Liberty Or Death

I have touched on this a time or two in the past but since Pat Buchanan brings it up I thought I’d touch on it again. What is the most popular socialism in America? Moral Socialism or Economic Socialism. First let me quote some from Pat.

In his New York Times report, “In California, GOP Fights Steep Decline,” Adam Nagourney delves into the reasons.

In the Golden Land, a state Nixon carried all five times he was on a national ticket and Reagan carried by landslides all four times he ran, the GOP does not hold a single statewide office. It gained not a single House seat in the 2010 landslide. Party registration has fallen to 30 percent of the California electorate and is steadily sinking.

Why? It is said that California Republicans are too out of touch, too socially conservative on issues like right-to-life and gay rights. “When you look at the population growth,” says GOP consultant Steve Schmidt, “the actual party is shrinking. It’s becoming more white. It’s becoming older.”

Race, age and ethnicity are at the heart of the problem. And they portend not only the party’s death in California, but perhaps its destiny in the rest of America.

Consider. Almost 90 percent of all Republican voters in presidential elections are white. Almost 90 percent are Christians. But whites fell to 74 percent of the electorate in 2008 and were only 64 percent of the population. Christians are down to 75 percent of the population from 85 in 1990. The falloff continues and is greatest among the young.

Moral Socialism is a declining force in American politics. We see that in the coalition that is currently winning the battle for marijuana legalization in Colorado.

Bipartisan support for legalizing marijuana and regulating it like alcohol in Colorado? This is quite encouraging and fascinating (in California, you may recall, there was bipartisan opposition from the blue and red teams).

We saw that in the Obama/Keyes match up in Illinois. I personally voted for Obama because I preferred Economic Socialism to Moral Socialism. Not that I wouldn’t like to end both but I was given a choice and made one.

And the Republican Party in Colorado is split.

Conservatives are split on the proposed amendment. Opponents, led by Republican Attorney General John Suthers and Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, argue that legalizing marijuana would promote increased drug use and impaired driving, while setting up Colorado for a legal skirmish with federal authorities.

Other conservatives, like former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, have argued that regulating marijuana would be a better use of government resources, and that adults should have the personal freedom to make their own decisions about marijuana as they do with alcohol.

“Whether it’s a matter of it being a waste of resources on an ineffective policy, or it being a policy promoting an underground market, it’s also a personal liberty issue for many people who feel alcohol prohibition did not work and marijuana prohibition is not working,” Tvert said.

Republicans seem to love black markets. They seem intent on recreating one for abortion. I love the quote at the end of this piece.

…we love this idea of prohibitions, we can’t live without them. They are our very favorite thing because we know how to solve difficult, social, economic, and medical problems — a new criminal law with harsher penalties in every category for everybody.

Well maybe not so much any more. Colorado is a harbinger.

So how can the Republican Party have a future? It will have to give up Moral Socialism. This rally report shows the direction. The kids are flocking to Ron Paul. In liberal Illinois.

As I often tell my Moral Socialist friends. Government can no more make us moral than it can make us prosperous. And let me add that it is dangerous to try. As a commenter pointed out here.

I have never taken any illegal drug, yet I oppose the drug war. The main reason is the way it is used to infringe on our rights. Asset forfeiture, gun laws, laws to reduce the standards for searches, a myriad of infringements to help “win ” the war on drugs.

Liberty or death. Pick one.
 


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5 responses to “Liberty Or Death”

  1. George Avatar
    George

    What is moral socialism, and why do you prefer economic socialism to it?

  2. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Moral Socialism – Legislating morality
    Economic Socialism – Legislating economic outcomes

    In the Progressive era the two were united by a coalition of seculars and Christians. Then they diverged. Thus we now have Democrats and Christian Democrats.

    The Republican Party of 1914 was what we would call today a libertarian party. They opposed the Harrison Narcotics Act which outlawed heroin and cocaine. They thought the Federal Government didn’t have that power.

  3. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    Why would I prefer the Communist? Because I have knowledge and conversation of my Holy Guardian Angel. i.e. God talks to me all the time. I don’t need a politician to perform that function for me and I find it highly offensive when they do.

    The economic interference I just find annoying.

  4. Eric Avatar

    The problem with “moral” socialism is that it resorts to crassly immoral methods, such as “commandeer[ing] private property from a law-abiding businessman and ineptly deploy[ing] it in an operation that got a man killed and now endangers a family that had nothing to do with the case.”

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/312666/dea-gone-wild-kevin-d-williamson

  5. […] is not a national issue this year. But given the upcoming vote in Colorado and more states legalizing med pot it may be a national issue in 2016, certainly by 2020. Which […]