Populism and libertarianism

I still think most Americans are libertarian at heart. The problem is the 2 parties have systematically excluded them from the political process because libertarians don't like social - either liberal or conservative socialism. Add in the press, and I mean all the press including talk radio, which presents every issue as if government must act to solve it, and libertarians turn away from the process. Libertarians naturally prefer to be left alone anyway, so it's natural for them to sit on the sidelines.

That's why we need a libertarian to hijack the Republican party. Reagan managed it, but we have to acknowledge that Reagan failed in the long run. He managed to bring libertarian Democrats (Reagan Democrats), libertarian Republicans, libertarians who usually didn't vote, conservatives and neo-cons together. But Reagan failed to change the debate in this country from what can government do for you to what part of government can we abolish next to promote freedom and prosperity. He didn't advocate or win big enough reforms. If Reagan had been a stronger leader, he would have done that, but he failed.

I'm not running down Reagan. He had a Cold War to win, so he had to compromise. But he defined the model we need. We need a staunch libertarian to step forward with a bold agenda, and I think libertarianism is the natural populist movement, but the only people in the press advocating libertarianism are latte libertarians. They do it wrong. Here's how a charismatic libertarian hijacks the Republican party using populist methods and wins the presidency:

1. I'm going to give everybody a raise. Everybody bring your last pay stub to the campaign event and look at it. Look at the difference between your take home pay and your gross pay. It's a lot of money, isn't it? If you elect me president, we will enact the FairTax, and everybody in America will keep 100% of their paychecks. Wave your pay stubs in the air for the cameras now please.

2. Government is the problem. I will establish a commission to develop a road map to cut the size and scope of government in half over the next 20 years. I will start by freeing your children from failing government schools by abolishing the Dept. of Education. Would you let Teddy Kennedy teach your children? What about George Bush? Then why would you allow government to have a monopoly on schools? Your children deserve better.

3. We will win the new Cold War of Terror being waged by China and Russia, and we will do it the same way Ronald Reagan won the first Cold War - by reducing the burden of government on the American people. When we adopt the FairTax, every major company in the world will either build their next plant in the US or move their headquarters to the US. That means more jobs and better paying jobs. That means your job will pay more. The richer you are, the more powerful America is. Does anybody here think that Chinese workers can outproduce American workers on a level playing field? Hell, no. America workers are the most productive workers in the world. After Reagan reformed the tax code, American workers outproduced the Soviets and brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union, and after we adopt the FairTax and take steps with our allies to limit the aggression of the Russians and Chinese, American workers will win this new Cold War of Terror too.

4. Professional politicians are aristocrats like any other aristocrats throughout history. What's good for them is bad for us and vice-versa. They're worried about their careers and their families just like we're worried about our careers and our families. Raising taxes helps them and hurts us. Increasing government spending and power is good for them and bad for us. This is never what the Founding Fathers intended. They expected our government representatives to spend most of the year working alongside you and me, not spending an entire year wining and dining with lobbyists or going on junkets to the world's great vacation spots with them. We need term limits so our representatives will be citizen-representatives, who's livelihoods are tied up in the economy, not government spending as it is for professional politicians. When we cut the size and scope of government in half, our representatives will spend half a year with you and me instead of partying with lobbyists.

I think these are the big 4. I could go on about how Americans deserve inexpensive health care and how government makes it expensive, and how the FairTax would fix that, but you get the idea. Economic populism, the FairTax, and libertarianism would allow a charismatic leader to hijack the Republican party, bring the libertarian mainstream of America into the political process, and make real, lasting reform.