From
http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/articles/Diane_Alden.shtml
}}>Begin
CommentMax
Republicans Are Bad, but Democrats Are Worse
Diane Alden
August 4, 2000
The reason I will vote for Republicans this fall is because the alternative is
not only worse, it is dangerous. Perhaps that is not a principled Stand, but it
is the best I can do. Since the country cannot survive four years of Al Gore
and the consequences he would bring down on American heads with his statist-
collectivist agenda, there is not much choice. You can vote for Ralph Nader or
Pat Buchanan or Harry Browne, but realistically none of them has a chance.
If Al Gore were elected because of a split vote, the divisiveness of extreme
leftist-collectivist Big Brotherism would kill America. This country is so
polarized now that it will take a gifted leader or leaders to put it back
together again.
There is no doubt in my mind that if Gore gets in and the Democrats take over
one or both houses of Congress, the Republic, what is left of it, will be
finished. We are not talking partisan, Democrat versus Republican, here; we are
talking about the fate of the Republic. Unfortunately, the fascist left now
controls the once great and good Democratic Party.
Oh, life will go on in the United States, but there will come a day when we
will wake up and we will not have the country where liberty lives. The Bill of
Rights for all intents and purposes will cease to exist. We will no longer be a
Republic; we will be a mob-ocracy with benevolent dictators at the helm and an
emasculated and frightened opposition incapable of preventing the worst abuses
in the growing trend toward a corporate police state.
If Bush is elected and the Republicans keep both houses of Congress, perhaps we
will have breathing room to develop a long-term answer to the growth of the
state and its abuse of power. His election will only give us breathing room -
that is all it will do.
What is worrisome is the talk from the Bush-Cheney camp that in a future Bush
administration the Republicans will reach across the aisle to the Democrats. A
bipartisan group hug will be in order to do the people's business.
The people's business, however, requires only one thing - for government to get
out of the way and to re-establish the Bill of Rights and the Constitution as
the law of the land. The Republicans don't need to reach across the aisle. They
have been there and done that and compromised every single principle they stood
for. They fail to realize that the Democrats fight a war in which there is no
compromise. The sole option they offer is total agreement to growing government
and restraining or ending liberty.
The only reaching across the aisle Republicans need to do is to yank the rug
out from under the statist Democrats and their Republican fellow travelers.
One must ask the question, what could possibly make any self-respecting,
conservative Republican become so totally obsessed with power, image or the
shallow approval of the media or the left that it sells its conservative soul.
Politicians on the left do not care about conservative concerns, nor do they
intend to compromise on any issue. They understand that it is an ideological
war they are fighting, and its only conclusion is the obliteration and
unconditional surrender of the other side. They are good at it. The last couple
of years in Congress, Democrats - along with the Clinton administration - have
shown they are good at winning political warfare. Their agenda, with few
exceptions, has been passed and funded.
Yet the Republicans still haven't figured out this is a war, and they scratch
their heads hoping no one will notice and criticize them for not being quick
enough with the rubber stamp. The Republicans need to get a grip. American
doesn't need more bipartisanship. It is nothing more than appeasement of a
statist philosophy and its advocates, a philosophy that would destroy anyone or
anything in order to accomplish its goals.
On the other hand, Republicans have not been true to their stated goals, and it
is no wonder many conservatives are disheartened. Over the top, you say? Well,
let’s look at the facts.
According to the Cato Institute, the 106th Congress is going to be the biggest-
spending Congress on domestic social programs since Jimmy Carter. Total federal
non-defense spending is going to grow in real terms by $33 billion, or 11
percent, between 1999 and 2001. Cato maintains that more than 200 programs and
departments the Republicans pledged to eliminate in 1995, like the National
Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Education, now have fatter budgets
than ever. Congress has violated its own spending caps every year.
But it isn't only fiscal irresponsibility that the Republicans have been guilty
of or compromised on. For instance, the giant surpluses should have been given
back to the taxpayers. But instead they are being used by the Clinton
administration and the Democrats to fund more black holes called government
programs.
By and large these programs do nothing to help those for whom they are
intended. Rather, they fund the paper shufflers that welfare programs firmly
ensconced in high-paying, big-benefits government jobs.
>From Head Start to the Department of Energy and the EPA, failure is failure and
in the real world would not be tolerated. Yet failed programs and departments
continue, and Republicans have done next to nothing about it.
Again, spending and bureaucratic power continue unchecked. Weren't Republicans
supposed to foil stupid programs that the Democrats try to keep and prevent new
ones they would inflict on Americans?
Aren't Republicans supposed to be the guard dogs for the Bill of Rights and
Constitution?
Weren't Republicans elected to prevent or curtail corruption in government and
prevent police state tactics being used against citizens? The Republican Party,
however, has done little but speak loudly and carry an ineffective twig,
saying, "Naughty, naughty, but we aren't at fault; government is only guilty of
bad judgment."
Shouldn't Republicans on the Judiciary Committees have stopped the hundreds of
agenda-driven left-wingers from becoming a majority in the court system? Thanks
to Republicans like Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the real Clinton legacy will
be the profoundly left-wing and statist judiciary.
No matter who is president for the next eight years or what kind of Congress is
elected, the judiciary will be loaded with Clinton appointees. These leftists
will continue to erode the rule of law and the Constitution.
Republicans and Impeachment
The Republican majority in the House and Senate could not fulfill impeachment
strictures and convict the most corrupt president in our nation's history.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a Republican "moderate" like
Chris Shays of Connecticut recently revealed that he had seen evidence during
the impeachment that indicated Juanita Broaddrick had been brutally raped not
once but twice by Bill Clinton. Nevertheless, Shays voted not to impeach.
Chris Shays is considered by the New York Times to be a "reasonable" Republican
- which is left-speak for Republicans who go along with most of the leftist
horrors that Democrats propose. Chris Shays is notorious for giving away land
and proposing environmental solutions that are nothing but giveaways of the
territory of other states. He does this without any concern for the Ninth and
10th Amendments or the sovereignty of those states. But his Connecticut yuppie
constituency includes the brilliant political and economic philosopher Paul (I
never saw a government program I didn't like) Newman. Most likely his
constituents know more about the contents of a Ralph Lauren or an L.L. Bean
catalogue than the Bill of Rights and its intent.
Former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for impeachment, David
Schippers, indicates in his upcoming book "Sell Out": "Fighting vicious Chicago
mobsters was nothing compared to dealing with certain members of Congress!"
Schippers took notes and has the names of members of both parties who ignored
evidence and betrayed the impeachment process. He says, "I had no inkling of
the extent of Bill Clinton's guilt - until I saw the mountains of yet-
unreleased evidence."
Schippers will name Republican names as well as Democrats, men and women who
allowed the rule of law and the Constitution to be trampled on. What will come
to light is just how complicit Republicans are in the irreparable damage done
to the rule of law.
Power of the Purse
The Republican Congress had every opportunity to unfund the overzealous police
agencies such as the FBI, but they didn't. Investigations and hearings on
alphabet agency corruption led to no net decrease in agency budgets.
These agencies allowed themselves to be used by an administration that nearly
destroyed a good and decent federal employee during the Travelgate affair. From
Billy Dale to the late Cardinal John O'Connor, the premier police agency of the
United States has been compromised, and it is doubtful that this police agency,
as well as others, can be trusted to abide by the Constitution and its
guarantees.
Yet while this corruption was going on, where was congressional help to keep
these agencies honest? Where was the full-blooded effort to help whistleblowers
and maintain proper oversight so that the Clinton administration would not have
free rein? This administration that uses the power of the executive to bully
and intimidate the FBI and the IRS into abusive actions against American
citizens.
Add the recent whitewash of the Waco tragedy by former Republican Senator
Danforth of Missouri, and we have a confirmation that justice is not a great
concern to some Republicans. Nor is there any indication that in the future
they will rein in the federal agencies guilty of unconstitutional abuse of
power. We may expect government abuse for decades to come.
It is a pretty good bet that another Waco can and will happen again. Danforth
made that possibility more likely by finding no fault with government actions
in Waco. He merely implied that the government used "bad judgment" as agency
actions resulted in the fiery conclusion to the 51-day standoff. In any case,
in the real world such bad judgment can get you thrown in jail. Apparently
there is little hope that federal agencies will ever be held accountable no
matter who is in office. The final accounting will belong to history.
Making Bad Laws Results in Worse Policy
Republicans are also partially responsible for such bad laws as the CALEA
(Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), which gave law enforcement
the power to do extensive electronic eavesdropping by requiring the various
phone companies to make it easier for government to listen in on private
conversations. This law tears at the fabric of liberty and negates the meaning
of the Fourth Amendment. Add it to the list of other invasions of privacy, and
Republicans who do not want to appear soft on crime will contribute to making
criminals of us all.
Now we find the FBI has another eavesdropping system called "Carnivore" that
has the capability of snooping into everyone's e-mail. There is congressional
flurry over Carnivore, but whether anything will be done about it remains to be
seen. Where was congressional oversight while all this was going on? Perhaps
Congress was too busy passing expensive and unneeded legislation to notice
Carnivore.
The recent Hatch and Feinstein drug bill will compound the first mistake with
CALEA by allowing searches of computers without warrants and without the
subject of the search having to be told about it till later. The
Hatch/Feinstein Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999 will add greater
intrusive capability for the federal police agencies as well as deny certain
free speech rights even as they continue to look for enemies of the American
state. The failed war on drugs is the excuse, but the result is heightened and
more powerful Big Brother for everyone. Yes, Orrin Hatch brags about how well
he reaches across the aisle to work with Democrats.
Then there is good Republican soldier Dan Burton. He holds hearings on campaign
finance corruption in the Clinton administration even while threatened with
retribution from the Reno Justice Department. Burton tells them to bring it on.
As much as he may wish otherwise, don't hold your breath that anything will
come out of the Burton hearings. Just as nothing came out of the Thompson
hearings or any other Republican attempts at uncovering and seeking justice in
regard to the Clinton administration.
If Bush is elected, there may be a quiet clean-up of the various departments,
including Justice, but Clinton and his henchmen will still skate off into the
sunset to bash Bush and whatever changes Republicans attempt to accomplish.
Republicans could have done a great deal to help all Americans by getting rid
of the IRS. They had endless hearings that uncovered case after case of IRS
brutality and bullying, but in the end nothing much has changed. The IRS is
still being used by the Clinton administration to go after perceived enemies.
The Republicans continue to be ineffectual at preventing this persecution. All
too often, even with new laws, citizens are forced to spend copious amounts of
money on legal defense, not to mention the mental harassment and the loss of
respect for the entire tax system.
What ever happened to the Republican promise to dismantle the IRS? The party of
Lincoln mouths nonsense about how the American people aren't ready for that.
That is baloney and BS. Actually, it is leftist Democrats, the power hungry in
government, plus the media, who aren't ready for it.
Clinton has used the IRS against his enemies far more than any other occupant
of the White House. From the Western Journalism Center to Paula Jones to
Juanita Broaddrick, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, and the Heritage Foundation, and
it has removed the tax-exempt status of the Christian Coalition. Yet quasi-
religious environmental groups and the labor unions continue to give money to
leftist political candidates without bringing on IRS investigations. This,
while environmental groups accept government grants and handouts to pay for
lawsuits against private property owners and legitimate business. The
Republicans could solve this problem by getting rid of the agency and creating
a national sales tax or a flat tax.
Oh, Give Us Land, Lots of Land
The Clinton land grabs taking place in various parts of the country could have
been stopped. However, six wimpy and scared Republicans joined their socialist
colleagues in the Democratic Party and failed to pass such measures as the
Nickles Amendment. This would have halted the land-grabbing under the
Antiquities Act. With a majority in both houses of Congress, if Republicans had
the will they would have been able to pass laws that would end the abuse of
executive orders by any president.
Complaints about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service and
other "green" agencies abound. In some western states, counties have declared
that such agents no longer have the right to throw their weight around in their
counties or carry firearms. With a few exceptions like Helen Chenoweth, Jim
Hansen, Larry Craig, Scot McInnis, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Don Nickles, and a
couple of others, the western state representatives seem more interested in
being national "statesmen" than protecting the sovereignty of their states and
the states’ citizens. They get very little relief from their Republican
colleagues from the East.
When gas prices spiked this summer, the Republicans had a golden opportunity to
reduce or temporarily roll back taxes, but they didn't. Instead they mumbled
and bumbled about how that wasn't such a good idea. The Democrats didn't have
to worry about one less tax inflicted on the public; they could count on the
other party to carry their water for them.
As one draconian law after another has passed, the Republicans cannot join in
common cause to defeat them. For some reason many Republicans don't seem to
care about how dangerously close they are to empowering and aiding the creation
of a corporate police state.
Additionally, Republicans know that many government agencies need to be
dismantled. The Department of Education, for instance, is a total waste of
money. But Republicans have been ineffectual in getting that message out. It
isn't all the fault of the left-wing media, either. Where are the Republican
moneybags to generate ad campaigns in order to inform Americans what
constitutes truth. Where are the infomercials and documentaries on the limits
and duties of government? Are Republicans more afraid of what the elite
Northeast media will say about them than they are about doing what is right for
the country, the Constitution, the rule of law and America's children?
The current crop of Republicans seem to have great memory loss when it comes to
understanding that Ronald Reagan did not win the presidency by huge margins
because he softened his message to suit moderates or the left. He was elected
twice because he had no doubts about the rightness of his beliefs and his
message. He knew that these beliefs made America a better place and enhanced
the Constitution and the rule of law. If the Republican Party has core beliefs,
it is muted by the way it acts. It seems that most Republicans have subscribed
to the message and modus operandi of the Northeast republicans and the
dunderhead losers in the Rockefeller wing of the party.
Should the Republicans win in November, the big question asked in conservative
circles is whether or not there will be eight more years of what appears to be
not a dime’s worth of difference between the parties. Will we continue down the
road to a corporate police state, Republican style?
This Is War
A booming economy may continue and it may appear to be party time for one and
all, but liberty will be a casualty of the malfeasance of both political
parties.
Cybertechno-commentator Jon Katz of Slashdot.com made an astute comment
recently. He said, "Democracy and freedom aren't about prosperity. You can be
poor and quite free. Democracy is about the legitimacy of the individual, whose
voice and vote should count for more than any other single interest or group."
NewsMax's Chris Ruddy also told it like it is: "Democrats understand politics
is war."
The Democrats would have absolutely no hesitation to get their agenda passed by
any and all tactics, up to and including lying to the American people. They
have done it time and time again. Pick an issue, and the left demagogues it -
from Representative John Lewis of Georgia loudly proclaiming that Republicans
were coming after the poor because of welfare reform, to the Democrats scaring
old people by saying that the Republicans were going to take away their Social
Security. Democrats understand this isn't a game, that the stakes aren't merely
who sits in the White House. What is at stake is the nature of government and
the society we will live in through the 21st century.
If the Democrats have their way, the United States will give up its sovereignty
to such bodies as the U.N. and as long as the economy is good no one will care.
That is not merely my opinion. Clinton foreign policy guru Strobe Talbot has
repeated more than once that the days of the nation-state, including the United
States, are over. So in a Democratic administration count on ever more
allegiance to supragovernmental bodies such as the U.N.
Under a Gore administration the military will decline more than it already has.
Permanently relegated to misdirected experiments in social Engineering, it will
degenerate in ranks and in its ability to fight America's battles. The purpose
of the military is to kill people and break things, not to juggle sexual issues
to the detriment of readiness.
At some point, in the name of "the children" and in defiance of the Bill of
Rights, guns will be outlawed and eventually confiscated as they have been in
Australia. Again, the outcome of the gun issue has been discussed and promoted
and predicted by every leftist in and out of government. The ultimate result
will be the end of gun ownership in the U.S. except under the most arbitrary
and oppressive conditions, which will make the "right to keep and bear arms"
moot.
If the leftist Democrats have their way, hate crimes will include thought
crimes as well. This will include the mutant child of the left, political
correctness, which will suffocate creativity and deny the natural law.
Religious organizations and individuals will find themselves breaking the law
because of their beliefs. Men and women of the cloth will have to keep their
religious opinions to themselves or be subject to government investigation and
possible criminal penalties. What isn't overt persecution will be subtle and
offer those with strong beliefs no alternative but to break the law. The
government lumps pro-lifers with the murdering, abortion-clinic-bomber group,
and that is a fact. Otherwise why would it keep files and conduct
investigations on even the most benign of pro-life groups? The FBI has admitted
doing just this.
Think the government will leave the religious alone? Under the Democrats and
the Clinton administration it didn't stop the feds from keeping a dossier on
Cardinal O'Connor nor intruding into the private lives of many religionists
including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
The Democrats have often stated their belief that the Bill of Rights is not
relevant to our times. If they have their way, their court appointments will
make that document as meaningless as plans on how to construct an eight-track
tape deck.
Soccer moms: Get used to it. The environmental movement owns Al Gore and the
Democrats. Not only will you be faced with higher gas prices, you eventually
will be driving vehicles that have been pre-approved by the federal government.
That borders on socialism, but perhaps that is what soccer moms and the women
who vote for Democrats desire. You also may look forward to paying higher costs
for your trips to the national parks. When you are older, you will not be able
to use a motorized boat on any lakes in wilderness areas. That has happened in
northern Minnesota and elsewhere. Prices for all goods including, oil, natural
gas, timber, and other natural resources are going to go up because we have run
producers out of business with environmental regulations run amok.
Everyone wants clean air and clean water. However, the government and the
environmental movement want it so pure and pristine that life as we know it in
America today will go the way of the dodo bird.
Additionally, rural America might just as well head for the hills or move to
town because a vote for a Democrat is a vote for the destruction of private
property and the end to the rural way of life. That is, unless it involves
conglomerate corporate farms, which funnel money into the DNC.
Republicans had better put on the armor of strength and steadfastness. Their
cause should be nothing less than a return to constitutional government. They
are the party of less government, fewer taxes and more liberty. They would do
well to remember what it is they are about and be proud of it.
Republicans used to stand for some wonderful ideals. So did the Democrats, but
the party of civil rights has become the party of civil wrongs. The tragedy of
our times is that the late, great Democratic Party forgot and helped destroy
the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. They bought into the notion that
growing government is better than growing individual liberty.
Perhaps the Republicans will be granted one more chance. If they blow it this
time, they will become the minority party forever. More Importantly, their
spineless equivocating and trying to be bipartisan and outdo each other in left-
wing moderation will cost us what remains of our liberty. Republicans don't
need to reach across the aisle to left-wingers with a statist agenda. They need
to start kicking some left-wing butt - or move out of the way and let someone
else do it.
News to Use - Why Democrats are worse:
.
Apparently Al Gore's brownshirts are wearing yellow these days. Incidents on
the Gore campaign trail illustrate the growing new fascists on the left. In
Michigan recently, a Mennonite couple and their eight children carried pro-life
signs at a Gore rally. Gore thugs manhandled and pushed the couple and the
children and confiscated their signs. The 10-year-old daughter was knocked to
the ground by one of Gore's yellowshirts. There were several witnesses, and a
local TV station interviewed them as well as the Mennonite couple.
The Michigan occurrence followed on the heels of a similar episode in
Wisconsin. In that case burly men wearing yellow shirts manhandled peaceful
sign carriers protesting Gore's stance on various issues. The campaign's
response was "well, they probably weren't in the area designated for
protesters." But no apology was ever forthcoming from Gore. So besides Al Gore
being a slumlord, he and his people are hypocrites and bullies. While the left
seems to prefer yellow rather than brown shirts, the chilling effect on free
speech is the same.
Some liberal pro-democrat Minnesotans (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) are going
to learn about the cost of leftist programs. Their natural gas prices are going
up 30 percent this winter. Thanks, Paul Wellstone and Bruce Vento and the rest
of you guys, for all the regulations on the use of clean-burning coal by
utility companies. Thanks for always voting for every dippy environmental
regulation and law. Thanks, guys, for funding the EPA to the max without
leaving room for common sense. Thanks for bringing the costs for
environmentalism home to your any-government-program-is-good DFLer voters. But
then, we know the Democrats are for the "working man.”
Yeah, sure.
------------------------------
Diane Alden is a research analyst, writer, historian and political economist.
She writes columns for NewsMax.com, Etherzone, Enterstageright, American
Partisan and many other online publications. She also does occasional radio
commentaries for Georgia Radio Inc. Reach her at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
www.inflyovercountry.com.
Reprint Information
All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com
End<{{
A<>E<>R
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational
tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the
State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate
repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the
"democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist
by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse
of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of
taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between
the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that
the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State
has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to
accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a
share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded
subjects.
[[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard,
Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]]
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
