Less Government, Less Regulation and Libertarianism

It’s quite fascinating moving out West from “Back East,” even though Chicago is clearly the Midwest. What is sometimes fascinating is the persuasion for Goldwater-era conservativism, which the GOP hasn’t seen since the 1968 convention.* I run into Westerners all the time, which advocate for smaller government or “less government,” because they don’t like the “tax and spend Liberals.”

Let’s dispel a few myths, under both Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, we’ve run up an enormous deficit, in favor of irresponsible tax cuts, with large expenditures on Defense. The point is simple, voting for a Republican is like voting for someone who will give you a Ferrari, but throw it on your credit card. Ultimately, it needs to be paid for, but whom or how is it going to be paid? Oh, and in the meantime, the world’s confidence in our currency disappears, dropping our ability to trade with other countries. That’s not being “fiscally irresponsible.”(Ironic tone intended). Rather than “Tax and Spend Liberals” it should be “fiscally responsible Liberals.”

Then one has those same “conservatives” arguing against social welfare programs, or the expense of them. More often than not, when I hear someone arguing against such programs, there is a racial or socio-demographic undertone. In essence, not helping out those in need, but criticizing them for their background, poverty, or the country where they were born, that’s simply fascism. Moreover, it doesn’t represent the angels of our better nature…

Yes, okay, not to have that battle everyday, what’s even more humorous is listening to the argument that somehow the Republican Party owns Christianity. Re-reading the New Testament, those on the far Right, particularly the “Religious Right” sure seem an awful lot like the Pharisees, etc… I find it quite odd that those who profess such great faith do so while continuously exposing their hypocrisy.

Okay – there is Iraq—enough said. If one is a conservative, fiscally or otherwise, why are they going to start unnecessary wars in far away lands expending treasure for reasons, which weren’t good enough the eleven years prior?

Hmmm… Let’s see – oh yeah – it’s a good thing we de-regulated banks, mortgage brokers and Wall Street. “They don’t need regulation!”

The point is, the contemporary GOP is about as far removed from the aforementioned components of Barry Goldwater or Lincoln’s ideals—both sides of their favorable history. I thought Ron Paul was interesting, but McCain running for Cheney’s third term, he simply represents a continuation of a party beholden to Ralph Reid, Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby, Jack Abramoff, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. We currently have the most incompetent White House in our history, a “President” not too interested in his war in Iraq. Not quite where we need to be. The rest of the world knows this and many of our people do as well. It will simply be interesting to see the continuation of spin. I’d like to think most citizens in this country know the old maxim: “Fool Me Once, Shame On You; Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me.”






*The 1968 was Richard Nixon’s nomination, and it was a decided shift from the “Less Government” Republican Party of Western Conservatives, ala Barry Goldwater. Limbaugh and other “conservatives” still espouse this Libertarian vain of the Republican Party, even Reagan promulgated some of it; however, since 1968, the GOP has worked with Nixon’s “Southern and ‘Silent Majority’ Strategies.” These two strategies coalesced around appealing to those dissuaded by hippies from the 1960’s and the Civil Rights Movement in the South. It’s been continued by opposing Roe v. Wade, etc...