Month: June 2016

A Short Word: The End of Futility

It’s time to focus on the horizon, not the smoldering remains of where we once were.

Try as we might, there is no argument that will convince Donald Trump’s supporters to stop supporting him. This isn’t to say there aren’t good arguments, because there are actually many astoundingly good arguments against Donald’s candidacy that are not only compelling but actually logically coherent. The problem isn’t how rational, reasonable, or factual these arguments are. The problem is that arguments do not apply in situations where emotion is the driving factor in decision making, and emotion is definitely the driving factor in this year’s election.

Donald’s supporters are motivated by a hot cocktail of fear and loathing. They are terrified of losing something, though what that something is depends on which one of them you ask. Some are afraid of losing their vaguely defined “freedom“, while others are afraid of losing their “country“. There is a sizable minority that are afraid of losing their sense of ethnic “white superiority” to ethnic minorities, demographically or economically. Their bone chilling fear is fueling a white hot rage directed at the Republican Party, who they blame for allowing all of this to come to pass.

Here we are, dealing with a critical election that is ours to lose and a shrieking mob, billowing with angst the likes of which puts teenagers to shame. The prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency is nonstarter, but what do we do when Donald’s supporters have convinced themselves that burning down the GOP down and and running left on almost every issue somehow harms the Democratic Party candidate? There is no accord to be reached with people that support someone burning our only home to the ground to spite the neighbors. That’s not only just irrational. It’s plain stupid.

We need to start thinking about doing what’s best for ourselves. We see and recognize the obvious peril that Donald Trump and his supporters represent. We have the presence of mind to step away from both and establish a new political party that actually represents our principles. We should not waste any more time arguing with incoherently angry people. It’s time to focus on the horizon, not the smoldering remains of where we once were.

It’s time to cut ties and walk away. Walk with me now, and let’s talk about the future of the ideological conservative movement together.

Be Brave. Be Free.

Liberty is For The Win!

We just checked, and it turns out that fighting for Liberty isn’t free, because it requires time and energy to research, prepare, and propagate this message for you. Please drop just a dollar a month into the proverbial tip jar and become a Patriot Patron. Of course, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. Keep this fight for Liberty going! – @LibertyIsFTW

A Short Word: Donald Trump Can’t Help Himself

Americans, being who we are, punish poor sportsmanship wherever and whenever we see it, and this is true regardless of the right or the left.

If there is one thing Americans will not tolerate for long, it is a poor sport. Both “sportsmanship” and “fair play” are central American ideals, and these fundamental values resonate across sports, politics, and culture. Whether it takes the form of disrespectful behavior directed toward other players or out right cheating, nothing brings down the wrath of Americans like someone habitually violating these very western principles.

Look at any list of the most unpopular players in the NFL or any other sport, and players like Deion Sanders, Randy Moss, Bill Romanowski, and Terrell Owens are invariably at the tops of those lists. Sanders, Moss, and Owens became synonymous with showboating, trash talking, and even turning on their teams and their fans. Romanowski was infamous for escalating conflicts on and off of the field, even spitting in someone’s face and kicking an opponent in the head five times.

Then there’s Tom Brady, who conspired with New England Patriots ball handlers to deflate footballs so they would be easier to catch and hold during the 2014-2015 AFC Championship Game. Not only is he and the Patriots organization reviled by fans across the country, the National Football League came down like an anvil, with a $1,000,000 fine, lost draft picks, and a four game suspension for Tom Brady. Tom fought his suspension in court, ending up before the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, who upheld his suspension.

In America, we take sportsmanship seriously, and nowhere more so than in the political arena. The sad truth is that Donald Trump is a caricature of the poor sportsman: trash talking, lying, cheating, and aggressively thin skinned. Donald’s totally unabashed and over the top theatrics are entertainment to his supporters. A majority of Americans, however, despise this kind of “all is fair in love and war” rationale, and Donald’s poll numbers reflect this.

Donald Trump lags behind Hillary Clinton in national polls, well outside the margin of error. More alarming still, he’s lagging behind in swing states and in states where Republicans have traditionally been dominant in. Since the beginning of 2016, Donald’s been ahead in only four polls, all but one from mid-May, right after Bernie Sanders won both early May primaries in Indiana and West Virginia. At the same time, Donald won all three early May GOP Primary contests.

The fact that Trump’s short lived surge over Hillary had more to do with Bernie Sanders than it did with Trump should have the entire Trump team in a cold sweat every night, particularly because there’s nothing they can do about it. Donald, the master of squandering opportunities, inexplicably continued to hurl insults at both Cruz and Kasich, weeks after they had suspended their campaigns. The lights were out, the season was over, everyone had gone home, and yet Donald Trump was still grotesquely undulating in the end zone.

Americans, being who we are, punish poor sportsmanship wherever and whenever we see it, and this is true regardless of the right or the left. Even as morally repugnant as Hillary Clinton is, Donald has done a remarkable job reminding Americans just why we dislike him so much. Americans don’t like trash talking. Donald revels in it. Americans don’t like cheap shots below the belt. Donald can’t aim above a belt buckle. Americans don’t like hitting an opponent when they’re down. Donald Trump wrote the book on it.

At the beginning and end of every game, Americans expect everyone to shake hands, but Donald Trump just can’t help himself. This is why Donald Trump can’t break 40% approval. This is why it is absolutely critical that we find someone else to run this fall. If there is any hope of beating Hillary in November, then it rests in finding someone who hasn’t made a habit of being so thoroughly un-American.

Liberty is For The Win!

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Trump’s Titanic: Into the Icebergs

Like the Titanic, Trump’s name will soon become synonymous with ghastly incompetence and foolish bravado.

The morning of April 10th, 1912 was chilly and overcast in Southampton, England when the R.M.S. Titanic began taking on her passengers for what would be her first and final voyage. After two port calls in Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland, she steamed out into the Atlantic Ocean on her way to New York City. By sunrise of the 15th, more than 1,500 of her roughly 2,200 passengers and crew were dead, drowned in the icy North Atlantic waters or dragged down with the hull to the lightless depths of the ocean floor.

The Titanic crew received several warnings a day of the danger ahead. While the crew were aware of the icebergs, they did not believe the icebergs posed any threat to the ship. Like so many seamen and engineers of the era, the Captain of the ship, Edward John Smith, was so sure of the invincibility of the engineering of Titanic and ships of the era, he once boasted that “these vessels could be cut in halves and each half would remain afloat indefinitely.” He paid for that boast with his life, going down with the Titanic with honor.

Through the benefit of hindsight, we can see each mistake that lead inexorably to the horror of the Titanic. What ultimately killed all of those people was not an iceberg or the engineering, but the oldest enemy of humanity from the darkest misty chapters of our past. It was hubris that claimed the life of every poor soul swept into the cold depths of the Atlantic. When a body forgets his or her mortality and steps too close to the jaws of fate, many find too late their return ticket is void. Only a fool survives and remains convinced of his invincibility.

“Do you see, you gods of sea and sky?
I conquered Troy. Me Odysseus, a mortal
man of flesh and blood and bone and mind!
I do not need you now, I can do anything.”
-Odysseus, The Odyssey-

The Republican Party finds itself boarding the Trump Titanic, and the same illusion of invincibility is being coined by his sycophantic supporters. Warnings of dangerous waters ahead fall on deaf ears, as the Trump Titanic barrels full steam ahead into the night. No matter how ardent we plea for caution and just a moment’s doubt, none among Trump’s supporters, his closest advisors, nor even Trump himself seems at all to care. Why? Because he is invincible.

What proof do they have of his invincibility? Because he won only 45% of the popular vote during the GOP Primaries. Because he managed to win a majority of pledged delegates by states clinging to backward all or nothing contest rules. Because his largest wins of state delegation sizes come from states like California and New England that a GOP candidate hasn’t won in over a generation. Now Trump is polling below 40% against Hillary Clinton, his campaign funds are almost exhausted, and the RNC coffers are empty. What is Trump’s reaction? Double down and full steam ahead.

The GOP is in open mutiny and for good reason. The common sense that saves us from the jaws of fate by steering us into safer waters is wailing in our ears. We see the icebergs on the horizon, and we know the danger they pose. We are not fooled by Trump’s illusory invincibility, so we’re already in the life boats and rowing away. For those that are foolish enough to stay aboard Trump’s Titanic until the gory end, there is no saving them. Ours will be to survive and tell the tale.

“Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning
fifteenth after collision iceberg, resulting serious loss life
further particulars later. Bruce Ismay”
-Bruce Ismay-

Donald Trump is so convinced of his own cult of personality that he truly believes in his own invincibility. In his own skewed perception, every failure in his life has been the fault of not himself or his blow-hard, ill-tempered, foolhardiness, but ever because of the duplicitous forces that have worked against his self proclaimed “genius“. Trump’s total lack of self awareness or accountability will take the entire GOP down with him. Like the Titanic, Trump’s name will soon become synonymous with ghastly incompetence and foolish bravado.

“Being a Trump“, for those of us that realized early on that Trump was an incoherent mess of bombastic empty rhetoric, will encompass how Trump has managed to fool people into believing in his own self-deluding mythology. There is no doubt that the one thing Trump takes seriously above all other things is “being a Trump“. Trump’s Titanic is already taking on water. There’s no saving it now. If the conservative movement is to survive, then we must abandon Trump’s ship of fools and seek a Captain and crew, who clearly see and respect the political sea and her many perils.

Only then can we can chart a new course, guided by principle and virtue so we may “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity“.

Be Brave. Be Free.

Liberty is For The Win!

We just checked, and it turns out that fighting for Liberty isn’t free, because it requires time and energy to research, prepare, and propagate this message for you. Please drop just a dollar a month into the proverbial tip jar and become a Patriot Patron. Of course, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. Keep this fight for Liberty going! – @LibertyIsFTW

A Short Word: Why the “Middle Class Voter” is Insane

As much fun as wasting precious days of our lives pushing a repugnant, center left moderate Republican in another doomed election would be, ideological conservatives have better things to do.

There is an old adage that is used a lot in popular culture: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The constant refrain from those riding the Trump Train is “We must vote for Trump, because ideological conservatives can’t win a general election, and only Trump can beat Hillary.” When ideological conservatives object to this hilariously bargain bin argument, the Trump Train shouts back while stomping their feet, “He’s better than Hillary!“, and then they accuse us of somehow “voting for Hillary” if we don’t agree with their toddler argument.

Considering there are incarcerated felons, right now, that are “better than Hillary“, the Trump Train will have to forgive ideological conservatives if we don’t find that argument particularly compelling. Instead, let’s focus on the insanity of voting for yet another moderate Republican candidate, for the same reasons, and yet expecting a different result, because, let’s face it, voting for Trump simply because he is the GOP nominee isn’t doing anything different. It’s doing exactly the same thing we done every election for 25 years.

There have been 8 presidential election years since Ronald Reagan, the last actual conservative Republican Party candidate, was in office. Over those contests, our candidates have been George H.W. Bush (a center left moderate), Robert Dole (a center right moderate), George W. Bush (a center right moderate), John McCain (a center left moderate), Mitt Romney (a center right moderate), and now, regrettably, Donald Trump (a center left moderate).

The Republican Party has lost 4 of the last 7 presidential contests, and it looks very much like we are headed for another loss this year, for a grand total of 5 losses in 8 contests. Of the 6 Republican candidates, only 2 (Bush Sr. and Bush Jr.) have even won an election. Only 1 (George W. Bush) has won a second term. As it looks like Trump is going to lose in a landslide this year, the Republican Party will be batting 1 for 6 successful two term presidents, because the only reason George H.W. Bush was elected was Ronald Reagan.

All 6 candidates since Reagan have been “the only ones able to win in the general election” and, coincidentally, also “the only ones that could beat Michael / Bill / Al / Barrack / Hillary.“So, we’re so very glad “political geniuses” are here to tell us who can and can’t win. If you weren’t wrong between 63% and 83% of the time, we’d have a lot more confidence in your predictions for this year. As much fun as wasting precious days of our lives pushing a repugnant, center left moderate Republican in another doomed election would be, we ideological conservatives have better things to do.

Such as doing something we haven’t done before (or at least in 160 years), like founding a new conservative political party that actually represents our values, for instance. That would be doing something completely different and allows us to expect a different result.

Be Brave. Be Free.

Liberty is For The Win!

We just checked, and it turns out that fighting for Liberty isn’t free, because it requires time and energy to research, prepare, and propagate this message for you. Please drop just a dollar a month into the proverbial tip jar and become a Patriot Patron. Of course, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. Keep this fight for Liberty going! – @LibertyIsFTW

Picking A Poison: Why Donald Trump Has Already Lost

If voters accept lying and untrustworthiness as just being part of the political game but can’t see themselves putting up with four years of a rude and obnoxious loudmouth, then Hillary Clinton has already won, and we don’t even need to go through the fiasco of an election.

Statistics is a messy sport, full of assumptions, countless miscalculations, and ultimately more than a little guesswork, however, it is rarely completely wrong. In aggregate, when all of the little errors are averaged out into a nice big mean, the strengths of one series of polls will overcome the weaknesses of other polling, and what we end up with is generally a serviceable cause and effect relationship between what polls were saying and what will come to pass.

As of today (June 21, 2016), Real Clear Politics has Donald Trump, at 39.2% support, trailing Hillary Clinton, at 45% support, by 5.8 points. While his die-hard supporters want to brush off Trump’s weak numbers because of the amount of calendar between now and November, this isn’t really that time sensitive. No matter how much Trump’s supporters may want it to, time does not cure lack of popular support.

What does this mean? The short version is that America is heading for round 2 of McCain and Obama (2008), and the result won’t be any different. The long version requires delving briefly into the last three presidential races.

In 2004, after winning a contentious election in 2000, George W. Bush was up for reelection, and the Democrat front runner and presumptive nominee was Senator John F. Kerry. In June 2004, Bush held 44.61% of the vote, which amounted at the time to a narrow lead of 0.94 points. While about 11.72% of those polled didn’t have a particular preference for either candidate, when November rolled around, Bush won the popular vote with 50.7% of the popular vote and a 2.4 point advantage over Kerry.

In 2008, after a disastrous final year of the Bush presidency, John McCain found himself running against Barrack Obama. McCain was floundering at 41.45% popular support in polls and remained at a -5.9 point disadvantage to Obama. At the time, 11.2% of voters remained uncommitted to either candidate. In November, McCain lost with only 45.6% of the popular vote, at a -7.3 point disadvantage to Obama.

In 2012, after a dismal first term with no signs of economic recovery, Mitt Romney was nominated to run against a politically vulnerable Barrack Obama. While Romney enjoyed a level of support similar to George W. Bush had eight years earlier, at 44.36% of voters, he still lagged -2.5 points behind Obama. Relatively fewer voters were sitting on the sidelines this time, with only 8.79% of voters stating no preferences between Romney and Obama. In November, Romney lost, managing only 47.2% of the popular vote and a -3.9 point disadvantage to Obama.

Keeping these three elections in mind, we can come to three conclusions. First, the statistical principle that a mean is true across samples of a population bears out, especially among “undecided” voters. So when we consider the 11% of presently undecided voters (between Hillary and Trump) according to the most recent CNN poll, most of these voters will end up favoring Hillary over Trump come election time, even though “neither” will likely get quite a few votes this year.

Second, while the gap of uncommitted voters is difficult to account for, nothing replaces having sheer numbers of people solidly in a politician’s camp. The larger a politician’s base of voters is, the more people they have in public pushing their positives and countering their negatives. It helps, also, if the politician’s support base isn’t obnoxious, rude, and even unhinged. Ultimately, having the larger and most positive base wins, every time.

Third, the old saw of “first impressions are the most lasting” is as true about politicians as anyone else, perhaps more so. Without the ability to develop a personal relationship with a candidate, the voter’s initial impression is typically the one that lasts, especially if that impression is confirmed by future exposure to the candidate directly or through their supporters. It is this first impression that makes uncommitted voters more or less likely to get on board with a candidate.

Who do most voters think of when they see the words “rude” or “obnoxious“? What about “liar” or “untrustworthy“? If voters accept lying and untrustworthiness as just being part of the political game but can’t see themselves putting up with four years of a rude and obnoxious loudmouth, then Hillary Clinton has already won, and we don’t even need to go through the fiasco of an election.

So when we compare each of the three reference points, between George W. Bush’s successful reelection bid, John McCain’s ill fated campaign, and Mitt Romney’s unsuccessful run, Donald J. Trump has less popular support than John McCain and is practically as far behind Hillary as McCain was in 2008. While the Democratic Party is as fractured as the Republican Party, the actual differences between Hillary and Bernie are much narrower than those between Donald and the rest of the Republican field.

Where Donald Trump polled between 40% and 45% of support within the Republican Party, Hillary has consistently enjoyed support above 50%. Hillary remains weakened because of the political fight between her and Bernie Sanders that threatens to continue right into the Democratic convention, which makes Trump’s trailing her that much more troubling. While Trump had the majority of two months to shore up his support, Hillary is only two or three weeks out from the last of the Democratic Primaries.

If Trump is trailing a weakened Hillary, how does he stand against a fully unified Hillary? He doesn’t. As the rest of June’s poll numbers continue to show him treading water around 40% base support, the only question will be how badly will Hillary crush Donald in November. It’s past time to pull the plug on Donald’s carnival barker freak show of a candidacy and either find another candidate the party can support or simply just lay down and die gracefully.

There are plenty of options to Trump, some are less polarizing than others. At this point, however, just like the Whig and Free Soil parties before it, the Republican Party, for all intents and purposes, is finished as a political party. Unfortunately, more than just the Republican legacy is at stake this election. The future of America hinges on who Republican delegates choose as the nominee, even if he or she doesn’t or can’t ultimately win.

Liberty is For The Win!

We just checked, and it turns out that fighting for Liberty isn’t free, because it requires time and energy to research, prepare, and propagate this message for you. Please drop just a dollar a month into the proverbial tip jar and become a Patriot Patron. Of course, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. Keep this fight for Liberty going! – @LibertyIsFTW

 

30 Pieces of Silver

Like any economic activity, wherever there is a dollar to be made, invariably someone will eventually seek it out.

A surprise to no one, Hillary Clinton is set to take the Democratic Party nomination. The ironically named Democratic Party has, through a remarkably undemocratic system, once again asserted the authority of the party powers that be and kept the socialist lunatic fringe in check. Their one job is to ensure the victory of the Establishment choice, and that is Hillary Clinton. And what a choice she is.

Hillary Clinton’s long and some might say sordid, others might say checkered, both are accurate, political resume includes:

  • “working” backroom deals to clear her nomination path.
  • serving 4 years as President Obama’s Secretary of State.
  • “working” 1 year as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.
  • serving 8 years as a Senator of New York, reelected in 2006.
  • “working” 8 years as First Lady of the United States.
  • “working” 12 years as First Lady of Arkansas.

In all, Hillary Clinton has about 33 years of political experience, with 20 years of that with no formal political responsibilities as the spouse of a major politician, a busy job if there ever was one, especially considering who she is married to.

Over the long decades of her “career”, Hillary has proven herself to be a ruthless, amoral, unprincipled, remorseless, and habitually dishonest politician, whose only interest seems to be her own political ambition. Her abuse of Vince Foster, Bill Clinton’s White House attorney, arguably lead Mr. Foster to take his own life, but Hillary never lost a moment’s sleep over him. Four men lost their lives in Benghazi, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, but clearly whatever guilt she might have felt over their unanswered pleas for help obviously died with them.

“I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.”
-President Barack Obama-

Hillary is the living caricature of politicians going all the way back to the rudest dynasties of prehistoric chieftains, imposing their authority through rumor and war, with a touch of shrieking paranoia that only comes from generations of blue blooded interbreeding. She lives by the adage “keeps your friends close; but your enemies closer“. Just watch how she reacts whenever a stray beam of the truth threatens to cast even a sliver of daylight into her skeleton filled closet.

Whether it’s Bill’s countless extra-marital escapades or the stench of political corruption wafting from the Clinton “charitable foundation” or the rows of the dead the duplicitous duo have been connected to over the years, Hillary is a coiled spring waiting to unleash a torrent of denials, misdirections, and scorched earth accusations, all to the tune of her favorite song, “Poor Little Woman Me“. Hillary defends her political “brand” with all the cold blooded ferocity of a cobra protecting her nest.

Above all other things, Hillary Clinton is a viciously obsessed political animal and a master manipulator. Nothing happens in her sphere of reality without her consent, right up until it becomes politically inconvenient, then it immediately becomes someone else’s fault. In her very troubled mind, she is never culpable for any transgression. She plays this paradox better than almost anyone in American politics. This is the brutal truth about Hillary Clinton, and none but her most die hard supporters deny it.

Unfortunately, it is also the brutal truth about Donald Trump, but his most die hard supporters will go to their graves denying it.

“But I think you’ll be, you know, you’ll be looking at the record of
Hillary Clinton. And how did she do as secretary of state?
Probably above and beyond everybody else and everything else.”
-Donald Trump-

As Carly Fiorina said, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are, in fact, “two sides of the same coin“. Both subscribe to the same necessity of petty ruthlessness and loyalty economics when it comes to their professional lives as well as their personal lives. Every conservative, ideological or otherwise, knows this to be true of Hillary Clinton, but Donald Trump’s Republican supporters seem to have forgotten that Donald literally wrote the book on ruthlessness and personal dictatorships.

The sad reality is that neither Hillary nor Donald could exist without the other. While it’s true that without corrupt politicians like Hillary Clinton, wealthy power brokers, like George Soros and Donald Trump, would have to look outside of our government to carry out selfish their machinations, but the opposite is also true. Without corrupt wealthy power brokers like Trump, the capital that draws morally bankrupt individuals like Hillary Clinton into politics in the first place wouldn’t exist. Like any economic activity, wherever there is a dollar to be made, invariably someone will eventually seek it out.

Without capital, the entire venture would dry up and blow away into the dustbin of history where it belongs, but the wealthy power brokers are the fist in the velvet glove of government, pulling the strings and greasing the wheels, and they always have been and very probably always will be. The corrupt always seem to find other corrupt people to work with. The better nature of humanity is always rare, especially in the halls of power and influence, because patriotic men and women of true virtue do not play the game.

“Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief
 priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me to betray Him
to you?’ And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him.”
-Matthew 26:14&15-

The political system is like any other economic market, with buyers and sellers. Politicians sell their “brand” for the votes of the People. In the American political system, politicians franchise themselves to a political party and represent their party’s particular brand of politics. Hillary Clinton is, in a very literal sense, the Democratic National Committee brand. She is a poster child for “government for sale“.

The Democrats have long believed that the benefits of government far outweigh the costs. They don’t care about deficits, tyranny, cronyism, or the Constitution. They only care about political comfort and control. They will bankrupt the country and set ablaze its sacred institutions, because they believe with all of their hearts, just like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, that they are incapable of doing any wrong. The Democrats are largely lost to us.

The problem is that the Republican Party is also lost now that Donald Trump represents the Republican brand. Trump is demonstrably every bit as ruthless, amoral, unprincipled, remorseless, and habitually dishonest as Clinton. His radical supporters, like  Clinton’s and Obama’s supporters, believe that political expediency is worth crucifying the virtue of the Republican Party. Only now, with the blood of the GOP drying on their knives are some beginning to have an inkling of what they have done.

“He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country
who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his
power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be
chosen onto any office of power and trust who
is not a wise and virtuous man.“
-Samuel Adams-

The role of our federal government is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..” True conservatives understand that when government acts, it must do so while simultaneously ensuring public justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and securing liberty. The present sad state of our political system is the result of a total cultural departure from this.

Our debt, the destruction of our civil liberties, and the growing influence of leftist socialism are all the fault of an American public that has failed to uphold public virtue. Is either major party’s candidate “wise and virtuous“? On the left, we have a malignant harpy, whose political past is strewn with the corpses of friends and foes. On the right, we have a serial philanderer, pathological liar, and dishonorable crony corporatist with no regard for the justice and liberty of anyone not as wealthy as he is.

The delegates have a terrifying choice before them. If America is truly exceptional, if the spirit of resistance still burns in the hearts of patriots, they will defy the institutional rules and even the law if necessary to defend the virtue of the country. Truly, it would be better for the Republican Party to run no candidate at all than to put forth a man that would dishonor it forever.

Sadly, if history is any guide, the delegates in Cleveland will fail to save the Republican Party, because they fear what this will do to their party instead of the irreparable damage Trump will do to our country and our Liberty. Though they may yet find the courage to do what is necessary, the course ahead if they fail to defend public virtue is bleak.

Be Brave. Be Free.

Liberty is For The Win!

We just checked, and it turns out that fighting for Liberty isn’t free, because it requires time and energy to research, prepare, and propagate this message for you. Please drop just a dollar a month into the proverbial tip jar and become a Patriot Patron. Of course, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. Keep this fight for Liberty going! – @LibertyIsFTW

Requiem for The Republican Party

While the nationalist may believe that even the private interest is, in fact, national, there is nothing more fundamentally un-American.

We are gathered here today to pay our earthly respects to our dear departed friend, the Republican Party. The child of the Whig Party and Free Soil Party, the GOP was born out of the political necessity of 1854 as tensions continued to rise over the long unanswered constitutional question of slavery. The early Republican Party initially worked to limit the practice of slavery to the existing slave states, but, knowing that the rise of the Republican Party would eventually lead to the end of slavery in the United States, the pro-slavery south seceded from the Union, setting the stage for one of the bloodiest conflicts in America’s history.

Since those difficult first decades, it’s not always had a perfect record, but the Republican Party has remained a home to those who believe in the fundamental necessity of liberty. From its patriotic bosom sprung William F. Buckley, who eloquently established what would become the groundwork for the conservative movement, and Barry M. Goldwater, who espoused the original ideals of the libertarian movement and was the 1964 GOP presidential nominee.

For much of the last 80 years, the Grand Old Party represented all of the best things in American culture: decency, civility, and “big tent” conservatism. It was a party of optimism and energy, of freedom and opportunity, of faith and family. It was the party that engendered big ideas, from Lincoln to Reagan. Sadly, after 162 years, it finally succumbed to the dreaded intellectual disease of nationalism and has, for all intents and purposes, passed on from relevancy.

Farewell, our old friend. Farewell.

“Nationalism is an infantile thing.
It is the measles of mankind.”
-Albert Einstein-

There is a common misconception among even well meaning patriots that “patriotism” and “nationalism” are the same thing, but very rarely do English words share exact meanings except through extensive misuse or the occasional adoption of a foreign word of the same meaning. A “patriot” was (and is) someone who is proud of their country and will fight to defend it but, especially in America, specifically describes “a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government“.

A “nationalist“, similar to a “patriot” loves their nation or country but that love of country can become an “exaggerated, passionate, or fanatical devotion to a national community“. Notice that only a “patriot” can ever be in a position to turn their back on his or her nation and fight for individual rights. This is why it is the patriotism of our Founding Fathers, not their nationalism, that we celebrate on Independence Day every year. If our Founding Fathers were nationalists, we’d likely not have an Independence Day at all.

There are countless examples throughout history of nationalism turning into an insidious, anti-Liberty political ideology. It was nationalism, not patriotism, that Roosevelt employed to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. It was nationalism, not patriotism, that Tojo employed to justify the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was nationalism, not patriotism, that Hitler used to justify the unconscionable mass murder of millions of Jews and other “unGerman” minorities in death camps.

Did the Founding Fathers fight for independence from the tyrannical interference in their private affairs by the Parliament and the English Crown only so the government of the nation they established could interfere in the private affairs of their descendants?

“Madness is something rare in individuals –
but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche-

As should be clear, nationalism is ultimately incompatible with ideological conservatism, but when sacred and vital traditions come under attack, our natural instinct will always be to look for those who endanger our beliefs and deal with them, in one way or another. This often means targeting anyone that does not look or sound like we do, but that isn’t the patriot’s way. It’s not the conservative’s way. We must not judge by a person’s skin, their hair, or even their beliefs, but “by the content of their character“. This is what truly makes America different. This is what truly makes America great.

We conservatives must strive to be patriots of Liberty and Natural Law. We must be as skeptical of nationalists who use our flags, traditions, and uniforms as excuses for their anti-Liberty beliefs as we are of any socialist, because nationalism is simply socialism by another name. Where socialists justify their interference in our private enterprises in the name of the well being of the collective, the nationalist justifies doing so with the flag. At the end of the day, they result in the same government bureaucracies, the same curtailed liberties, and the same dehumanization of the individual.

Nationalism, like socialism, ultimately provokes the worst aspects of human nature. At best, nationalists simply lack any conviction of belief in the fundamental principles of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” upon which our nation was founded. At worst, they will seek to sacrifice those principles on the altar of the “national interest“. The “national interest” is not and has never been the problem of the People, who often have their hands full with their daily lives.

While the nationalist may believe that even the private interest is, in fact, national, there is nothing more fundamentally un-American. We are a nation of free people, and our business is ultimately our own and nobody else’s. The government’s one and only duty is to promote the general welfare so that the people can focus on living our lives in freedom and solving our own problems.

Be brave. Be free.

Liberty is For The Win!

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