The Freedom Agenda

The Republican Party is doomed. John McCain isn't, but the Republican Party is doomed. It has no unifying philosophy, no will to fight for anything (with the glaring exception of continued military presence in Iraq), and no intellectual strength to convince the public that it is right. The principal cause of the party's electoral success in the last few election cycles (2006 naturally excepted) will shortly become an Achilles' heel. That principal cause was pandering at all levels of the party to socially conservative Evangelical Christians. Pandering to this interest group has created the not unjustified belief that the Democratic Party is the party of individual liberty. To conservatives, this is obviously false, but to the uninitiated, who is more obviously the defender of liberty, the party of free choice in the bedroom or the party of anti-gay marriage constitutional amendments? The party of rights of the accused or the party of "Chuck Norris Facts?" This conundrum demands that the Republicans redefine themselves not as carbon-copies of the Democrats but as unqualified defenders of freedom.



The following issues could define a "Freedom Agenda:"

1. Freedom to Earn: This plank is classical 1898 Republicanism: Lower taxes. All taxes. Not just income taxes.


2. Freedom to Worship (or not): Keep government out of matters of metaphysics. Let people, not judges, decide whether or not "In God we Trust" and "under God" are acceptable to 21st-century sensibilities. Accept their judgements.


3. Freedom to Broadcast: The FCC is nothing more than legalized censorship. Get rid of it. Tell the Parents Television Council to go to Hell along with the Fairness Doctrine. End the "public airwaves" nonsense.


4. Freedom to Surf (the Web): Keep internet commerce free of taxes. Legalize internet gaming.


5. Freedom to Trade: Enact free trade with all allies, such as Colombia. Educate the American people on the benefits of trade.


6. Freedom to Drill: Drill for oil in ANWR and the outer continental shelf. Educate the American people on new technologies that reduce risk to ecosystems and the benefits of increased domestic oil supplies.


7. Freedom to Drive: End CAFE standards. Let the free market determine the primacy of fuel economy in American automobiles. Raise speed limits where prudent.


8. Freedom to Eat: Fried food is banned at the Democrat National Convention (I shit you not). Barack Obama says we can't eat as much as we please. Let the people make their own lifestyle choices. Let them also accept the consequences.
9. Freedom to Smoke: Let the people who choose to smoke tobacco smoke. Call for national dialogue on the legal status of marijuana.
10. Freedom to Drink: End further restriction on the alcohol industry. Reconsider legal age 21.
11. Freedom to Choose: Appoint federal judges who will return abortion law to the legislatures of the states. Accept the judgements of each individual state with respect to itself.
12. Freedom Abroad: Foster, by use of hard (military) and soft (nonmilitary) power, growth of democratic states and institutions across the world.

In the coming months I will elaborate on these as I see fit.