Dear Republican National Committee:
You sent me a survey, apparently indicating interest in my feedback. The survey’s format didn’t work for what I want to say; this letter will serve.
Abortion Plank
Let’s get the tough issue over with first. Last November’s election is the final proof I need that the America rejects the anti-abortion plank. This isn’t to say I support abortion, but I do support Constitutional values.
From the First Amendment perspective, I find it curious that self-proclaimed conservatives claim to support the Constitution, yet have no trouble infringing on people who believe that life begins with the first breath, or those who believe nothing at all. As long as the Republican Party continues to insist that it’s okay to infringe on women who believe otherwise, you’ll lose support among people who share many other values in common, but cannot stomach this high-handed approach towards abortion.
Along the lines of alleged conservative values is the belief in smaller, fiscally responsible government. How can this value jibe with banning abortion? You’ll need enforcement, which means more bureaucrats to run the system, buildings to house them, funds for computers and utilities, and hiring lawyers and law enforcement to enforce the law. It’s a whole new government department! Perhaps the true value here is: “We believe in smaller government, unless it’s one of our sacred cows. Then no expenditure is too much!”
Conservatives also claim to support free-market solutions, instead of building more oppressive government. If abortion is so terrible—and it is, make no mistake—then why can’t you win people over in the realm of ideas, using free market principles? Why insist on taking the statist approach, increasing government power to justify using force to get what you want?
The solution is to replace the anti-abortion plank with one that will be more popular among those who almost agree on this issue: Government should get out of the abortion business. Period. No exceptions. This means that no government entity or representative can tell anybody what to support. This offers a free market solution. If John the pharmacist doesn’t want to stock birth control, government has no right to tell him otherwise. More importantly, if a private business doesn’t want their insurance plan to cover abortion, government can’t make them.
If Jane the gynecologist wants to run a free clinic on Saturdays to provide abortions to poor women, government can’t tell her otherwise. One the other hand, if people want to protest the abortion clinic across the street on public land, government cannot nay-say them. If the protesters violate private property rights or commit violence, we already have enough laws to deal with it.
Patriot Act
Recent news has proven this was a bad idea. When first passed under the Bush administration, I told people that it’s based on a good concept, but once the right—or wrong, depending on your viewpoint—administration takes over, they will use the Patriot Act to justify infringing on our Constitutional rights. And so it is.
Repeal the Patriot Act. Examination of Supreme Court decisions like Deshaney v. Winnebago and Castle Rock v. Gonzales results in only one reasonable conclusion: Government has no obligation to protect us, though we have the obligation to pay taxes for these mythical security services.
From the conservative perspective, we need only remember Benjamin Franklin’s prescient words: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” We’re spending billions of dollars to feel safer…until the next Boston bomber appears, while diving ever deeper into debt.
Fiscal Responsibility
Speaking of debt, here’s another conflict between smaller-government rhetoric and reality. Analysis of the federal budget shows that Bush and a Republican congress grew the federal budget at an annual rate of over 2.5 times inflation plus population growth. As a result, the federal budget ran a deficit the last seven years of Bush’s term (out of 8 total!).
This doesn’t excuse the Obama administration and Democratic congress from growing the budget at an annual rate of 12 times inflation and population growth, and running up a debt of over one trillion annually. However, there is some truth that the Republican party played fast and loose with their alleged values, and then had to remain relatively quiet while the Democrats showed us how it’s really done. In other words, there is some truth to the claim that it’s Bush’s fault. He set the dynamics in motion, and you can’t tell others to do as you say when you won’t do it yourself.
Party Versus the People
Remember the story of King Solomon and the two women who both claimed one child? When Solomon said to cut the baby in half so each woman could have part, the real mother told him to give the baby to the other women. Solomon knew this was the true mother, because she would sacrifice her own happiness to see the child live.
That child is Liberty, Justice, and the Pursuit of Happiness, among other values the Founders sacrificed their lives and fortunes to pass along to us.
Today, we have two parties once again; mothers, if you will, who gave birth to differing views on how to preserve Liberty, etc. But each party is so focused on gathering power that they have taken up the sword themselves and willingly cleave the baby apart, rather than sacrifice their chance at power. Political parties gather power for themselves to serve the party; any benefit derived for the People is coincidental. No matter who resides in the White House, Americans have seen a gradual erosion of Quality of Life, Liberty, and Justice. Our opportunity to Pursue Happiness has likewise been curtailed. The Democratic Congress/Bush bailout sent hundreds of billions of our tax dollars into the coffers of companies and executives who supposedly were experts in finance and investing. They failed to do their job, and our taxes, representing the production and effort we invested in our daily work, was bled off to keep these losers in caviar and Mercedes sedans.
There’s plenty of blame to spread around Washington on this one. Analysis of both Democrats and Republicans reveals y’all have investments in the banks and companies you voted to bail out. Moreover, the securities and investment industry invested over $158 million in federal campaign contributions during the 2008 election cycle, then received $700 billion in bailout money. I guess they do know how to invest their money after all. On the other hand, taxpayers still had mortgages after you bailed out our note holders. That’s a travesty of justice.
So there you have my thoughts on the matter. If you truly support your advertised values, then do something right and decent for a change. My doubts are such that I left the Republican Party after last November’s election. I mentioned conservative values, but there’s no proof that the Republican party is conservative. Results indicate that we have two statist parties, one delivering us into feudalism faster, but the destination is the same.
This letter represents true value to me, far more than the few dollars I have left after you’ve squeezed my production to pay back your corporate sponsors.
The next move is yours.
Sincerely,
Howard Nemerov
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