Morris Dovey wrote:
Tim Daneliuk wrote:

(speaking of the Republican Party)

They seem to be the party of no ideas, no principles, no energy, and
no future because they've systematically disassembled their core that
believes in limited government and personal responsibility.

As used as I've become to automatically disagreeing with you, I have to
admit that I share this perception.

I'm not sure that there's actually been a systematic disassembly, and
I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they seem
to have lost sight of their principles - and without that common
foundation, seem unable to produce ideas about which they can reach
consensus, and without ideas to which the general electorate can say:
"Yes!" they have no energy and no political traction.

It was systematic in the sense that winning elections became more
important than defending principle. What good is having office if
there is no coherent philosophical structure to animate what to
do once you're there. This party that claims to preserve personal
liberty, for example, has been only too happy to go after all manner
of things that are and ought to remain private (for adults): drugs,
end-of-life decisions, gay marriage and so on. It is just about
literally true that while the Republicans had a collective meltdown
about what the word "marriage" means were simultaneously ceding
control of the nation to a bunch of radical sewer rats. The party
that claimed a strict "originalist" view of the Constitution and
thus argued for strong states' rights, was only too happy to trot off
to SCOTUS in Schiavo case when Florida didn't give them the answer they
wanted. The list is almost endless and nauseating but it boils down
to this: You either stand on principle or you fall over loudly -
they've fallen and can't get up. Those of us - that diminishing
bunch of us - that actually think the Constitution means what it
says and what is says is very good are now left with a republic in
shambles, a shameless demagogue in the Oval Office, and the most
inherently corrupt, dishonest, and self-serving congressional leaders
in the last 100 years.


If you're a believer in personal responsibility (here it comes round
again - wait for it...) let me encourage you to involve yourself in the
process of identifying and advocating for those who /do/ have the
principles, who /can/ produce ideas that unify people in their support.

Get 'em on the ballot - 'cause if you don't, someone else will be
(re)elected. Time's already running short...


I have and I do ... but the central problem here is not really the political
parties, it's the greedy public. You cannot have meaningful and healthy
politics when half the population lives off the other half and wants even
more. I have contempt for the Republicans because they have opened the door
for the cesspool currently in power, but, in the end, it was the public
that brought this upon themselves. Absent a holistic and countrywide
return to personal responsibility, our republic is doomed. If and when
such a day happens, people like Ron Paul and Chuck Hagel will lead.
In the mean time, we shall all preside over the destruction of our
liberty, future, and possibilities.

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Tim Daneliuk
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