Confessions
of a
Repentant
Republican,
Part 1
Rhetoric & Reality: Origins of the Bush Doctrine - A Comparison of Professed Principles with the Reality of Policy
A Time for Moral Outrage
The Tragedy of a Complicit Media
Reconsidering Iraq: Military Leadership, Conservative, Republican Dissent
The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush
Is Bush a Conservative?
The Case for Divided Government
Military Leadership, Conservatives, Republicans Rejecting George W. Bush
Statement of Principles
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The Declaration of Independence
The United States Constitution
The Bill of Rights
The Federalist Papers
Washington's Farewell Address
John Quincy Adams "Monsters to Destoy " Address - July 4, 1821
Eisenhower's Farewell Address
"Where did the revolution go
astray? How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994 to the
cheap political point-scoring on meaningless wedge issues of today --
from passing welfare reform and limited government to banning horsemeat
and same-sex marriage?
"The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party's principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy."
former Majority Leader (1995-2003) Dick Armey
"The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party's principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy."
former Majority Leader (1995-2003) Dick Armey
Power Surge: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush
by
Gene Healy
&
Timothy Lynch
CATO
INSTITUTE
Individual Liberty
Limited Government
Free Markets
Peace
"President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers."
Why Are 7 Prominent Republican Conservatives Supporting
Democratic Victory in 2006?
by
William Frey, M. D.
“Let's face it .... When one out of three of your own party wants you to lose control of Congress, it's time to take a long look ....”
- former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough, (R-Florida, 1st District, 1995-2001)
“Let's face it .... When one out of three of your own party wants you to lose control of Congress, it's time to take a long look ....”
- former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough, (R-Florida, 1st District, 1995-2001)
Why are many now discussing the virtues of divided government?
On what basis do they believe One Party Rule has dishonored conservative values?
The 7 prominent Republican conservatives who contributed to the Washington Monthly remarkable feature article, "Time for Us to Go: Conservatives on Why the GOP Should Lose in 2006," did not dwell on contrived wedge issues promoted by Republican marketing consultants.
They focused, instead, on the neglected limited government ideals on which the conservative movement was founded:
- individual freedom,
- fiscal responsibility,
- constitutional restraints on unchecked executive power,
- prudent and principled foreign policy.
How has it come about that today's authoritarian, big government GOP has maintained the language of traditional conservatism even while mutating into a governing party whose policies produce the opposite?
Principled conservatives now widely recognize that the authoritarian, fear mongering, Big Brother, big government ideology peddled by GOP politicians and pseudo-populist radio demagogues is anything but conservative.
How has today's GOP come to embrace such an ideology?
To a large measure, GOP success has relied on, not only the nominal retention, but the conspicuous veneration of the slogans and symbols of the traditional small-government conservatism the Republican Party has, in reality, abandoned.
The approach of GOP strategists to cultural conservatives has been similarly disingenuous: Despite complaints from conservative Christians that the GOP cynically resurrects highly visible and symbolic wedge issues on a 2 year cycle rhythmically synchronized with the campaign cycle, the GOP has, by choosing symbolism over substance on cultural issues, avoided offending corporate elites who do not share the religious and social convictions of the GOP's foot soldiers from the religious right.
But in contrast to their duplicitous treatment of small government conservatives, of libertarians, and of conservative Christians, the GOP has been consistently faithful to one group: For corporate lobbyists, today's GOP has been ever-willing to compromise both fiscal and free enterprise principles.
Free market economist Bruce Bartlett documents how the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, which he describes as perhaps "the worst piece of legislation ever enacted", disproportionately benefits drug companies and corporations relieved of contractual obligations, rather than seniors. Remarkably, GOP stipulations specifically prohibited the Secretary of HHS from negotiating lower drug prices.
While profligately increasing the cost to taxpayers, GOP Congressmen have, at the behest of drug companies, repeatedly fought against re-importation of Canadian drugs - free market solution that would lower prescription drug prices not only for seniors , but for all Americans, without burden to taxpayers, a concept supported by candidate George W. Bush.
Principled conservatives are not fooled by such substitution of Republican corporate welfare for genuine competitive enterprise.
Veteran conservative activist Richard Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush & Other Big Government Conservatives Hijacked the Conservative Cause" bluntly states,
"For
years, congressional Republicans have sold themselves to conservatives
as the continuation of the Reagan revolution. We were told that they
would take on the Washington special interests -- that they would, in
essence, tear down K Street and sow the earth with salt to make sure
nothing ever grew there again.
"But over time, most of them turned into the sort of unprincipled power brokers they had ousted in 1994. They lost interest in furthering conservative ideas, and they turned their attention to getting their share of the pork. Conservatives did not spend decades going door to door, staffing phone banks and compiling lists of like-minded voters so Republican congressmen could have highways named after them and so there could be an affirmative-action program for Republican lobbyists."
"But over time, most of them turned into the sort of unprincipled power brokers they had ousted in 1994. They lost interest in furthering conservative ideas, and they turned their attention to getting their share of the pork. Conservatives did not spend decades going door to door, staffing phone banks and compiling lists of like-minded voters so Republican congressmen could have highways named after them and so there could be an affirmative-action program for Republican lobbyists."
Principled conservatives recognize that the economic strength of American free enterprise comes from an environment conducive to entrepreneurial innovation and a thriving middle class, not in GOP favoritism of stagnant and corrupt corporate and financial elites at the expense of the middle class.
But today's GOP now poses to America a threat more fundamental than economic misadventures.
Principled conservatives recognize that authoritarian, big government "conservatism", even when irreverently wrapped in our flag and mimicking the language of faith, is alien to America and subversive to our values.
For generations, America has stood as a beacon of liberty, and our constitution a monument to the Rule of Law.
But we now witness a governing Republican Party which has adopted a theory of presidential power - the "unitary executive" theory - that nullifies Congressional, judicial and constitutional checks on presidential power.
Almost beyond belief, Republicans historically committed to due process and to constitutional restraints on federal and presidential power, now:
- refuse to confront an administration which has claimed the right to hold an American citizen, apprehended domestically, indefinitely without charges
- malign defenders of habeas corpus as terrorist sympathizers
- reject the historical American commitment to promote the acceptance by all nations of basic standards of humane treatment of detainees
- oppose the unequivocal renunciation of torture, rendition, and secret prisons
Unlike today's fear mongering GOP, principled conservatives believe Americans will surmount fear, and will not allow terrorists to define and change America.
Unlike the radio "conservatives" who would polarize America and demonize all but their most sheepish followers as "Democrats, liberals, or RINO's", principled conservatives now recognize that the core values which the authoritarian GOP has abandoned (individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, the rule of law, prudent foreign policy) are more important than partisan victory.
Fortunately, these values, though essential to true conservatives, are not exclusive to conservatives.
Our nation's founders did not even consider such values to be "conservative" at all, but characterized such a philosophy centered on liberty as, of all things, "liberal".
But whatever name is applied to these quintessentially American values, it is clear that today's authoritarian GOP has forsaken them.
To the consternation of these Big Government Republicans, the ideals of individual liberty protected by the rule of law, and prudent fiscal and foreign policy, are once again serving as a uniting force --- an area where common ground is being found by thoughtful conservatives, moderates, and liberals of good will.
Today's Republican politicians have not only repudiated conservative principles of constitutional restraints on federal and executive power, but now support policies diametrically opposed to historical Republican positions.
Such GOP reversals on issues of fundamental constitutional principles abound. On each of these issues, the current GOP position is disconnected from the convictions of virtually all Republicans on such issues as recently as 1 decade ago:
- nullification of law by
the abuse of signing
statements
- presidential assertions
that no
Congressional authorization is needed to go to war with
Iran
- presidential lawlessness regarding FISA warrants
- unilateral abrogation
of treaties such as the Geneva conventions
When the Orwellian named PATRIOT Act was enacted in 2001, Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey both supported the act AND fought hard to insert a sunset clause, so that the provisions of the act would truly, in fact, be temporary.
Armey's conservatism was inseparable from his commitment to civil liberties. In his farewell address before he retired as Majority Leader in 2003, Armey passionately warned of those who would promise security in exchange for liberty.
But by the time the great majority of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act were extended - permanently and without sunset - in 2006, conservative civil libertarians such as Dick Armey and Bob Barr had become all but extinct within the GOP.
Similarly, honest fiscal conservatives such as the Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (who dared to oppose the pet pork-barrel projects of fellow GOP politicians) have been driven by the Republican leadership into early retirement, even as the GOP establishment has coddled criminals.
Establishment GOP politicians who have abandoned their fundamental ideals are now aghast that principled conservative Republicans are seeking allies among Democrats.
But the principles that are most dear to principled conservatives - individual liberty protected by the rule of law - transcend partisanship.
While principled liberals and conservatives have substantial differences regarding the interpretation and implementation of these principles, the tragic reality is that a power-drunk big government GOP establishment now threatens the very constitutional restraints that protect our liberties, our democracy, and our free and open society.
William Niskanen's work clearly demonstrates that fiscal policy is consistently more restrained under divided government than under one party domination.
But it is the actual behavior of Republicans under this era of One Party Rule that has clearly demonstrated the tangible threat to the Rule of Law, to individual liberty, and to our constitutional system.
Unlike today's win-at-all-costs GOP, many true conservatives believe that only a Democratic congressional victory will restore the balanced, divided, and representative government through which America has long maintained our values.
And only a Democratic victory will allow the reflection within the Republican Party necessary for a reorientation to American democratic values.
Republicans now firmly in control of party machinery, addicted to power, and committed to a toxic authoritarian ideology they falsely call "conservative" will not be dislodged without a Democratic victory.
Today's GOP has lost its way.
Like me, other conflicted conservatives may benefit from reading "Time for Us to Go: Conservatives on Why the GOP Should Lose in 2006," in the Washington Monthly.
Former U.S. Representative Bob Barr Quits the G.O.P.
Sen. Chuck Hagel on Iraq
Conservatives Betrayed:
How George W. Bush & Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause
by Richard A. Viguerie
Imposter:
How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy
by Bruce Bartlett
Tempting
Faith:
An Inside Story of Political Seduction
by David Kuo
former
Special Assistant to the President
&
Deputy Director of the Office of Faith Based Initiatives
Equally Yoked?
Has the GOP been faithful to conservative Christians?
Read David Kuo's experience at Associated Baptist Press News
U.S.
Generals Call
for
Democratic
Takeover
Maj. Gen. John Batiste in Tikrit, Iraq, March 16, 2004
"The best thing that can happen right now is for one or both of our houses to go Democratic so we can have some oversight,"
Batiste, who led the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and 2005....
describes himself as a "lifelong Republican." But now, he said, "It is time for a change."
Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton in Baghdad, July 9, 2003.
