The GOP's Civil War - Big Government Statists vs. Liberty Activists

If you checkout out photos and film clips of Republican public gathering, you will always see tons of signs that scream "Obama is a Socialist". Well, he is. However, the glaring truth that Republicans ignore is the fact that Republicans are socialists too!

REALLY, REPUBLICANS REALLY ARE SOCIALISTS

As the Republican Party remains a fractured mess that is fiercely divided to the point where the GOP is suffering profound electability problems, establishment Republicans just do not understand why the constitutionalist, Libertarians and Ron Paul supporters no longer vote Republican. The fissures are now so pronounced that Republicans are now screaming "to hell with those Ron Paul supporters, Libertarians and constitutionalists, we don't need them, we are the Republican Party and there are enough of us to win elections". Well, that's a highly debatable assumption, especially in tight swing states that will absolutely be critical in November.

As a Libertarian and Ron Paul supporter, I understand that Republicans are very frustrated with us.  Primarily, they are frustrated because they believe the GOP lies that it's the party of liberty, free markets and minimal government.  Anybody who disagrees with their flawed logic is automatically labeled a liberal, a socialist, a Marxist and, well, a whole lot worse.

In the interest of bridging our vastly different visions of what the Republican Party should be, could be and ought to be, I'm offering Ron Paul's own explanation that verifies a truth that cannot be denied.

The Truth About Neoconservatism

It's a fascinating and instructive read.  In fact, had this article not been written by Ron Paul, Republicans and so-called conservatives would generally agree with it, especially on economic issues and America's transition to socialism.  Ron Paul explains:

Someone is responsible, and it's important that those of us who love liberty, and resent big-brother government, identify the philosophic supporters who have the most to say about the direction our country is going. If they're wrong – and I believe they are – we need to show it, alert the American people, and offer a more positive approach to government. However, this depends on whether the American people desire to live in a free society and reject the dangerous notion that we need a strong central government to take care of us from the cradle to the grave. Do the American people really believe it's the government's responsibility to make us morally better and economically equal? Do we have a responsibility to police the world, while imposing our vision of good government on everyone else in the world with some form of utopian nation building? If not, and the enemies of liberty are exposed and rejected, then it behooves us to present an alternative philosophy that is morally superior and economically sound and provides a guide to world affairs to enhance peace and commerce.

One thing is certain: conservatives who worked and voted for less government in the Reagan years and welcomed the takeover of the U.S. Congress and the presidency in the 1990s and early 2000s were deceived.

Soon they will realize that the goal of limited government has been dashed and that their views no longer matter.

Ron Paul goes into extraordinary detail in documenting how the socialists, statists, big government neocons and empire builders took over and destroyed the Republican Party.

More important than the names of people affiliated with neo-conservatism are the views they adhere to. Here is a brief summary of the general understanding of what neocons believe:

1. They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution, violent as well as intellectual.

2. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so.

3. They believe in preemptive war to achieve desired ends.

4. They accept the notion that the ends justify the means – that hard-ball politics is a moral necessity.

5. They express no opposition to the welfare state.

6. They are not bashful about an American empire; instead they strongly endorse it.

7. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive.

8. They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit.

9. They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run should be held by the elite and withheld from those who do not have the courage to deal with it.

10.They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill-advised.

11.They hold Leo Strauss in high esteem.

12.They believe imperialism, if progressive in nature, is appropriate.

13.Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable. Force should not be limited to the defense of our country.  

14. 9-11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.

15. They dislike and despise libertarians (therefore, the same applies to all strict constitutionalists).

16. They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary.

17. They unconditionally support Israel and have a close alliance with the Likud Party.

If America's founding fathers were around today, they'd be Libertarians.  In fact, America's founding fathers were the original Libertarians because they advocated for decentralized government powers and a federal government with very minimal powers.

Furthermore, it is my sincere hope that Republicans will study America's history, the philosophies of our founders and our founding documents.  They would learn that the Republican Party as it is presently constituted has indeed lost its way and has drifted far from the message of 1776.

Ron Paul's article is more than a concise history lesson as well as practical knowledge, it's very much a story that is eerily reminiscent of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.

The American Empire is an epic failure that has bankrupted us as a nation.  We as Republicans have destroyed our economy and sacrificed our liberty in pursuit of collectivism, statism, socialism and empire.  For what?