The New Clarion

At the website of the Western Representation PAC I found this rather rational post titled ‘Life After the Debt Ceiling Debate.’ I think they’re right in that we can’t expect much more than what we’re getting from the handful of conservatives in the House. I left the following in their comments:“Obama Care, cap and trade, debt limit, environmentalism, gun control, national debt, terrorism, egalitarianism, multiculturalism, pragmatism, diversity, and many more are all consequences. Consequences of false premises held by the educated classes and by some of the public at large.

If the Tea Party confines itself to fighting consequences instead of their causes, it will be fighting an enemy it cannot see. If it can’t see and clearly identify its enemy it cannot defeat it. The movement may win a few battles here and there but will be doomed to lose the war.

I agree that the recent agreement of the debt limit is probably the best we could hope for given the small number of constitutionally committed reps in the House. They need help in 2012. But the help needs to be principled help. The main principle they need to commit to is in the Declaration of Independence, “to protect these rights governments are instituted among men.” This means that if an action violates or threatens to violate a citizen’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness congress shall address it. Conversely, if an action does not violate or threaten to violate those same rights, CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW. I screamed those last four words to emphasize that this is what the founders intended. Any potential candidates need to intend it also. This is the particular flame to hold at their feet.

Capitalism is a social system based on individual rights including property rights where all property is privately owned. Not just some of it. The concept of inalienable rights is a moral principle as well as a practical political one. As the most moral system ever devised, it deserves nothing less than a morally principled defense.

The way for the Tea Party to win the public over is to appeal to their rational self interest. It’s what our founders did. The words ‘inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ are words of rational self interest. They are not words of self sacrifice or any kind of sacrifice. The candidates of 2012 and beyond need to understand the political principle of individual rights and the moral principle on which it is based, rational self interest.”