keynesian/Progressive) - Belief that voluminous government interference is better than free markets (Socialist/Fascist).
For too long, too many citizens have been apathetic, or too trusting in an illusory brand, enabling politically active citizens to steer the GOP into dangerous, immoral and decidedly anti-conservative policies; those formerly the sole domain of Democrats. Now that their behavior has resulted in splintering the party, they clamor for "unity" and plea for more participation. Yet, they refuse to abandon the flawed policies that have brought the party to this fractured, impotent condition. Not that I'd expect them to. Many have invested a lifetime promoting big government, perpetual war and a massive nanny state. Many of them like that the GOP has become indistinguishable in these areas from the Democrats. I expect they will never change. Instead, they must be out numbered and replaced by decent, principled, formerly apathetic citizens who want to create candidates with morals and integrity.
The choice is simple; one can either accept more of the same or jump in to do the work necessary to change the kind of candidates produced by the GOP. Most of the folks who are already at the table are incapable of facilitating the return of conservatism to the GOP. The best we can hope is that some will have the sense to not get in the way. Many will understand their time is over even if they can't acknowledge their role in achieving the decrepit state of our union today.
The Republican Party, for all its flaws, has been the best tool for promoting conservative principles, limiting the size of and scope of the federal government, enhancing the opportunities available to every citizen and leaving states and local communities to create most rules for themselves; until recently.
Today's GOP tends not to support leaving citizens free to choose diversity or create a community that reflects their preferences and priorities. Today's GOP believes in the same top down homogenization that is at the core of the Democratic Party. While the Democratic Party has traditionally been the best tool for imposing one set of rules on every community by pursuing a large, strong federal government, it has become increasingly difficult to tell the two parties apart on this distinction. The only real differences rest in which rights they are willing to oppress in the name of their goals.
Both parties now tend to elect individuals who will wield the power of government as a controlling, oppressive force rather than as a framework for enabling prosperity and freedom. Leaders of both parties view government as a weapon for forcing restrictions on the rights and opportunities of those who disagree with them. The GOP is broken in such a way that it is now only capable of producing war mongering empire builders who embrace destructive progressive Keynesian economic theories and Friedmanite, Statist monetary policy along with an addiction to a bloated, oppressive government to ensure their continued dominance.
Leadership of this nature is the same product the Democratic Party is tuned to produce and has been producing for a very long time. Both parties now rely on failed economic theories and disastrous foreign policy to promote their vision of the American Empire; an Empire based on debt and fear, all of which serves to give the State ever more control and power over the governed.
These destructive choices must be renounced and rescinded before the GOP can regain unity. Don't expect those currently holding positions in the GOP to change, they must be replaced. They have achieved their personal status by promoting the failed paradigm, they cannot renounce it now. They have already sold their integrity and conscience for their current positions.
Unity Requires Trust
Democrats unify around the false notion that benevolent government exists. This fantasy ensures people can cling to the hope of getting something for nothing...or better yet, getting something at the expense of those they feel should pay for it.
Republicans have traditionally unified around fear of the Democrat's unity, greed and envy. That isn't enough anymore. That fear-based party paradigm has led us to the current situation. Many people are coming to the realization that the Republican leadership has fooled them into selling future generations into poverty for political gain today. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Since the embarrassing loss to the stuffed suit Obama, legions of American conservatives are realizing the GOP is broken.
Will they be fooled again? The party will have to demonstrate principles and behavior worth unifying around before the hollow pleas for unity will be more than platitudes and bad theater.
Where did the Trust Go?
Political parties suffer fractioning and splintering when the membership begins to mistake the party for a club, a brand or a religion that requires blind allegiance. Back in the 70's the ideological libertarians split from the GOP, taking its conscience and integrity with them. I hold them accountable for letting the GOP fall into the hands of empire builders and war mongers. As a result of the mass self-marginalizing abandonment of the GOP by libertarians and unaffiliated club members, the major parties became identical in their determination to continue perpetual war and the immoral economics necessary to fund it.
Since the libertarians abandoned the field, the GOP has been run by former Democrats, the so-called "Neocons". It was they who co-opted Ronald Reagan's ideals and derailed the conservative momentum that started with Barry Goldwater; momentum that Reagan carried into his first term; momentum that he quickly lost under the guidance of the progressive Keynesian Neocons who surrounded him. There hasn't been more than a handful of conservatives in the GOP since the first year of Ronald Reagan's first term.
It is this group of progressives posing as conservatives who led the effort to repurpose the GOP into an engine for promoting and implementing foreign policy aimed at perpetuating eternal religious wars. They are also responsible for creating an enormous government to impose control on the citizens in order to harvest their earnings and votes. They encouraged GOP leaders to unlearn sound, conservative economics and to embrace the progressive Keynesian and statist Friedmanite policies as the means for funding the perpetual war. These flawed theories are the tools of despots and megalomaniacs because they promise a never ending source of funds for war, bribes and bullying.
These are economy-destroying policies that funnel the wealth of America into the pockets of a small circle of elite political insiders. They have turned the GOP into a tool that has only one purpose, to suck America dry fighting a never ending religious war -- just what Osama bin Laden has repeatedly stated as his ultimate objective -- and our two major political parties are carrying out his plan on a grander scale than even he dared to imagine possible. Even though bin Laden used the exact same tactic to bankrupt and destroy the Soviet Union, American leaders do not see they are doing exactly the same things; things bin Laden wants and expects them to do. They have even managed to convince a large segment of society that it is unpatriotic to oppose carrying out bin Laden's plan. Bush supporters thought it was unpatriotic to oppose him when he was implementing bin Laden's strategy and now that Obama is continuing to do the same thing, his supporters suddenly say it is unpatriotic to oppose him. The left and right have become incestuous caricatures of each other.
Progressive Economics Fueled the Neocon Take-over of the GOP
The farther away from the earth that sustains him mankind ventures the more devastating the collapse which forces the inevitable return to earth. This is true for our food supply, our energy usage and our addiction to the unearthly concept of fiat currency. Both parties now firmly believe that they can create something from nothing. It is no wonder conservative Christians balk at candidates who believe they are creators. It is also no wonder that liberal Christians see one who sets about creating something from nothing to be their perfect candidate. Conservatives should know that detaching the foundations of our civilization from the constraints of our natural world is the path of destruction.
May the Force be undone by the Business Cycle!
Since it isn't likely that the GOP will embrace conservative principles and save this nation, I'm expecting a full collapse into oppressive Socialism before there is any chance for recovery both economically and politically. For my generation and those ahead of us, the best days of the USA are behind us. Can there be a more morally reprehensible action than deliberately selling future generations into economic slavery to influence an election? Those are the consequences of the reckless policies of the past 40 years. Our generation will be hated for centuries by those who will pay for our immorality.
Repairing the GOP, restoring trust and providing a core of principles to unify around all require the renunciation of Keynesian economics and Freidmanite monetary policy. These are immoral tools of corruption and war. They must be denounced and abandoned by the whole of mankind before we can move forward from this age of perpetual war. Let's start today. It is up to the USA under the guidance of the Grand New Party to lead the way back to a sustainable culture and real, lasting peace.
Until the party tool is repaired, the better choice for recently motivated GOP membership is to define what principles they will unify behind then begin grooming candidates who will uphold and respect those principles. Do not accept candidates who will perpetuate today's failed status quo.
Who Will Change?
In the past six months, more and more people are realizing there is no difference between the Democratic leadership and the GOP leadership with respect to their willingness to bankrupt our nation as quickly as possible. Thus, the neo-cons are becoming ever more desperate in their pleas for blind party allegiance. They aren't willing or able to accept that the information age has made their traditional tactics transparent; rendering them obsolete. Their prime is past. They will be swept out... and the sooner the better.
The same people who plead for unity tend to paint those who demand the tool be repaired as enemies. We see them as temporary obstacles. Time is on our side and recently, the numbers are beginning to come to our side as well. This is why leaders of the GOP liberal faction-the politically whimsical conservatives such as David Horowitz and David Frum, disciples of Buckley and faux-nostalgic Reaganites-are attacking fellow GOP members. They fear and despise those who promote conservative principles. No big surprise there.
Fear is their primary tool, as always. Lies and bullying are their primary tactics...well learned from the Democrats. Principles are often spoken of with evangelical fervor but seldom, if ever, demonstrated...except on T-Shirts and bumper stickers, of course.
It is putting the cart before the horse to plead for unity without any attempt having been made at addressing the reasons for the splintering of the party in the first place. Until the GOP membership is renewed with individuals who will take responsibility for fixing the tool, cries for unity are just sad, pathetic reactions by the old guard defenders of the broken status-quo.
Large numbers of angry Republicans and disenfranchised conservatives refuse to rally around the continued promotion of hatred and fear the GOP uses to justify perpetual wars abroad, unsound fiscal policy to fund the ever grander bread and circuses at home and meddling in the affairs of foreign countries. These are historically tell-tale signs of an empire in full and unstoppable collapse. Our leaders are following in the footsteps of dozens of preceding empires only with more gusto and less awareness of what they are doing than some.
Will the renewed GOP membership be enough?
I have no idea. I don't spend much time worrying about things I can't control. I can only decide what to do for myself. Unfortunately, the GOP membership over the past several decades has elected leaders whose primary political traits can be summed up as "often wrong, seldom uncertain." This means to me that finding the way back to a core set of principles worthy of massive unity from this dismal starting point will take a lifetime or more. Since 1980 when it first appeared that conservative government was possibly to be our future, the GOP has continuously marched further to the left in every election and policy decision.
At the same time, generations of Republicans were taught that the party was a brand, or a club or a religion. Now these same misguided individuals act on the false premise that the party just needs to invigorate a significant portion of the disenfranchised membership and things will return to normal. That just isn't going to happen. There is no principled foundation for GOP members to unify around. The tool is broken
There are no signs that the GOP membership is going to act in time to halt the total collapse of our empire. Instead, they resemble the proverbial frog in a slowly heating kettle. No population ever rebels while in a state of comfort and security. The long depression we are entering will creep up over the years while the Obama regime becomes increasingly more oppressive and violent against the citizens. By the time the comfort erodes enough for people to revolt, they will be ready. It may take decades. Only after a time of significant decline will things be bad enough to foster revolution. That is when I finally expect unity around conservative principles to become prominent again, not today when the average person mistakes interventionist foreign policy leading to war, fiat currency and massive federal government growth for conservative principles. These folks are who currently run the GOP.
It is going to take a lot of individuals acting on their own, against the fetid tide of rotten policies for a long time to change the GOP in to something worthy of respect and unity. The current herd mentality trend of the Tea Party bovines and the various protest organizations who seek publicity with their chanting and sign waving don't realize that none of those activities constitute constructive political behavior. Most of the protesters from the 60s aren't still out in the streets today because they figured out how the system works. They got off the streets and took over both parties. Now they encourage their enemies to go protest in the streets...fools!
I am optimistic that in trying times more people will forsake apathy and come out to fix the GOP so it can produce leaders we are willing to unify behind. That day is still a long way off. There is a good possibility that Obama will be so destructive that the current leadership can whip up enough fear to win another election. That just means the eventual toppling of the neo-cons is that much farther away.
Restoring the GOP to Sound, Conservative Principles
It may take generations of consistent effective effort to bring a unifying, principled leadership into power from the bottom to the top of the party. It has only just begun. Restoring the principles of the rule of law, individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise and the freedom to defend these principles will take time. Entire generations who still cling to the current failed status-quo must suffer the consequences then teach their children and grandchildren to avoid such immoral folly in their lifetimes. It may take decades of constant struggle to finally eliminate the progressive taint that permeates the GOP today. Once that finally happens there can be unity. Then we will throw off the shackles of Socialism and Fascism and go forward with conservative principles restraining the growth and power of government. Between now and then it is up to individuals to ensure these principles do not go extinct from lack of practice.
Self-Righteous Self-Marginalization
A recent trend that will make restoring the GOP harder is that constructive political activism has been replaced by large, useless public spectacles - community based activism is often viewed as quaint and futile or else as disturbing and uncomfortable; eliciting reactions either patronizing or hostile, respectively. Republicans have largely abandoned their local communities to participate in ever larger public spectacles outside their communities, such as the recent Tea Party fad.
This is a great example of how our liberal culture has trained self-avowed conservatives to behave just like good progressive mobs should. Third parties and independents are also exhibiting their socialist indoctrination; choosing futility and the comfort of a like-minded herd rather than standing up to ruthless and unprincipled opposition who they KNOW intend to use the GOP to create more war mongering empire builder candidates. Shaping candidates and voting in a primary election is the ONLY reason to register with a political party unless you have aspirations to be a party climber or a career-oriented tax parasite.
The Enabled Citizen
How can Individuals affect a return to conservative principles by GOP leadership? First it takes a good reason for getting involved. Anger has replaced reason and principle as the primary impetus for political activity these days. Since anger is difficult for many people to embrace for extended periods, they resort to the activity that can be successfully fueled by occasional anger and mob mentality, the large public spectacle, the Tea Party, for example. Anger isn't enough to sustain most people for the long run or very useful in the day-to-day participation in community politics.
Being angry in large crowds or anonymously online is easy. Being civil to individuals who despise you and everything you stand for is hard. Most people opt for easy and count on others to take up the hard work of opposing bad policy in person, locally and regularly.
So, first decide on a reason. I've found that it is fun to promote your principles. Doing something fun is way better than doing something angry. Besides, who wants to participate in a party full of angry people? If anger is your reason, that's ok, just don't try to be effective one-on-one with anger as your primary motivation. Stick to the sign-waving mob spectacles.
The GOP is a huge ship heading 180 degrees from its stated course. Changing its course will take relentless effort over a long time period. This effort is the ONLY way the broken party can be repaired so it can produce leadership worthy of the unity needed to consistently win elections. This repair process doesn't start at the federal or state level and it isn't left to the responsibility of others; this process starts down the road a couple miles at the County courthouse or the school or at the local fire stations and it requires your attendance and participation. Ignoring the local starting point and avoiding the necessary commitment, for whatever reasons, will not repair the GOP.
Stay home and participate locally to oppose the unconstrained growth of government. Challenge local officials who encourage local addiction to the debt-based flow of federal funds. Leave the large, futile public spectacles to the hopeless glory seekers and career tax parasites. Ignore those who can't bear the thought of their effort going unrecognized, those who turn their charitable acts into public spectacles for the sake of their political career.
You have more power and freedom by avoiding these spectacles and acting as an empowered individual, an Enabled Citizen.
-Jahfre Fire Eater
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An enjoyable read. I'm at a point where I'm so frustrated with the GOP, which just nominated another Democrat-lite in its gubernatorial primary in my state.
I get the feeling it'll be a long time (if ever) before the GOP can put together the type of coalition that gave Reagan a 49 state victory or that ended 40+ years of Democrat Congressional dominance in 1994. They had their moments, but they seem to be chomping at the bit to go in the opposite direction of the one that gave them those victories.
But it is a time to look back on the past eight years of Bush-Hoover-McCain economics and figure out what brought us to this point so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes. And the tragic truth is that this disaster was avoidable. In its palpable disdain for all things relating to government, the Bush/Cheney Administration willfully neglected the government’s most important function: to safeguard the American people from harm.
“In their simplistic philosophy of ‘big business equals good, government equals bad,’ the Administration and the Republican Congress failed to conduct oversight and let the financial sector go wild. Without anyone regulating their actions, market excess destroyed the financial prudence that allowed a firm like Lehman Brothers to prosper for 158 years. Vast fortunes were made virtually over night, and now vast fortunes have been lost literally over night.
“The unfortunate irony is that the Bush Administration’s zeal to favor big business has now crippled it – and left the American people to pay the price. President Bush did nothing to stop this disaster, and now it’s clear he’ll leave the mess to the next president.
“Now our nation must decide who is better suited to end Bush-Hoover economics and return sanity and security to our economy. Senator McCain says the economy is not his strong suit, so he went searching for an economic advisor who could bolster his weakness. Who did he choose? Former Senator Phil Gramm. The same Phil Gramm who, as a Senator, was responsible for deregulation in the financial services industries that paved the way for much of this crisis to occur.
“A respected economist at the University of Texas, James K. Galbraith, said that Gramm was ‘the most aggressive advocate of every predatory and rapacious element that the financial sector has’ and that ‘he’s a sorcerer’s apprentice of instability and disaster in the financial system.’
“It was Phil Gramm who pushed legislation through a Republican Senate that allowed firms like Enron to avoid regulation and destroy the life savings of its employees, and it was Phil Gramm’s legislation that now allows Wall Street traders to bid up the price of oil, leaving us to pay the bill. Warren Buffet called the result of Gramm’s legislation ‘financial weapons of mass destruction.’
The cost of deregulation, whether we bailed out the market, or did nothing allowing them to fail would not have avoided the billions to recover. Now is the time to realize the mistakes and work with the President to repair.
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