Posted on 03/05/2008 7:58:52 AM PST by mnehring
All we need is to stop Amnesty; I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
All we need is the Gold Standard; I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
All we need is the Fair Tax; I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
All we need is another Reagan; I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
I know this article will upset, well, everyone. There are a lot who are upset that McCain is the end of the Conservative movement, or at least, he is setting the movement back to a Gerald Ford era. In this race, it seems everyone is emotionally tied to one candidate or another and will swear to their grave that their candidate was the only one that stood for true Constitutional Conservative values. We all seem to act as though Conservatives must rely on what the government will do for us to advance the movement.
Have we not learned anything from Ronald Reagan?
What was the real power of the Reagan Revolution? Ronald Reagan said it perfectly: The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Why do we, as Conservatives, look to whose elected to 'help' the Conservative movement? The Reagan Revolution wasn't about the government making our country more Conservative, it was about the power of the individual despite the government. The Reagan Revolution told us that it doesn't matter what happens in Washington, we as Conservatives are in control of our own lives, or own choices, and our own destiny. The Reagan Revolution reminded us of that.
Oh how far we've fallen. The liberalization of the Republican party has not just resulted in more liberal policies by our leaders, but worse, it has resulted in many of us taking on the emotions and attitudes of the left. Instead of being strong, self reliant individuals, we now act as though we are the victim of our circumstances. We are the victim of illegal immigrants. We are the victim of neoCons. We are the victim of isolationists. We are the victim of trade agreements. We are a victim of monetary policy. We are the victim of fill in the blank.
Did Reagan teach us to be a victim? When Reagan took office liberal Democrats ran everything, there were very few Conservative Republicans, the economy was in the toilet, we faced an enemy who had rolled across Eastern Europe and much of Asia and had an arsenal of weapons pointed at us that could destroy us ten times over. Everything was stacked against us.
Did Reagan come in saying, you are a victim of your circumstances, but don't worry, I'm from the government, I'm here to help? No. Reagan told us: There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.
Like it or not, we will have a moderate or liberal as our next President. The choice is ours, and ours alone if we will be the victim of that circumstance or if we will be the master of our own destiny.
I will close by warning you, next time a politician says: I'm from the government, I'm here to help, ask yourself if you really want his or her help or if you control your own destiny.
Very well done. Thanks for posting it.
ping
All we need is the Fair Tax; I'm from the government, I'm here to help.
I'm not fully on board with the FairTax (I think the whole "prebates" business is stupid), but compared to what we have now, it would be a vast improvement. In theory, one could decide how much he/she pays in taxes by controlling their spending. That's individual empowerment right there.
Yep, and you nailed it.
Your tagline is delicious.
ping
There is only one thing I desire out of the government, and that is a supremely strong national defense.
Since only 6% of our GDP goes to defense, big government manifests itself in the wrong places.
Gotcha. This reminds me somewhat of one of my favorite quotes. Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy...
"The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather or who manages to get people to let them do it to them To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must WANT to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem."
The sad reality is that if a politician ran on "the government shouldn't concern itself with that. Figure it out yourself.", while smart people like you and me would love it, the idiots that make up the great majority of Americans would be horrified and reject it. I think a good compromise is a Fred Thompson-esque "keep the federal government out of things but have each state decide their role in people's lives" appproach.
I greatly revere Reagan, and that's not easy in my part of the world (Pittsburgh, union town). But I've also taken what you quote to the logical extreme, and haven't stepped into a voting booth since '99. Paul was going to be the first person that drag me back out to it (note: our primaries here are still a good 6 weeks or so away).
But the entire time I had a nagging feeling, and I think you just hit it. Any of these men are still just men. And even though Paul was the only candidate in my lifetime to outright say that he was running for president because he didn't want to run our lives, freedom doesn't come from him, or from any man other than ourselves. The joke I tell about my voting is that the last person I voted for is the only person I'll ever trust again to run my life. That was the year I ran for office. :-)
But I think now I can say that same thing without joking.
I used to post on FreeRepublic somewhat regularly. I left when my kind (libertarian-anarchist) became unofficial persona non grata. I only poked my head back during this election to see how FR was reacting to the doctor's candidacy. Like you said, it taught a lot. But the thing it most taught I think was what you said above.
The thing that I think that this board, and every political board like it needs to finally stop denying is this: freedom is not the property of any political party. It's not the property of any human institution of any kind, for that matter, including that human institution called the United States. Anyone who is truly a freedom fighter should know that it can and will reside anywhere it can take root, and can and will be snuffed out anywhere it did once the agents of control lock onto it.
In other words, anyone who believes in the power of freedom shouldn't give the first one-quarter of a metric goddamn which party or individual or religion or country or language or strategy or anything it is necessary to support or fight to seize it. The moment the fight becomes more about the method than the goal, the goal is lost.
I left here because that's what I saw this place turning into. Heck, I see almost the entire country turning into it. Everyone has their favorite team, and if you're not with us you're against us. And I wasn't on the team anymore.
I hope this election wakes us up to danger inherent in that. Yes, even as someone who was awed by what he did, Paul wasn't perfect, not in the least. Neither was Reagan. Neither is the GOP (should I say "was" there too?). Neither is/was the Libertarian Party that I ran under. Neither are any of the anarchists that I read these days. Nei-ther-is-fri-ckin-a-ny-one! I didn't hang our here to be a part of any golden solution to all of our problems.
I hung out here because there was a consistency in ideology that let me discuss things with others constructively. Even when I disagreed (and there was no shortage of that), there were enough common principles that I could at least engage someone. Personally, I think that's way better a use of time and disk space than 300-post threads of people patting each other on the back, even if every now and then you need one of those to blow off steam.
Now I stay away because everything I've seen, except for this debate, which really even itself was sort of forced in (and even then I saw hints about banning threads mentioning Paul's name), I don't see that anymore. And you know, if that's how Free Republic wants to stay, that's fine. I've been literally kicked out of other places before, and I don't imagine that will ever stop. It does little to me personally.
But like I said, I hung out here once for a reason. That reason still exists. So howz it going to be, Free Republic? Is a non-voting anarchist too much for you even if he has fought for many of the same things you have? Even though this isn't first a Libertarian Party board (though that's pretty much my point), I ask the same question of you that I earlier this year asked the "party of principle": which, party or principle, is more important to you?
I made my choice long ago. I'd like to see what the choice here is now.
Thanks, mnehrling. I didn't think we'd be able to come to any agreement. I'm glad to see I was proven wrong. Excellent, well-needed post.
Well we are victims of bad monetary policy whether we whine about it or not. We can only live off the grid to a certain degree. We pretty much have to use dollars. So the gov. has helped us into a big mess in that regard - unless you actually like devalued currency. I do hope they get their act together and allow competition from a currency backed by someting - gold and silver are advised in the constitution but some other things might work. Congress needs to take back the power to “make money”, then they need to do that job properly. I won’t hold my breath though.
Oh yeah, could you please tell me where you got your tagline? Is there more to the quote...? (2nd time I’ve asked.)
If you have access to newslibrary.com or another archive site you can get the full article. Right after this sentence he also said he doesn’t think Reagan ‘has any credibility left.’
You can choose to be or not to be a victim. You are in control of where your money goes when you shop or invest. 'Bad' monetary policy can work to ones advantage if you invest properly. This isn't about being off the grid. We've had pretty much the same monetary policy for decades, yet our country is more prosperous and better off than any place in the world. Yes, there are problems, but being a victim is your choice.
Very nicely done. Thank you for posting that.
Hmmn - nope - this is your first response about the tagline - unless you maybe accidentally responded to someone else. Can’t get at whatever is being pointed to - oh well.
Being a victim of monetary policy is not a choice, playing the victim may be. So we should just all know that know matter what we’re going to get screwed and just go with it? Even if I use the info at hand and invest in such a way to make $$ off the mess, any $$ I make is still being devalued. I just see a no win situation for average Joe (or even above average Joe.) How does one stay ahead of a collapse of the dollar - except to live as much “off the grid” as possible? Can I tell my employer to pay me in something other than dollars? Can I spend anything other than dollars? The bad policy has been around for a while, but it is coming to a head and can’t go on forever. Some might benefit - most will get hosed.
Are you really a victim of monetary policy or are you emotionally invested in believing you are a victim because you are constantly being told you are a victim of monetary policy?
Well - I’m dressing in older clothes, kid rides the bus to school, less happy meals than than in the past, cheaper dinners lately cuz that $20 isn’t going as far as it could. Inflation due to the old supply/demand is one thing , but when more dollars are printed and circulated in order to benefit or bailout some persons or entities, I - who play by the rules - get screwed by inflation through devaluation. I always heard that one way for an enemy to undermine our financial stability would be for them to flood our system with (fake) currency. What’s the difference if some outsider does this or the Fed. does this - same result.
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