T-Party Manifesto
This quote from Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of A Conservative” would make a perfect T-Party Manifesto:
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can. –Barry Goldwater
Can anyone say it any better? I sure hope the Republican “leadership/establishment” wakes up to the reality that this is precisely what we proudly leaderless and fiercely sovereign individuals are demanding of our employees in DC. Else, there will be a serious Third Party movement in 2012 and the Republican Party will be history. â—„Daveâ–º
I think you overestimate both the attention span and the unity of interests of the current Tea Party membership. If the party is to have any success, they have to avoid just that kind of mission statement. The message they need is simple:
A vote for a Tea Party candidate is a vote for an individual.
The Republicans don’t all vote alike on ideological grounds. They do as they’re told. An entrenched bureaucracy that size will never reduce the power or scope of government. Democrats get a bit longer leash, but their ideology only makes the problem worse.
If the Tea Party wants to pick up Democrats, Republicans, moderates, independents, Libertarians, Evangelicals, and those who don’t even like politics, their message has to be clear and simple: We’re here to throw the bastards out.
Hey Steel! How have you been? Your suggestions make sense for present tactical purposes; but for long-term strategic planning, I would disagree. Unless we manage to hire representatives who will get serious about rolling back all the unconstitutional spending and over-regulation of free enterprise, there is no hope for our future. Our penchant for voting ourselves “benefits,” and promising those who loan us the money to pay for them that our grandchildren will repay them, is simply unsustainable. Especially since we won’t even breed enough children to replace ourselves, preferring to outsource our nurseries to Third World countries, who send us their unwanted peasants and criminals to keep our foolish entitlement Ponzi schemes going. Big government “Progressive” Republicans offer only a slower pace on this relentless march to mediocrity and tyranny.
I suspect that many are underestimating the attention span and future clout of the T-Party movement. Most on the Left still don’t even understand it. I don’t know how much you might watch Glenn Beck or how much time you spend on Conservative social networking sites, but the most important thing that is happening with this movement is education. Deliberately dumbed-down Americans are now awakening in droves. Look at the bestseller lists. They are eagerly reading, studying, and learning about our roots and the insidious nature of Marxism and democracy. Two years ago, I couldn’t find one American in a thousand who understood that we are a constitutional republic, not a democracy – much less able to articulate the difference between the two.
Your assessment of the inertia of the entrenched bureaucracy is important; but if we say “never” then we may as well fold now. We must overcome this fatalism. I suspect the corruption costs of the old “spoils” system was much cheaper in the long run than the civil service system, which replaced it. At least when we threw the bums out back then their cronies in the bureaucracy went with them. Government employees should never be allowed to join a union, be paid higher than the average for similar private enterprise jobs, or receive any pension benefits paid for by future taxpayers. If we have to fire them all and start over, so be it. “We’re here to throw ALL the bastards out!”
The alternative is bankruptcy and/or hyperinflation. They admit to a $13 Trillion national debt, which is going up by over a Trillion dollars a year; but this is just for current spending. The contingent liability for all the promised future retirement benefits is now over $100 Trillion dollars. Something has got to give – the kids just aren’t going to pay for our foolishness. They couldn’t if they wanted to. â—„Daveâ–º
Oh, I’ve just been off arguing with liberals mostly. You’re still in my RSS reader.
As much as I may agree with the ideology, what’s the difference between this and the ideology stated by the Libertarian party, which has been failing to gather voters for decades?
I don’t listen to Beck at all. He’s a televangelist with delusions of sanity, and he’ll bring doom upon any who are close to him when he implodes. I also spend little time in conservative social networking sites. Most are filled with angry idiots, religious nuts, and intellectuals devoting almost all their time to proving they aren’t racists. I find individuals I like and I stick with that.
I’m not being fatalistic when I say never, I’m just advocating decentralization. we can exist with very little centralized meddling. What we’ve created is a situation where the economy is crashing and the only people getting health care and good wages are government pencil pushers. The natural result is that now everyone aspires to be one. I’m sure you can see where this is leading. Once we all give up our real work and pick up a good paying job ordering each other around, society will come to a painful end and reboot.
We can let the Dollar fall now and make deep cuts into government, or we can wait for it do do the job for us. Libertarians will have their day in the end. Or is it in the beginning?
Reading that old piece from Goldwater brought back memories. My wife and I worked hard for the Senator during that election. I worked door to door in my neighborhood (Tustin, Orange County, California) and my spouse organized the envelope stuffings and such at the county work center. We were very disappointed at the election results. Afterwards we determined that no matter who runs for office the “dumbing down” of the electorate that takes place in the public schools and whose source is the philosophical/political departments of the universities has to be stopped and reversed. Any change for the better (such as under Reagan) will ultimately be overcome by the established altruist/collectivist philosophy. It is true that once in awhile a bright spark flutters in higher education (Milton Friedman) but once he retires there doesn’t seem to be anyone to pick up the torch. Got to go now, time for Beck!