GOP! Get Back To Where You Once Belonged!!

Now that Mr. Unstable and Mrs. Idiot have exposed the fundamental contradictions in the Grand Old Party, you now have the opportunity to arrive at a new synthesis. (Ok, I know, I'm using a Marxist/Hegelian reference here. So sue me.)

The key is to remember where you came from.

First of all you are NOT a purely conservative party. (There aren't any such beasts in the US.) You stem from Adam Smith -- a genuine, classical LIBERAL!! And you were tempered by, and in many ways corrupted by, Social Darwinism (a la Andrew Carnegie.) And what do you take from this?

• a belief in individualism and individuality [oddly enough, like Marx!]
• an optimism about the free market [supply and demand stuff]
• self-reliance
• ethical egoism -- NOT egotism or ego-centrism or selfishness!! Rather a focus on striving for whatever you see as good for you -- a good that you determine for yourself.
• charity -- yes indeed, since it is to your benefit to be charitable!
• a government LIMITED in power and scope

Second, you have inherited SOME genuine CONSERVATIVE ideals, and these come to you courtesy of your "founding father," Abraham Lincoln:

• natural human rights [the idea that some rights are unalienable]
• the "Harm Principle" best expressed by John Locke and John Stuart Mill. Here's Mill's version: "....the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant..." [This, of course, is the essence of Libertarianism.]

Now when you get back to these roots, what do you have? Here's a few ideas, in no particular order:

• You stay out of my [this is the "imperial my"] bedroom! [I choose what sex I want]
• You stay out of my marriage! [I define what it is]
• You stay out of my ash try! [I smoke what I want]
• You stay out of my womb! [I choose whether or not to carry a fetus]
• You stay out of my religion or irreligion. [I choose to believe or not to believe anything]
• You stay out of science! [I don't base conclusion on who pays me]
• You stay out of other countries unless HARM is threatened!
• You stay out of torturing others -- period!

When you find some people who can represent these ideas, I just may vote for them -- hell, I may even run for office myself -- as a REPUBLICAN!