"In the Senate ... a whopping
18 received a failing score of 59 or less. This means that 40 percent of
Senate Republicans are absolute failures when it comes to freedom while
only 5 percent can be termed above average. "
"In the House ... and incredibly, 164 receiving a failing score of
59 or less. This means that 71 percent of House Republicans are failures
when it comes to freedom while only 11 percent can be termed above
average."
"The only thing the Republicans have going for them is that they
oppose Obamacare. But even that is only because it is not a Republican
health care plan. Back in 2003 the Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act, the largest expansion of Medicare
since LBJ’s Great Society, was instituted by a Republican-controlled
Congress with the full support of the Republican leadership and signed
into law by a Republican president. Only 9 Republicans in the Senate and
25 in the House joined the vast majority of Democrats in both Houses in
voting against “Bushcare.”"
Republicans Versus
Freedom
By Laurence M. Vance
August 7, 2014
The Republican Party claims to be the party of the Constitution, limited
government, fiscal conservatism, economic freedom, government reform,
free enterprise, private property, and the free market.
Is it?
The latest edition of the
Freedom Index was just published in The New American. The
Freedom Index is “a congressional scoreboard based on the U.S.
Constitution” that “rates congressmen based on their adherence to
constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility,
national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding
foreign entanglements.” This edition of the Freedom Index is the third
for the 113th Congress. The previous editions of the Freedom
Index for the 113th Congress can be seen
here and
here.
Looking at this latest version of the Freedom Index, there is only one
conclusion we can draw about Republicans: they are enemies of
freedom.
This edition of the Freedom Index tracks congressional votes in the
Senate on the following: budget agreement, Yellen nomination, omnibus
appropriations, farm and food programs, debt limit suspension, child
care, Ukraine aid, unemployment benefits extension, minimum wage, Burwell
nomination. In the House, it tracks votes on the following: budget
agreement, omnibus appropriations, abortion funding, farm and food
programs, debt limit suspension, EPA regulations, enforcing existing
laws, Ukraine aid, indefinite military detention, use of military
force.
The average Senate score was 28 percent; the average House score was 39
percent.
No senator received a perfect score. The highest score in the Senate was
the 89 of Jim Inhofe (OK), Mike Lee (UT), and Rand Paul (KY). Inhofe and
Lee would have had a perfect score had they not voted for aid to
Ukrainesomething that is clearly unconstitutional. Paul would have had a
perfect score had he not voted to reauthorize the Child Care and
Development Block Grant programan unconstitutional welfare
program.
Seven representatives in the House achieved a perfect score: Justin Amash
(MI), Paul Broun (GA), John Duncan (TN), Tim Huelskamp (KS), Walter Jones
(NC), Mark Sanford (SC), Steve Stockman (TX).
So, why are Republicans enemies of freedom?
In the Senate, 9 Republicans scored between 80 and 89 (a B), 6 scored
between 70 and 79 (a C), 12 scored between 60 and 69 (a D), and a
whopping 18 received a failing score of 59 or less. This means that 40
percent of Senate Republicans are absolute failures when it comes to
freedom while only 5 percent can be termed above average. John McCain of
Arizona, whom Republican voters thought was an alternative to Barack
Obama, scored a 56. Incorrigible warmonger Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, who recently won a Republican primary, only scored a
44.
In the House, 7 Republicans, as mentioned above, received a perfect
score, 4 scored between 90 and 99 (an A), 14 scored between 80 and 89 (a
B), 16 scored between 70 and 79 (a C), 26 scored between 60 and 69 (a D),
and incredibly, 164 receiving a failing score of 59 or less. This means
that 71 percent of House Republicans are failures when it comes to
freedom while only 11 percent can be termed above average. The head of
the Budget Committee and Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, scored a
40. The former House Majority Leader Eric Canton scored even worse, a
30.
The only thing the Republicans have going for them is that they oppose
Obamacare. But even that is only because it is not a Republican health
care plan. Back in 2003 the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act, the largest expansion of Medicare since LBJ’s Great
Society, was instituted by a Republican-controlled Congress with the full
support of the Republican leadership and signed into law by a Republican
president. Only 9 Republicans in the Senate and 25 in the House joined
the vast majority of Democrats in both Houses in voting against
“Bushcare.”
Republicans don’t believe in real medical freedom. They don’t support a
free market in medical care, medical treatment, medical devices, medical
drugs, medical licensing, medical education, medical insurance, medical
facilities, medical records, medical research, or alternative medicine.
They didn’t then and they don’t now.
And Republicans don’t believe in any other kind of freedom either. They
are not an alternative to Democrats. They are not the lesser of two
evils. They are not “better” than the Democrats. They are not
“libertarian leaning.” They are not our allies. They are not more
constitutional than the Democrats. They are not “our friends on the
Right.” They are not “liberty minded.” They are not our best hope. They
are not our only chance. They are not improving. They are not our only
option. They are not the best we have to work with. They will not be
better this election.
The Republican Party is the party of lies, hypocrisy, crony capitalism,
government regulation, the drug war, foreign wars, torture, empire,
foreign aid, the welfare state, the warfare state, the national security
state, and the police state. The GOP, as my friend
Tom
DiLorenzo describes it, is nothing but a Gang of Plunderers.
Republicans are worse than Democrats because of how they use libertarian
rhetoric to deceive conservatives and libertarians into thinking that
they actually believe in the Constitution, limited government, fiscal
conservatism, economic freedom, government reform, free enterprise,
private property, and the free market.
It is not that they are Republicans in Name Only (RINOs). They are
Republicans. And they are enemies of freedom.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/08/laurence-m-vance/rabid-enemies-of-freedom/
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- Republicans Versus Freedom MJ
