Well, it is all over but the crying - at least for the GOP and their sell-out neo-libertarian buddies. For my libertarian readers who still labor under the delusion that we owe the GOP our support, please read:
"It's a pathetic fact that the Republican Party squandered yet another opportunity to make a difference for the good in this country. They forever promise freedom but forever deliver despotism. They might have shrunk government, really cut taxes, balanced the budget, reformed money, freed up trade, or decentralized government. Instead, they threw it all away to defend an indefensible war."
"If the Democrats inch us closer to socialism at home, the Republicans must share in the blame for having attempted socialist-style planning on the international level, and more welfare and economic controls at home, not to mention an expansion of the police state."
"Having lost control over the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly also the U.S. Senate, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. They deserved to lose."
"For years, Republicans have used libertarian rhetoric in their political campaigns. “We favor freedom, free enterprise, limited government, and responsibility,” Republican candidates have so often proclaimed. “We’re opposed to big government,” they loved telling their constituents."
"Recall what Republicans used to tell people during the 1980s, when they controlled the White House but not the Congress: “The only reason we’re not cutting federal spending is because Democratic control of Congress prevents us from doing so. If we only had control over both the executive and legislative branches, we would slash federal spending and abolish departments and agencies.”
"People believed them, but it was all a lie from the get-go. The libertarian rhetoric was employed for one — and only one — reason: to deceive people into putting Republicans into power so that they could take control over the federal government and its vast IRS-collected resources and then consolidate their power over the lives and resources of the American people."
We are long past the time when thoughtful libertarians should be confused about our role in the political process. We are not Republicans-lite. We are the anti-GOP. We are not the weirder, spunky little brothers and sisters of the GOP. We are the antidote for their venom. We need to be working toward replacing the GOP and relegating them back to third party status, while preparing for long-term battle with the Democrats.
We, unlike the Republicans, actually believe in slashing the size and scope of government. We believe that you own yourself and should be allowed to do what you wish so long as it harms no one else or violates their individual rights. The GOP likes talking about such concepts while doing the opposite. The GOP puts up a good front about respecting the Constitution and staying out of our personal lives while simultaneously passing laws that allow for domestic surveillance of Americans, grant special privileges on the basis of sexual orientation, suspension of habeas corpus, no-knock warrants, indefinite detention without charge and other egregious violations of our civil liberties. At every turn, the GOP seeks to outlaw social interactions and practices that violate the religious principles of their most extreme political allies. Libertarians do not wish to outlaw such practices, whether or not they agree or disagree with our individual religious beliefs.
We cannot continue to pretend the GOP are the lesser of two evils. While a small consoloation, at least the Democrats are upfront about their socialist tendencies, while the GOP talks a good talk and does the exact opposite. I'd rather deal with an honest political opponent than one that attempts to look like me, sound like me, and pretend to me - except when it counts most. So long as we continue to "have the backs" of the GOP against the Democrats, we will continue to be treated like their moronic flunkies.
The lying, conniving, poseur GOP must go along with libertarian apologia for same, then we can worry about the Democrats. So stop your sniveling. "We" didn't lose anything in this election.
James Landrith is the notorious libertarian editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive "racial" categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: james AT jameslandrith.com or at his personal website/blog.
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