THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 860, February 21, 2016 Republicans have no plan; they have no program, not even Newt Gingrich's cheesy Contract with America. If Republicans lose in November (and we wind up with a President Sanders), this will be the reason.
A Brilliant Idea! That's What We Need, A Brilliant Idea!*
Attribute to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise As our favorite writer and sage Robert A. Heinlein used to say about revolutions, every general election campaign is unique, a mutant, a freak. I have lived through seventeen of them (geez!), and I know. I know a great many individuals who believe that this election is especially critical, a fundamental and eternal national choice between the undisguised socialism of Horrible Hillary and Bernie the Dinosuar on the one hand, and ... and ... what? I believe that most people have been following the so-called "insurgent" Republicans simply because none of them is either Hillary or Bernie (who has only come to public attention because Hillary is such a miserable excuse for a human being). National distaste for Obama is something you can lean on, like a tree. If the voters had wanted something resembling a real insurgent, Rand Paul would be leading the pack of idiots right now and his father would have won in 2012. What they all have in common is a desire to control women for whatever perverted statist/militarist purposes they have in mind, and a pathetic inability to keep their religion in their pants. And there is always the crowd-pleasing promise to kick everyone out of America who didn't file for official government permission to put their feet here instead of there on the surface of the planet—notably without the GOP doing anything substantive (like abolish welfare) that might make them want to leave. This lousy substitute for a policy is usually associated with an energetically expressed desire to drop bombs on folks overseas who can't fight back, when a proper remedy is to repeal every gun law in America and let us all defend ourselves. Beyond that, Republicans have no plan; they have no program, not even Newt Gingrich's cheesy "Contract with America". Basically, Donald Trump's motto is "That is my policy, and if you don't like it ... I'll change it." If Republicans lose in November (and we wind up with a President Sanders), this will be the reason. It wouldn't take much of a Republican to promise at this point: "I will restore the Rule of Law." Instant landslide. What I personally want most out of this election is a President with the cojones to send federal marshals out here to Flyover Country and clap the bracelets on Governor John Hickenlooper (yes, that's really his name) for enfringing my right to own and carry weapons. His droolingly moronic magazine restriction law, which caused the recall of two of his minions and the resignation of a third, recently cost me a wonderful collector's piece, and I'm thoroughly pissed. I see no one among the Republican store-dummies to right this wrong. Now, not to blow my horn (at least too loudly), I know where the plan is that Republicans need so badly. It was meant as a campaign guide for Libertarian Party candidates, but it has failed to penetrate their inch-thick skulls. Among the balls they apparently lack are eyeballs. I applied these principles in two elections to establish percentages—virtually without spending any money at all—far beyond those achieved by other Libertarian candidates, and when one state party applied them with unprecedentedly positive results, the hopelessly corrupt national party sued them, proving once and for all to me that the LP and its candidates aren't really interested in winning. Or in freedom. If I'm wrong, Comrade Libertarians, then prove it to me. It looks to me like the only thing you've got going for you is the Radical Caucus. Where is this wisdom to be found? In a book I wrote a couple of years ago called Down With Power, available in dead-tree form and on Kindle at Amazon.com. It is also an audio book, recorded by the great radio voice of talk-show host Brian Wilson. Go to the web-site here. I won't argue with you unless I'm satisfied that you've read it. Another way in which this election is unique is the opportunity its utter vacuity represents to libertarians, but it wouldn't be the first time. I have written a great deal about the institutional and personal failings of the LP. Doubtless I will, again. I have a lot to get off my chest. The ass-clowns in charge have cheerfully thrown away our best chance to get our country back; I intend to haunt them for it.
Just click the red box (it's a button!) to pay the author This site may receive compensation if a product is purchased |