There's a lot of division these
days on the right: RINOs, the “Republican Establishment”, libertarian
conservatives and the TEA Party to name a few.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become the poster boy for the
in-your-face aspect of the RINO stripe with his notorious coziness with
President Obama. Arizona Senator John
McCain should be nominated for the Oscar in the leading role as "useful
idiot for the Obama administration in the category of Republican
Establishment", going so far as to lash out against conservative TEA Party
Republicans like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and libertarian TEA Party Republicans
like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul for their conservative values, displaying his
rapier wit by calling them "wacko birds".
Disagreement among conservative
factions is normal and can be good when it fosters discussion that dispels
ignorance. But disagreement should never
occur when it comes to our Constitutional rights.
The framers were convinced that
the rights they enumerated in our founding documents were not granted by their
writing or bestowed by the beneficence of government, but endowed by our
Creator. No one in their right mind
wants an American theocracy. But remove
the Creator, and who exactly is it that endows us with our rights? Our “rights” then come from government, and
are reduced to privileges, to be taken away as that government sees fit. The concept of a “right” implies objectivity;
that is, a source beyond subjective opinion or decision. Our rights are endowed by our Creator, or we
don’t have any. Those are the only two
options.
Our rights are always under fire
and require a vigorous defense, perhaps never more so than now. The modern TEA Party movement gets its fuel
from the Republican Party’s ineptitude in preserving conservative principles
and its weakness in defending our rights. It
is comprised of libertarians, religious conservatives, non-religious
conservatives, even non-conservatives who realize our government is off the
rails, citizens who despite their differences revere and respect the design of
the nation according to the founders. It
is the attempt to renew libertarianism and conservatism, to save the nation
from the steady march of liberal progressivism.
Where we run into trouble is when
the different factions want the entire movement to be according to their
particular beliefs. We need to take into
account what the opposition is doing.
They are putting aside any differences they have in the effort to
transform America into something it wasn’t meant to be. To meet them head on, we have to look at the
basis for our movement, and come to an understanding of the required common
denominators; that without which the movement ceases to have meaning. Here’s a short list, a starting point:
The Constitution is non-negotiable outside the framework of the legal
means of changing it – We must stand firm against the opposition’s
onslaught against our Constitutional rights, and any infringement from our side
as well.
Government within its bounds – We must support the federal
government in its enumerated responsibilities, and we must resist its
encroachment in any other area. The
federal government is already far outside its prescription, destroying personal
freedom at an alarming rate. The tenth amendment
should be the guiding principle of our government. Instead it’s the most ignored.
Fiscal responsibility – We must work to stop government standing in
the way of economic growth and stop it from spending the future. The first term of the current administration
has taught us that the mere threat of government interference can freeze an
economy and squeeze the ability to recover from recession out of it. And with debt now passing $17 trillion, far
too much of government revenue for the foreseeable future will be spent on
simply servicing the debt rather than doing anything positive.
Retaining the deference to the Creator – Controversial yes, but
crucial. From the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness. That to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed.
Without the Creator there are no rights; there is no objective source to
which to appeal. Without an objective
source, there is only the subjective, and what we have are privileges granted
at the pleasure of government. You don’t
have to be a religious person, but if you will not support the idea of the
Creator, you have nothing to which appeal for the rights you claim to have.
Where we go wrong on the right is
that we so often arrange our infantry in circles. Our opposition never does this. One could perhaps rightfully say, “That’s
because we have convictions and they don’t.”
But if we don’t soon find a way to put aside our lesser differences and work
together to stop the onslaught, the discussion will be academic.
