Posted by
Playful Walrus on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 4:23:50 PM
Is it hopeless for those of us who
believe in limited, Constitutional government, personal liberty,
property rights, and free markets?
Consider:
--Most voters apparently expect the government to do something for them, including protecting them from the negative consequences of their own
actions, instead of simply protecting them from the denial of their
rights by others. Just consider how many people think health insurance
and education, provided by others, is a right. Just consider how many
people think their personal happiness should be the responsibility of
the President.
--Most people attend public schools, which, in
the interest of self-preservation, are unlikely to teach students the
benefits of limited government and self-reliance instead of government-reliance.
The people in control of these schools think it is their responsibility
to make students feel good about themselves, no matter what they do
wrong or fail to do right.
--Plenty of Americans are prone to blame America first, to seek the
approval of other countries, and to wanting our leaders to enter into
restricting agreements with other countries designed to transfer wealth
from Americans to others by force.
--The Democrats are largely
beholden to public employee unions, who have an interest in increasing
the size of government. Both parties are backed by business interests
who have apparently given up on the idea of getting the government off
their backs, and instead try to steer the government money (which is
really our money, taken by force), their way.
--Articulating the
actual ideals of the Founding Fathers would get a POTUS candidate
labeled by most Americans as an extremist theocrat who wants to throw
people into the streets without shelter or an education, to die of
starvation or sickness or injuries from a hate crime, or maybe work
them to death in a job with low pay and lousy conditions.
Maybe it is true that the GOP can’t retain the White House without credibly presenting a coherent plan for reform.
But just what kind of reform are voters going to buy?
Maybe there is hope, but reforms are going to have to move very slowly towards reigning in government.
Energy. Everyone’s concerned about fuel prices, though
there are some that like the increased prices because they hate
progress because they think it is killing Gaia, or whatever her name
is. There is no way to stem rising fuel prices without some unpopular decisions. We need to tap our own fossil fuels. We need new refineries to process it. We need to use nuclear power. If we can show that these steps will stem rising fuel prices, enough people might buy into it.
War. None of us want our men and women getting injured,
maimed, killed, or traumatized in war, especially for them to return
home to poor treatment. We need to show voters that we will provide
for our veterans and that we will reduce the need to prolonged war if
we increase intelligence effectiveness and have
saboteur/assassination/surgical strike squads. That might not be
popular with the international community, but prolonged wars aren’t
popular with American voters, and if we can prevent prolonged wars,
then we should. As for Iraq, McCain should drill home the nation that
we’ll protect our soldiers by helping Iraq to win the peace.
Immigration. This hasn’t been a big issue lately in the
campaign, probably because of the track records of the candidates.
I’ve frequently stated my ideals, but those ideals won’t appeal to
enough people. So, what McCain needs to do is publicize a clear
“reform” plan that includes effective border protection first.
Once we can demonstrate effective border protection, other things will
become more acceptable to a majority of voters, such as easing up on
workplace raids and boosting legal immigration. We’ll still
need to pursue illegal aliens for deportation if they are committing
serious crimes inside the country, including identity theft. Announce
that once the border is secured, we will consider allowing
illegal aliens to register for the following reasons: 1) for
identification to cut down in identification theft; 2) a temporary work
permit; and 3) to “get in line” for legal immigration as of that moment
as if they were applying from their country. You can’t promise this ahead of the border being secured, or we’ll get a wave of people coming in.
Education. Although I believe in separation of school
and state, I don’t see enough people going for it. So vouchers will
have to do. I know this will elicit howls of protest from teacher
unions, but inner-city minority voters have expressed support for
vouchers and making them part of a reform plan just may work. Boost
tax incentives that encourage education. Encourage charter schools.
If enough people see how these moves will benefit them, then they will
want them.
Environment. Encouragement for sound
conservation through private property stewardship. The wackos will not
be happy without total government control and oppression of
productivity, but perhaps enough moderates can be persuaded that we’re
not out to poison the planet.
Our long-term strategy, as those who believe in limited government, needs to be two-fold:
1. Convince enough Republican leaders that limited government is the
way to go, or groom such people within the Republican party.
2. Get enough Republicans elected, and stay on them to stick to limited government principles.