How’s That Whole Republican/Democrat Thing Working Out For You?

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
- Albert Einstein

With the exception of the odd Independent, Socialist, or other third-party representative, mayor, or councilman, power at the federal, state, and local levels of this country for the past hundred-plus years has been in the hands of two political parties. Republicans have shown themselves time and again to be the party of Big government, and Democrats the party of BIGGER government.

Democrats view Americans as children whom they must nurture from cradle to grave. Republicans view the American people as children whom they must protect from dangers, real or imagined.

Republicans espouse an almost limitless expansion of America’s military presence around the world, and have never met a conflict they didn’t like and couldn’t justify under the banner of “national interest.” Democrats champion government regulation of almost every aspect of our lives in the name of the “common good,” and have never met a government entitlement program they didn’t hold sacrosanct.

Today, we find ourselves with high unemployment, rising inflation, sinking home prices, record home foreclosures, anemic GDP growth, at least three armed conflicts around the world, failing schools, a futile drug “war,” over-crowded prisons, and a $14.3 trillion debt. These are the consequences of de facto one-party rule for more than a century and a half.

Yet, Americans continue to vote for the same Big Government candidates, whether Republican or Democrat, over and over again expecting different results. Even the criminally insane eventually recognize the futility of banging their heads against the wall and stop. Sadly, we have not yet learned that lesson. But, there is a true choice.

The Libertarian Party is the party of less government and more personal freedom. Libertarians view individuals as adults who have been given free will by their Creator to make their own choices, take care of themselves and their families, and use their property any way they see fit as long as they do not interfere with other individuals making their own free choices. From the Libertarian Party platform:

1.0 Personal Liberty
Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make. No individual, group, or government may initiate force against any other individual, group, or government. Our support of an individual's right to make choices in life does not mean that we necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices.

2.0 Economic Liberty
Libertarians want all members of society to have abundant opportunities to achieve economic success. A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society.

3.0 Securing Liberty
The protection of individual rights is the only proper purpose of government. Government is constitutionally limited so as to prevent the infringement of individual rights by the government itself. The principle of non-initiation of force should guide the relationships between governments.

Stop the spending, end the “wars,” cut taxes, and leave us alone!

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
- James Madison

Think Libertarian.