One thing that the last few years, and especially the last 18 months or so have done for me, is remove all concern about electing Republicans to federal office. State Republicans are a different animal, though some need to be primaried-out, my state has the luxury of term limits. At the federal level, it does not make much difference who is in the White House or under the Capitol Dome; both parties have betrayed the Constitution.
Some will still talk about Reagan, and I loved and respected Ronald Reagan, but he did not change the direction of this nation away from big government. He slowed the acceleration, and that's about it. The two Bush presidencies are nearly indistinguishable from Clinton or Obama. Republican Senators like McCain, Graham, and McConnell, who attack the smaller government, libertarian views of the Tea Party are as bad as their Democrat counterparts. The only difference between a Republican Senator from Arizona and Democrat Senator from New York is possibly a vote on gun control. I can't even count on that. The House has Peter King lambasting his own party members over de-funding ObamanationCare. If Peter King, John McCain, and Chris Christie are Republicans then what am I?
I'm free. I am free of the GOP. As long as I can pay the price in taxes and aggravation to keep the police state ninjas off my lawn, I will. When I can't, I won't. As I have said before, I am a patriot because I love my country. I despise my government, and I owe it nothing. I will live by the laws of God and the morals and ethics consistent with my faith in Christ.
The state of 'Conservative' political parties in the West is a tragedy. Here in NZ, our 'conservative' National Party that has been in Government now for two terms; it would be well to the left of your average Democrat and is functionally no different to the Socialists. Furthermore, they have become committed pragmatists and focus group followers of the first order. They wouldn't recognize a philosophical founding principal if they tripped over one. Oh, they throw the odd bone out to supporters occasionally, but nothing that will rock the boat of our national socialist consensus.
ReplyDeleteI have long since abandoned them. Here, as in the USA our options are few. There is a new Conservative party that has started recently with good people at the helm. I will likely vote for them this time round.
My American friends typically vote libertarian.
I suspect that in Britain, the USA and in NZ there will have to be a complete route at the polls by the incumbents before any kind of conservative political reformation is possible.
And that's my optimistic view. ;-)
You're probably right. The Canadians seem to have gotten a little better and the French with Le Pen, as you noted a day or two ago, might have a shot.
ReplyDeleteI have often voted Libertarian, and we don't closed primaries or party registration in Missouri. Anybody can pick up a primary ballot for a given party. In primaries, I'll still get a Republican ballot and vote against the incumbents.
Politics is not going to change the world. At best, we're fighting for a chance to be left alone.
Yes but will we? I may blog shortly about the EU overruling a Lankashire school headmaster insisting that despite the Catholic schools rules that students must be clean shaven, it was two Muslim students 'human right' to wear beards.
ReplyDeleteWhen the EU is making rules about facial hair, what chance does any free citizen have of being 'left alone'?
It's a question. It's possible that a government so invasive as to delve into facial hair or the names of sports teams will awaken the apathetic at some point. New Yorkers finally got upset about Bloomberg's effort to ban gigantic sodas. Everybody has their line in the sand, I suppose, but some might be drawing them too close to the edge of the cliff.
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