United Liberty

Way back in July of 2003 Ron Paul wrote an article entitled “We’ve Been Neo-Conned” in which he laid out facts showing that the “Neo-Con” philosophy had taken over the foreign policy of the USA (For a quick primer on the Neo-Conservative movement please click the link above). As I was reading this article one question kept repeating in my head:

“How did it come to this?”

The only place to start I believe is with the American person (notice I didn’t use the plural “people”). I will use myself as an example since I believe my story is common to many modern-day libertarians and members of the Liberty movement.

In short, I was raised a Reagan Republican, became a Neo-Con after 9/11, converted to a Goldwater conservative after the invasion of Iraq and became a full-fledged libertarian after finding the writings of Murray Rothbard(OK, maybe every libertarian didn’t become one because of Murray but I think many have a similar story).

But here is what I believe is key in my story and the reason why there aren’t more capital “L” Libertarians: I didn’t get their foreign policy. Like many I actually referred to myself as libertarian on social and monetary issues, but not when it came to our “enemies”. I hear the same from freedom loving people over and over again, especially in the wake of 9/11.

The reason the Neo-Cons were able to seize power is FEAR. I am not putting anybody down because of it. I can certainly relate, but we still have to figure out why the American person is allowing our government todrop bombs and declare war on anybody they want to while we cheer them on. When does fear translate to lunacy?

In a recent speech, Newt Gingrich made it clear that he rejects Obama’s “world citizen” approach:

“I am not a citizen of the world.  I think the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous.”

The full video is available for view.

Gingrich’s angry remarks reflect the escape from the political mainstream that has plagued the Republican Party since its congressional defeat in 2006. Since that year, the GOP has been getting progressively worse, more negative and more hostile, to the point where Ron Paul seems to be the party’s only smiling face.

The knee jerk reaction to Hugo Chavez’s warm reception of President Obama could easily be negative. Are Obama and Chavez connecting because, deep down, they’re ideological buddies? The idolatry and cult of personality surrounding the two leaders is similar and in some cases coming from the same corners.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. — Barack Obama

I have a stipulation for the part where he says programs should end.  If those programs are replaced with other programs - then they’re really not ending.  The only thing that is changing is where the spoils of political treasure are being spent.

Obama, in his inaugural address, said that government should be given the chance to work.  What is the definition of success (work)?  The value of the DOW or our GDP are not good indicators of success.  It is when Americans individually become responsible for their own risks by being able to bear the consequences or reward of that risk taken.

CNN host D.L. Hughley had Frank Schaeffer, son of evangelical leader and George Carlin look-alike Francis Schaeffer, on his show yesterday. On the program, Schaeffer hurled several libelous and angry epithets at not just the Republican Party but conservatives in general.

Many of Schaeffer’s arguments in the video are just ridiculous. Black people in the GOP have token positions? I would hardly describe Secretary of State and Chair of the Republican National Committee as “token.” As ridiculous as that argument is, it’ll never go away. The GOP and the Democrats could both have minorities as their presidential candidates and party leaders and America would still be racist and conservatives would still be “neo-fascists” to some.

George Packer elaborates in the New Yorker about the parallels between today’s Republican Party and the Democratic Socialists during the 1980s:

From the floor debate in the Senate on February 7 regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Incidentally, let me share with a few of my colleagues why this is sort of this old ideology versus new. The Senator talked about the tired ideology of the past. What is it? Well, I think today Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a statement on behalf of the Republican Party. He said:

For the last 2 weeks, we have been trying to force a massive spending bill through Congress under the guise of economic relief.

Well, we are having votes. This is a democracy. We are not forcing anything. We are trying to get the job done because there is an urgency to getting it done.

But then he says:

President Barack Obama’s skin color clouds one other progressive aspect of his presidency: he is the first post-Baby Boomer elected to the nation’s highest office. This is a cause for celebration, as the Baby Boomers may likely have done more harm to America than any previous generation.

Don’t believe me? Here is a list of the sins of the Boomers, or as I call them, “the Worst Generation:”

The Worst Generation’s crowning achievement is Woodstock. They’re actually proud of the fact that they spent their youth dressed like transients and having sex in the mud. The Greatest Generation’s crowning achievement, on the other hand, was defeating fascism on the beaches of Europe.

Whereas divorce was frowned upon by the Greatest Generation, the Worst Generation left millions of children fatherless and directionless.

The Worst Generaton has left us with a Social Security time bomb.