When Generalissimo de Havilland introduced the ‘comments’ facility on this site, I made a promise to myself that I would never tailor any of my articles to pander to the likely responses that such a facility makes possible. It is a good rule; sort of ‘publish and be damned’ only without the regency swagger.
However, I intend to make an exception in this post and this post only because I know that what I am about to say will attract a whole raft of predictable admonishments from those you of with a Phd in ‘Stating the Obvious’. So here is an FAQs section which I strongly recommend you read and absorb before proceeding further.
- Yes, I know that the Republicans are not libertarians.
- Yes, I realise that Republican policies can be just as damaging to liberty as Democrat ones.
- Yes, I know there are some good Democrats
- Yes, I am quite sure that the Homeland Defence Department will prove to be every bit as sinister as it sounds.
- I am generally indifferent to political parties
- Yes, I am still a libertarian.
That said, there are many things in this life which bring me untold pleasure: the love of my family, the affections of a good woman, watching Chelsea win the FA Cup, a stimulating evening with close friends and a large rump steak with English mustard are all among them.
But, last night, I would merrily have swapped all of those in return for the intoxicating, enervating, memorable, boundless joy of watching the American socialists get shoved through the electoral meat-grinder and turned into hapless, hopeless, abject little patties of self-pity and recrimination.
As the results flooded through in the wee early hours, I squealed with shameless glee, I punched the air in triumph and I even managed to earn a complaint from my downstairs neighbour after waking her up at 5.30 in the morning by marching around the lounge to the lockstep of ‘Semper Fidelis’ blaring from my CD player. Yes, I got that carried away.
I laughed, LAUGHED like a drunken buccaneer at the sight of the BBC newsanchor announcing the Republican victory, looking as if she had just been f*cked with a dead cat. It was more than celebration, it was revenge. I love the smell of the BBC being napalmed in the morning.
As you may already have guessed, I have temporarily suspended my animus towards parties of state because as someone (I can’t remember who) once said it isn’t always a choice between the good and the bad; sometimes its a choice between the bad and the even worse. Well, in my book, the socialists come under the category of ‘even worse’, so I’ll throw whatever muscle I have behind the other guys, though they may be merely ‘bad’. If I was an American, then the Republicans are not what I would want, but what I want (what I really, really want) is simply not on the table, so I’d take the best I can get.
So, thank you President Bush for making this Englishman very happy. Your country is the engine of Western civilisation and, right now, whatever else it may or may not be, it is not in the hands of the left.
On any reading, that is profoundly good news, and I am not so proud that I cannot jump down from that lofty fence, wipe the splinters from my raddled posterior, and give credit where it is so richly due.
See FAQ’s 1-4, and also note the the republicans are also socialists on the same caliber as the democrats. Regarding #2, it’s not that the policies are just as damaging, they’re the same policies. There is only a very slight matter of degree (which varies from issue to issue, which one is closer to liberty). In general, I find the republicans much worse than the democrats due to their extremely hawkish foreign policies, their anti-choice stance, and their sometimes extremely fundamentalist religious views. Hence I generally vote for democrats when a libertarian isn’t running.
In any case, your glee was misplaced. A very slightly different breed of socialists gained a fair amount of power in the senate. That’s all. All that this means is that the second socialist party will be able to increase the size of government even more because there won’t be as much partisan bickering. Hardly anything to rejoice about.
In 1980 I was living in Cleveland and hanging with the Rock’n’Roll crowd. I mentioned at a party that I was going to vote for Ronald Reagan and everyone looked at me as if I’d gone mad. A pretty good guitar player laughed and said, “Look dumb ass, your standing there with a joint in your hand talking about voting for Reagan. The Republicans aren’t going to legalize pot!” I told them that Jimmy Carter wasn’t going to legalize it either and with Reagan in office I’d at least have the money to buy a bag once in a while.
The core of the GOP is made up of social conservatives, libertarians and good government or “country-club” Republicans. The only ones that worry me are the last group. They’re pragmatists. They like poetry that rhymes. Social conservatives bring a lot of baggage to the party but they don’t worry me because they tend to be principled people. Finally we have the libertarians. The vast majority of American libertarians vote Republican. The ascending trend in the party is libertarian with the Democrat boogeyman out of play for at least 2 years we have the best opportunity since Goldwater to set the agenda.
Just as, when they eliminated smallpox from the earth they kept samples in several labs in case of future need, they have, alas, decided to keep a culture of socialism alive in Caslifornia. Damn!
What are you going to do to top this when Blair is finally chucked out?
I am an eternal optimist!
You forget #7 on your FAQ: Yes, I know that Republicans are socialists too, since they recently enacted subsidies for sugar, lumbar, and steel, and have a history of practicing protectionism of outmoded industries.
I was not quite as ecstatic as that but I was still walking around in a very jaunty mood as the news of the Senate results came in. President Bush is worth ten of any of the Democrats and it was really his victory. I live at the end of the world in Australia but ever since President Reagan I have thought that the US President is also OUR President — for good or bad. What he does certainly has big effects on all of us.
JR
Philip,
I think a week-long celebration, a la Hindu wedding, would be required.
Mind you, it would depend on who or what replaced him.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Of course it’s not perfect, but then, what is ? !
As a Republican Yank I was very pleased about the results nationwide, but as a Californian, I was in deepest despair because we have to put up with a corrupt, inept Governor for another four years.
I have to disagree with the idea that there’s very little difference between Democrats and Republicans. At their core, they represent vastly different ideologies. Democrats believe the common person is too stupid to care for him/herself and therefore must be guided through life with cradle to grave services provided to him/her by an enormous central government. It is a condescending, paternalistic and ultimately racist ideology. Republicans believe that the federal government’s job is to print money and provide for the national defense, period. Social programs should come from either the state or private parties and the least governmental meddling the better. Of course, this is not strictly abided by because of modern reality, but the philosophy is at the basis of everything we Republicans believe in. Americans are, for the most part, moderate people when it comes to the issues before us. We are neither far left nor far right on issues such as gun control, abortion, health care and taxes. If the two parties want to court us they cannot be too terribly different. What most of us do believe, however, is that the Democrats are soft and wobbly on national security and that trusting them with our country right now is a very dangerous thing to do.
Lucas,
I think you somewhat over-egg your pudding, sir. Republicans strike me as conservatives not socialists but conservatives are not libertarians.
quit getting all giddy over republicans winning or dems winning. It doesn’t matter, they both shiat all over libertarian views. this “lesser of two evils” crap needs to end.
http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php?function=view&record=619
Taurus — Do you ever climb stairs? Or, if you can’t leap to the top in one bound, do you just pout at the bottom and mutter about not compromising your principles?
When the socialists and near-socialists are gnashing their teeth and sharpening their shivs for the Democrat’s Night of the Long Knives, I know that something good has happened. There’s no point in complaining that the US hasn’t become a libertarian paradise overnight. US society changes slowly. The beginning of the change was Goldwater and Buckley planting landmines on the highway of collectivism. It may take another 40 years to return the US to it’s minimal government roots. The Democrat’s idea of freedom is being able to tell dick jokes while forking over 40% of your income. The underpinning of the GOP is freedom: economic, religious, and personal.
Well said David. I couldn’t agree more!
Well put, David. What’s the point of being a libertarian if you can’t enjoy the partial victories that are, by and large, all we get? I shared your feelings re the Democrat loss even as I knew the Republicans will let us down again in the long run. (p.s. Just for future reference, “enervate” means the opposite of what you think it does; it’s one of those words that double-crosses good readers who learn their words from context — because it’s almost always used wrongly.)
Nice to hear there are libertarians on the other side of the pond ;). I agree w/ your view John Ray that America is leading the world right now. Good or bad, right or wrong, that’s the way it ended up. I hope we don’t fuck it up. And face it, things could have been a lot worse… if not for England and the USA, Hitlers son would now be absolute dictator of Europe if not the world.
The liberals lost this election because they have no ideas (that they are allowed to discuss openly anyway…. socialism still doesn’t sit right with your average Joe here).
I voted libertarian in the national election…. even tho I knew they had no hope in hell of winning, because that’s the kind of guy I am, always rooting for the underdog. But when Bush won I was still happy. I felt like all Bill and Hillary’s bullshit could now be pushed back where it belonged… a KKK garbage heap in Arkansas.