United Liberty

Going through Congressman Price’s recent email to supporters, it is really tempting to cite his straw man arguments against the merits and consequences of the philosophy of liberty, sound money, and Constitutional Republicanism. This is especially true of his arguments about economic history and the actual application of the philosophy (which has never ACTUALLY happened in American history).

Before we as a district and a country can actually have this discussion, we must first be honest about what specific ideas we all hold. This is the only way we can move the dialogue forward and arrive at a position of progress, rather than being mired in the position of having the same divisive back-and-forth. It’s quite clear that Congressman Price favors the latter route, especially given his continual assertions that all problems we face now are solely the fault of the Republicans and that the problems can only be solved exclusively by Democrats. History hasn’t shown that argument to be the case.

What more fundamentally indicates Congressman Price’s desire to remain in partisan game is his refusal to take the necessary step that leads to progress: to be honest. I’ve already detailed one instance at the very beginning of his email in which he propogated a lie about Dr. Lawson’s position on the issue of financial regulation and monetary economics, while also attempting to hide his own record on the topic. I didn’t have to look much further in his email to spot more dishonesty by the Congressman and his campaign. In fact, all I had to do was read the next paragraph.

Dr. Lawson is quick to criticize the new Democratic Congress for not passing various legislative initiatives. But he conveniently fails to note two facts: he would vote to turn the leadership of the House back to the same party that has blocked those initiatives.

 

Let’s not belabor he fact that there’s absolutely no record of the question being posed to Dr. Lawson regarding for whom he would vote, if anyone at all, for House leadership. As a wise man once told me, “When you assume, you make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’” As the very presence of this website clearly argues, Congressman Price didn’t have to make this assumption in order to demonstrate that he’s a- well, you know what- but he certainly does bolster the case that he is by doing so. Nevermind ultimately that this point is completely irrelevant to- well, anything of substance.

The implication in this excerpt is clearly that Dr. Lawson is just a typical partisan Republican running a partisan campaign who is broadly demagoguing Democrats. This is the same Dr. Lawson who has not one, but two Democrats working as key members of his staff. How many Republicans do you employ, Congressman Price?

An inspection of his website, via searches for the keywords “Democrat” or “Congress” shows very few references at all to the Democratic Party. They certainly show no references to blame of the specifically identified “Democratic Congress” for- well, anything.  As he says in the debate at UNC, Dr. Lawson believes that history has shown that the party in charge means nothing. As I discussed above, he’s got a great argument. But there are plenty of references to blame of Congress as an institution, and Washington as an institution, for the problems we face.  I’m not really sure how many Americans disagree with that argument.

There are also plenty of references to blame of Congressman Price for not living up to his duty as the representative of the 4th District to uphold the Bill of Rights, to promote fiscal responsibility, and toadvocate a non-belligerent foreign policy that promotes peace and security rather than anti-American sentiment and attacks on our country. Perhaps Congressman Price believes he IS the Democratic Party in Congress, in which case he interprets Dr. Lawson’s criticism of his legislative action as a collective attack on House Democrats. I’m sure many Democrats in Congress and at the grassroots level who care deeply about civil liberties, financial health, and peace would be strongly offended by such an attempt to claim such broad representation of the Democratic Party by Congressman Price.

One can also find plenty of references to the need to end partisan divison and bickering. Congressman Price’s email and other recent ads clearly demonstrate that he wishes to continue operating in such a bitter and divisive way.

Part III of this ongoing serious is soon forthcoming. It probably won’t take me long to find the topic of it, as Congressman Price seems to performing at a very high lie/paragraph rate in his masterpiece email to supporters.