Explanations

While I really don’t like to categorize myself into any political category the truth is that I’m pretty libertarian/conservative in nature when it comes to making my decisions. Does this mean I agree with everything that’s considered to be “right-wing“? No not really, but I find this mindset and doctrine to be the most logical one when compared to any other.

It sounds so strange to still believe in something of that nature especially after the messy 8 years under Bush, and the Republican party. But here’s the big secret: Bush isn’t a true conservative. And neither is McCain. They never were. Forget them, forget about gun toting rednecks, forget about the crazy religious right, forget about the war, forget about the blood sucking corporations and any other defining conservative stereotype the mainstream media has tried to show you. They’re flat out wrong.

I find conservative-libertarianism appealing for many reasons, the primary being that I believe it follows along closest with what our founding fathers intended America to be: A locally run government, with low taxes, strong civil liberties, vast opportunity, using as little government intervention as humanly possible.

Why such a small role for our government?

Because governments exist out of necessary evil. Contrary to what modern day liberals believe, the government is not our savior. Governments were not created to give away hand outs, healthcare, entitlement programs and be the fix everything solution that many people today want it to become. If these issues are to be fixed than it is up to us as individuals and as a society to help solve it-not rely on the government to accomplish our work for us.

Society is the state of being in which humans find common ground together and work towards achieving a similar goal: survival. By attempting to inject logic and rationality into an otherwise irrational and instinct driven species, society lets us co-exist with one another. As a byproduct, this semi peaceful state of existence also allows us to accomplish amazing feats that one couldn’t hope to do on their own.

But sadly, human nature rears its ugly head and it becomes painfully obvious the main reason for this cooperation is because people know they will personally benefit from it in some way. Self preservation becomes the motivation- not a genuine love for peace and harmony. So strong is this drive for survival that some will attempt to take advantage of society.

Enter the role of government.

Governments are here because ultimately human beings; after you strip away the science, art, religion, and societies that define us as human- are wild and unpredictable creatures. People hate to admit it, and will create a vast sea of excuses as to why they believe it isn‘t so in order to justify their existence. But it is so. We are still the same barbaric mammals that roamed the forests, scavenging for food, fighting over resources, claiming our territory, and surviving just for the sake of surviving that existed so many years ago. With that in mind, the governments primary purpose is this: to protect us from ourselves. Sad but true.

“SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.”

- Thomas Paine author of Common Sense, dated 1776

Thomas Paine was a famous American patriot and spot on when he wrote this.

Paine understood the madness and duality that is human nature. He along with our founding fathers also understood another valuable lesson: government, while guarding people from each other, is just as dangerous as the savage creatures it was designed to protect. Why you ask?

Because governments are run by people.

Thus the government will always be human in the way it functions- for better or worse. Realizing this they decided the best option was to limit the role of government rather than expand it. In addition they outlined several amendments that contained what they considered to be the inalienable rights of man. We now know these to be our constitutional rights. But there is a catch- they only exist (as we know it) so long as the government continues to respect them by properly interpreting their meaning and not removing the Amendments from the constitution. This means maintaining these rights is also the responsibility of the people. That is why state and local representatives, electoral voting, a balance of powers and a senate where created. So that the power of the government could not rest in the hands of a few and the only way that the constitutional rights could possibly be violated was if American society let it happen.

While these rights are priceless, they are the only thing of yours the government should be responsible for. Our founding fathers understood this. Being exposed to the unjust corruption of the British Empire, they knew that if the people gave up just a mere inch of their freedom and responsibility to the government, the government would inevitably take a mile from them. Thus they fiercely opposed the idea of a large national government that could control the individual facets of American life. Even if it was for the good of the people, they knew it was a dangerous move to give the government that much power.

That is precisely why conservatives become alarmed by modern day liberal ideas like nationalized healthcare. It’s a benevolent idea in principle, but also a dangerous one. Consider this: Setting aside the fact that it has the potential to eliminate the majority of private practitioners and the revenue they put into the economy, we as people begin to depend on the government instead of ourselves. By providing free healthcare (much like Europe and Canada), the majority of people will abandon the private businesses for the government’s health plan. As people flock to the government instead of the private industry, civilian money and jobs will be lost to big government. And so will a bit of our freedom. Because now the government will be in control of our health. Not you. The government. You are submitting your own personal health to the hands of complete strangers. What happens if those who run the system abuse its power? What happens if the system goes bankrupt, collapses or becomes a corrupt system? These are valid questions, because as history shows us- all things will eventually change. The current government you know and trust can transform over time and move in directions you never expected.

Another question: how should this program be funded?

Raising taxes? Another possible vista for abuse and tyranny to enter through. More hard earned money goes to the government instead of the American people.

Yes, its hypothetical and easy to write off as paranoia. Nationalized healthcare alone probably isn‘t enough to control us all. But that’s one of many ways it will start to. So dangerous is this situation that people created a name for it: soft tyranny. The slow, subtle yet constant expansion of government into the everyday lives of its people. It may not be sinister or evil but its always there. The government will start to define society when it should be the opposite. The biggest irony of all is the fact that our society actually lets it happen and perhaps encourages it. Sadly, most will choose to ignore this.

Another prime example of government intervention is the request to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. The Fairness Doctrine requires talk radio stations to discuss current public issues in an honest fashion by providing opposing viewpoints to the subject. As before with nationalized healthcare it seems like a good policy designed to benefit the general public. But now comes the scary part: what is considered to be “fair” “honest” and an “opposing viewpoint” is strictly up to the government to decide. You have no say in it. Talk radio has been a famous mode of expression for the conservative view point. Is it any wonder that liberal politicians like Nancy Pelosi are asking for “fairness” in talk radio now? One should question the motives behind these actions. If conservatives are using talk radio they are doing so legally and have every right to be there. There is nothing to stop liberals from starting their own stations if they feel there is an imbalance in talk radio. I find it quite appalling to think that politicians would use the government to force their views upon the rest of society. Obtaining different opinions on important issues is an excellent way to becoming educated and learning the truth , but it’s up to the people seek them out. The government has absolutely no right to force feed the masses with their notion of what “truth” and “fairness” are supposed to be. Thomas Jefferson and the creators of the constitution no doubt would be turning over in their graves if they saw what state this country was coming to. In short: society and our first amendment should not become susceptible to a party’s political agenda via the government.

Conservatives and Libertarians take their freedom as individuals very seriously. Its what this country was founded on. The funny part is that several hundred years ago we all would probably have been considered liberals.

How the times have changed….