Posted on 07/04/2002 6:16:32 AM PDT by B. A. Conservative
It is beyond challenge that most, if not all, of the problems America faces today originate in Washington. It is fallacious reasoning to suggest that the problem lies with the people of the United States. Our government is a republic. Our republic is predicated on the theory that those elected to public office have intellectual competence, educational skills or experience that exceeds that of the electorate and that those elected public leaders will do what is right for the country even in opposition to commonly perceived public opinion. During most of the past century, the political class has demonstrably failed to lead, but have instead become political prostitutes selling laws and benefits in exchange for votes transforming our Constitutional republic into a tyrannical mob-rule democracy destined for bankruptcy. Non-producing parasites now use the Democratic Party to prey on their neighbors, the still producing members of our country.
Under our Constitution, the power of the United States resides in We the people. For too long, we have allowed that power to be delegated or sold by the prostitutes in both political parties, primarily those in Washington. Clearly, ours has become a top>down government. As one voice among We the people, I think it is time to withhold the delegation of that power by only delegating it to selected politicians and then only with strings attached. FreeRepublic is a much larger segment of We the people, with a much larger voice. We at FreeRepublic are the roots of the grassroots. Newcomers and some that have been frequenting this site for years may deny that Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives because of the discussions that took place on this web site. They are wrong. Our voice is loud and it is heard in the Halls of Congress and in the Whitehouse. The stain that will be remembered in history is not the stain on Monica's dress; it is the stain of Impeachment. And that stain came from the computer ink that spilled from the hearts of Freepers determined to see justice done. We at FreeRepublic are the roots of the grassroots. The buck starts here.
There has been a great deal of discussion on FreeRepublic lately about what role we should play in this fall's election and that we should cut Bush and the Republicans some slack. Variations of this theme have been discussed on other threads: "THAT which you believe"---"An open letter to Republicans" by redrock. I particularly like the comments by DoughtyOne and "Move the RINOs and we move the party. I really think it's that simple," by NickDanger.
Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections by telling Americans he was going to cut the government in Washington down to size. The Contract with America gave the Republicans control of both houses of Congress for the first time in roughly thirty years. Prior to the Contract with America Republicans only had control of even one house in Congress one other time in 70 years. The lesson that Republicans seem to have difficulty in learning is that the people are conservative and when presented a conservative agenda they will vote for it. And conversely, when pandering is all that is offered, the public prefers the real prostitutes every time. I have a solution to this problem. I call it the
I am not giving my vote to anybody in November. I have decided to auction my vote in this fall's Congressional elections. Politicians are going to have to bid for my vote. I have decided not to exclude any particular politicians or parties from the bidding. And I have decided to attach some rules to the bidding itself:
Minimum Bid:
This is only the Minimum. There are a number of suggested options that politicians could add now or that we will add in future contracts for future elections.
Suggested Options:
Most of these problems would eventually be solved by Term Limits. I think the Term Limits Amendment should be saved as part of the ultimate threat packaged as a part of a package to be presented under Article V to a Constitutional Convention. It takes time to put together sufficient public arousal and support to apply the kind of pressure that we may need to bring to bear on people who are used to exerting power rather than being subjected to it.
Just like continuing resolutions for spending are done now, congress would merely rubberstamp previous laws at the beginning of each session... Something like the "Congressional Omnibus Reauthorization Procedural Security Exercise...CORPSE"
I have thought about this as the most serious flaw in the Constitution...law creep.
What is needed is a graduated reauthorization procedure. This is where each law requires an increasing majority over time to reauthorize it. New ideas require a mere majority 51%. After for years, 2/3. After 8 years 3/4. 12 years 4/5.
If a law/program is good, it should have no trouble garnering unanimous consent over time. Meanwhile, Congress will be forced to spend most of its time lobbying and voting on maintaining current laws rather then passing and spending on new business.
Just a thought.
2. Is your loss of freedom reversible?
No...but we have long way to go....
3. Is it worth the effort to you personally to attempt the recovery of the freedom you have lost?
Absolutely! all day, every day.
4. Is there any other mechanism besides the one I have proposed that offers a "real" chance to recover your (our) lost freedom?
I have yet to find one
5. Is the alternative equal to or better than the one I am proposing?
It it the people of the United States who put these people in Washington. Surely they are to blame.
Meanwhile, outside the Capitol, the candidates are giving their last electoral speach.
Kang (looking like Bob Dole): The politics of failure have failed. We need to make them work again. Tomorrow, when you are sealed in the voting cubicle, vote for me, Senator Ka... Bob Dole.
[applause]
Kodos (looking like Bill Clinton): I am looking forward to an orderly election tomorrow, which will eliminate the need for a violent blood bath.
[applause]
From the sky comes a scream, as Homer is crashing right into the Capitol. A few footsteps later, he comes running down the stairs.
Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles.
[unmasks them]
[audience gasps in terror]
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.
[murmurs]
Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system.
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate!
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.
[Kang and Kodos laugh out loud].
-- "Treehouse of Horror VII"
Other Perot voters out there - Don't let anyone tell you you threw away your vote- the 20% of the popular vote scared people in Washington more than you can possibly imagine. He also talked about whittling the govt down to size, and most of the above agenda...
I'm hoping that one of our friends can supply s with a link to all the addresses of all the ass-bites in DC so we can send this.
Another good idea.
Fabian Conservatism? It's possible. Do we have the time before fabian socialism has progresed to the point of no return? Do we, that is Conservatives, have the patience?
It would be very difficult in face of the fact that the majority of female voters are willing to trade all other civil liberties for abortion. The socialists advance their rise to power by appealing to our societies weaknesses. Historically, socialist are only defeated after they have acheived victory. I hate to admit it, on this 4th. of July, but I have grave concern for the country.
I am concerned, however, about a tax system that exempts so many voters from the pain. That was the method used to start the federal income tax (it only applied to the "rich"). A "Fair Tax" comes close, but with current FET's and State/local taxes thrown in, it would be very tempting (and lucrative) to barter or just plain cheat. This is already happening with cigarettes.
Incrementalism back to less government power never has and never will work. Government will never "incrementaly" cut their own budgets, power. The only thing that will ever convince government to shoot its own foot, to tear up its own credit cards, is a major grass roots movement by "the people" (such as BA suggests, personally I am in favor of a grass roots tax revolt) or a catastrophic event (economic meltdown or societal breakdown).
"Incrementalism" only works to move towards more government, never less, to the left, not to the right.
LOL!
Yep, that is what we were all told.
I keep thinking of Rush saying if we didn't vote for Bush we would get Gore.
I decided to throw my vote away on Harry Browne.
So now we get President Bush.
I reckon I will just keep throwing my vote away.
If I refuse to vote THEY won't know I didn't vote. I want them to know "they" didn't get my vote.
Exactly! You have captured the idea, but seem to have missed its implications. This is not a complex scheme.
Republicans and Democrats both know that conservatives are not ever going to vote for a Democrat. Yes, there is an occasional misguided or deluded soul who believes in fairy tales, ie there are conservative Democrats; and there may be a rare misguided and meaningless protest vote cast by a conservative for a Democrat. But bottom line, Democrats are never going to get votes from conservatives and everybody knows it.
What are the obvious implications of this? First, Democrats are never going to make any meaningful efforts to solicit conservative votes; it is a waste of their time and money. And two, Republicans consider conservative votes their birthrights. That means Republicans are free to cater to the natural base of the Democratic Party in order to get more votes. As long as they gain a greater number of Democratic Party voters than they lose conservative votes in disgust or protest, Republicans believe they will be more likely to win re-election. That is why Republicans who have been in office for any significant period of time move to the left.
Republicans know that to get elected, they have to cater to the conservative base. But once elected they move left, because they believe that is what they must do to remain in office. Conservatives are not lock step or block voters. When a politician fails to support a conservative's favorite issue, the politician may not get a vote from the conservative in the next election. A much higher percentage of Democratic voters use straight party tickets than Republican voters.
The constant attrition of Republicans in Congress since the 1994 Republican Revolution is the direct result of Congressional Republicans moving left instead of continuing to advance the conservative revolution. It is not an accident that governments always can be expected to do the wrong thing. It is because politicians as opposed to statesman don't care a thing about doing the right thing. The only concern of politicians after they are elected is remaining in office. Since politicians don't really have time to hobnob with individual members of their constituency, they tend to listen to the media and the media's reporting of the polls.
Here is the key: politicians want to be re-elected. They don't care about doing what is right. Therefore the politicians focus on a perception of public opinion since the politicians don't have the time or the inclination to take the pulse of the people for themselves. This is how the media accumulated their enormous propaganda machine advantage and why Republicans have been the minority party since the thirties.
As a result, if conservatives want to recapture the attention of left leaning Republican candidates, you have to be willing to let the incumbents lose. The survivors and next year's crop of candidates will hear our message.
I can't remember the the HR# but Ron has a bill before congress that will do just that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.