Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I've got your purity test

by Smitty

The 10 principles on the GOP Purity test are OK, at least superficially. Now let me draw a line for you:
(0) Modulo its own employees, and federal criminals*, the Federal Government should not interact with private citizens.
Having set down that marker, let's see if and how we can apply this concept to the 10 items:
(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s "stimulus" bill.
How about:
We support fiscal responsibility--no national debt, and no chronic deficits.
(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care.
Divorcing the Federal government from individual citizens would kill ObamaCare, entitlements, and the 16th Amendment, if carried through to its logical conclusion.
(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation.
Anyone connected with the mockery that is Warmaquiddick should be run out of DC on a rail and admonished never to open their dusty pie-holes in public again.
(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check.
Anything SEIU and/or ACORN support is unlikely to be something free people would want. Nuke card check.
(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Yes.
(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges.
Yes.
(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat.
This needs to be strengthened. If the country is not supporting an actual Declaration of War, then we shouldn't go debasing our Constitution any more by further military adventurism.
(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Hmm. Principle 0 should keep the Federal hand off of everyone's naughty bits.
(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion.
Again, Federal involvement with individuals, their marriages, their reproduction, their wallets, their retirements, etc. is at the heart of the problems besetting the country. Bureaucrats feel this passionate need to sculpt society, to boss other people around, to define "the right thing" and set about doing it. Amputate that notion!
(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.
This is the Second Amendment. Where is the emphasis on the 10th?
*Where the two are differentiable.

7 comments:

  1. I think it is important that the GOP has put the Second Amendment in there. We need them to be leaders in the fight to defend our rights and freedoms, not passive observers. This is a winning point for the GOP all around. It shores up the base, appeals to Moderates, and even pisses off the right (by which I mean Left) people.

    It's a win, hands down. Dare the Democrats to support any gun control in today's environment. It isn't just that the Courts are breaking our way. The unprecedented demand for firearms and ammunition indicates that in their heart of hearts the moderates don't trust the Govcernment with all the guns either. Show these Moderates that there is a strong difference between the parties on an issue that matters to the. It'll bring in votes and it happens to be the right thing to do.

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  2. Sir, why aren't YOU sitting in the Oval Office?

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  3. @Obi's Sister,
    I can't get my owner to let me do more than participate in the occasional protest.

    That, and the likelihood that I'd be ventilated in the first month are sort of show stoppers.

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  4. I'm pretty much down with your list.

    If they want 10 things to demand agreement on, the Bill of Rights about covers everything that needs to be covered.

    Strict interpretation, and heavy emphasis on the 9th and 10th Amendments ought to about cover it.

    Which, actually, I think is what you said. Well put!

    jefferson101

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  5. The problem with all of these is that they are too topical for today.
    They should be generic.
    2 and 3 should not be so specific.
    2) Market Based Solutions.
    3) Market Friendly Regulation.

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  6. Obi's Sister is correct- but why not start with the Senate first? Worked for the O.

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  7. The problem is not with the GOP's principles, but its principals.

    The slogans are nice. The slogans in the Contract with America were nice. How'd that work out?

    We can't trust Michael Steele to honor this deal.

    We can't trust John McCain to honor this deal.

    We can't trust Olympia Snowe or any of the other RINO's.

    Their belated promises to us mean nothing. It's our demands to them that should be answered, and our first demand is that they be gone.

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