Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

This message applies to both Establishment Republicans and Donald Trump himself. I will start with the Establishment Republicans who opposed Trump. I realize that there are many of you, especially those who were part of the Never Trump movement who aren’t happy about Trump getting elected. I will be honest when I tell you that Trump was far from being my first choice. However, as I recently wrote in my message to the leftists who are continuing to throw hissy fits, Donald Trump is our president for better or worse. Get used to it. Hell, with all the lackluster candidates that you have given us for the past eight years, you are partially responsible for this man’s popularity in the first place. So, stop sulking.

Now that you guys have the executive branch as well as both chambers of congress, this is a perfect opportunity to finally grow a backbone and finally do the things that you have been promising the voters for the past eight years. Now, I could tell you guys to do things that favor libertarian ideas, but that would be way too much to hope for, so I am just going to give a few suggestions that would be beneficial to both conservatives and libertarians alike. For starters, don’t worry about gay marriage. That boat has already sailed. Personally, I would have preferred having marriage privatized, but what’s done is done. Unless you are considering the privatization route or have reason to believe that churches are being forced to perform same sex weddings, I would leave this issue alone. Here are some other suggestions:

1. Do something about Obamacare.
There is no easy way of dealing with this, though freeing up the insurance markets may help. I would suggest privatizing healthcare again, but that would be too much to ask from you guys.

2. Start Repealing Victim Disarmament Laws.
Instead of only supporting the Second Amendment when you have to defend it from proposed legislation, how about go on the offensive and start repealing the bad laws that are already on the books.

3. Cut Taxes and Spending.
Cut taxes like you guys have always promised, but this time make sure that it works hand in hand with spending cuts. Otherwise we are going to end up with an even bigger deficit than we already have.

These set of suggestions are for the Trump administration.

1. No Tariffs.
If you want to negotiate a better trade deal, I may be able to get behind that. However, raising tariffs is a bad idea. Don’t forget that tariffs are a two-way street. These same countries also have the same ability to tax our goods as well. Take a look at the Hoover administration. It did not bold well for Hoover when he took the exact same actions that you are now proposing.

2. Keep Your Promise About Nationwide Concealed Carry.
Out of all your proposals, this is the one that actually sounds the most promising.

3. Reconsider Punishing Companies that Plan to Leave the US.
If you want companies to stay in the US, try to give them better incentives than the threat of taxing them to death. Make it less costly for companies in the US by cutting taxes and regulations.

4. The Wall.
I know that there are libertarians who find the idea of keeping illegal Aliens out of the US appalling, but my biggest gripe with your so-called border wall is that it will end up costing us billions of dollars to build and will actually do nothing to stop people from entering the country illegally. I know that you talked about having Mexico pay for the wall, but I have to admit that I am somewhat skeptical about that notion. Though there is probably nothing I can do to talk you out of it, I do hope that at the very least that your plan to get Mexico to pay for the wall actually works, so the tax payers don’t foot the bill.

5. Stay out of Unnecessary Wars.
Don’t really need to explain this one.

6. Ease Up on the War on Drugs.
I am not expecting full drug legalization, but I was hoping that you guys could at least ease up on your raids in the states that have passed some form of marijuana legalization. If not for the sake of individual freedom or state sovereignty at least do it because it will likely spread your forces thin, which means that you will have to spend more money to create a bigger anti-drug task force. Wouldn’t you rather that money go towards the military or repairing infrastructure as you also promised?

7. Keep Your Promise About Reforming Education.
While I would certainly prefer total privatization of our education system, I know that it will not happen anytime soon. At the very least, I am hoping that you will keep your word about giving education back to the states. If we can’t get total privatization, we can at least get our education system decentralized, which would be a step in the right direction. It does seem somewhat promising that your pick for the Secretary of Education is a former Common Core supporter that now supports vouchers and charter schools.

I know that most of my suggestions sound relatively libertarian lite, but this is about as much as I can expect from the Republicans. Hell, it would be a miracle if they even accomplish a fraction of the things that I just suggested. Though, even a tiny fraction would still be a step in the right direction.