Opportunity lost

In thinking back over my considerable years, it seems to me that the only prior time that comes close to matching our current feelings of dissatisfaction, fear, and helplessness was during the Cold War. Then, as now, the American people were uncomfortably waiting for catastrophe to strike, and trying hard to ignore that threat. Back then it was fear that someone would trigger nuclear war. We knew that any one of a number of aggressive or even accidental acts could unleash a series of programmed responses that could literally destroy nations. Today, the threats hanging over our heads are less distinct and far more diverse.

In my conversations with others, I think it is fair to say that we now have as much fear of what our own government might directly do to us as we have of outside threats. We have been tricked and coerced into loss of liberties in the name of security, and then been forced to realize that our government just cannot protect us from outside threats. Even worse, we have come to understand that our government has become uncontrollably powerful and oppressive, and that it has, through aggression and bullying, created outside threats to us.

Libertarians have been warning for many years that powerful government will inevitably become more greedy, power-hungry, oppressive, and dangerous. We've been warning that asking government to do anything, even programs that seem beneficial or necessary, will only lead to more centralized power and the corruption that grows from it. This isn't news, but we've been ignoring these facts ever since the Founders took their best shot at writing a Constitution designed to restrict the size and power of the government they were creating. Almost from the beginning, we have been allowing small constitutional violations in the name of expediency, emergency, or the mistaken belief that government can solve problems. Those constitutional violations have served as precedent for even more broad and grievous violations, until now no day passes when our Constitution is not violated by Congress, President, or government bureaus. Our Constitution has been rendered meaningless by the people we've elected to office.

The U.S. Constitution was written and enacted to protect the people of the U.S. from our government. Because it is ignored by those we've elected to office, we have NO protection against our government. Once upon a time, we were taught, and deluded ourselves into believing, that the 3 branches of government would each protect against violations by another branch... that Congress would rein in a straying President, or that the Supreme Court would stop constitutional violations by Congress. That no longer works... our President routinely, through signing statements, ignores or reinterprets legislation passed by Congress. Congress routinely ignores Supreme Court rulings by passing legislation with slightly different language, knowing that it will take years before the Court can rule on the new legislation.

Of course, all three branches of government have become politicized to the extreme, effectively "controlled" by the two old political parties, who collude, through both action and inaction, to centralize still more power and to eliminate political competition.

We have reached a point at which we have no idea what our government might do next. NO IDEA. Would it surprise anyone if our President attacked Iran or North Korea without even asking for a declaration of war from Congress? Would it surprise anyone if Congress just laid back and bitched about it but did nothing? Anyone who would be surprised just hasn't been paying attention. Our Presidents have initiated a number of wars without congressional approval, and Congress has done NOTHING to stop or even slow down such actions.

How did we get to this point?

The 2006 elections illustrate just how disastrous American politics have become. Fed by supposed anti-war sentiment, we "tossed out" Republicans and elected Democrats to control of both the House and Senate. It was a slim control, but to listen to the incessant talking heads, is was revolutionary. Has anything changed? Has the war ended? No, it's been "surged" to even higher levels. Can we at least see an end to the war? No. Has the President lost his ability to ignore Congress? Not even close. NOTHING has changed for the better.

I think a great many Americans have finally come to the realization that our elections control NOTHING. Regardless who the Republicans and Democrats choose as candidates, NOTHING will change. We will again be faced with two choices, trying our best to believe that one is less evil than the other. Even though we know that their promises mean nothing, most Americans will choose the candidate that says what they want to hear, ignoring what they don't want to hear. The candidates and their parties will demonize each other, declaring that choosing them is critical to taking our nation in the right direction. We will know that they are deceiving us, and we'll look toward the one who may be deceiving us least.

Yes, there will be an alternative candidate (or two) on the ballot, but Americans will undoubtedly again fail to express an alternative vote. Most will accept the lesser of two evils, deluding themselves into thinking that they must vote against one of the two powerful candidates. Those who have called themselves Republicans will convince themselves that no matter how bad their own candidate is, they must vote for him to try to keep a Democrat from winning. Those who call themselves Democrats will use the same illogic and vote for a candidate they know in their hearts is just more of the same.

The fact that should be obvious to all Americans by now is that voting for ANY Democrat or ANY Republican is a vote to just continue the degradation of our nation. Politically, the only hope of getting this nation moving in the right direction is the Libertarian Party. I'm often asked, with obvious doubt in the question, whether the Libertarian Party can ever become a political force. The question really being asked is... can the LP become a force without my support? Can the party become strong enough, without me, for me to support?

The answer is NO... the LP cannot become politically strong without the support of those people who agree with its principles. There is no doubt in my mind that more Americans support what the LP stands for than either of the old parties. Polls support that contention, yet very few of those people in agreement will support the LP in any way... with contributions, activism, or even votes. It often seems as if Americans are unwilling to do anything to save their nation from inevitable decline except talk about it.

The Libertarian Party and its many state and local affiliates have, together, done a remarkable job of giving the American people an alternative... year after year, at the great personal expense of a few activists. Year after year, we recognize the effect we're having... changing minds on individual issues, educating ever more people about what we stand for and why. Intellectually, the American people have followed libertarians... toward anti-war, toward not interfering in the affairs of others, toward legalizing marijuana, toward gun rights, toward stopping eminent domain abuse, toward school choice, and on many other issues. Most Americans now understand the word "libertarian". In a recent forum where I represented the Libertarian Party, both the Republican and Democratic representatives used the word "libertarian" in descriptions of their own positions (they lied). Libertarian positions have become "mainstream" to the American people, yet those same people cannot bring themselves to support the very party that best represents what they want.

This, then, is the conundrum that may represent, to the American people, great opportunity lost. Will we stand idly by while two thoroughly corrupted parties drive our nation into the ground? Will Americans ever comprehend that liberty cannot be held without effort?