I suppose I should state what my beliefs are, before I question anyone else…
What does ‘Republican’ mean?
In my view, a republican refers to someone who adheres to our Constitution and the ideals that our Constitution is wrapped in and directly opposed to the democrat, who follows the ideal of mob rule.
In short, a Republican’s ruler is the Constitution. We don’t elect rulers… we elect representatives. I haven’t heard ‘Republican’ candidate refer to what the Constitution empowers them to do since Reagan. We elect a President, who’s only job is to Preside over the government… he’s not our ruler. He is a subject to the same laws as anyone else.
Now, indeed… today’s Republican party has completely divorced itself from anything resembling republican principles. It is, in fact just another democratic party. It plays to the whim of the masses just as much as much as the democrats do. It plays to the cult of personality, classes and victimhood, just as the democrats do…
… but just as has been said, they’ve just got different classes and victim groups.
They’re not rooted in principle, they’ve sold their soul to the masses… and I’ll fully admit that for a long time, I was a part of the mass.
I say that, because conservatism does not equal republicanism. Saying conservatism equals republicanism is like saying sugar equals tea. Yes, I love sweet southern iced tea, but not everyone likes sweet tea… and regardless of how well they go together… one does not equal the other.
One of the great things about our federal republic is that each state can run their state pretty much as they see fit. Now, that’s not to say the rest of us can’t bitch and complain about how the unions are ruining Michigan, or the Chicago mob bosses (read Blago/Obama/Rezko) are ruining Illinois… or illegal aliens are ruining California, but being a federal republic, republicans should at least support their right to f’ up their own states.
That’s what our founding fathers faced. For better or worse, they designed a system that, in the matters of domestic policy, particularly slavery… they were for the most part powerless. They didn’t see themselves as the know all, be all, end all of everything in the United States. They didn’t see themselves as rulers who knew better for us. So we wound up with northern industrial states, southern agrarian states… some slave states, some anti-slavery states…
Now, I’ve defined conservatism by what it is not. So what is it?? To me, at least, it’s the way I want my government to operate… literally. Read – in small amounts. I like a liberal amount of sugar in my tea… I like a conservative amount of salt and pepper in my food…
… I like a conservative amount of government in my life.
I don’t want to see a ‘free’, liberal government. I believe that the freedom of the state and the freedom of the people are inversely proportional. The freer the government, then the less free the people. Today, our federal government is free to write checks for whatever they want… and spend our children’s children money as THEY see fit.
I don’t want a government free enough to create a national health care system. I don’t want a government free enough to school lunch program. I don’t want a government free to manipulate the economy… or ‘save’ the economy. I do want an impotent government… as far as domestic affairs. As horrible as it might be, if a bunch of poor starving kids petitions the federal government for ‘help’… my hope would be that my politician would have the balls, and principles, to say, “As a congressman, there is nothing I can do, BUT… as a man… here’s what I can do.”
Leave the saving of poor, destitute children… and of AIG, and Chevy… to individuals.
I don’t want a government free enough to write one billion dollar check to Wall Street or a billion one dollar checks to welfare recipients. I don’t want a government free enough to spend my money on car companies, or my grandchildren’s money on me or anyone else’s “social security”.
Now, as I said, as a conservative, I want a small government, an impotent government… but as a republican, if Barack Obama came out tomorrow and said, “I’ll leave the rest of the country alone, I just want to turn Illinois into a communist haven.” I’d actually be willing to stand by his side and support him. With the emphasis on ‘leave the rest of the country alone’…
… and if his ideas and way of life is so great, then everyone in the country would flock to Illinois. If they’re wrong… they’ll run away.
I know, that’s not the way a liberal’s mind works… they want to impose their ideals on everyone else… to hell with what people want for themselves.
The problem is that for most so called ‘conservatives’ now days… that’s how their minds work as well. It’s not about the struggle between the rule of law and the power of the masses, it’s just about a bunch of people who want their side to win. It’s about people who that think their ideas as so much better… to hell with the rule of law… to hell with principle…
The dichotomy the ‘left’ and ‘right’, ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’, ‘Democrat’ and ‘Republican’… is fiction. Those ‘struggles’ are no more real than the ‘struggle’ between men and women, blacks and whites, gays and straights. It is all a bunch of BS. It’s all a game played to inspire fear and passion amongst the masses… doesn’t matter much at all which side of their fence you come down on.
Now, personally, I refuse to play their game. I know… it tends to piss people off who want to play their game. I don’t care. I don’t care if I hurt people’s feelings.
If you believe that the federal government should have the right to spend your grandchildren’s wealth before they have a chance to earn it… you’re neither a conservative nor republican. If you believe the government is free to choose which multi-trillion dollar companies win and which ones lose… you’re neither a conservative nor a republican. If you believe that all of those poor plebes out there in the country just don’t understand how much they need the federal government to save them… you’re neither a conservative nor a republican.
Now, that in and of itself isn’t necessarily a horrible thing… so long as your intellectually honest enough to admit that you’re a liberal (think that the government is free to do whatever they want) and a democrat (play to the masses instead of the rule of law).
Don’t feel bad about being what you are… that goes to people like John McCain, George Bush… I & II… Arlen Specter… and pretty much the entirety of both the Democrat and Republican parties.
Neither of the parties are ‘more republican’ than the other… neither are big government or small government… just different big government.