"The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men." -- H. L. Mencken.
You can't change the nature of the beast. You can't make government less socialist. You can't reform it. You can't make it work better. You can't make it work at all!
Politics cannot fix this. Politics itself is by its nature corrupt. In time, it defiles everything it touches. We never solve our problems by turning them over to politicians. That is like pouring more gasoline on the inferno.
Our goal is not to have a conservative government -- ain't no such thing. It is to make government smaller. Barry Goldwater had it exactly right: “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size." And that always boils down to the fight to reduce its taxation.
Free men have to fight with the tools of freedom. We must make the most of free markets and free institutions to solve our problems. Foremost, for ourselves, is our freedom to think, speak and publish here in Free Republic. FR is a potent voice and a potent tool for right thinking. It is like the antidote to politics.
Should Free Republic ever lower its sights and seek no more than to get some politician -- any politician -- elected, it may as well fold up shop. But I'm not worried about that day coming. We have a good shop here and always will, so long as we remember what we're trying to achieve.
Excellent point! Crucial point!