RoR: Forum

Claude: "The modern Democratic Party can trace its roots back to the 1828 election of Andrew Jackson (7th president); not the party of Thomas Jefferson."

What Merlin Jetton said.

Jeff: "Interesting thesis. But then how do you explain John McCain, who is widely despised by social conservatives, the religious right, and many other factions within the Republican Party?"

Of course, John McCain isn't the darling of evangelical Christians. He famously called a couple evangelical leaders "agents of intolerance" a few years ago. However, he's certainly more socially conservative (and more fiscally liberal) than Rudy Giuliani is! You're not disputing this point, are you?

The idea isn't that McCain is a crusader for social conservatism. But when it comes to litmus test issues like abortion, McCain can say "YES" when directly asked if he's anti-abortion (in most cases). Giuliani couldn't do that. For many religious Republicans who vote in the primaries, that's all that's required from a GOP presidential candidate who's also believed to have wide enough appeal to beat Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in November.

And to reiterate a point I made above (written before the results of the Super Tuesday primaries were in), the fact that so many Republicans are voting for a truly grotesque candidate like Mike Huckabee implies that a widespread commitment to "individualism" is sorely lacking in the modern Republican Party.

Post 21

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 5:10pm

Neither of the two major parties has any concept of individualism whatsoever. Neither recognizes individual rights as having any major importance in its platform, nor even acknowledges the existence or relevance of the concept. The Republican Party is politically bankrupt. The Democratic Party is a tool of statism. The Libertarian Party is a joke.

In 20 years, the U.S. will be politically indistinguishable from Canada or Germany.

I don't see either the libertarians or the Objectivists as being able to reverse the statist trend, which is being aided by the Republicans as well as the Democrats. We are simply too small a percentage of the population. Moreover, recent immigrants are joining our home-grown ethnic minorities in hastening the slide towards socialism, because they believe the government should take care of them, and will vote for the Democrats at every turn. We've seen this in the dominance of the Dems in our major cities, in which most of the new immigrant and minority populations reside. The majority will vote for the Democrats, and the Republicans will offer them a watered down welfare state as an alternative, which will be rejected as less desirable than the real thing.

The principles of freedom and self-responsibility are no longer part of the cultural ethos. That and a profound ignorance of capitalism among the general population makes it unlikely that the statist tide can be reversed within the next several decades.

- Bill

Post 22

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 5:34pm

William -- quit sugar-coating it. Tell us how you really feel.

Post 23

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 5:51pm

Dwyer:

The principles of freedom and self-responsibility are no longer part of the cultural ethos. That and a profound ignorance of capitalism among the general population makes it unlikely that the statist tide can be reversed within the next several decades.

Kolker:

Freedom died in 1794 when George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and 13,000 -federales- put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. It has been downhill ever since.

You have conveniently forgotten that slavery was legal in the U.S. until 1865 and Congress embraced National Government (as opposed to Federal Government) with the passage of the 14th Amendment. The final nail was put in the coffin of Liberty withy the passage of the 16th and 17th Amendments. In the mean time, just rejoice in the fact that you can complain without legal consequences.

Bob Kolker

Post 24

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 8:33pm

Bill,

You make some good observations (although I thought we were already politically indistinguishable from Canada and Germany).

Still, ARI recently reached a milestone of 1,000,000 Rand novels in public schools. That's bound to have some impact over the next 20 years. Hard to say how much.

I see it as a race and can't personally see yet who is going to win. To keep my sanity, I'm betting on the good guys.

(Edited by Jeff Perren on 2/10, 8:46pm)

Post 25

Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 11:19pm

"You make some good observations (although I thought we were already politically indistinguishable from Canada and Germany)."

We have the same overall type of government, a democratic authoritarian kleptocracy, but to a lesser degree -- maybe 10 to 20 years behind them in the rush toward centralized state power, perhaps 30 years behind Britain. That, and the tattered remnents of our Constitution impedes the "progess" that "progressives" seek.

Post 26

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 9:54am