“Paulites see both political parties as responsible for an oversized federal government, and would be content to let Republicans go the way of the Whigs.” -Chet Hardin
Hardin doesn’t know much about Whigs; since at least the time of Lincoln, the mainstream members of the Republican party have been Whigs.
Lincoln said “My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman’s dance. I am in favor of a national bank … the internal improvements system, and a high protective tariff.”
This was, as Tom DiLorenzo points out, nearly perfect Whig doctrinal purity.
A Republican party that supports corporate welfare (TARP), military interventionism everywhere, industrial protectionism (Tariffs, Immigration crackdowns) and believes that only the government can build and maintain infrastructure is not in danger of going Whig; they are Whigs, through and through.
And just as destined for failure, unless they can learn to match their limited government rhetoric with a limited government philosophy.
The problem is not one of language, but of substance. Namely, that there is none. Many conservatives within the GOP are quick to accuse the McCain and Graham wing of being “RINOs,” without pausing to recognize that these RINOs represent the true nature of the Republican Party. Not the soul, and certainly not the brains; but definitely the inheritance handed down by Lincoln.
A true desire to drive back the borders of State power and excess has been in almost as short supply among Republicans as logic has been among Democrats.
This should not be surprising; the Republican party, and even the conservative movement within-which credits the big government, big spending Reagan as its ideological father-loves the language of liberty, but has little use for the actual concept.
Hardin doesn’t know much about Whigs; since at least the time of Lincoln, the mainstream members of the Republican party have been Whigs.
Lincoln said “My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman’s dance. I am in favor of a national bank … the internal improvements system, and a high protective tariff.”This was, as Tom DiLorenzo points out, nearly perfect Whig doctrinal purity.
A Republican party that supports corporate welfare (TARP), military interventionism everywhere, industrial protectionism (Tariffs, Immigration crackdowns) and believes that only the government can build and maintain infrastructure is not in danger of going Whig; they are Whigs, through and through.
And just as destined for failure, unless they can learn to match their limited government rhetoric with a limited government philosophy.
The problem is not one of language, but of substance. Namely, that there is none. Many conservatives within the GOP are quick to accuse the McCain and Graham wing of being “RINOs,” without pausing to recognize that these RINOs represent the true nature of the Republican Party. Not the soul, and certainly not the brains; but definitely the inheritance handed down by Lincoln.
A true desire to drive back the borders of State power and excess has been in almost as short supply among Republicans as logic has been among Democrats.
This should not be surprising; the Republican party, and even the conservative movement within-which credits the big government, big spending Reagan as its ideological father-loves the language of liberty, but has little use for the actual concept.
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