Our Allies, the Conservatives

Liberty Magazine ^ | Dec 2006 | Bruce Ramsey

[oblomov]

I once had a meal with a man who had been a Republican operative. He was lamenting the factionalism within that party, and as an example told the story of some Christian evangelicals. They had come to him offering to support his candidate providing the candidate agreed with them on 15 points.

"In politics, you don't get all 15 points," he said. "Maybe you get eight of them. You have to be satisfied with that. These people didn't understand that." To them, each of the 15 was connected to Truth, and was not negotiable. There was no agreement, and no progress.

In politics, a lot of libertarians act like those evangelicals. Their badge is their purity. Politics, however, is not about demonstrating one's purity. It is about getting 51% of a group to agree on something. Once in a while you can do that by standing up for purity, but usually not.

Some people don't care about affecting the outcome of current political battles. They have their eyes on the distant future. But if they want to have an influence now, they have to accept the influence of others on a shared position. Their view is that half a loaf — or a quarter, or a slice — is better than none. And this is the reality of politics.

The utopians picture compromise solutions as sellouts, but it is not necessarily so. The fights over two such positions — Social Security reform and school vouchers — are probably far more important than any purely libertarian issue.

Take vouchers. They were invented by a libertarian, Milton Friedman, and over many years became part of the mainstream conservative program. Vouchers are denounced by utopians because they retain the state as funder of education.

[oblomov]

As a conservative with a strong libertarian streak, I think it's time for the "leave us alone coalition" to make peace within itself. The author makes a good case for preserving an effective right coalition and rejecting factionalism.

[EveningStar]

ping

[Paladin2]

McCain ain't gonna make it.

[concerned about politics]

Our country has gotten so socialist already, we can't afford another 49% win for them here, and another 49% victory for them again next week. We need a frigging wall, then we need to go directly in the opposite direction and start erasing the damage they've done.

The slow drip, or incrementalism, is what got us in this mess in the first place. Who wants a 49% tax increase, just so we can say we "compromised" and won by not allowing the other 51%, too? We still get stuck with a 49% tax increase.

I think fighting 24/7 for conservatism, no matter what the issue, is the only way to clean this country up and get the citizens freedoms back.

Compromising with terrorists would just get us killed in the end. Compromising with liberals would do the same, except it would be a little slower. Stalin waited a few years before he got rid of his political "burdens." He was a socialist, too.

[Thumper1960]

Factionalism is the bane of any political movement. It breeds dissension and conspiracy. It steals vigor from a movement and sabotages ideas that would withstand debate in the public arena. Factionalism is insidious in that the most partisan are blind to its methods and will succumb to its paralysis. Factionalism kills political parties with amazing speed. Left unchecked, it will reduce the once mighty to fringe minority status in the proverbial blink of an eye.

I will adhere to my strong Libertarian streak, but I will not abandon the only party which, though weakened, is the best chance at halting and eliminating the scourge of Liberalism and Socialistic tendencies: The Demoncrat Party.

[concerned about politics]

I think the educational part of the culture war has been lost.

I support school choice 100%. We homeschool. There's no way our kids would ever be tossed aside and thrown into a public school.

[truth_seeker]

later

[MaxFlint]

The reason many conservatives (not just libertarians) oppose school vouchers is that with funding comes control. It's easier to resist being forced, for example, to teach evolution in Christian schools if you're not on the government dole.

Having said that I vote straight Republican ticket unless the Republican is for gun control. That's the one deal breaker.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I am strongly opposed to idealists and ideologues who have lost touch with reality and want to try and impose their utopian views on the rest of us.

I am also strongly opposed to so-called "realists" and "pragmatists" who are forever coming up with rationales to justify whatever happens to be the case with no thought for principle.

I am strongly opposed to traditionalists who have their heads stuck in the past.

I am strongly opposed to moderns who have no respect for the past.

In short I am a Freeper.

[RussP]

Excellent article with good common sense. A must read for both Libertarians and libertarians.

[PeterPrinciple]

In short I am a Freeper

Oh, you mean a Freeper can tell someone in GREAT DETAIL what we don't want but if asked what we want, we don't know for sure? (at least we can't agree)

[perfect stranger]

I teach in a college

Some, quite a few actually, are s**t hot students.

It's good to know that even a college teacher has no problem expressing what they believe in such an eloquent manner.(end sarcasm)

On future posting occasions please, no profanity.

[xzins]

I can agree with this to a certain point.

I am a religious conservative and there are some non-negotiables.

1. Life: this is the basic, most fundamental right. To violate it is to make any other right meaningless. Dead men don't argue much about liberty and the pursuit of happiness or the ownership of property.

2. God: leave me alone to worship God in my way, provided I am not depriving anyone of life. Be an adult about different religions in the marketplace as much as we are adults about different political parties in the marketplace. In other words, free speech means FREE.

3. Property: What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours.

4. Self-defense: both nationally and personally (see #1)

[GSlob]

There is a compromise and there is a compromise. Using his own "15 point" illustration - getting, say, 6 to 9 points is a compromise, getting 10+ is a clear victory, but what name should we use for getting less than 5?

[perfect stranger]

What part of the disclaimer don't you understand?

Disclaimer:

Opinions expressed on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Free Republic or its operators.

Please enjoy our forum, but also please remember to use common courtesy when posting and refrain from posting....vulgarity.

[Major Matt Mason]

The problem in the Republican party is the moderates. They might agree with conservatives/libertarians on smaller issues, and on tax cuts. But on the bigger issues and the overall concept of smaller, more limited government, the moderates almost always run for the tall grass. Put another way, they are political cowards. They don't have the courage to fight over these issues, perhaps in part because they don't believe in them.

It will be difficult to move the ball forward on meaningful government reforms as long as moderates have some clout in the party. They are the minority in the GOP, yet they are overly represented in congressional leadership and in the RNC.

Yes, we can't expect to get everything we want, but we should be getting more than we are.

[evilmuppet]

Well when the GOP expands the government at a rate faster than the Democrats, what reason would I have to vote for them again? The Republicans will run on a platform of smaller government, low taxes but when they are in power they do the exact opposite. That shows that they had absolutely no intention of fulfilling their promises. They have thrown bones to the religious right but totally ignored the faction of the party that gives the GOP their popular appeal. It is the libertarian ideal that draws voters to the GOP afterall. I'd say they had better recognize who butters their bread and place a lot more prominence on libertarianism.

The other option is for the GOP to be relegated to perminent minority status. It is funny that they suggest libertarians should somehow compromise with the rest of the party. HA, they need us a hell of a lot more than we need them.

[Gondring]

I think the educational part of the culture war has been lost.

When I went to schools around the state for NASA, I found that leftie groups (such as environmental wackos) send out freebie propaganda to teachers to put up in their classrooms, while conservatives seem content to write papers in their think tanks. Given the miniscule budgets that teachers have for materials in their classroom,* educators are always on the lookout for inexpensive or free materials, and we have missed the boat. And the schools ensure the next generation is too poorly equipped to question the propaganda of the news and entertainment media. :-( *Those generous school budgets all go to the administrative burden we have [which is nearly 10 times greater per student than the schools of some countries that do better than America on standardized exams]