By Any Other Name

Have you ever noticed that libertarian and liberal both begin with the same five letters? Is it a coincidence, or not?

There are indeed folks who have begun to call themselves 'liberaltarians'. It is as though libertarians are seeing the light.

Somewhat, anyway. The precise nature of the change in heart isn't really important. The fact is that libertarians are a bit of a schizophrenic bunch: liberal on social issues while conservative on fiscal matters. It is fair to ask if you can have it both ways and maintain any philosophic consistency.

Can one really be fiscally responsible in public policy while essentially arguing that social responsibility is a radically different question? Why do we have the freedom to do almost anything we want personally (provided it does not violate that vague and rather self-serving platitude: so long as it doesn't harm anyone else) yet have no such similar freedom politically? Indeed, how can one reasonably argue that financial discipline and personal discipline do not go hand in hand? If you are no good at the one it is doubtful you can be particularly effective at the other.

In short, libertarians are essentially liberals who happen to like fiscal discipline. Yet such is like getting blood from the proverbial turnip. If folks are not personally disciplined they are not likely to be publicly disciplined. After all, we reap what we sow. Sow freedom, reap freedom, with all the errors that must grow from that field. But sow justice, the idea that some things are really right and others really wrong on their own merit, and we improve society by having bettered ourselves.

What are Moderates Really?

New polling suggests pretty heavily that the Democrats and President Barack Obama need the so-called moderate vote in order to win elections, while the GOP can rely on the conservative vote quite readily. This can be interpreted in several ways, but perhaps the most insightful is this: moderates aren't really moderates, as a group, but, rather, lean towards more traditional and familiar thoughts whenever in doubt.

That makes sense, in the end. For when there is a crisis, don't most people act based on what they know? When President Reagan was elected back in 1980 to stem the tide of Democratic and hence more liberal leadership, what was his appeal? To make America great again, based on the traditional American values of individualism and hard work. When the GOP ran the tide last November, what was the big question: nothing less than obtrusive, interfering government trampling the rights of the people.

The moderates responded as they knew how, by throwing out those who did not support real American values. That's why conservatives don't have to appeal too overtly to the presumed middle: they aren't actually in the center after all. They are in fact more moderate to conservative rather than being between the left and the right as they are generally portrayed.

Given the fact that so few people, about 20 percent or one in five, call themselves liberal, and it seems that what we truly have in our nation today is an overall aversion to liberalism. Even the presumed center appears to harbor similar doubts about the left, seeing as the Democrats need to get about 60% of the middle of the road vote to win major elections. It is a telling statistic, and does not bode well for any long term success for the party of Jefferson and Jackson.

Of course, the Democratic Party left the beliefs of those American stalwarts behind eons ago. But that is a tale for another time.

Repealing Obamacare, Part I

The newly in place House Republican leadership has scheduled a vote to repeal Obamacare for January 12th. That the effort almost certainly will not be successful is not important. What matters is the GOP make it a point to show the American public that they are different from their Democratic adversaries and fully intend to honor their campaign promises.

For far too long in the United States we have heard the jokes about Demopublicans and Republicrats. If either party is to become a majority party for well into the future, one of them must step up and show that they are really different. One of them must show that they really do care about doing what's right while also having an ear to the will of the American people when and where they should. We need a group of politicians truly dedicated to the Constitution and willing to work within its parameters, rather than stretch the credibility of the document until it becomes meaningless (health care reform justified under the Commerce Clause? Please).

What we have here is an opportunity of historic proportions for the GOP. The party must either do what it can to merit the trust it has been given, or become merely another manifestation of the mire which is political center. Hopefully, this vote will not be shallow symbolism but a first step in reclaiming government for the people, by the people, and of the people. More so than when Ronald Reagan said it thirty years ago, the time is now, America. Or more to the point, the time is now, Republicans. You fail to use your advantage if you do not push it.

A New Day in America

The American people have spoken, and the message is as clear as it is simple: 2008 was not the the kind of change that they hoped for.

So what if the Senate was never seriously in play? The House of Representatives is closer to the people anyway, and the results there were astounding: a 63 seat swing as of this writing, and perhaps a few more as close races are resolved. Republican gains in governor's seats and state legislatures were significant. This leaves the GOP with plenty to work with in the next two years ahead of the 2012 elections: 2/3rds of the federal government is still held by the Democrats, which allows room to criticize Washington excess all the more, while taking control of a redistricting process all but certain to aid further Republican political gains.

Yet even looking at the upper House, the GOP did gain big in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky, while Taking President Obama's old seat in Illinois. Couple this with a virtual Republican win in West Virginia, and there may be a virtual GOP control of the Senate anyway.

We now have true hope and change at our fingertips. If the GOP has learned anything, it is that a return to its roots appeals to the majority of Americans. Fiscal discipline, lower taxes, spending cuts, small government; all these things are important to the average Joe. Further, Americans don't want to apologize for being Americans. Part of the win last night was that most Americans believe in American Exceptionalism, the creed that it is the ideas on which our nation is based along with the drive of individuals who believe in themselves which has made our country great. There is no arrogance in that; it's actually rather humbling when felt properly. Americans quickly tired of their own President apologizing for their being American.

There is a new dawn in America. It simply came in 2010, and not 2008.

Come Again?

Nancy Pelosi thinks that there's a target on her back because she's been an effective, successful legislator?

That must be it. It can't be because she's a liberal tax and spend big government dinosaur, can it?

Just tellin' it like it is, folks.

Republicans? They Evil.

"Republicans? They evil."

I should not be shocked to hear such commentary, especially after some twenty five years of political commentary. It's reflective of a lower class, knee jerk view of the political scene, an attitude of which liberals take full advantage.

You must understand that the speaker of that quote, I know by first hand knowledge, is not the sharpest tack in the box. He's 'a bubble off plumb' as a heating contractor I know would say. But no matter: the salient point is that the man clearly does not think things through. He wants what he wants because he wants it, and someone should just give it to him. He believes what he believes because it suits his belief system, and nothing more. This is the very definition of modern liberalism. And no fair asking questions about whether it is deserved or moral or merited. Society should simply give him what he wants because he wants it. I know this because I have spoken to him frequently. He is a student of mine, and something of a slacker.

Liberals play to this mentality, obviously enough, by promising him everything he wants. That's essentially how Barack Obama became our president-elect, though Republicans not acting Republican over the last few years surely helped. The left craves power (they are a showy, vain lot) and they get power by relying on the basest aspect of humanity: jealousy. It's not fair that other people should have what I don't. It's not fair that better paying jobs go to other folks. It's not fair that I should have to work for what I get. It's not fair that a rich woman can get an abortion and I can't, that farmers can sell their land to developers when I think that land that I'll never see should be kept pristine or that polar bears in the Alaskan wilderness should be hampered by oil rigs. If it ain't what I want, it's not fair.

And if you don't accept this train of thought?

You're evil.

Here I thought it was the Christians who had the holier than thou market cornered. You learn something new every day.

Liberals Hate Us: Time to Respond in Kind

I can’t remember where I first heard it; it was either Rush Limbaugh or P. J. O’Rourke, I believe. But it is a simple phrase which I’ve never forgotten: liberals hate people, especially the free. It is not an overstatement, and runs from the proverbial, ahem, sublime to the ridiculous. They want abortion because there are too many of us on the planet, and they want mass transit so that we have to go places on their schedule, not ours. They’re against urban sprawl because they don’t want people living where they want to by their free will exchanges among themselves. They use global warming scams to make us stop living how we live because it isn’t how they want us to live. They champion the environment because inert matter is more important than living, breathing human beings. They want national health care so that they may eventually tell us who gets what care and when. It’s all about control, my friends, and we’re well past time to tell them enough is enough: I can control my own life just fine without liberal meddling in things which are none of their business. It’s time to send these busybodies and their trumped up causes packing so that we can conduct the business of our lives unharried by manufactured guilt. It’s time we stand up to the true haters in our land. Get out and vote for the conservatives in your area, and send Washington, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid a loud and clear message.