No, the statement is not intended to shock. It is a statement of fact; an indictment of neoconservative Straussian ideology that declares that we must lie to the population to save it; and it's becoming so pathetically consistent in Republicans of all stripes that it simply must be pointed out.
(Please no "Democrats lie too" responses -- this isn't a competition, and my DL colleagues have done a great job dissecting their spin, especially vis-a-vis Obama's foreign policy choices and abandonment of his progressive base).
Let's start with the Libertarian Party's own Republican, Bob Barr -- who was "gifted" to us by the Libertarian Party's Republican "leaders" Stewart Flood and Bill Redpath:
Sen. Chambliss is closer to the Libertarian position on a number of key issues
Propaganda chiefs always know that when one plans to lie, start with a massive lie. Bob Barr doesn't disappoint with that whopper.
shrinking the size of government
A lie.
Every single budget that George W. Bush put through to Congress was larger than the last. Every single budget increased federal employment, federal spending and the federal deficit. Saxby Chambliss voted for every single one of them.
On civil liberties, Chambliss voted to award DHS new powers to search without traditional warrants, and he also was the champion of that very libertarian and government-shrinking constitutional amendment -- the anti-flag burning amendment -- which would put the government in charge of criminalizing unpopular expression.
He also led the effort to override "states' rights" by supporting Bush's anti-gay constitutional amendment.
If that's "shrinking government," then I'm a heterosexual casanova.
less government spending
See above. Another important law of propaganda -- repeat the lie often in different forms.
abolishing the IRS
Chambliss has been challenged, repeatedly, by Libertarians who have presented language of a bill to do just this, and cannot be bothered to introduce, co-sponsor, or pass it.
replacing the income tax with a consumption tax
Another clever lie -- asserting that something is "libertarian" when it is not. The Libertarian Party does not support taxation -- period. We believe that taxes are theft, whether they're based on income or on consumption.
A consumption tax, with a requisite massive government bureaucracy to enforce, penalize and harass, is no different in a Libertarian view than an income tax with all the same characteristics. And does anyone seriously believe such a consumption tax wouldn't come with an IRS of its own?
ending the government bailouts
Chambliss voted for the TARP package, voted in favor of measures to allow the AIG, WaMu, and other federal "backstopping" programs, and has decided that "bailout" means "bravely" standing against a loan to the US automakers that, in its entirety, is smaller than the INTEREST the federal government will be paying on the AIG bailout alone.
"Ending bailouts," my derriere.
there is one other major consideration: the legislative branch of our government should not be a rubber stamp for the executive branch
Which is why Barr danced a jig and got out the vote for Nancy Pelosi in 2006, right?
Please. How stupid do they think you are?
The answer -- very stupid.
Because now, the GOP machine that was silently casting "aye" votes throughout the entire bailout of AIG ($250 billion and counting), Saudi-royal-family-invested Citigroup ($380 billion and counting), the other 8 major national banks ($300 billion and counting), Washington Mutual ($50 billion), Wachovia ($10 billion), and an additional $3 trillion in additional "guarantees and backstops," has found religion...
It has decided that bailouts of failed businesses are BAD and must be opposed -- when you happen to be a business that actually does something productive, like building durable goods. Suddenly, free markets are GOOD!
One GOP Senator thunders that "nationalizing failing businesses is bad precedent!" Unless they're banks, I suppose.
A group of them held a press conference to denounce "bailouts for failed enterprises." Every single one of them supported TARP and have blocked efforts to investigate or set restrictions on that program.
The Republicans aren't opposed to bailouts, so much as they are opposed to smaller bailouts that help groups they don't like (blue collar workers, union workers) versus groups they do like (wealthy contributors at financial institutions).
Anybody who believes this sort of pathology is a path to success for the country is insane. Anybody who believes that these sorts of practices are what the LP needs to succeed should be thrown out of their leadership positions post-haste.
The emBARRassment (as I refer to Election 2008) was our first, and last, chance to learn this. Persisting with it, and the other Republican tactics (i.e. the thought-crime persecution of Angela Keaton), is a recipe for irrelevance.
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