Well, Arnold Kling has a pretty good article over at the Library of Economics and Liberty entitled “The Progressive Tantrum“.

A quick taste:

Everyone agrees that the Republicans are just throwing sand in the gears of good government and not offering any ideas. What that means is that they are not offering ideas to enlarge government.

(snip)

My point here is not to champion Republicans. It is not to champion democracy. My point is that the ones throwing the temper tantrum right now are the Progressives. They think that the 2008 election gave them the right to operate like China’s autocracy, and they are lashing out hysterically at those they perceive as preventing them from doing so On the one hand, the villains are a small minority in the Senate. Or maybe the villains are the incoherent majority of the people.

The important point is that Progressives are never wrong.

Kling also has some examples of the Progressives lamentations (from a Thomas Friedman column) that we don’t have more of an authoritarian system that would allow us to bypass this troublesome system our Founders set up:

One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.

Seriously. Expect more of this, especially as the progressives start to see their greatest opportunity evaporate into a dissipating mist….

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” – Thomas Jefferson

That’s right. After much reading, studying, thought, deliberation and careful consideration, I have decided that it is time for me to become more active in politics. No. I’m not ready to run for office, nor do I consider myself to the consummate politician, as I speak my mind too much and I don’t have enough pragmatic bones in my body.

However, I believe that I can help be part of a movement to retake this country from the progressives, of both major political parties, as they try to institute even more nanny state controls and continue to put the final nails in the coffin of our Constitutional system of government.

Just as our Founders believed that government closet to the people would be the most accountable to the people, we must start taking back our local governments and start breaking our fellow citizens of the “What can government do for me” mentality that has come to dominate our politics.

Just as the quote attributed to Andrew Tytler says:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

We’ve got now two political parties that have figured out that to get votes, one has to dole out “largesse from the public treasury”, though it seems that the parties only disagree with the level of redistribution. The “Compassionate Conservatism” of the George W. Bush did little more than expand the role and level of government, with the Medicare Part D and the No Child Left Behind act. The role of the Obama Administration and its attempts to “fix and right” the economy is even more blatant of an usurpation of the federal government, and its further transition into a central government, with the sovereign states even more regulated to mere provinces.

This mentality, and the argument for it, must be broken, lest we continue to allow the nanny statists to continue to dumb the American populace down, convince them that some bureaucrat knows whats best for them thousands of miles away, and that all they have to do is exchange a little freedom here and there for the illusion of government security. Smoke and mirrors as the bandits pick the pockets of the people.

So enough of my diatribe, what am I planning to do? Well, I’m going to get active in our local politics. The Democrat Party headquarters here in my town has pictures of Barack Obama all over the place. Not sure if the Party of Jefferson is open to less government in a limited role anymore. The local GOP chairman seems to be open to talking to me, and I’m going to pick his brain on how open he is to changing the GOP into the party of limited government. And if I can, I plan to help and support local candidates who believe in classical liberal philosophies of freedom, liberty, and limited government, especially as originally laid out by our Founders. If it were ever to come down for me to run for office, I wouldn’t be against it, but that is not my goal nor do I have any delusions of grandeur.

But I’m becoming energized as I read more and more about how our Founders originally planned our country, and as I read more and more about how we’ve allowed the poisonous talk of “its for the people” and “we’re doing this for the general welfare of all”, that has taken us down the road towards less freedom, liberty and a growing and ever more powerful nanny state.

At first, I thought I would just simply sign off the GOP, move towards the Libertarians or perhaps even a new third party created out of the Tea Party movement itself. Then I thought about how that would divide the GOP and ensure more (social-)Democrats would be elected. Much easier to takeover the GOP, kick out those progressives who want to grow the state and make government the answer to all life’s ills, and start persuading Americans that stealing from each others pockets the fruits on another’s labor is not going to guarantee their own freedoms.

Glenn Reynolds has a piece today in the Examiner talking about this:

A year ago, the Tea Party movement didn’t exist. Today, it is arguably the most popular political entity in America. The movement is already more popular than the Republican or Democratic parties, according to a recent NBC / WSJ poll .

Even in blue-state California, three in 10 voters identify with the Tea Party movement.

And, of course, Scott Brown’s come-from-behind blowout in Massachusetts occurred in no small part because of money and volunteers from the Tea Party movement around the nation.

This is heady stuff — and, for people in the political establishment, both Republicans and Democrats, it’s worrying stuff. If political movements can bubble up from below, and self-organize via the Internet, what will happen to the political class?

Here we have an example in Cincinnati:

A year ago, when the Tea Party movement first stirred to life, it had to shout to be noticed, with big public rallies that drew thousands of conservatives to places like Fountain Square and VOA Park in West Chester – citizens angry about government bailouts, billions of tax dollars for economic stimulus and political parties that didn’t seem to be listening.

Now, though, the speech-making over loudspeakers to angry throngs seems to have given way to a much quieter form of protest – one in which Tea Party activists, here and across the country, are trying to either take over or gain a foothold in the political parties from the ground up.

They are doing it here by the hundreds by filing as candidates in the May 4 primary election for the office of precinct executive, the lowest rung of the political party structure.

“It’s the place where you can have the most impact,” said Mike Wilson, the founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party. “It’s one thing to talk to the party leaders about change. It’s another thing to actually be the party leadership and make the change from within.”

It is a strategy that has worked elsewhere – Tea Party activists essentially took over the Nevada Republican Party earlier this month; and, in Florida, they were successful in forcing out a state party chairman who was seen as too centrist.

Here is another in Illinois:

A crucial test will come in Tuesday’s Illinois primary, where political newcomer Adam Andrzejewski has gotten a surge of support, with a Tea Party event yesterday in Chicago where the temperature was 7 degrees:

If we can’t change the direction of this country through its political system, get us back to a limited federal government constrained by the U.S. Constitution, where the sovereign states who created said government can get back to dealing with the problems their citizens face without federal interference (and massive deficit spending/printing of money), then I fear a further eroding of freedoms and an eventual collapse. The last American revolution in 1861-1865 fundamentally changed this country, and cost alot of lives in the process. I would much rather desire NOT to see such a thing happen again…

I am resolved that I must do my part and not be a spectator at watching my children’s future be pissed away into the wind by greedy and corrupt politicians and bureaucrats….

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

and here is the latest from the brain trust at the IRS:

The IRS is weighing a proposal to deem one-quarter of employees’ use of work cell phones as personal use and therefore subject to tax as a fringe benefit.

The proposal is one of several options the IRS put forward this week on the tax treatment of employer-provided cell phones.

Is there ANYTHING that our betters at the Versaille on the Potomac aren’t willing to tax in order to fund their orgy of spending? Anything?

Senator Kennedy formed a group that has been holding secret meetings for 9 months now, on this topic. He has made this his signature issue, we all know. 9 months worth of meetings and no transparency to date…in fact, Kennedy has made the group swear to keep quiet.

Some details have come out, this article is from February:

Taking part in these meetings, as was reported last week in the New York Times, are a diverse group of stakeholders: AARP, the insurer Aetna, the AFL-CIO, the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

What? No real average people included here?

And now we learn of yet another set of secret meetings, parallel to the above mentioned meetings:

A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators, after meeting for nine months behind closed doors, is nearing an agreement on the broad strokes of a health care reform bill. The so-called Gang of Nine — though its number expands and contracts depending on the meeting — is hammering out the finer points as they prepare to enter the drafting phase of the negotiations, sources from three Senate offices involved in the talks tell TIME.

Why the secrecy? Why such a hushed tone? Why hasn’t Barry insisted all of this become open and therefore more honest? Do the members of these groups think they know what’s best? Could it be that the committees don’t want the people to know they have discussed rationing care by denying payments for treatments deemed (by some) not to be worthy of their costs?
I bet they do…Didn’t this happen many years ago with Shillary’s Task Forces on health care?

“You don’t need to know what’s going on in the secret meetings to know the two biggest challenges are the individual mandate and costs,” says Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat…

Ahh..here we go. Secrecy because the fear of the masses learning the costs of this.

President Obama, I demand transparency here. The American people have a right to know what their government is up to- especially when it comes to such an important issue as their health care coverage. This isn’t a process unless everyone is included…and we the people most of all need to be included, since WE will be paying for all this.

Here’s what Saint John had to say to the moderates of his era:

I could wish that you were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm…I will vomit you out of my mouth

And with that prologue, I will address the behavior of three Senators with Rs next to their names, those who willingly yielded to the pick-up line of those asking them to be bipartisan.

For months, the so-called moderates in the Republican party, especially those allied with the Republican Main Street Partnership, have decried the pernicious influence of social conservatives, accusing them of ignoring fiscal conservatism.

Well folks, this week we see who are the fiscal conservatives. And guess what, it’s not the maligned social conservatives who have left the team.

Rather, it’s the “moderate” – the RMSP members* who have abandoned fiscal conservatism is the most egregious act of irresponsibility in our nation’s history. The “moderates” not the “social conservatives”. I will remember who took a stand for fiscal conservatism in the hour when our nation’s future was a stake, and who sold out for thirty pieces of silver. You need to also.

Worse they have aided and abetted a process in which the largest appropriation bill in history was rushed through to passage without either our representatives or the people of this country even having a chance to read the contents. A rush precipitated by the President of Hope and Change™ appealing to the base emotions of fear and scapegoating.

The second action, even more than the first, is a betrayal of fundamental representative principles, and for that betrayal they need to be primaried and cast out if possible. We are on the verge of a legislative tyranny of the majority – which will only invite retaliation in kind if the Republicans ever regain the ascendency. This degeneration is deeply injurious to the principles of deliberative government.

Democracy itself has taken a body blow today, one that may prove fatal. Those who enabled it must be held accountable.

———————————————————-

*From the RMSP website: Who we are:

Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine
Sen. John McCain, Arizona
Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine
Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania

That’s a fascinating list of names, wouldn’t you say. Of these 5 names, 3 are the very Republican senators who provided the critical Republican votes needed to pass the stimulus bill. Sen. Coleman, of course, is not seated since he is still in an election court contest. Sen. McCain to his credit publically called bullshit on President Obama’s attempt to label the bill bipartisan.

Senator McCain, you’ve really done grave damage to the conservative movement with your inept campaign. But you have left the door open to redemption with your position on the stimulus bill, if this represents a new awakening on your part that we are now in a war for the survival of our country – with possibly its very existence on the line, but certainly its existence as a Constitutional republic of free mean and women. We shall see.

Readers are invited to submit their own haikus in the comments.

Update 9:30pm: Second line revised; too many syllables in original version

This is from the I.O.U.S.A. film that I watched on the CNN one night. Very good at describing the mess our politicians have gotten us into. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m excited that my entire family of 4 owes/owns 700,000 bucks in our federal debt. Too bad I am the only one with a job. Unbelievable. And it is another reason I believe that this republic doesn’t have much of a life in it as it stands now. The American people will continue to put those politicians in power that promise more and more handouts from the public treasury. I believe that this is a 100 car freight train that is moving at full speed, and we’ve got a Toyota Prius that is going to try to stop it. The system will have to collapse, unfortunately, before things will change.. I just don’t see anyone doing anything to substantially change this course. People like Representative Ron Paul are laughed at, while Barack “Only Government Can Save Us” Obama are elected president with fanfare, pomp and circumstance.

Here is a link to the 30-minute version. Don’t worry if you think they give Bill Clinton credit for the “Balanced Budget” and leave the Republican controlled Congress out of it as they slay the sacred cows of Democrats, namely Social Security and Medicare. I think it is fair to say that both of our parties, once again, have failed us, the American people.

Oh yeah.. that’s right….

To much fanfare from both right and left in 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to require all residents to buy health insurance. A new state health insurance clearinghouse was created, with taxpayers subsidizing those who couldn’t afford to buy coverage. Then Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, promised that “every uninsured citizen in Massachusetts will soon have affordable health insurance.” Yet just two years later, Romney’s much-heralded “solution” — touted by many as the model for a national program — has become an embarrassing flop.

Just a year after the universal coverage law passed, The New York Times reported, state insurers were already jacking up rates to twice the national average. According to Dr. Paul Hsieh, a physician and founding member of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine, 43 mandatory benefits — including those that many people did not want or need, such as invitro fertilization — raised the costs of coverage for Massachusetts residents by as much as 56 percent, depending upon an individual’s income status. So much for “affordable” health care.

As someone famous once said somewhere this one time, I am dying of surprise. Whenever government gets involved, things just don’t seem to get better… but The View from Chaos Manor says it best here:

Of course once you admit that the Federal Government has power over some area of human endeavor, sooner or later it will create a bureaucracy to assert that power, and Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy will take over, assuring that the area of endeavor will be choked by rules, all well meant. Congress Shall Make No Law becomes something less than an absolute restriction, and Congress hands out doles and earmarked funds but only if the states adopt whatever it is Congress thinks will be best for everyone, and meanwhile the courts hold that window washers are engaged in interstate commerce because they might be washing windows for an office suite that has someone working in it who is importing goods from another state, and suddenly federal minimum wage laws, are valid, and soon Congress will be able to say that a union goon can intimidate you into signing a card so they don’t have to have a secret ballot election to make you join the union to keep your job. Welcome to freedom tempered by good intentions.

Exactly. I highlight places where the Federal Government has made a power grab, through the power of the purse by Congress, or by judicial fiat through the Supreme Court. And it is always “for the children”, or “for our own good”, or “we need this”. No asks should we do this. Or can we do this. And we find ourselves following the same failures of socialism, skipping down that same path. Now we have one party almost completely in control over the Federal Government, whose agendas are more big government, with all of the nanny-state intrusions that comes with it. Going to be great 4 years comrades… a great 4 years…