If true, and I assume it is, I suspect the early conservatives knew not what they were letting in under the Big Tent. “Limited” gov’t and “no” gov’t are alike in that each want “less” gov’t than we have now. But the libertarians are like the “every single word in the Bible is literally true” crowd. And they have done to conservatism what the fundies did to religion where you now have otherwise sensible people now think the Earth is only 6,000 years old, and if you don’t believe it, then you are a CINO (Christian in name only.)
So, with the GOP and its conservatives, if you believe in social security, you are a socialist Rino. Ditto for minimum wages, wage and hour laws, worker’s comp laws, child labor laws, FDA, social security, medicare, etc.
Believe in those you and you are a socialist.
Don’t believe me? Wait and see how many “conservatives” jump on this and other posts when social security comes up. or minimum wages. Keep an eye out and you will see what I mean.
Check in on a few “Taxes are going up” threads and listen to the wailing and gnashing of teeth from so-called conservatives who are scared to death that there will not be a rich person to take care of them and give them a job.
This is not “conservatism.” This is libertarian orthodoxy. And it will continue to cripple the GOP. You might get back in power over the Obama reaction. But it is only a reprieve. The GOP has lost its way because of the gov’t-nihiklist libertarians.
parsy, who has experienced all this
a) How much, or to what extent, do you believe govt should look after, be responsible for, the econ well being of the populace?
b) Social Security; income tax; myriad of other govt edicts are relatively 'new' in regard to our nation's age. Suppose none of these ever came to be, how would you imagine the econ state of this country? Would the people have, or not, been better off?
jla, a 'Jefferson-Reagan conservative' who understands that mankind, left to its own devices, incapable of creating a perfect world, but can come a helluva lot closer than the govt
PS - Read a few times here that your health isn't up to par, hope that situation changes soon for you
Parsifal did you read my first post? Yes unadulterated libertarianism doesnt work. Keep this in mind, pure libertarians find common cause with Buchananite paleocons on foreign policy yet also find common cause with La Raza(who the libs are fine with) on immigration. We dont want to welcome the dyed in the wool libertarian any more than we want to welcome the paleocons on their terms. I’ve only said that there are good things that libertarians can lend to the movement through debate like less government intervention in the market place, tax reform, entitlement reform, etc that need to be heard. If you hate a moderately libertarian’s position on gay rights and abortion, convince them your position is right. But their positions on small, federal government are historically right and should be included in the debate as well. They are a spunky bunch who, I think can fight the big government rinos like Bushites, McCainites and Huckabeeites better than most republicans I know including most of the lead speakers at CPAC today.
You must be speaking of the .3% of the GOP that are actually Libertarians.
There a lot of (l)ibertarians in the GOP...they can be spotted by their aversion to social issues. They don't want to fight the rest of the GOP on them...but they'll hold their nose for the greater good.
There's probably millions of those.
Well, duh. Most of these (though not child labor, at least) are socialist, by any decent definition of socialism. They are manifestations of violence on a mass scale. You think it's OK to take money from me & my family, at gunpoint, to give it to others you deem more deserving. Call it whatever you want, it's still a monstrous evil.