Posted on 08/03/2007 10:11:08 PM PDT by George W. Bush
Can Liberty Survive Big Government, Big Spending and Big Mud Slinging?
Today's comment is by Bob Bauman, The Sovereign Society's Legal Counsel and author of many books and reports on the offshore world and personal liberty.
Dear A-Letter Reader,
Recently, our Chairman and a founder of The Sovereign Society, John Pugsley, waxed poetically on the sad state of freedom in America.
As always, I enjoyed hearing his thoughts as he reflected on a theme that also concerns me: The cancerous growth of the American Empire.
Reading afresh about the fundamental principles of America's Founding Fathers made me ponder how little, if any, attention is being paid to those basic principles in the current, all too early U.S. presidential campaign. It's more of a Democratic mud fight between Hillary and Obama, with the luxuriantly dressed John Edwards thrown in for comic relief.
A Bunch of Lost Sheep
Meanwhile, the Republicans wander around like so many lost sheep, each claiming to be the Reagan-like shepherd the distressed flock needs for salvation (at least all except my good friend, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, with whom I had the honor to serve in the House of Representatives. Indeed, Ron Paul is the only candidate on either side who seems to know history, understand the U.S. Constitution and who is willing to apply both with sound logic).
As a young man many years ago, after much study, I firmly decided that I was a political "conservative." I became national chairman of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and, later, of the American Conservative Union (ACU).
William F. Buckley was one of my mentors and I served proudly as a Goldwater for president 1964 delegate from my home state of Maryland. YAF, founded in 1960, was the vanguard of the 1964 Goldwater for president movement, creating a vibrant cadre of young leaders who later graced the Reagan administration. The ACU, founded in 1965, was the senior spin-off of YAF. (Some suggested Old Americans for Freedom, or OAF.)
Nearly half a century ago "conservatism" meant opposing big government in all its forms, bureaucratic waste and pork barrel spending. As recently as 1992, a friend of mine, President George H.W. Bush spoke for me in saying:
"Each month, millions of American families sit down to balance their checkbooks. The federal government must now do the same."Apparently George the First did not convince George the Second of that fundamental economic fact.
In those long ago Goldwater days, we young conservatives believed that lower taxes kept government small, that cutting taxes kept money out of the greedy hands of Washington's big spenders.
But we also were against massive deficit spending and skyrocketing debt. Most of all, we believed in government staying out of our private lives, respecting the rule of law and abiding by the Bill of Rights.
No Sane Conservative Can Say We're Winning the Battle
Against Big GovernmentA decade or so ago we conservatives thought we were winning the battle. But no sane American "conservative" can make such a foolish claim now.
Huge deficits and a perpetually unbalanced budget guarantees eventual inflation and the cheapened U.S. dollar is already here.
Billions for unneeded bailouts of airlines, hedge funds, insurance companies and big businesses is thrown away. Millions in pork barrel spending is tacked onto the so-called Homeland Security bill, a bureaucratic monstrosity.
And we know what has happened to our diminishing liberty, freedom and civil rights. I repeat that the USA Patriot Act is the single greatest assault on the U.S. Constitution ever perpetrated in American history.
We suffer a growing police state with secret spying, searches, forfeiture, arrests and imprisonment without charges or counsel. The president claims the unchecked authority to spy on American citizens, all in the name of combating terrorism.
How to Fight a Growing Police State
The hero of my youth, the late Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, was my idea of a true conservative. When in doubt, it was said this son of a president placed the Constitution along side a proposed bill and then formulated his vote accordingly.
With one or two exceptions, that kind of true conservative is scarce in Washington today, and certainly cannot be found in the White House.
As Chairman Pugsley suggested, to survive and be secure, we must engineer our lives, as best we are able, to keep ourselves, our families and our assets out of the reach of the imperial government.
...
BOB BAUMAN, Legal Counsel
Islamic Fascism is the cancer. The United Sates is the cure. Until Ron Paul and his followers figure that out, he’ll be polling in the bottom 2% of candidates.
That's an oxymoron.
Today we have a wing of “conservatives” trying to redefine conservatism so as to remove this cornerstone of what it is all about.
Ron Paul is doing a heroic job of trying to fight this, but his naivete on the threat of Islamic Fascism is something that I can not overlook.
The author of “Jeffersonian” non-interventionism in foreign policy, Jefferson himself, came to realize that groups fueled by a totalitarian ideological/theological vision will not leave us alone if we simply mind our own business.
His experience with the so-called “Barbary Pirates”, who were Islamic fanatics engaged in Jihad, changed his view on this matter.
Buckley/Goldwater/Reagan conservatism included resistance to totalitarian movements as well as standing for limited government.
Savvy Lurker, real savvy.
Try again...
L
You shouldn't, but you will....
It still does.
Only liberals and sheep redefine terms.
In another posting I mentioned Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which enumerates the specific and limited powers and obligations of Congress. As I was re-reading that section before writing my post it made me sad to think about how far we’ve deviated from those basic principles. Of course, this article’s premise has at its core the dim memory of the Roman Republic and the subsequent Empire, which haunts Western culture with its promises of peace and prosperity at the expense of the rule of law and the rights of citizens. (The same sort of haunting memory shadows the European Union continues its growth.)
My concern is not a Roman-style growth into the Empire. I fear a quick decline into chaos, like the two years preceding 1860 or 1931, pushed by unexpected events and incomptent, corrupt public servants. The year 2009 could be very, very different from what I’m experiencing right now.
On the other hand, if we are heading down the path of Rome, that would mean 1,000 years of American nationhood - and the eastern Romans lasted even longer than that, for almost 1,300 years. It’s just an analogy, anyway. We are our own creators of our own destiny.
Now I see why so many "Republicans" support this guy. (?!)
They must be the only "Republicans" with their car radios permanently set to Air America.
Nothing. In fact, some of us like him before his “We brought 9/11 on ourselves” idiocy.
I wouldn't know, I'm not a Big Government Welfare State RINO.
What I AM is a loyal American. What has me worried is Paul is able to act as a cover for all you Retreatists For Al Qaeda And The Libs, who want to give both those gangs a big win under the guise of "conservative principles."
Ronald Reagan didn't retreat during the Cold War--he fought. How running away makes Paulists "in the tradition of Reagan" I dunno.
Jeez Louise...is the GOP not made up of pro-gun, pro-U.S. sovereignty, pro-life voters? Who do you think support the GOP? Liberals?
Are you some kind of idiot? Jim supervises all of our actions. Maybe you should be more cautious about what you post on Free Republic.
No complaint on that score. RLC -- the place I found it -- is fine with me for Ron Paul items, but Bauman's
cancerous growth of the American Empire
made my jaw drop, and I promoted it to editorial (and from there, to front page) for maximum visibility.
There, all fixed.
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