Time for the Unthinkable: a Third-Party
Nelson Hultberg
In the aftermath of the sickening travesty that Obama's reelection represents, pundits on the right are building up their strategic juices to project how conservatives and libertarians can "take over the Republican Party" and begin taking the country back.
My answer to them is: It will never happen! Oh, we can take the country back, all right, but not through control of the GOP. The ideological sycophants that comprise the GOP couldn't take back a sack of sunflowers from spinsters in a rest home.
Far too many pundits on the right have ceased to think. Irrationality saturates their minds regarding how to confront the political leprosy that Obama represents. This is because they believe we must, now and forever, work within the statist establishment. This is grievously in error. The present political insanity in America mandates a new direction, a dramatic new strategy. Dare I say it? We need a THIRD-PARTY to provide an escape from the GOP's debilitating lack of chutzpah.
Conservatives desperately need to purge the me-too welfarists from their command centers. But tragically all we hear today from "respectable voices" on the right is the same me-too welfarism we've heard for 50 years about "redoubling our efforts," "becoming more inclusive," and "building a bigger tent," etc. This means we need to shelve our principles in favor of more compromises with the leprosy of the liberals.
"But most important of all," say the respectable voices, "never are we to abandon the Republican Party for a Third-Party. That is a sure recipe for handing the country over to the liberals. We must always work within the two-party system.
Actually the above Republican boilerplate is correct if one wants to preserve the present Demopublican system. But we at AMERICANS FOR A FREE REPUBLIC don't want to "preserve" the present system. We want to destroy it – for the same reason one wants to destroy smog and mendacity and slavery.
Today's political system is a corrupt monopoly, and it has to be broken. Thus the title of our book, Breaking the Demopublican Monopoly. But one cannot do this by joining the system and trying to reform it "from within." That's like trying to reform the Mafia by joining their organization and reasoning with them to give up their criminal ways. Their criminality is their livelihood, and they would no more abandon it than wolves would abandon the attacking of deer. The Mafia can only be fought from without. And likewise Demopublican statism can only be reformed from without.
Why "Reform from Within" Can Never Work
The Republican Liberty Caucus (founded in 1988) advocates "working within the system." It has been trying for 25 years to infiltrate the Republican Party with libertarian ideas and change it from within. Every two years the RLC adds three or four new representatives to their ranks in Congress, but unfortunately during that two years they also lose three or four representatives that slide into the "good ol' boys club" and start voting for more and more spending schemes. This is why there were about 25 members that launched the RLC in 1988, and in 2012 there are still about 25 members in the RLC congressional ranks (out of 435 House representatives). They never grow.
Why don't they ever grow? Because our political system is corrupted by the progressive tax system. And this forces new, incoming libertarians and conservatives to almost always compromise with congressional liberals on spending policy. Here's why:
IRS statistics show that 50% of American citizens pay zero income taxes. This has led to what is called, in economic parlance, "infinite demand for government services." In other words, if services are free to large amounts of voters, they will want all they can get. This is basic human nature. So under our present tax system, 50% of the American voters want more government spending every election year. Add in the guilt-obsessed liberals in upper income classes, and you have a guaranteed 60% of the electorate pushing relentlessly for more spending every election year. Thus all politicians going to Washington conclude early on that they will never be reelected if they push for less government spending.
Therefore almost all conservative and libertarian politicians end up crossing the aisle and voting with the Democrats to boost government spending every year. They know they have to in order to be reelected. This is why all advocates of "working within the system" such as the RLC have never made any headway in slowing the runaway freight train of government growth. The system is corrupted by progressive tax rates.
Solving the Tax Dilemma
The only way to end this dilemma is to replace our progressive tax system with a true flat tax for everyone so as to eliminate "infinite demand for government services" among the voters. For example, the 50% of the voters who presently pay zero income taxes for their services would very quickly lose their desire for more services if they had to pay for them out of their own pockets. This would bring about demands for reduction of government services every election year. Imagine that! But unfortunately conservatives and libertarians in Congress will never propose a true flat tax, much less fight for one, because they know they would not be reelected if they did.
What do we mean by a "true flat tax?" A tax with the same percentage rate for all earners with no deductions, exemptions, or favors whatsoever for anyone. A simple "equal-rate" tax that all citizens pay and can figure in ten minutes on April 15th. Only in this way can we have a responsible electorate. Only in this way will there be justice because only an "equal-rate tax" comports with equal rights under the law. Equal rights necessitates equal rates.
What kind of human beings are we if we don’t stand for equal rights? The fundamental fount of our nation is “equality of rights under the law.” Progressive tax rates are an example of arbitrary law, which is the basis of every dictatorship throughout history. Progressive tax rates are immoral, unjust, unconstitutional, and criminal. They have no place in America. The only legitimate form of taxation is an “equal-rate tax.”
How do we get such a tax passed? The only way is to go directly to the people and explain to them why progressive taxation (with all its convoluted exemptions and favors) is the source of "infinite demand for government growth." We need to demonstrate that the only way to stop this relentless growth is to end all the privileges and favors for everyone.
Would this be salable to the American people? Yes, we at AFR believe it would if it was explained properly to them. In our book, Breaking the Demopublican Monopoly, we show that an equal-rate tax, when combined with a computerized "4% auto-expansion" of the money supply for the Fed, would result in a minimum 16% annual increase in the standard of living for all American citizens. Thus the lower income classes who would have their taxes raised from zero to 10% would still net a 6% annual increase in their standard of living. So not only would justice be restored to our tax system, but all Americans would benefit materially in a substantial way.
We call this reform of the tax and monetary systems the "Two Pillars Strategy." And we corroborate it with statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve Bank, and wise economists such as John Williams and James L. Payne. This demonstration could be simplified so it is understandable to 70 million voters who tune into the national TV presidential debates.
To bring about this restoration of justice and prosperity, we need to get an Independent candidate into those debates and sell the voters on the "Two Pillars of Reform." We need a nationally known candidate who doesn't care if he wins the election or not – a modern day Jefferson who wants the American people to know the truth more than he wants to strut around Washington. We believe such a candidate would garner 38% of the vote and win in a three man race, but selling of the truth has to come first.
Hopefully the reader can now see that libertarians and conservatives will never be able to convert the GOP to a party of liberty from within. What outfits like the RLC are doing is what Einstein referred to in his definition of insanity. They are "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." They've been at this for 25 years, and what's worse, the conservatives have been at it for 50 years. They trek the same path over and over again, never realizing what their monumental mistake is.
What Needs to Be Done
Can this tragic situation be rectified? Yes, certainly it can. Men and women are rational creatures. They can be taught to desire freedom again and to fight effectively for it. But they will have to do what Steve Jobs always told his comrades at Apple to do. They will have to "Think Different!" They will have to think outside the box.
We at AFR are trying to launch the National Independent Party to bring all this about. But we are not a conventional third-party like the Libertarian and Constitution Parties. We will not marginalize ourselves with utopianism. Our Two Pillars Strategy will get 15% in the polls to qualify for the national TV pesidential debates where we can bring about revolutionary reform. Consequently one should think of us as not just a political party, but as a dramatic gathering place for the patriots of America, a "gathering of eagles" that can alter the annals of history.
Here's a good way to view the National Independent Party: In the early 1770s, the patriots of Boston (led by Samuel Adams and John Hancock) were meeting in the local taverns every few weeks. But by 1772 their numbers had grown so strong that they overflowed the largest of taverns. Some other place had to be found to bring them all together. Adams and Hancock found that place; it was called the Old South Meeting House. It held up to 5,000 patriots, and this is where the American Revolution was launched. The Patriots met there from then on to plot their strategy, to invigorate their spirits, and to exchange ideas. As a result, the Old South Meeting House in Boston is today a famous landmark.
This, in essence, is what the National Independent Party (along with its website) will be. It will be the Old South Meeting House for the new patriots of today. And there's not just 5,000 of them out there that can be brought together. There's probably a million of them who would join the Party. What kind of money contributions would come from a million passionate patriots determined to end the insanity that is consuming America? It is not unrealistic to expect $50 million contributed to the cause of restoring freedom. Fifty million dollars would buy a lot of major advertising going into 2016. That would make our Gathering of Eagles a mighty powerful force for change in America.
In addition to acting as a Meeting House for the patriots of America, our goal is to convince a major libertarian/conservative politician (such as Rand Paul, Allen West, Jim DeMint, etc.) to run an independent campaign and get into the national TV presidential debates where he can then educate 70 million voters about the crucial need for a 10% flat tax and a 4% auto-expansion plan for the Fed to stop government growth. He can do this, like Ross Perot did in 1992, by giving 30-minute lectures on national TV the night before each of his three debates. How would this TV time be paid for? By the candidate's support groups and by the million patriots in the National Independent Party.
Such a campaign would be unbelievably dramatic. It would electrify the nation. It would break the Demopublican monopoly of ideas that is stultifying the system and destroying the greatest country in history. It would act as a magnet to draw the two major parties back to sanity because the people would be told the truth. Truth is the most powerful force in the world. It brings down empires.
In conclusion, it's important to understand that the third-party that AFR is proposing is not a "conventional" third-party. It is a reincarnation of Sam Adams and John Hancock's Old South Meeting House. It is a reincarnation of the Sons of Liberty. It will be a million-man army of patriots. And it will bring in tens of millions of dollars annually to further the cause. That's a powerful lot of persuasion.
-------------------------
Nelson Hultberg is a freelance writer in Dallas, Texas and the Director of Americans for a Free Republic www.afr.org. His articles have appeared in such publications as the Dallas Morning News, The American Conservative, Insight, The Freeman, and Liberty, as well as on numerous Internet sites such as The Daily Bell, Financial Sense, and Safe Haven. He is also the author of a soon to be released book on political philosophy, The Golden Mean: Libertarian Politics, Conservative Values. Email him at: nelshultberg@aol.com
In the aftermath of the sickening travesty that Obama's reelection represents, pundits on the right are building up their strategic juices to project how conservatives and libertarians can "take over the Republican Party" and begin taking the country back.
My answer to them is: It will never happen! Oh, we can take the country back, all right, but not through control of the GOP. The ideological sycophants that comprise the GOP couldn't take back a sack of sunflowers from spinsters in a rest home.
Far too many pundits on the right have ceased to think. Irrationality saturates their minds regarding how to confront the political leprosy that Obama represents. This is because they believe we must, now and forever, work within the statist establishment. This is grievously in error. The present political insanity in America mandates a new direction, a dramatic new strategy. Dare I say it? We need a THIRD-PARTY to provide an escape from the GOP's debilitating lack of chutzpah.
Conservatives desperately need to purge the me-too welfarists from their command centers. But tragically all we hear today from "respectable voices" on the right is the same me-too welfarism we've heard for 50 years about "redoubling our efforts," "becoming more inclusive," and "building a bigger tent," etc. This means we need to shelve our principles in favor of more compromises with the leprosy of the liberals.
"But most important of all," say the respectable voices, "never are we to abandon the Republican Party for a Third-Party. That is a sure recipe for handing the country over to the liberals. We must always work within the two-party system.
Actually the above Republican boilerplate is correct if one wants to preserve the present Demopublican system. But we at AMERICANS FOR A FREE REPUBLIC don't want to "preserve" the present system. We want to destroy it – for the same reason one wants to destroy smog and mendacity and slavery.
Today's political system is a corrupt monopoly, and it has to be broken. Thus the title of our book, Breaking the Demopublican Monopoly. But one cannot do this by joining the system and trying to reform it "from within." That's like trying to reform the Mafia by joining their organization and reasoning with them to give up their criminal ways. Their criminality is their livelihood, and they would no more abandon it than wolves would abandon the attacking of deer. The Mafia can only be fought from without. And likewise Demopublican statism can only be reformed from without.
Why "Reform from Within" Can Never Work
The Republican Liberty Caucus (founded in 1988) advocates "working within the system." It has been trying for 25 years to infiltrate the Republican Party with libertarian ideas and change it from within. Every two years the RLC adds three or four new representatives to their ranks in Congress, but unfortunately during that two years they also lose three or four representatives that slide into the "good ol' boys club" and start voting for more and more spending schemes. This is why there were about 25 members that launched the RLC in 1988, and in 2012 there are still about 25 members in the RLC congressional ranks (out of 435 House representatives). They never grow.
Why don't they ever grow? Because our political system is corrupted by the progressive tax system. And this forces new, incoming libertarians and conservatives to almost always compromise with congressional liberals on spending policy. Here's why:
IRS statistics show that 50% of American citizens pay zero income taxes. This has led to what is called, in economic parlance, "infinite demand for government services." In other words, if services are free to large amounts of voters, they will want all they can get. This is basic human nature. So under our present tax system, 50% of the American voters want more government spending every election year. Add in the guilt-obsessed liberals in upper income classes, and you have a guaranteed 60% of the electorate pushing relentlessly for more spending every election year. Thus all politicians going to Washington conclude early on that they will never be reelected if they push for less government spending.
Therefore almost all conservative and libertarian politicians end up crossing the aisle and voting with the Democrats to boost government spending every year. They know they have to in order to be reelected. This is why all advocates of "working within the system" such as the RLC have never made any headway in slowing the runaway freight train of government growth. The system is corrupted by progressive tax rates.
Solving the Tax Dilemma
The only way to end this dilemma is to replace our progressive tax system with a true flat tax for everyone so as to eliminate "infinite demand for government services" among the voters. For example, the 50% of the voters who presently pay zero income taxes for their services would very quickly lose their desire for more services if they had to pay for them out of their own pockets. This would bring about demands for reduction of government services every election year. Imagine that! But unfortunately conservatives and libertarians in Congress will never propose a true flat tax, much less fight for one, because they know they would not be reelected if they did.
What do we mean by a "true flat tax?" A tax with the same percentage rate for all earners with no deductions, exemptions, or favors whatsoever for anyone. A simple "equal-rate" tax that all citizens pay and can figure in ten minutes on April 15th. Only in this way can we have a responsible electorate. Only in this way will there be justice because only an "equal-rate tax" comports with equal rights under the law. Equal rights necessitates equal rates.
What kind of human beings are we if we don’t stand for equal rights? The fundamental fount of our nation is “equality of rights under the law.” Progressive tax rates are an example of arbitrary law, which is the basis of every dictatorship throughout history. Progressive tax rates are immoral, unjust, unconstitutional, and criminal. They have no place in America. The only legitimate form of taxation is an “equal-rate tax.”
How do we get such a tax passed? The only way is to go directly to the people and explain to them why progressive taxation (with all its convoluted exemptions and favors) is the source of "infinite demand for government growth." We need to demonstrate that the only way to stop this relentless growth is to end all the privileges and favors for everyone.
Would this be salable to the American people? Yes, we at AFR believe it would if it was explained properly to them. In our book, Breaking the Demopublican Monopoly, we show that an equal-rate tax, when combined with a computerized "4% auto-expansion" of the money supply for the Fed, would result in a minimum 16% annual increase in the standard of living for all American citizens. Thus the lower income classes who would have their taxes raised from zero to 10% would still net a 6% annual increase in their standard of living. So not only would justice be restored to our tax system, but all Americans would benefit materially in a substantial way.
We call this reform of the tax and monetary systems the "Two Pillars Strategy." And we corroborate it with statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve Bank, and wise economists such as John Williams and James L. Payne. This demonstration could be simplified so it is understandable to 70 million voters who tune into the national TV presidential debates.
To bring about this restoration of justice and prosperity, we need to get an Independent candidate into those debates and sell the voters on the "Two Pillars of Reform." We need a nationally known candidate who doesn't care if he wins the election or not – a modern day Jefferson who wants the American people to know the truth more than he wants to strut around Washington. We believe such a candidate would garner 38% of the vote and win in a three man race, but selling of the truth has to come first.
Hopefully the reader can now see that libertarians and conservatives will never be able to convert the GOP to a party of liberty from within. What outfits like the RLC are doing is what Einstein referred to in his definition of insanity. They are "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." They've been at this for 25 years, and what's worse, the conservatives have been at it for 50 years. They trek the same path over and over again, never realizing what their monumental mistake is.
What Needs to Be Done
Can this tragic situation be rectified? Yes, certainly it can. Men and women are rational creatures. They can be taught to desire freedom again and to fight effectively for it. But they will have to do what Steve Jobs always told his comrades at Apple to do. They will have to "Think Different!" They will have to think outside the box.
We at AFR are trying to launch the National Independent Party to bring all this about. But we are not a conventional third-party like the Libertarian and Constitution Parties. We will not marginalize ourselves with utopianism. Our Two Pillars Strategy will get 15% in the polls to qualify for the national TV pesidential debates where we can bring about revolutionary reform. Consequently one should think of us as not just a political party, but as a dramatic gathering place for the patriots of America, a "gathering of eagles" that can alter the annals of history.
Here's a good way to view the National Independent Party: In the early 1770s, the patriots of Boston (led by Samuel Adams and John Hancock) were meeting in the local taverns every few weeks. But by 1772 their numbers had grown so strong that they overflowed the largest of taverns. Some other place had to be found to bring them all together. Adams and Hancock found that place; it was called the Old South Meeting House. It held up to 5,000 patriots, and this is where the American Revolution was launched. The Patriots met there from then on to plot their strategy, to invigorate their spirits, and to exchange ideas. As a result, the Old South Meeting House in Boston is today a famous landmark.
This, in essence, is what the National Independent Party (along with its website) will be. It will be the Old South Meeting House for the new patriots of today. And there's not just 5,000 of them out there that can be brought together. There's probably a million of them who would join the Party. What kind of money contributions would come from a million passionate patriots determined to end the insanity that is consuming America? It is not unrealistic to expect $50 million contributed to the cause of restoring freedom. Fifty million dollars would buy a lot of major advertising going into 2016. That would make our Gathering of Eagles a mighty powerful force for change in America.
In addition to acting as a Meeting House for the patriots of America, our goal is to convince a major libertarian/conservative politician (such as Rand Paul, Allen West, Jim DeMint, etc.) to run an independent campaign and get into the national TV presidential debates where he can then educate 70 million voters about the crucial need for a 10% flat tax and a 4% auto-expansion plan for the Fed to stop government growth. He can do this, like Ross Perot did in 1992, by giving 30-minute lectures on national TV the night before each of his three debates. How would this TV time be paid for? By the candidate's support groups and by the million patriots in the National Independent Party.
Such a campaign would be unbelievably dramatic. It would electrify the nation. It would break the Demopublican monopoly of ideas that is stultifying the system and destroying the greatest country in history. It would act as a magnet to draw the two major parties back to sanity because the people would be told the truth. Truth is the most powerful force in the world. It brings down empires.
In conclusion, it's important to understand that the third-party that AFR is proposing is not a "conventional" third-party. It is a reincarnation of Sam Adams and John Hancock's Old South Meeting House. It is a reincarnation of the Sons of Liberty. It will be a million-man army of patriots. And it will bring in tens of millions of dollars annually to further the cause. That's a powerful lot of persuasion.
-------------------------
Nelson Hultberg is a freelance writer in Dallas, Texas and the Director of Americans for a Free Republic www.afr.org. His articles have appeared in such publications as the Dallas Morning News, The American Conservative, Insight, The Freeman, and Liberty, as well as on numerous Internet sites such as The Daily Bell, Financial Sense, and Safe Haven. He is also the author of a soon to be released book on political philosophy, The Golden Mean: Libertarian Politics, Conservative Values. Email him at: nelshultberg@aol.com
posted by Chuck Demastus at 4:25 PM
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