Let's face it folks, if we ever want to stop the steamroller of history and its bastard son, Socialism, we'll need to band together. I couldn't stand John McCain and could never vote for him.
But I do understand that some things are worth fighting for. The Democrats believe in material equality and the State. Ronald Reagan described the GOP best when he said, "The heart of the Republican Party is libertarian."
NOW is YOUR time to let your ideas be heard. The GOP wants YOUR input.
You get to submit and vote on ideas at http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com
CHECK IT OUT!
http://rebuildtheparty.com and http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com
Just for the hell of it...http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/pages/general/suggestions/65968
Vote it up, and maybe people will actually read it!
If the GOP actually gave a rat's patoot about anything other than a new-con agenda, they wouldn't have treated Ron Paul supporters with such disrespect and disregard. I am choking back schadenfreude at their demise, only because I find it unbecoming.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. ... Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Superfluous: Let's face it folks, if we ever want to stop the steamroller of history and its bastard son, Socialism, we'll need to band together. I couldn't stand John McCain and could never vote for him. But I do understand that some things are worth fighting for. The Democrats believe in material equality and the State. Ronald Reagan described the GOP best when he said, "The heart of the Republican Party is libertarian." NOW is YOUR time to let your ideas be heard. The GOP wants YOUR input. You get to submit and vote on ideas at http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com CHECK IT OUT! http://rebuildtheparty.com and http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com
If you have to have people vote in order to establish what you believe in then you don't really believe in anything. The heart of the problem for the republicans is that they don't believe in anything anymore. They have no ideals or philosophy. If Ron Paul really wants to help the republicans he should leave and establish his own party thereby exposing the republicans for the complete sham that they are.
I went to the site rebuildtheparty.com and read its intended mission. The Republican Party is broken and now has to redefine itself. So it has decided to take its plea to the public online to try to drum up support from the citizenry and hope that it succeed in future elections.
I have to admit, I thought it commendable when I read the main site, then I clicked on the 'Submit Your Ideas' link and read through some of the ideas submitted and the votes/comments that were attached to them. There was a calling for a return to the more liberal ideals that the party used to stand for, and an adoption of Libertarian Party platforms. Then the GOP good ole boys stepped in with comments like: "Libertarians are only about legalizing marijuana" and "Ron Paul became a joke when he endorsed the 3d party candidate". At that point, I concluded that this exercise in futility is doomed to failure.
The Republican Party is, in my opinion, experiencing its death throes. The Democrats have appealled to the masses that it will take care of them and their needs, and punish the wicked who are better off... and they won on a platform that is blatantly socialist with a facade of making people more free, and make America a "country we can be proud of".
Personally, I think this is a time for the Libertarian Party to step up its efforts to educate and inform the public; and it could very well replace the Republican Party--which should be allowed to fade into a minority, 3rd party status as many other parties have in the past when they fail.
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." -James Madison
"If government were efficient, it would cease to exist."
ricarpe: I went to the site rebuildtheparty.com and read its intended mission. The Republican Party is broken and now has to redefine itself. So it has decided to take its plea to the public online to try to drum up support from the citizenry and hope that it succeed in future elections. I have to admit, I thought it commendable when I read the main site, then I clicked on the 'Submit Your Ideas' link and read through some of the ideas submitted and the votes/comments that were attached to them. There was a calling for a return to the more liberal ideals that the party used to stand for, and an adoption of Libertarian Party platforms. Then the GOP good ole boys stepped in with comments like: "Libertarians are only about legalizing marijuana" and "Ron Paul became a joke when he endorsed the 3d party candidate". At that point, I concluded that this exercise in futility is doomed to failure. The Republican Party is, in my opinion, experiencing its death throes. The Democrats have appealled to the masses that it will take care of them and their needs, and punish the wicked who are better off... and they won on a platform that is blatantly socialist with a facade of making people more free, and make America a "country we can be proud of". Personally, I think this is a time for the Libertarian Party to step up its efforts to educate and inform the public; and it could very well replace the Republican Party--which should be allowed to fade into a minority, 3rd party status as many other parties have in the past when they fail.
The not-unjustifiably-suspicious-Karl-Rove implant Bob Barr will be sure to not make that happen. The LP is finished, but something else will emerge from it (The 'Nu' Republican Party, methinks). When this happens, I think a Polycentrist Party or a Polycentrist Institute will become useful in attempting to do what the LP was originally started for (minus the slippery slope goal of electoral gains or victory that doomed the LP from the start).
"Look at me, I'm quoting another user to show how wrong I think they are, out of arrogance of my own position. Wait, this is my own quote, oh shi-" ~ Nitroadict
If you really think this won't work, why post in this thread?
Political Atheists Blog
The Republican Party will never see Libertarians as anything other than one more demographic it has to pander to in order to win power. Knowing that, it's possible to form a very powerful organisation within the party that can apply pressure and threaten to withdraw support and kill the party at any time.
You cannot achieve full liberation through elections, but you can protect your freedom through it.
The fallacies of intellectual communism, a compilation - On the nature of power
There are two ways to think about this opportunity though. The first is to see it as an opportunity to make the Republican party into "our" party. That, I think, will ultimately fail miserable. But the other way to look at it is as an opportunity to basically lobby the Republican party in order to get them to incorporate certain values into their thinking. That's why I went on the site and wrote a response focusing on decentralization and pluralism, rather than outright libertarianism. Republicans don't want to be in the Libertarian party. But if we can get them to adopt certain valuable ideas as their own, we will have shifted the debate in a way that we might not have if we tried to bend them to our position.
(Hehe so vote for my idea! It's linked above.)
Are you asking me? If so, my answer: It's a forum, which, on the internet, seems to mean a place where people share ideas. So, someone is proposing telling the Republicans that Libertarians will become Republicans if they listen. I went to a state convention, I saw what they think of anyone who doesn't toe the party line. It's not just that I don't think it will work, it's that I think it is counter-productive to the effort to restore liberty to participate in any action that validates those (evil) dinosaurs.
That's why.
I posted this just to show you guys. I'm a libertarian conservative and think watching the GOP is important...if you had visited http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com you would have seen the popularity of ideas surounding Ron Paul, Libertarians, and the like.
Something more interesting is the "#dontgo" movement started by some radical conservatives. "#dontgo" was their twitter ID which was used against the Dems as they left Congress last August at the height of the gas crisis. It's time to stand up and fight for the free market. Don't go!
http://dontgomovement.com is being relaunched TODAY for those classical liberals, traditional conservatives, free market capitalists, and Grand Old Partiers. CHECK IT OUT!
http://dontgomovement.com
http://ideas.rebuildtheparty.com/users/119385