Kakki wrote:
<snip>
>
> I may be deluded but it has always been my understanding that a true
> Republican, one who sticks to the original idealogy, is someone who
> staunchly believes in individual rights to live your life the way you
> choose. I think the original Republicans were more like the Libertarians of
> today. It seems that at some point there were a few factions that glommed
> onto the party and gave it a bad name. We all know what those factions are.
> Their original ideology of upholding individual freedom has been greatly
> perverted by the sway of those factions. There have also been factions that
> glommed onto the Democratic party over the years which have also undermined
> their ideology.
I believe this is pretty much on the mark, Kakki. As one who has voted almost
exclusively for Libertarian Party candidates for about as long as the party has
existed, I can say they support freedom and freedom of choice for everyone...
but do not believe in using the absolute force of government to make people pay
for what someone else wants to do. In short, libertarians do not believe in the
use of force except in cases of self defense. They do not believe that a
government or the majority has a right to do something that an individual
doesn't have the right to do. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of
people in the USA - people on the Left and the Right - believe the government
is an appropriate tool to make others do things they would not do of their own
free will. Ironically (IMO), it's that issue of force that is at the basis of
all the real heat in politics, i.e. people view the government as this big-ass
hammer and they figure if *their* side doesn't win, they will get whacked with
the same force they want to use on others. Quite puzzling to me....
don
