patriot45
06-19-2008, 10:59 AM
This is a pretty fair analysis!
RINO (http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/PeterJWirs/2008/06/19/lets_go_rino_hunting_part_i)
There is no question that many office holders on the right side of the aisle are masquerading as Republicans and not deserving of reelection under the GOP banner. The question, however, is how you hunt the RINO without being devoured by the tiger crouched in the grass behind your back!
Conservatives properly argue that Republicanism generally speaking, parallels the essential conservative principles of limited government, predicated upon respect for individualism and life generally. Parenthetically, it should be noted that an American definition of conservative no way mirrors the same term in British or other national politics. An American conservative is not a Tory. Moreover, the idea of conservatism within American politics has historically evolved. Today’s conservatives are not akin to Benjamin Chew, John C. Calhoun, or even James Eastland. Instead, the modern conservative is, pure and simple, a Jeffersonian. As Barry Goldwater properly observed, conservatives are always at war with autocrats.
Translated into contemporary issues, conservatives believe in limited Federal government and stronger state and local government, because as Jeffersonians we believe the power springs from the people (read individuals) upward, not the body politic (read society) downward. From this fountainhead spring all other conservative beliefs and opinions. It is fed by the groundwater that freedom is inherent. We are, as penned by Jefferson, "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights." Quoting again, Barry Goldwater, conservatism "is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don’t hurt anyone else in the process." We suspect, indeed history instructs us that freedom contracts when government expands. As in physics, government and freedom cannot share the same space.
For example, we believe that earmarks, traditionally labeled "pork," are repugnant, not only because such is wasteful, but that the Federal government isn’t even in the business of wealth redistribution. Even if we acknowledge, as we do, that the wealthy should aid the poor, such laudable goals have not, is not, and can never be accomplished by taking from the middle-class taxpayer and giving to the multinational corporate conglomerates. We suspect, indeed we know that earmarks are merely a politically correct name for helping out campaign contributors.
More at the link.
RINO (http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/PeterJWirs/2008/06/19/lets_go_rino_hunting_part_i)
There is no question that many office holders on the right side of the aisle are masquerading as Republicans and not deserving of reelection under the GOP banner. The question, however, is how you hunt the RINO without being devoured by the tiger crouched in the grass behind your back!
Conservatives properly argue that Republicanism generally speaking, parallels the essential conservative principles of limited government, predicated upon respect for individualism and life generally. Parenthetically, it should be noted that an American definition of conservative no way mirrors the same term in British or other national politics. An American conservative is not a Tory. Moreover, the idea of conservatism within American politics has historically evolved. Today’s conservatives are not akin to Benjamin Chew, John C. Calhoun, or even James Eastland. Instead, the modern conservative is, pure and simple, a Jeffersonian. As Barry Goldwater properly observed, conservatives are always at war with autocrats.
Translated into contemporary issues, conservatives believe in limited Federal government and stronger state and local government, because as Jeffersonians we believe the power springs from the people (read individuals) upward, not the body politic (read society) downward. From this fountainhead spring all other conservative beliefs and opinions. It is fed by the groundwater that freedom is inherent. We are, as penned by Jefferson, "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights." Quoting again, Barry Goldwater, conservatism "is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don’t hurt anyone else in the process." We suspect, indeed history instructs us that freedom contracts when government expands. As in physics, government and freedom cannot share the same space.
For example, we believe that earmarks, traditionally labeled "pork," are repugnant, not only because such is wasteful, but that the Federal government isn’t even in the business of wealth redistribution. Even if we acknowledge, as we do, that the wealthy should aid the poor, such laudable goals have not, is not, and can never be accomplished by taking from the middle-class taxpayer and giving to the multinational corporate conglomerates. We suspect, indeed we know that earmarks are merely a politically correct name for helping out campaign contributors.
More at the link.