With their third straight loss of a House seat in a special election, Republicans are discovering that they’re in crisis.
Well, duh!
After all, here you have a political party that preaches the old libertarian mantra of “free enterprise, private property, and limited government” while embracing and supporting such socialist, interventionist, and imperial programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income taxation, the drug war, paper money, the Federal Reserve, the war on immigrants, the war on poverty, torture, wars of aggression, military occupations, kidnapping and rendition, suspension of habeas corpus, and denial of due process of law, right to counsel, right to confront adverse witnesses, and right to be free from cruel and unusual punishments.
In other words, there ain’t a dime’s worth of difference between a Republican and a Democrat, with one exception. Since Republicans have long preached libertarian principles as their mantra, hypocrisy has become the middle name of virtually every one of their candidates.
For decades, Republicans have been able to get away with this “life of the lie,” except for one thing: libertarians. Unlike Republicans, libertarians not only preach libertarian principles, they also live them. Thus, unlike Republicans, libertarians oppose every single one of the socialist, interventionist, and imperial programs enumerated above.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Republicans have long resented libertarians. We remind them of what they are not and also what they have done with their embrace of socialism, interventionism, and empire, despite their continued, fraudulent use of libertarian mantras.
Libertarians, by and large, remained off the political radar screen, in large part because of the enormous ballot-barrier restrictions that both Republicans and Democrats have erected against libertarian participation in the political arena. That made it easier for Republicans to continue getting away with their shameful and hypocritical life of the lie. They continued to convince Americans that there was really a philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats.
And then along came Republican libertarian Ron Paul who decided to run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. With Paul’s presidential campaign, libertarian principles were brought to the forefront of the political radar screen. Speeches, lectures, articles, news conferences, radio shows, television interviews, and perhaps most important presidential debates.
Republican voters were still hearing the standard “free enterprise, private property, limited government” mantra from all the Republican presidential candidates but for the first time, they were hearing a presidential candidate — Ron Paul — explain what the practical application of those principles actually meant, especially in foreign affairs.
All of a sudden, Paul’s libertarian message began resonating within people. What began has a trickle turned into an avalanche, one in which people were achieving a “breakthrough” that enabled them to confront the lies and the false realities under which Republicans had long been living.
Through it all, Ron Paul’s revolution has terrified not only the Republican establishment but also the mainstream establishment that has come to glorify and embrace the welfare-warfare state. And what terrifies them the most is the fact that once people achieve a “breakthrough” to the truth and reality of what both Republicans and Democrats have done — and are doing — to our country with their socialism, interventionism, and imperialism, that breakthrough is not reversible.
Meanwhile, Republican operatives are doing their best to come up with a solution to their crisis. Republican Congressman Tom Cole from Oklahoma, chairman of the National Republican Committee, said, “What we’ve got is a deficiency in message….”
Well, duh, Congressman Cole! You sure got that one right. But it goes much deeper than you think. You people also have a deficiency in integrity and moral principles. Without those, your message doesn’t mean squat. At least not anymore because people are onto you Republicans!
To solve their political crisis, Republicans are coming up with new mantras, which are nothing more than warmed-over versions of their old libertarian mantra “free enterprise, private property, and limited government.” The Ron Paul revolution obviously still hasn’t sunk in to the Republican establishment. It’s not just libertarian mantras but rather the actual application of libertarian principles that is the key to the freedom of the American people and the future well-being of our country.
