Recently, our Chairman and a founder of The Sovereign Society, John Pugsley, waxed poetically on the sad state of freedom in America .
As always, I enjoyed hearing his thoughts as he reflected on a theme that also concerns me: The cancerous growth of the American Empire.
Reading afresh about the fundamental principles of America's Founding Fathers made me ponder how little, if any, attention is being paid to those basic principles in the current, all too early U.S. presidential campaign. It's more of a Democratic mud fight between Hillary and Obama, with the luxuriantly dressed John Edwards thrown in for comic relief.
A Bunch of Lost Sheep
Meanwhile, the Republicans wander around like so many lost sheep, each claiming to be the Reagan-like shepherd the distressed flock needs for salvation (at least all except my good friend, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, with whom I had the honor to serve in the House of Representatives. Indeed, Ron Paul is the only candidate on either side who seems to know history, understand the U.S. Constitution and who is willing to apply both with sound logic).
As a young man many years ago, after much study, I firmly decided that I was a political "conservative." I became national chairman of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and, later, of the American Conservative Union (ACU).
William F. Buckley was one of my mentors and I served proudly as a Goldwater for president 1964 delegate from my home state of Maryland. YAF, founded in 1960, was the vanguard of the 1964 Goldwater for president movement, creating a vibrant cadre of young leaders who later graced the Reagan administration. The ACU, founded in 1965, was the senior spin-off of YAF. (Some suggested Old Americans for Freedom, or OAF.)
Nearly half a century ago "conservatism" meant opposing big government in all its forms, bureaucratic waste and pork barrel spending. As recently as 1992, a friend of mine, President George H.W. Bush spoke for me in saying:
"Each month, millions of American families sit down to balance their checkbooks. The federal government must now do the same."
Apparently George the First did not convince George the Second of that fundamental economic fact.
In those long ago Goldwater days, we young conservatives believed that lower taxes kept government small, that cutting taxes kept money out of the greedy hands of Washington's big spenders.
But we also were against massive deficit spending and skyrocketing debt. Most of all, we believed in government staying out of our private lives, respecting the rule of law and abiding by the Bill of Rights.
No Sane Conservative Can Say We're Winning the Battle Against Big Government
A decade or so ago we conservatives thought we were winning the battle. But no sane American "conservative" can make such a foolish claim now.
Huge deficits and a perpetually unbalanced budget guarantees eventual inflation and the cheapened U.S. dollar is already here.
Billions for unneeded bailouts of airlines, hedge funds, insurance companies and big businesses is thrown away. Millions in pork barrel spending is tacked onto the so-called Homeland Security bill, a bureaucratic monstrosity.
And we know what has happened to our diminishing liberty, freedom and civil rights. I repeat that the USA Patriot Act is the single greatest assault on the U.S. Constitution ever perpetrated in American history.
We suffer a growing police state with secret spying, searches, forfeiture, arrests and imprisonment without charges or counsel. The president claims the unchecked authority to spy on American citizens, all in the name of combating terrorism.
How to Fight a Growing Police State
The hero of my youth, the late Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, was my idea of a true conservative. When in doubt, it was said this son of a president placed the Constitution along side a proposed bill and then formulated his vote accordingly.
With one or two exceptions, that kind of true conservative is scarce in Washington today, and certainly cannot be found in the White House.
As Chairman Pugsley suggested, to survive and be secure, we must engineer our lives, as best we are able, to keep ourselves, our families and our assets out of the reach of the imperial government.
As always, I enjoyed hearing his thoughts as he reflected on a theme that also concerns me: The cancerous growth of the American Empire.
Reading afresh about the fundamental principles of America's Founding Fathers made me ponder how little, if any, attention is being paid to those basic principles in the current, all too early U.S. presidential campaign. It's more of a Democratic mud fight between Hillary and Obama, with the luxuriantly dressed John Edwards thrown in for comic relief.
A Bunch of Lost Sheep
Meanwhile, the Republicans wander around like so many lost sheep, each claiming to be the Reagan-like shepherd the distressed flock needs for salvation (at least all except my good friend, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, with whom I had the honor to serve in the House of Representatives. Indeed, Ron Paul is the only candidate on either side who seems to know history, understand the U.S. Constitution and who is willing to apply both with sound logic).
As a young man many years ago, after much study, I firmly decided that I was a political "conservative." I became national chairman of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and, later, of the American Conservative Union (ACU).
William F. Buckley was one of my mentors and I served proudly as a Goldwater for president 1964 delegate from my home state of Maryland. YAF, founded in 1960, was the vanguard of the 1964 Goldwater for president movement, creating a vibrant cadre of young leaders who later graced the Reagan administration. The ACU, founded in 1965, was the senior spin-off of YAF. (Some suggested Old Americans for Freedom, or OAF.)
Nearly half a century ago "conservatism" meant opposing big government in all its forms, bureaucratic waste and pork barrel spending. As recently as 1992, a friend of mine, President George H.W. Bush spoke for me in saying:
"Each month, millions of American families sit down to balance their checkbooks. The federal government must now do the same."
Apparently George the First did not convince George the Second of that fundamental economic fact.
In those long ago Goldwater days, we young conservatives believed that lower taxes kept government small, that cutting taxes kept money out of the greedy hands of Washington's big spenders.
But we also were against massive deficit spending and skyrocketing debt. Most of all, we believed in government staying out of our private lives, respecting the rule of law and abiding by the Bill of Rights.
No Sane Conservative Can Say We're Winning the Battle Against Big Government
A decade or so ago we conservatives thought we were winning the battle. But no sane American "conservative" can make such a foolish claim now.
Huge deficits and a perpetually unbalanced budget guarantees eventual inflation and the cheapened U.S. dollar is already here.
Billions for unneeded bailouts of airlines, hedge funds, insurance companies and big businesses is thrown away. Millions in pork barrel spending is tacked onto the so-called Homeland Security bill, a bureaucratic monstrosity.
And we know what has happened to our diminishing liberty, freedom and civil rights. I repeat that the USA Patriot Act is the single greatest assault on the U.S. Constitution ever perpetrated in American history.
We suffer a growing police state with secret spying, searches, forfeiture, arrests and imprisonment without charges or counsel. The president claims the unchecked authority to spy on American citizens, all in the name of combating terrorism.
How to Fight a Growing Police State
The hero of my youth, the late Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, was my idea of a true conservative. When in doubt, it was said this son of a president placed the Constitution along side a proposed bill and then formulated his vote accordingly.
With one or two exceptions, that kind of true conservative is scarce in Washington today, and certainly cannot be found in the White House.
As Chairman Pugsley suggested, to survive and be secure, we must engineer our lives, as best we are able, to keep ourselves, our families and our assets out of the reach of the imperial government.
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