Saturday, April 16, 2005
And Speaking Of Libertarian Conservatives…
...Who have had enough. Allow me to introduce, John Cole:
I may have voted for my last Republican in a long time. These wingnut, know-nothing, fundamentalist creeps are scaring the shit out of me, and [liberty] is at stake when it comes to these law and order goons.
Granted, John’s post is about mandatory minimum sentences (which I happen to be nominally against), but the overall point still stands. We’re seeing the Republican Party here lately become a party of bigger government. Bigger government based on morality handed down from Washington. Don’t like the fact that Junior might see a breast on HBO? Well we need to regulate that. Might give a joint to someone just out of rehab? Well you, my friend, might just have to do five years of federal time for a misdemenor. Say a dirty word? Sensenbrenner thinks you should go directly to jail without collecting 200 dollars. Need anymore evidence?
And none of that “but it’s one Congresscritter” nonsense. I’m not buying that anymore. Also, saying “but the Democrats are worse” is just a crap statement. Infringement on liberty is infringement on liberty, no matter which party is endorsing it.
The Good Captain Has Had Enough
Captain Ed is fed up with the GOP not having a collective spine, and is saying ”Not. One. Dime” in response. To that, I say this, Congratulations to The Captain.
And for the record, I’m not a Republican (never have been) so they never have received a dime from me.
Personally I think this signals an even bigger schism in the GOP than the one the MSM is currently portraying (the schism between the religious-right conservatives—who are really anything but—and the more libertarian conservatives like myself and Drumwaster). When you really begin to tick off your base (and I would say Ed is a member of the base—about a 50/50 split between RR and RC) then you are in some serious trouble. Even moreso when the libertarian conservatives are as mad as hell at you already.
The President might not have to stand for re-election in 2008, but the federal legislature has to, so they are going to have to do two things: 1) Grow a pair and stand up to the Democrats. And 2) Move away from wanting to be everyone’s mommy.
If they do number one, they’ll make their base happy. If they do number two, they’ll make the libertarian conservatives happy.
I’m not going to make book on the odds of them doing one or the other.
Summer’s coming, part 2
Okay, so far we have Scott Boone, Alex, and JimK who have stated that they will join in with this year’s Patriot’s Journey, where we post at least one patriotic post per day, starting on Memorial Day, and finishing up on Independence Day.
This is a purely voluntary thing, so there is no “signing up”, and you are invited to join in if you wish. Or… not, and that’s okay, too.
My only thing was that if you wanted to join in, you should let me know, just so that we can spread the links around. I’ll be asking right up until the weekend before Memorial Day, so you have some time. 