The New Radical Republicans

Here is another guest post by Matthias.  Enjoy.

In the hazy blur of the public high school’s perfunctory American history courses, most people remember a mention of the “Radical Republicans”. That was the name given to a large group of congressmen and senators who controlled the U.S. Congress through the latter half of the War Between the States and the rest of that decade. The textbooks merely characterized them as seeking “revenge” against the Democrats of the Confederacy who started the “Civil War”.

Some of the failings of the Radical Republicans are enumerated below:

• They viewed the War Between the States as a crusade against the institution of slavery and supported immediate emancipation.
• They advocated enlistment of black soldiers.
• They led the fight for ratification of the 13^th Amendment Outlawing Slavery
• Radical Republicans wrote the first Civil Rights law in 1864.
• The Radical Republicans in the early 1870s urged President Ulysses Grant to take action against the Ku Klux Klan.
• They pressed for labor reforms, which included improved working conditions in factories and the eight-hour day.

As the 1960s leftist Radicals have finally reached the pinnacle of power, maybe it is time for the Republican Party [variously known as the “polite party” or the “stupid party”] to return to some of it’s own radical roots! The philosophy of conservatism is the dominant belief of the people of the United States. In the polls assessing such things; never more than 20 to 23 % of the polled ever claim to be liberals. In the last two elections, wherever Republicans ran as conservatives they won, where they ran as “moderates” – they lost. (Including the quintessential moderate: John McCain.)

The hard-core conservatives (most of us) need to separate from the RINOs, the country club set and the “liberal” Republicans (an oxymoron). Most all of this latter group has become double amputees from reaching their hand across the aisle to the Left, just to have it cut off. If politics is “philosophy in action” as Edmund Burke told us; then it is time to examine our personal philosophies and take action!

Let us begin by clearly stating just what IS our philosophy of government of a conservative American:

First of all an Americans understands the Constitution of the United States to be a remarkable document, almost unique upon the Earth. We have observed our governmental bodies, from local to federal, moving away from the Constitutional Republic toward a European Socialist state. The Founders warned us that this would happen. They also understood that it could only be corrected by strong action. The best action I believe is to create a dichotomy in the Republican Party that starts moving the uncommitted toward the exits. To determine how, read on:

If you see yourself in the classic descriptions below, you are likely a candidate for membership in the New Radical Republican Party.

• A citizen of the United States of America who believes in and supports the Constitution of the United States.
• By extension, such a person must believe in the rule of law, equality of all citizens before the law and the enforcement of that law.

• The Constitution particularly includes the Bill of Rights (while not carved in stone by the Founders, they might as well have been.) This means an American believes in every citizen’s right to speak, arm themselves, and practice religious beliefs freely. But ever the practical creature, this same American sees the responsibilities attached to each right. One must pay the price if their speech knowingly causes harm, if they pass out dangerous weapons to children, or if their religion demands your adherence or your death.
• Most of these actual Americans understand that the right to be free comes with the responsibility to take care of yourself as best you can. They understood this as children. In your father’s house you were sheltered, fed and clothed – but you followed your father’s rules. At a certain age you were freed of all those rules – as long as you provided your own shelter, food and clothing. As children, they also learned that you helped your brother or sister when they were in need of your help. For more than a century America has been the most charitable nation on earth.
• When the Constitution was adopted, the Federal government had very limited responsibilities: defend the borders of the Republic and its citizens, facilitate the interactions of the individual states, provide the highest court of law in the Republic. (“Government that governs least, governs best.”) Of course, the world is more complex now, but we should expect the actual Constitutional responsibilities to be fulfilled. An American would like to see the important things restored.
• Perhaps you are not fond of the Federal Income Tax, passed in 1913, despite not being ratified by the requisite number of states. When the Constitution was adopted, the Federal government paid its way by a consumption tax on imported goods. If a citizen wanted or needed said goods – they paid the tax. If a citizen was poor or struggling and could substitute or get by without imported goods, he paid no tax. The already proposed “Fair Tax” would bring us to a similar state.

 

Start talking to other Republicans, this may be the best way to proceed. Determine who we are and what we want. Then go there.

 Matthias