The Republican Party (and its great fortunes)

By: Christian Malone

When you hear someone talking about the “fortune” of the Republican Party, you might think that I’m talking about corporate donors, or the provisions thrown out of McCain-Feingold recently by the Supreme Court. no, not at all.

Their great fortune is that the “Tea Party” movement, the grassroots libertarian conservative movement which is turning into a pseudo-party and is currently polling higher than the mainstream Republican Party when compared as an election between these two and the Democrats (I’m assuming that not too many Democrats will be swayed by the “Tea Party”), has not decided to eat the Republican Party alive.

http://whalertly.com/wordpress/2010/01/22/the-republican-party-and-its-grand-fortune/

Scott Brown, Senator-elect (R-MA) [just saying that makes me happy], is a man on a path to great things in national politics because he defeated Goliath, securing the seat of the late Edward Kennedy, a great champion of modern American liberalism, and hero to many in the Democratic Party. He secured a seat that was held by a progressive incumbent Democrat for 49 years. An extremely popular progressive Democratic incumbent in a state where Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans (but both are outnumbered by unaffiliated voters). He deserves much credit, and he also should be feared by Republicans, such as John Boehner, because right now he commands the respect of having a mandate from the people of Massachusetts to really stop “politics as usual.” And that means you, House Republican Leadership, and you too Senators. And you, John McCain.

That means: stop the politics of attack and negativity. Noone wants to vote for you, they just don’t want to vote for Democrats. Those that do hold up being a Republican, as if it were a value. Republican is mostly a way of saying I’m not a Democrat, and I lean right. The same way as the Democratic Party is mostly a way of saying I’m not a Republican, and I lean left. It’s a term of division, and of partisanship. I know I just stated the obvious. But that’s my point, division is nothing to celebrate. I am a libertarian, conservative, single-payer supporting, right-wing leaning American, who votes with the Republican party because they usually value firearms rights and generally restrict government intervention.

The Tea Party movement is a movement which rejects the notion that party should be the reason why representatives vote for or against issues and bills. They seem happy enough to elect Republicans for the time being, but eventually they will realize that the Republicans are still just following their leadership in a lot of cases. They still have a Whip, whose job it is to coerce, albeit gently, Republicans to vote with the party line.

This may be the death of the Republican Party. I actually hope so, because that would leave the Democratic Party in a convenient place for me: as a dinosaur; an obsolete mechanism of a long forgotten era of partisanship.

Yes. Before you ask out loud, yes. I realize this is all very ambitious to assume that a grassroots organization which is supposed Republican astroturf could become a major political party and upset the system as we know it. But as a student of history, as well as politics, it is not difficult to conclude that it could happen, and has happened, sometimes with bad results, sometimes good. For the best, but also the worst example I can think of, look at the National Socialist German Worker’s Party. They gained support because they had what the people wanted: prosperity in the face of ruin. The Tea Party may hold the same prospect to a conservative and moderate majority that is tired of the machinations of the two-party system and the implications of constant, highly partisan elections for the House, local offices, Senate, and President to top it all off. And, to prosperity, we add another value that they carry as a banner: Liberty. Combine this with the noble traditions of the United States, and you have a force to be reckoned with.

Finally, the NSDAP had pride. They were proud of being German. They had nationalism on their side. They made defeated Germans feel good about being German again. This is coming from a Political Science major. I’m not analyzing their societal norms, or their morals, i’m analyzing their electoral behavior, so make sure to chill out here. They made people so proud to be German they were willing to persecute anyone who wasn’t Germanic, and wanted to “liberate” their “German” brothers in the Sudetenland, Austria, and so on. This may be what the Tea Party does to a conservative base who was denied anything resembling a spot at the table when the Democrats gained a supermajority in the Senate (Thanks Arlen, you son of a…)["I thought you were a lady! So act like one." (AKA sit down and shut up, or go back to the kitchen. That's what it sounded like to me, but Michelle was very patient with him, more than I would have been. Act like a gentleman then, if you want her to act like a lady.)].

The thing that saddens me is that the reason the Democrats no longer have a supermajority is the death of Ted Kennedy. I pray for his family, and I commend him to the Lord happily, because I really do think that he was trying to fight for the people all those years. God bless you Ted, rest in peace with the Lord. If I had a choice, I’d rather Ted still be here. And Scott Brown could defeat him when the time came. No political gain is worth a life.

My Stance(s).

This is my version, I suppose, of the political courage test. I dearly hope that someday in the future, while running for office, someone digs this up and tries to call me out on my positions, because sometimes I don't get to state them all. I have quite a few positions, as you will see shortly...

This is in no particular order, just in the order in which I think of them.

Abortion: Illegal in most cases. Legal in the case of medical necessity, legal in the case of rape or incest. The physician will make the decision as to medical necessity. The physician may be held accountable if the abortion is done without any medical cause or these special cases, and the woman may be held accountable if fraud is involved. Late term abortions always illegal, no abortions in the third trimester.

Firearms: Continue the instant background check system, strengthen the system to include psychological profiles. Punish those who sell knowingly to criminals. Hold firearms manufacturers harmless in sales. Allow non-violent felons to own firearms. Keep no records regarding firearms ownership whatsoever. Allow concealed/open carry everywhere, encourage school teachers to carry openly or concealed in classrooms. Allow graduated licensing for minors, standardize national concealed/open carry licenses and classes.

Narcotics: Decriminalize all forms of narcotics ownership, sales, and use. Criminalize the "cutting" of drugs with harmful substances. Tax recreational drugs very heavily.

Alcohol: Eliminate drinking age. Maintain and strengthen punishment of impaired driving/operation of firearms/machinery. Allow concealed/open carry in liquor-license businesses.

Tobacco: Continue to require the Surgeon-General's warning on tobacco products. Remove smoking/tobacco age.

Prostitution: Decriminalize. Tax heavily, require disclosure of all medical issues related to STIs, prosecute fraud, abuse, and trafficking. Continue to ban underage prostitution.

Gambling: Allow all forms of gambling, but continue to allow sports commissions to ban officials and players from gambling in their own sports or in certain other related sports.

Roads: Raise speed limits dramatically, shift focus from high speed offences to wreckless driving and intoxication. Improve funding for roads.

Social Security: Allow opt-out of Social Security insurance.

Healthcare: Pay for all medically necessary or expedient procedures. Allow second tier insurance to pay for optional, overly risky or experimental procedures. Do not take over hospitals/healthcare practices.

Public Transport: Improve bus system cross-country, build more railways.

Marriage: De-institutionalize marriage, recognize unions between free people associating for tax purposes with one another for sexual or non-sexual reasons. Provide full rights for homosexuals and polygamists.

Flag-burning: Criminalize as an act of war against the United States of America. Prosecute heavily, punish harshly.

Nudity/Topfreedom: Decriminalize nudity as a state of dress in public. Continue to prosecute lewd acts in public.

Defense: Allow for preemptive action. Increase military salary. Create a track by which those who cannot afford college can serve for a period of time either before or after enlistment to pay for college. Continue "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Consider review of sodomy policy in the UCMJ.

Federal disaster aid: Continue to fund FEMA, but make clear that the federal government has no responsibility by law to provide any relief to those affected by disaster.

Police: Make clear that the police exist for the maintainance of the law, and also for protection of the public from lawbreakers, but that the police cannot protect every individual at all times. Encourage private arms ownership.

Financial industry: Deregulate in general, but require disclosure of practices for review by customers and potential customers for all products and services.

Fiat money: Continue practice, but attempt to balance inflation and deflation so the dollar stays steady.

Affirmative Action: Discontinue, but tax those who employ discriminatory hiring practices and who hire based on race. This tax applies to those who, having a complaint filed against them, have been found by an expert to have denied hiring/retention to employees based on race, gender, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation. Exceptions exist for those catering to specific audiences and who explicitly state this in doing business.

Campaign finance: Deregulate.

Welfare: Implement workfare as the only policy for work-eligible individuals. Continue to provide aid to disabled individuals.

Education: Nationalize the primary and secondary public education system. Create guaranteed loans for those wishing to go to post-secondary institutions who show satisfactory progress and reasonable time of completion. Create cap on amount of money loaned.

Voting: Implement Instant-Runoff Voting. Allow increased freedom for third parties and unaffiliated candidates.

Environment: No caps on emissions unless they prove poisonous or harmful to humans. Replace much of America's power grid with smart grids, allow and encourage building of hundreds of new nuclear power facilities, open and support Yucca mountain facility.

Any other issue: Ask me. There are many issues about which I have less concern, such as prison reform, but would be happy to think about and express my opinion on.

I really do hope someone looks at this when they go to vote for me or not. I am an issues voter, as such, I expect people to judge me by my positions on the issues.