United Liberty

As we role merrily right along into November, I, along with the rest of the libertarian crowd, am watching the Republican Party blissfully make the same tired mistakes yet again. Watching what appears to be unsynchronized cat herding under penalty of broken knee caps can be entertaining, but at this point, I’m really close to pulling out a speech worthy of a spot in Pulp Fiction on Samuel Jackson’s cue cards.

On saying “we have to remove Obama” out of fear and we can only support whoever the eventual GOP Nominee is: I’ve already written about this subject in The Strategy of Hating One. In the current cycle, it’s President Obama, but the previous installment was Bill Clinton and little blue dress. You can point to a general belief that the President is a Marxist or Socialist without too much opposition. You can make the point that the closest description of our country is Fascism. But I have to challenge you to point out the differences between the last Republican President or the alternative of McCain, and this Democrat President. We have stayed in Iraq until they are kicking us out, we have escalated Afghanistan, Libya, kept Gitmo open. Leaving the main differences that the increase in spending has been larger than say a McCain might have done, and Obamacare has been pushed through. And frankly, Obamacare could very well be named McCain-Care given the same congressional make-up.

On the absolute inability to contemplate a reduction in Military Spending: Okay Mr. “we rule the world and everything in it”, here’s your chance. Validate it. Might I suggest you start with the payroll of the soldiers themselves? If you can get that number above 5% of the total budget, you should be running the fed. I’ll even give you a head start to this debate: My first counter is going to be flying humvees, second is going to be the recent expenditure which put Al Qaeda in charge of a country after we’ve spent 10 years in another trying to keep them from allowing Al Qaeda to train there. And third is going to be the fact that we can’t even define what military spending is anymore due to DHS.

Now I’m not saying we need to “gut” our military, nor am I saying let’s turn the SEALS into the Peace Corps and all sing kumbaya. All I’m asking is that instead of blindly yelling “No cuts to the Military!” every time it’s mentioned, that you do a little research, and possibly contemplate sensible savings. One might even put two and two together and think, hey, if we reduce the cost of fuel, we could save millions. We are in fact broker than a football bat in case you hadn’t noticed.

On Obamacare and a subsequent repeal, Sans alternative solution: First off, the ambition to repeal this toxic waste dump should be a given. It currently has every CEO and small business owner terrified. You are only going to have one presidency, two tops to stop this before it becomes the next Social Security money pit. There are currently two problems with the GOP Field: 1) the top contender, the person that I think is already destined to be the next president has already signed a similar bill into law and 2) Not one single candidate is willing to level with you on the ultimate problem. We are paying to much monthly to have insurance, only to get drugs pushed on us which drain the insurance coffers which you can buy for less than 10% of the cost in another country. The problem lies in the insurance companies and the drug makers. Asking a politician to go against them is like asking a 6 year old to stop accepting the 4 free candy bars he’s getting every day. You might want to look into someone who believes in limited government. More than $1 Trillion of your dollars are already going through the federal government and to medical costs every year via Medicare and Medicaid.

On the Patriot Act: One of the most puzzling things during this electoral season has been the lack of attention paid to this abortion of a law. At the very minimum, the Patriot Act lies in direct contradiction with First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. The GOP, which has tried to portray itself as true believers of the Constitution have yet to pose this question to the candidates. Prove your commitment to the Constitution by only supporting a candidate who will let this act expire.

On the developing fixation on alternative tax plans: The idea of completely scrapping the current 70,000 plus page tax code and the power that politicians wield with corporations/executives that love to make political donations is captivating. 9-9-9, the flat tax, and some talk of fairtax is little more than window dressing at this point however. Congress ultimately controls this destiny. And besides, the real problem isn’t revenue anyway.

On Ignoring the 800 Lb. Gorilla that is Federal Government Spending: Oops, there I said it. Rick Perry was lambasted for merely name-calling SSI a “Ponzi-scheme”. Many people recognized this as some sort of threat to the stability of the program in short term. If you attack Medicare, you are taking granny’s pills. If you attack Medicaid, you are killing poor people. We’ve already talked about the planned perception that Military Spending level has to stay the same or more, so we’re down to DHS, HHS, and Non-Military Discretionary. We certainly don’t want airplanes smacking into buildings. HHS is again attacking the poor or the planet (you Christian who doesn’t believe in evolution you), and the discretionary budget is the Slush fund of Washington DC. Let’s face it, slush funds are fun aren’t they? Why would you want to take their toys away? That’s um, $650 Billion worth of toys by the way.

Look, we are broke. Our government is spending money so fast it has to print it out of thin air. You have to cut everything. Now. Not plan out an excel spreadsheet 20 years into the future when the GDP catches up to what we are spending now. Because frankly, the next 10 congresses will just keep voting for more increases and make that spreadsheet as valuable as an ice cream wrapper 25 minutes after the ice cream truck left the block.

If you think simply having the GOP in power insures any sort of balancing or reduction in spending especially, you have a different version of recent history than I do. Spending is what has the market and more importantly investors shaking in the corner balled up in the fetal position. Because eventually, something has to give. You can insert 20 things here of what you think that something is, and that’s why people are being so cautious. We need elected officials that are not scared to level with the public. Spending has to be reduced. Drastically. Period.

On Abortion: Didn’t we settle this 40 years ago? Okay, honestly, I get that one might want to inquire since the President (especially this next president) appoints potential Supreme Court Justices, but giving this subject the importance that so many people do is quite narrow sighted. Just keep the debates on abortion moving in the right direction. Keep teaching your children how to make good decisions.

On Social Security: Social Security is actually somewhat of a non-issue to me. Yes, we know it is now slightly under water, and the future of the program is not solvent. However, it’s the closest thing to balanced that we have right now. Frankly, I would not expect much more in the next four years than an increase in age of eligibility and maybe a start toward being able to opt out of the program for the next generation (which requires a reversal of SB215 Signed into law by Reagan). It’s just that simple. People that have paid are owed. We have to work with SSI 40 years in the future and we need to get the government out of the retirement business.

So what’s the point of this? First, I was hoping to point out that we have ISSUES that need to be addressed. We don’t just have a need for a PARTY change. The GOP will do just about anything to get you to believe that electing their party will solve problems no matter who it is. I disagree. ONLY electing candidates who are WILLING and ABLE to address the problems and work towards SOLUTIONS will ultimately solve these problems. I really don’t care which party these people come from. But simply electing a Republican because he/she is a Republican doesn’t work.

It all comes down to problem solving 101. Identify the problem, analyze the problem, and thoughtfully solve the problem using the best solutions. If your candidate isn’t even willing to admit there is a problem, then please, spare me the rhetoric of how important it is to elect your socialist lite republican. You my friend have earned yourself in the area I like to call “part of the problem. ”

While this list in no way completes my list of absolute frustrations with the political nightmare that is our current election cycle, I hope that it covers a few bases to at least expand some thinking.

And if I haven’t changed or expanded your mind, please do me a favor and just lie about it when you talk to me. I honestly don’t have much sanity left.