This video, by LibertyPen, is an appearance Margaret Thatcher made on Firing Line in 1977, which was two years before she became Prime Minister of Great Britain. She was talking about ‘Capitalism and a Free Society’. The whole video is great but the part that really jumped out at me starts at 4:27. Mrs. Thatcher talks about the difference between American politics and British politics. Below is the money quote from the video. Oh how times have changed.
“I think in many ways American politics are very different because you have two parties based on a free society, or free enterprise society and economic freedom. We have one party based on that, one main party, and another one based on socialism.”
Mrs. Thatcher’s statement about American politics couldn’t be uttered in 2016. Today we can safely say the Democratic parties ideals are in harmony, if not goose step, with socialistic ideals. And since around 2000, the Republican party has and is basing its actions on socialistic ideals, even though its platform doesn’t reflect its new direction. The inside the Washington beltway Republican establishment talks a good game when it comes to smaller government but its actions don’t back up its rhetoric. If what a person values is revealed by his actions, then we can safely say that both parties value ideals that are based on socialistic thinking.
Over the last seven years President Obama has increased the size and scope of Government with no opposition, and in some cases help, from the “small Government” Republican party. When both parties increase the power of Government, what are the options for people who understand individual liberty, the rule of law and free markets?
Since it is hopeless to change the Democrat party, your options are, either start a third-party, or take over the Republican party and purge it of the big government established leaders like Boehner, McConnell, McCain, Graham, Cantor et al. Since election cycles are every two years, this will take a long time. I think the third-party option has a higher cost in terms of time and credibility. Incrementally taking over the Republican party is the best option, and the seeds of this take over have already taken root around the country. How important is this job? This quote from F.A. Hayek spells it out.
F. A. Hayek: “The battle for freedom must be won over and over again. The socialists of all parties must be persuaded or defeated if they and we are to remain free men.”
Where would we be today if the insurgency against big government hadn’t started in 2009 with the tea party and liberty groups? The gains by Republicans at the State and local levels (click here Republican Stranglehold On State Government) is a direct result of the grass-roots insurgency. The insurgency is led by people who believe in such radical ideas as individual liberty, free markets, and constitutional limits on government. It will take time for this limited government insurgency to trickle up to the Federal level. Senators Cruz, Lee, and Paul, along with the forty or so members of the freedom caucus that forced Boehner out of the House speakers position were born out of this bottom up change.
Bottom up change has a better foundation than top down change. Most peoples world view is based on the shifting sands of emotion not logic. Changing a persons vision of the world is difficult, which is why it happens at the individual level. It is personal. It starts and ends one conversation at a time, one person at a time, and it isn’t easy.
Just remember, as you start to walk through a tunnel, it gets darker and darker with every step. Just keep in mind that when it’s darkest, you are half way to your destination. Don’t give up. Keep moving forward, because you don’t realize how far you’ve traveled when you’re in the dark middle of the journey. Take some motivation from this quote by Ludwig vonMises.
Ludwig von Mises: “The history of mankind is the history of ideas. For it is ideas, theories and doctrines that guide human action, determine the ultimate ends men aim at, and the choice of the means employed for the attainment of these ends. The sensational events which stir the emotions and catch the interest of superficial observers are merely the consummation of ideological changes. There are no such things in rather misleading terms, a “turning point in history” is the coming on the scene of forces which were already for a long time at work behind the scene. New ideologies, which had already long since superseded the old ones, throw off their last veil and even the dullest people become aware of the changes which they did not notice before.“
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 