Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
View past Libertarian pings here
Posted on 12/20/2009 12:52:54 AM PST by rabscuttle385
Liberty Republicans need to think about strategies to counteract the cooptation of the revived liberty movement that Rockefeller or Progressive Republicans will attempt. The Tea Party movement’s explosion shows that liberty Republicanism can succeed. As well, the failure of Rockefeller Republicanism under the Bush administration might keep big government Republicans from success, especially when we liberty Republicans refuse to cooperate with them.
Because the Tea Party movement is composed of many fine and well meaning but inexperienced activists, it is susceptible to the same tactics that coopted the libertarian movement in 1980. If a Progressive Republican calls himself a “libertarian” or a “capitalist” and offers symbolic gestures to prove it, he can cloak his commitment to the status quo and special interests. It doesn’t help that many call the pro-freedom movement “conservative”, which implies that we aim to conserve the big government status quo. Nuh uh. We are moderate, but we are radical in the sense of getting to the root. The current system is extremist. The status quo is not normalcy. We represent a return to normalcy and moderation, which means less government and more freedom.
Recently, Forbes Magazine has been calling its pro-Wall Street, statist positions like support for the Bush-Obama bailout “libertarian”. This reflects an ancient tactic. Karl Popper argues that Plato was the first to call totalitarianism “justice” 2,500 years ago. Some classicists dispute Popper’s reading of Plato, but we can all agree that George Orwell was not the first to think of this idea, and Forbes will not be the last to apply it.
In a recent article in the Washington Post, reporters Dan Eggen and Perry Bacon, Jr. note that “the energized tea party movement…is preparing to shake up the 2010 elections.” The Post article notes of the tea party movement:
“The strategy poses both an opportunity and a risk for the beleaguered Republican Party, which is seeking to take advantage of conservative discontent while still fielding candidates who appeal to independent voters.” (bold added).
Websites such as Erick Erickson’s RedState.com and Dick Armey’s and Matt Kibbe’s Freedomworks.org are aiming to engage in direct political competition via primaries with the Republican machines in various states. The article makes a crucial point:
“…political experts in both parties say it is unclear if the movement can become the kind of unified force that can win, and not just disrupt, elections… The tea party movement is splintered into hundreds of local and state-level groups that have differing rules and goals and for the most part have not participated in big-money politics. Many of the groups have been torn apart by personal feuds in recent months; one major umbrella organization, the Tea Party Patriots, has filed a lawsuit against a founding board member who signed on with a rival, the Tea Party Express. ”
The Republican Liberty Caucus ought to play an integrative role. We should be thinking about how to (a) win elections; (b) prevent the professional politicians from coopting liberty Republicanism in the interest of special interest pandering; and (c) pressure the Progressive Republicans to defer to libertarians’ aims.
The Post article quotes Senator John Cornyn of Texas, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as to the importance of “tempering our conservative approach with pragmatism.” In other words, the kind of pragmatism that causes 50% of the national income to be invested in failed government programs that, obsessively, must not be terminated when they fail. Rather, they should be expanded when they fail. That is “moderation” in the eyes of the Washington Post and Senator Cornyn.
Given the large amounts of money that government provides to its favored interests, such as Wall Street, government employees, the military-industrial complex and agribusiness, there will be a slick, well-executed thrust to neutralize and manipulate the liberty movement to make it palatable. We need to devise intelligent tactics to resist it.
fyi
If the Liberty Republicans don’t IMMEDIATELY leave the GOP and go Third Party, then they’re all a bunch of RINOs!!1!!!!1
What would you say to the LRs being a strong contingent, like a caucus, within the GOP so that we don't splinter our political infrastructure just when we need it most?
It doesn’t help that many call the pro-freedom movement “conservative”, which implies that we aim to conserve the big government status quo.
I don't think many folks on either side of the aisle think the term "conservative" means "conserving the big government status quo", at least as far as today's political context is concerned. Aside from this libertarian self-conceit, he's pretty much on the mark.
If they still have that "R" after their name, then they're just dirty stinkin' RINOs!!!1!!! They need to all leave and join my Third Party immediately, like, right now!
Just kidding, of course.
I'm fine with them forming a caucus. Just as the Republic ought to be more decentralised than it is, so should the Republican Party. It's the tight, unitary control that the RNC and allied national elements have established that allows them to get away with a lot of the junk that they do, since, hey, who's going to stop them? That's why 80% of Republicans can think their own leaders are radically out of touch with the base, and yet nothing ever changes. The GOP system is designed to insulate people like Steele, Jesmer, Cornyn, et al. from the consequences of their bad decision making.
That needs to stop - but the only way it will stop is for conservatives (true use of the term, not the phoney definition used by the author of this article) and libertarians and whatnot to get together, get involved at the county and district level, takeover the Party at these levels, and work their way up, identifying "true believer" elements within the ranks of those who are already elected officials, etc. (since, let's be honest, they aren't actually ALL bad).
Decentralised GOP with a conservative takeover - Yes.
"Tea Party" Party splitting the vote - NO.
I'm with ya. :0)
“The current system is extremist. The status quo is not normalcy. We represent a return to normalcy and moderation, which means less government and more freedom.”
I think this is a great idea but most people are not ready for it. Heck, you can’t even find a majority of people on FR who are willing to embrace freedom if it means that we will have fewer laws which are used to control others.
I think that the right to go third-party is a little like the right to bear arms (to resist government tyranny). The "third-party threat" must always be there to motivate action within the Republican Party -- even when one has no immediate intention of a third-party takeover.
Many political Parties have come and gone over our country's history. But over the last decades both Republicans and Democrats have enacted laws that basically stilt the game in favor of their own two-party system, and make it incredibly difficult for a winning third Party to emerge to replace either one of them.
Some think that "maintaining this 2 Party status quo" is a good thing for the sake of national unity, but in fact what it has done is make all our R/D politicians too comfortable and easily controlled by outside interests -- and it also makes R/D politicians virtually indistinguishable from one another.
So what's the solution?
IMHO, it comes down to coming up with a list of priorities that we can agree on to unite us, and for which we will accept no substitutes -- and this priority list has to be based on more than just being "anti-Democrat" and "anti-socialist". It must be based on positive values that are brokered from within as a matter of compromise and must be Constitutionally anchored. Because, if we can't agree on the basics, then we WILL get seduced by whatever pap that the RNC or any other political group is willing to feed us.
Am I optimistic that an agreed list of priorities will ever materialize? I'd like to be, but I can't say that I am.
Supreme Court Guts Due Process Protection
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/12/supreme-court-guts-due-process-protection.html
Watchdog files complaint over Facebook ‘privacy’ settings
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/17/epic_facebook_privacy_complain/
http://sppiblog.org/news/is-the-european-police-state-going-global
“If the Liberty Republicans don’t IMMEDIATELY leave the GOP and go Third Party, then they’re all a bunch of RINOs!!1!!!!1”
Ruh Roh..........
;-)
B U M P
“Decentralised GOP with a conservative takeover - Yes.
“Tea Party” Party splitting the vote - NO. “
I lam really looking forward to kicking some RINO arse!
By campaigning for John McCain, Sarah Palin has demonstrated that she is on the side of the Rockefeller Republicans, not the Liberty Republicans.
We can’t force Big Government anti-liberty Republicans to embrace our ideals simply with a threat of packing up our toys and going to someone else’s Tea Party. The big gov RINOs will say “good riddance.”
This is not bow it works.
If you want to see how it does work, just take a look at the Progressives in the Democrat Party.
50% of Americans vote, of which 50% voted for Democrats, who are controlled by the 50% that are Progressives. Get it? A 12% minority is controlling the entire country.
We must take over the GOP at every level, as the Progressives took over the Democrat Party. Power comes from controlling a major political party, not from starting a new one.
Agree with all your points. A lot more Americans need to understand just how small a minority is controlling us at this point.
Talk about tyranny! Majority rule is a sad, lost joke right now. The Tea Party can help fix this.
Not totally. Look at how they are morphing themselves to tap into the Tea Party crowd.
But I do agree that threats alone aren't enough -- it's a subtle carrot and stick game to move the Party & the populace in the right direction -- and the most essential part of the strategy is a takeover of the Party.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.