Thursday, July 31, 2008

The American Conservative Party

Yes, there is one, but it’s not one of the Big Two.

As George Wallace famously said, there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two political parties. The upcoming election is a real hold-your-nose-and-vote occasion, the worst that I can remember.

There are really only two things that distinguish the Democrats from the Republicans:

1. The Republicans are willing to kill the enemies of our country (certain selected groups of them, anyway) on occasion, when our national security is in danger. Democrats, in contrast, are unwilling to use violence in defense of our nation anytime, anywhere, ever.
2. The Democrats want to enlarge the government by raising taxes and increasing spending, whereas the Republicans want to enlarge the government by borrowing money and increasing spending.

Oh, yes, one more thing: the Democrats have more movie stars at their inaugural balls.

There are so many things that Democrats and the Republicans can agree on. No child must ever be left behind. Unproven theories about environmental damage require massive government intervention, no matter how costly it turns out to be. The government has a responsibility to find people jobs, manage their child-rearing, and pay for their college education. When anyone is in pain, the federal government must lurch into action.

Both parties want to import millions of people from Mexico to pick our vegetables, mow our lawns, and elect more Democrats to office.

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With all that in mind, I’m please to report the founding of the American Conservative Party. Yesterday we received this email from a reader:

Dear Baron and Dymphna,

It is apparent that my former political party, the GOP, is not out for the interest of our country, but only out for the sole purpose of self-perpetuation. When you put the future of this nation into the hands of only two parties, you have a choice that sometimes seems like the lesser of two evils.

Why should we have to pick between evils? Why can’t we choose freedom, and not which will take less of our freedom? Why should it be dictated by the government — and I mean both candidates — what type of light bulb you should use, based on unproven theories?
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Why do our candidates address the citizens of Europe in their campaign speeches? Are we going to join the EU any time soon? I think not! There are many people in this election year who are utterly frustrated with the choice of candidates that we have.

Out of this frustration the American Conservative Party has been founded. We stand for personal freedom, minimal government, and the upholding of the law. From this you can see that on the most basic tenets of our philosophy we are with you. We allow opinions to be spoken, we encourage free discussion, and we know that the Gates of Vienna does the same.

We don’t expect to make any difference in the upcoming election; however, everything must start somewhere. We are patient and willing to wait for our time to come. We are patriots, and want what is best for our country, as you do.

In order to learn more about them, I took a look around ACP’s website. Here’s their Mission Statement:

The American Conservative Party’s mission is to promote and protect individual rights and freedoms as set forth in the United States Constitution, and to limit the scope of government to the authority set forth in the same.

Our efforts will be focused on building and leading opposition to intrusive government agencies and policies at all levels (federal/state/local); promoting initiatives and ideas that address issues via the private sector; and supporting candidates that understand the primary purpose of government is to protect its citizens from foreign threats, not the individual from himself.

Sounds good to me. Also, here’s their Creed:

The Creed of the ACP is a belief system of how we feel a just government and its citizens should interact.

We Believe:

  • the legitimacy of government exists only as long as it defends human liberty.
  • the origin of human liberty predates government, and therefore liberty cannot be repealed by government.
  • the existence of human liberty presupposes the right to defend it, and the basic right to live begets the rights of self-defense and free expression.
  • the self-ownership evident in human liberty begets basic rights over one’s self and time, and that the right to pursue happiness and self-fulfillment originate here.
  • the boundary of human liberty ends where it transgresses the rights of another. Jurisprudence exists to mediate disputes where the boundaries of more than one individual intersect.
  • the armed forces and law enforcement exist to bolster private defense, not to supplant it.
  • that the American Experiment was born out of these beliefs and that it has resulted in a bountiful gain for the human condition.

And their Foundation and Principles:

Foundation: The individual is sovereign

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just limited powers from the consent of the governed

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.

Principles:

  • Authority of Government
  • Citizenship
  • Citizen Responsibilities

The details for the ACP’s principles may be found at the link.

Major change will only be forced on the Big Two by a significant national catastrophe, or by competition from a third political party. There hasn’t been a serious challenge to the Republicans and the Democrats for a hundred years, since the heyday of the Progressive Party.

When the Progressives melded into the Democratic Party, they dragged it permanently to the Left. If the ACP doesn’t succeed on its own, maybe it could do the same to the Republicans, but in the opposite direction.

Either outcome is all right with me.

12 comments:

Charlemagne said...

Similar parties already exist such as the Constitution Party and the America First Party. If you've never heard of either then you can see the challenges ahead for the new ACP.

eatyourbeans said...

I'm not big on conspiracy theories but there do seem to be powerful forces in this country who would like it to be dissolved in some sort of global union. It's a hellish marriage of post-Marxist visionaries and internationalist plutocrats. They have their trojan horse in a young charmer from Chicago who is running for President. As for the new Conservative party, I'm afraid things will have to get a lot worse before Americans start listening. No doubt things will get worse.

turn said...

HUZZAH, HUZZAH.

Alex said...

When anyone is in pain, the federal government must lurch into action.


This imperative is of the essence of modern liberalism.

Afonso Henriques said...

I'll tell you what is not ok: Let OBAMA WIN!

You see, every vote on this party is a vote away from the Republican Party, that is, more or less, a vote in Obama.

You say that between two parties you have to choose the lesser evil, that's true. But in Europe we have to choose from 5 or more lesser evils, that originates the "Central Block", that meaning that both the left and the right want virtually the same thing, ones being more radical and others softer... that is kind of the diference of Socialim and Communism...

Here, the two big paties are both called "Socialist" and one is considered right wing; Than we have the "left": Communists, and the Leftist Bloc (anarchist) having together some 20% of the votes. Then we have the Right wing party, sometimes called "fascist", for instance, when the minister of defense send a war ship to persue a far left boat who was going to provide free abortions for some Portuguese women... anyway, that party is the CDS or Social Democracy of the CENTRE...

You have a right wing and a left wing party, the choice is plain simple, vote McCain!!! If you don't, you're facilitating the life to Obama, YOU ARE SURRENDING YOUR COUNTRY TO THAT I-can't-call-him-man-can-I-?

But, what do I know? I am no America, do what you will, after all, that's your country, and you can destroy it as you will, like the Germans (huh, bad example) well like many others...

Vlad Z. said...

For various structural issues (winner take all voting, size of nation, electoral college, etc.) third parties really are not viable in the USA. It makes a lot more sense to recapture the GOP from the forces of darkness who control it today.

On the other hand the manifesto is outstanding, and could perhaps serve as the platform for the reformed GOP I'm advocating.

I believe the Republican Liberty Caucus is one organization that is somewhat oriented in this direction already.

Vlad Z. said...

I agree that defeating Obama would be a very good thing. Someone described McCain as the luckiest man since Ringo Starr. That is he breezed into the nomination through the mistakes of others. Now he is going to win my vote (and that of many other conservatives) despite not really earning it - due solely to the pathetic person who is Barack Obama.

As a conservative I can't agree with the revolutionary approach of "lets break everything and then put it back together". Despite the problems we have in the USA there is still a lot that is really great about our nation. As someone else said: "yes, it can get worse".

But I will admit to some fascination with what Obama might mean. There is this thread out there in conservative land that Obama will be very good for the Conservative movement as things that are now soft of disguised will be blatently obvious. The nature of the socialist leadership will be more obvious.

Also, the fact that he is black pays multiple benefits. First we have the "why do we need Affirmative Action any longer, we elected a black man POTUS. Obviously there is no effective barrier to black success in the minds of a majority of our citizens now.

And then, again the backlash thing, when Obama continuously blatently panders to his core group (blacks) that may help awaken some group pride among whites, which is needed if we are ever to reverse the horrible immigration invasion, multi-culti cultural inversion and the rest of the leftist agenda.

So there is this "we have to go through the fire" to get to the fix on the other side and perhaps Obama is the best person to take us there.

Geoffrey de Bouillon said...

Zeke - VFR is one of the primary promoters of the "bring it into the open" scenario. It sounds good, if liberalism and reverse racism are all it is. However, where hard, institutional socialism has taken over, it has never been turned out of office by conventional electoral politics. So I hope that those who subscribe to "bring it into the open" plan are sure of what we all face here, I believe that the participants know, and little further illumination is required. This is why our politics are so toxic now.

Herb Meyer has agood take on the current political environment.

j&c said...

Hello!
Thanks to Baron for posting about the ACP :D

I've been involved with it from almost its inception about 4 months ago. We all understand the obstacles ahead of us, as well as the history of failed third parties. We are trying to learn from their mistakes.

Alfonso, we're not putting a candidate up for election this year, or in the near future. What we're trying to do is build up influence and to get our ideas out there. Even when we do, we're going to start with local elections.

Thanks in advance to anyone who goes to look at the site.

Also, we have all the state sites set up; for example, http://marylandconservativeparty.org. Just put your state's name in for MD.

Thanks again to Baron, and to any visitors!

j&c said...

Just leaving my name, since I didn't realize my Google account was jibberish:
Jacqui Hossfeld

amr said...

In our form of government, the people are sovereign, not the government. The ACP is attempting to return America to that simple belief. Believing that our country should live by our constitution is not a conservative ideal nor a liberal belief, but an American one. Americans overwhelmingly claim that they want the government out of their lives; so then why not join us in our quest for the same.

Afonso Henriques said...

So be it, if you will not help Obama I have nothing against you!