THE GOP: A PARTY IN SEARCH OF A PHILOSOPHY
By Attorney Jack
Swift, JD
December 31, 2013
NewsWithViews.com
Speaker Boehner’s rant last week spotlights the problem confronting the Republican Party - not that it is a party split by a rift between radical rightists and moderate centrists - but that the party itself lacks any clear idea of what it stands for. It lacks a coherent philosophy and any agenda to accomplish that philosophy.
Boehner claims to be, and to have always been, a “conservative” and that it is unreasonable for party conservative elements to chastise him. Boehner did not offer a definition of what being conservative might mean and one is left to wonder if perhaps for John Boehner “conservative” is simply a label. Which is, of course, the whole problem spotlighted by that other conservative label, “RINO” or “Republican in Name Only.”
The term “RINO” really misses the point. The term implies that being a real Republican means adherence to a particular philosophy of government. The problem confronting the Republican Party is that there is no such articulated philosophy. In general, it is boasted by the GOP that they are in favor of limited government. Yet there is no accomplishment of the GOP that they can point to that has done anything to roll back the expansion of government - whether in control in Washington or not. When it comes to big government, the best the GOP can claim is that government has grown at a slower rate when they are in charge. This is another way of saying that the Republican Party is simply an anemic version of the Democratic Party.
At the same time, the MSM would have one believe there is a great deal of confusion about what the Tea Party stands for. For a Tea Party activist, the philosophy is not that difficult to articulate.
The first thing to understand about the Tea Party philosophy is that it is federal.
The movement is not about local government and local elections. Alongside the founding fathers, Tea Partiers are concerned about an out-of-control national government. They are demanding not only that the national government be limited in its growth. They are demanding that it be dramatically downsized. For them, Boehner’s boast that the adopted budget slows the rate of growth is of no value.
Given the size of the monster that has evolved in Washington, it is much too late for “baby steps” to be of any consequence.
In this regard, the national government has become a government not of law and not of representation. It has become government by bureaucracy and bureaucratic regulation. Under the present scheme of things, individual liberty has been eliminated. The individual cannot do anything unless some bureaucrat says he can.
What kind of liberty is that? And what has the GOP done about that? When was the last time you heard about any federal agency being restrained, let alone eliminated?
The Tea Party recognizes that the central government has become all-pervasive and all-intrusive. The situation has become intolerable and the Tea Party is demanding that it be curtailed. With the founding fathers, the Tea Party recognizes that there is no greater, and no more important, right than the right to be left alone.
From the Tea Party perspective, there should be a wall of separation between the national government and commerce precluding federal intervention other than to redress wrongs and provide the simple guarantee of its free implementation. The national government bureaucracy is hopelessly incompetent when it comes to management of anything, let alone the economy. Such a wall of separation would end the atrocious crony-capitalism that is the rule in Washington today. As the Tea Party signs across the country said, “No more bailouts.” At the same time, it would free the economy itself to correct problems. Recall the other Tea Party signs: “Get Government Out of the Way!”
In that vein, the Tea Party would call for sound money. The present system of money backed by credit is nothing but an attempt at calculated manipulation of the economy. Thank you, Mr. Nixon. It is a failure. The truth known to the whole world is that the dollar is worthless.
In the Tea Party view, the national government has no proper business in issues of social mores. These are questions for resolution by the local community and society. That is why one does not hear Tea Partiers arguing about some imagined “war on women.” If San Francisco chooses to honor gay marriage, so be it. If Medford chooses not to, so be it. It is not the business of the national government.
Thus, the Tea Party is not about a stand on either side of social issues - whether that is an issue of Republican conservatism or not. The Tea Party stands for the proposition that they are not the business of the national government.
Given those objectives - all flowing from an opposition to big national government - the Tea Party has a clearly defined philosophy and has an agenda. Does the GOP? Does the GOP have a plan to stop borrowing from the Federal Reserve?
| Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts! |
Does the GOP have a plan to do away with any useless federal agency? Will it terminate the Dept. of Education? Will it end the Dept. of Energy? The answer is a clear cut “No.” The GOP establishment, clearly represented by the Boehners, the McCains, the Romneys and the McConnells, stands on the side of big government. So-called “centrist” Republicans are no more than hollow shadows of their Democratic brothers.
The political issue of the times is the rift between those who support the big government nanny state and those that oppose it. To have any relevance to the only real issue, the GOP must figure out what it stands for. So far, its Congressional leader, John Boehner, hasn’t a clue.
© 2013 Jack Swift - All Rights Reserved
Share
This ArticleJack Swift is an retired attorney.
Actively involved in the Republican Party and local politics, Jack would
love to see honest Constitution following representatives in local Josephine
County government. Jack believes if we are to save America from the grip
of evil, people must get involved on the local level and expose wrongdoers
at every opportunity. He is putting that belief in practice.
E-Mail: jhswft@earthlink.net
