Comments have been closed on this post but the discussion continues here.

But back to my broader point about Politics vs. Principle, the GOP today doesn’t oppose Obamacare as a matter of principle but as a matter of the politics of defending major GOP constituency donors, the doctors, the pharmaceuticals, and the insurance companies. It just so happens that the politcs of the debate from the GOP perspective coincide with the principles of conservatives about limited government and individual freedom to make health care choices. In the case of the prescription drug program, which greatly benefitted these same GOP donor constituencies, the politics and the principles did not align.

The state of the two party political system in the age of the trillion dollar budget has been to increase the size and scope of the government further to benefit donor constituencies over in many cases the good of the republic. We stand at major threshold in history, to echo you Dr. Zero and Glenn Beck, where the political class of both parties have lost complete control of their respective core principles and have surrendered to the special interest. What we have today is a governmental structure that is completely biased toward ever increasing government and spending and as long as this structure is in place we will never reclaim the first principles that made this country the hope of the world. The Democrats have put into place over the years a spending mechanism of unabated growth in entitlement spending and no restraint on discretionary spending by virtue of being able to dip their hands into funding steams sold to the public as being used for those entitlement programs. The entitlement programs are the hook that the public will always agree to fund and the open ended fund is the source that fuels the unabated growth of discretionary spending. Not to be outdone, the GOP has contributed to this perverse government structure by turning the tax system into a swiss cheese system with so many loopholes, tax breaks, and credits, that it will hopelessly never balance the government’s finances. The GOP justified all this in the name of “starving the beast” or reducing the size of government, while diminishing the seriousness of deficit spending. This more than anything has undermined the core principle of the GOP as the party of fiscal conservatism. So what you are left with is a government that engages in the most egregious type of financial accounting to mask the certain unsustainable budget future in store for our republic.

We need political leaders of leadership and not of politics. We need leaders today that recognize the sham that is our government finances and compels the political class to make choices against their own self interest in favor of the national interest. The government budget structure has to be changed strategically to end the bias toward ever increasing government to a structure that is controlled and fully funded. To that end the conservative movement strategically has to convey that in order for our societal problems to be addressed, government must be fixed. There are ideas out there to meet this end, such establishing a permanent fund, like in Alaska to change the dynamics of government spending in favor of savings. And to that also the tax code needs to fill the holes in the swiss cheese we have now with a consumption tax, that has everyone contributing to the funding of government. There are I am sure many ideas, but strategically this should be the focus of conservatives to save our union. The structure of the budget and how it is funded has to be addressed ahead of short-term gratification from tax cuts and new government spending programs.

Rogue Stars Rising
posted at 12:13 am on October 23, 2009 by Doctor Zero

Dead on the money.

I have never read a post by DZ that I did not agree with 100% – you, sir (or madam?) are a true patriot.

Ris4victory on October 23, 2009 at 9:37 AM

Me neither.

filbert on October 23, 2009 at 4:54 PM

A-men!

Smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.

All of them. No picking and choosing allowed among these four. Believe in these four things, and you’re in. If you can’t buy in to all four, go find another party.

Limited Government.
Low Taxes.
Strong national defense.
Individual liberty.

So easy even a Continental can do it.

I have to stop now, or I will start gushing…

lovingmyUSA on October 23, 2009 at 1:29 PM

I think we are all in love….with the eloquent voice of common sense.

A Republican party that embraces Scozzafava over Hoffman isn’t a “tent.” It’s not even a lean-to.

You have written the most eloquent come-back when arguing with RHINO supporters as to why we should vote for them. I am saving your columns in a notebook. Thank you for giving voice to our thoughts, in such a masterful and thoughtful way.
I have to stop now, or I will start gushing…

Dr Zero, on Palin’s endorsement of Hoffman, Rogue Stars Rising: …It pains me to say this about Gingrich. He accomplished some amazing things, in the mid-90s. He’s a smart man who has offered some interesting ideas, in his second life as a conservat…

But what he also missed, and what so many others missed, was the rise of the Left. Indeed, they still don’t understand.

Dr. Zero as a Main Blog Poster!!!

The second decade of this century will be an existential war for the American soul, not a police action.

Precisely! I don’t want a “civil debate.” I want exactly what 0bama and his minions are offering: a knockdown drag-out, ask no quarter-give no quarter, no holds barred, Texas cage match, Gotterdamurung, fight to the finish for the heart, soul and future of America.

Dr. Zero is really Doctor Emmit Brown! Has to be.

When Clinton was taking hard-left, Gingrich was able to win enough points off blue-dogs and independents to check the vast left-wing conspiracy.

Once the revolution succeeded, though, Gingrich was the wrong man to consolidate and hold power.

I recall an article on Gingrich, from those heady days of the Contract with America, when he described himself as “using the opponents’ tactics against him”. It appears to this cat that while Newt is still fighting with Billy Jeff’s bag of tricks, Obama has a whole new bag. (with apologies to James Brown, of course)

Thank you again, Doctor Zero.

Mew

Doc, I’m getting tired of just saying thanks. What’s the next-up incremental verb?

Robert17 on October 23, 2009 at 7:29 AM

Ditto ad infinitum.

…in the absence of a compelling narrative from the opposition party, they’re likely to conclude those failures were inevitable, and learn to accept them. If no one presents a coherent alternative to socialism, it wins by default, because too much of the political and media culture desires it. We’ve already tumbled far past the point where anyone views the Constitution as even a speed bump, let alone a barrier to socialist ambition. The principles embodied in that incredible document will perish, if they are not respected, explained, and defended.

Doctor, you see this so clearly, as do we. Why can’t the so-called “leaders” of the Republican party?

These are most certainly interesting times for this wonderful country. I recall brief exchanges with Dick Armey, now an organizer of conservatives for this type of change, wherein the essence of what Dr.0 discusses above seemed to already be forming in his cranial cavity during this time frame. Perhaps Sarah, along with some yet hidden and talented care-takers of the Constitution, will keep the momentum, raise the bar, and some true leadership will emerge that is irresistible to the voting block.

Doc, I’m getting tired of just saying thanks. What’s the next-up incremental verb?

Newt obviously doesn’t know that Pataki’s RINO policies helped to speed New York’s downfall, and Pataki probably can’t get elected dogcatcher in NY.

Recently, I went to Newt’s website and asked him the source of a quotation of his (that appeared on a Starbucks coffee cup). There has been no reply.

Newt has long since jumped the shark.

That is pretty much what I thought, only you make more sense when expressing it.

I watch this with interest. I live in a community where I believe the GOP still hasn’t gotten its head on straight and have been very frustrated recently.

I’m terrified we are going to screw up these chances we’re being given and find ourselves with a dem majority in 2010 AGAIN and another four years of Obama. It’s so depressing.

I want to pull my hair, scream, hop up and down. I just don’t know how else to make it clear to the GOP that they’re screwing up and need to get their heads out of their collective arses. *sigh*