Republicans Deserved to Lose Now the Battle for Freedom Can Be Renewed

November 13, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

The recriminations are flying. Why did the Republicans lose so badly? Who’s at fault? What will it mean in the battle for freedom?

The answer to the first two questions is pretty easy. Republicans lost because they acted like Democrats. They betrayed their base of supporters and thought they could get away with it. It’s that simple.

The loss wasn’t about scandals. Not About Jack Abramoff. Not about Congressman Mark Foley. And there certainly hasn’t been a shift toward Democrat policy.

The Republican base left the party because it became the biggest spending government in U.S. history. It became the government most invasive of our private lives in U.S. history. And the Republicans became the poorest defenders of our national sovereignty and independence in U.S. history. That’s why they lost. It’s the reason why they were able to toss out the Democrats twelve years ago, but then they headed down the same road. Americans simply don’t want that kind of government.

For fifty years the Republican believers fought in the trenches, taking defeat after defeat, as they battled against the ever-growing behemoth of Big Government. Year after year the majority Democrats heaped more spending, more regulations, more government intrusion on our heads, threatening to bury the Republic forever.

The Republican faithful became ever more desperate to stop it. They dug in. They fought harder. The battle cry became “Elect a Republican majority, take control of the government, and roll it all back and reestablish the ideas of Jefferson and Madison.”

We believed in the fight and eventually, we won. We had every reason to believe the Republicans would at least begin the process of rolling back the all-intrusive government monster. We even had it in writing under the “Contract with America.”

That document, signed by Republican candidates during the campaign of 1994, was our guarantee. It would restore accountability and fiscal responsibility to Congress. It would end the cycle of scandal and disgrace. The document outlined a plan to put a stop to the frivolous lawsuits; it called for term limits to create a “citizen legislature.” There were promises to get rid of the Department of Education and many more unnecessary federal agencies. None of that happened.

Instead, we witnessed Republicans picking up right where the Democrats left off. The Republicans gave us School to Work, Goals 2000 and the Workforce Development Act. These three Acts completely transformed America’s public schools, away from local control to become federal outlets. Federal curriculums were mandated. Federal textbooks were created. Parents lost control of their children’s education.

The Republicans put the United States back in the UN’s UNESCO. This snake pit of globalism is responsible for anti-American curriculum that promotes global citizenship over American. President Bush’s Secretary of Education Rod Page told a UNESCO gathering that the No Child Left Behind Act is in complete compliance with UNESCO global education policy.

Under Republican control, not one single executive order signed by Bill Clinton to impose UN environmental polices was rescinded or reversed. Bill Clinton used his pen to almost fully implement the UN’s Biodiversity Treaty, even though it was never ratified by the Senate. The Republicans, through the Bush White House, continue to enforce the policy of Sustainable Development from the UN’s Agenda 21 policy. Under the Republicans it continues to be official federal government policy. That policy represents a massive government control of private property and local community decisions.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar has made every possible attempt to ratify the UN’s Law of the Sea Treaty. And, while still not ratified, many of its provisions are quietly being implemented by the government. The Law of the Sea Treaty is nothing less than a scheme to create UN global taxes.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter has single-handedly managed to kill the Property Rights Protection Act by refusing to allow it to pass out of his committee. The bill, passed by a large majority in the House, would block federal money to any community that used the power of Eminent Domain for private development. Not one member of Specter’s committee protested his action.

The Republicans passed the outrageous Patriot Act, allowing the federal government to come into private homes without a warrant. The Republicans have passed the Real ID Act, which by 2008 will establish a National ID card.

The Republicans created the Department of Homeland Security, through which one Czar (the Secretary) oversees 22 combined departments of the federal government, giving this one man unprecedented power to snoop into, spy on and control every action of the American people.

Under the Republicans, our nation’s foreign policy has become a bullying tactic, forcing other nations to comply with our form of government and our brand of economics. We invade and occupy. No wonder such tactics have made us the most hated nation on earth, and that is what fuels the terrorists. Is such nation building really in keeping with the visions of our Founding Fathers who warned us against entangling ourselves in the problems of other nations? Where in Republicans archives is such a policy advocated?

Under the Republicans, the federal government spent $2.47 trillion in 2005 – up 49% since 1995. The deficit of $400 billion is the largest in history. In 1995 the public debt limit was $4.9 trillion. Today it’s $8.2 trillion (up 67%). These increases are not a result of war or a bad economy. It’s simply government out of control.

Now, this year, we learn that the Republican Administration is working secretly to implement a North American Union, which will destroy our very national identity and sovereignty by “harmonizing” our borders with Canada and Mexico.

Is this the nation the Republican faithful envisioned as they celebrated the Republican victory in 1994? Of course not. It is a betrayal of unbelievable proportions.

And that’s why the Republicans lost. They deserved it.

The question most often asked now is – “Can we stop it?” We thought we had in 1994. There is reason for great pessimism now. In their 12 years of control of two houses of government and 6 years of the White House, the Republicans have endangered more of our liberties than has been witnessed in any other period of our nation’s history.

So what do we do? The answers certainly aren’t easy. First, it should be obvious that, after 12 years of this Republican onslaught, we should not have a great fear of the Democrats. What will change? For one thing, perhaps now Republicans will begin again to act like Republicans of old. Apparently, if a Republican is taking away our liberty, that is OK. But if a Democrat does it, it’s a threat to the Republic and must be stopped! That’s a victory for our side.

What should the Republican faithful do to get things back on track? First, stop being the Republican faithful. Be true to your beliefs, but not to a party that no longer deserves it. Make them respect you by not so easily giving them your support. Make them earn it. Don’t support the lesser of two evils. After all, that is still evil.

Republicans have kept you in line by using the fear of the specter of Democrat control. Could it be any worse than what the Republicans handed us in their 12 year orgy of spending and Big Brother government?

Stop thinking you wasted a vote if you support a third party candidate who actually expresses your beliefs. The only reason a third party candidate can’t win is because you don’t vote for him. It is much more of a lost vote if you throw it away on a Republican who does not represent your principles.

How many good, principled people have thrown away their votes supporting the likes of Arlen Specter or Richard Lugar. These two men have nothing in common with those who support the old Republican ideas of limited government and individual liberty. They are, in fact, enemies of those concepts. Yet Lugar just won reelection with over 80% of the vote. Astonishing.

Party loyalties are outdated because the parties are simply engines to elect anyone who joins them. Its about power and money. To them, your silly principles of restoring the Republic are outdated and quaint – yet they will exploit your ideas on election day just to get your vote.

Stop supporting the actions of George Bush because he says he’s a Christian. Jimmy Carter made the same claim. Did you support him? What matters is not what they profess, rather what they do. George Bush’s actions do not support his profession of traditional Republican values.

If Americans began to stand for their principles instead of allowing the political parties to define the agenda, elections would once again mean something. They need to fear you — fear that you won’t be there for them if they fail to deliver. We need to make them once again compete for your vote.

Here is one suggestion, if implemented, would change the entire landscape of political campaigns and how parties operate. Currently, election ballots carry the names of the candidates from each party. There should be added an additional category called “None of the Above.” Should a voter not like any of the candidates running, they could then cast their votes for the None of the Above choice. When the votes are counted, if there are more votes for None of the Above than for any single candidate, then a new election would be held and none of the previous candidates would be eligible to run again. New candidates would have to be found.

Would such a provision cause the parties to be more responsive to its supporters? You bet it would. Would it change the quality of candidates offered? Without doubt. It’s just good old fashioned American free enterprise and competition at work. Parties need to feel the threat of rejection.

And finally, what will this election mean in the battle for freedom? Do not fear the outcome. It’s really given us a new opportunity to cleanse our movement and began again without the burden of having to somehow defend a Republican party that is indefensible. We know what the Democrats are. They will act as Democrats. We know how to fight that. We just don’t know how to fight Republicans who act like Democrats.

After the election day debacle, Republican party Chairman Ken Mehlman said the party would study the results and learn from it. Will the party come to the conclusion that it lost because it betrayed its base? Of course not. They will conduct a thorough study which will conclude that the nation is just moving more toward the left and, so too, must the party. They don’t call the Republicans the dumb party for nothing!

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Tom DeWeese
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Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence.