“Big government is by far the greatest threat to our lives and well being.”
No friend it is not. Big government is a symptom of the real problem. The “real” problem is the country continuing moving away from social/moral conservatism and continuing to pick bad leaders that move it that direction. Rand Paul and his ilk are NOT the solution. Cutting government, of itself, is NOT the solution.
IF we are going to “rally” around anything really effective in “saving the country,” it will be a leader (leaders) that is a real social conservative...backed by a party/people that are social conservatives first and foremost. Get that right, and the rest WILL fall into place. That is absolute fact.
Of course the moral and spiritual issues of the American People underlie our malaise, but those issue aren't solved with politics - never have and never will. They are solved by individual repentance. The answer will never be whatever politician is put in office. The answer will always be whether the American People are willing to take the reigns of their lives and their nation once again. The answer here is for politicians and the government to once again fear the people, not the other way around. Freedom is when government fears the people and tyranny is when the people fear the government. And unaccountable politicians will ALWAYS be corrupt not matter how much you love them or think they're great.
So it's a political battle for freedom and a spiritual and moral battle for the hearts and minds of the American People. The spiritual battle will ultimately determine the political battle but they are not the same issues though they affect each other. And if we wait for the American People to repent and turn to God before fighting for our freedoms it may be too late. It is a simultaneous war on both fronts.
Freedom is the political issue, pure and simple. A spiritual awakening and repentance toward God is the moral and individual issue. Getting those two issues mixed up could also be fatal. Our founders were careful not to do so.
So true, social liberalism leads to big government.
You're sure about that. Then what happened with GW Bush? He was definitely considered a social conservative. What happened with him? He was a socialist - "compassionate" and "benevolent" government was always the answer to Bush. So he massively grew government and greased the skids for Obama - not so compassionate, not so benevolent, but the levers of overreaching government power and equipment were put in place for him.
Eisenhower was a "social conservative" and he grew government by leaps and bounds. Eisenhower demonstrated he also was a socialist, so much so that it finally brought Reagan out of the film industry and into politics.
Nixon was a social conservative but he LOVED government.
I would argue that if you don't put freedom from government first whether you call yourself a Conservative or Donald Duck, you advance the socialist agenda, howbeit unwittingly.
And THAT's an HISTORICAL fact Jack.