As I did during the Presidential election, I thought I'd just say who I think we ought to be supporting in the US.
I don't think that it can be put much more clearly than this:
I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.
George W. Bush, Press Conference, White House, Tuesday, April 13, 2004
America's most misunderestimated President hits the nail on the head once again.
You see, I simply don't think that President Obama believes that. I don't think that Bill Clinton did, or FDR either. Democrats generally don't. But I think that Ronald Reagan did, and so do most Republicans, generally.
I think that Democrats would agree that freedom is important. They'd pay lip service to it, and more. They'd probably mean it. But they would stress a connection with one's fellow man, the need for community and so on, before speaking as GWB does here. Even if they agreed in principle with the statement (which isn't a one-off), in practice they would place freedom well down the batting order of importance in weighing up the worth of various social goods. In practice, they would place other goods - public education, public health, public welfare, the needs that ultimately build the supposed need for a welfare state, before the importance of the individual's right to choose for and live for himself. It's a genuine and legitimate difference of opinion, but a vital and a fundamental one, and I am with the Republicans and against the Democrats.
This manifests itself in the desire for a smaller state, for lower taxes, for less regulation amongst Republicans, and a greater sympathy for such things amongst Democrats. It's for reasons like this that I am so pleased to read Tim's post to the effect that ConHome readers prefer the Republicans to the Democrats 4 to 1 (although Tim is a bit unfair to include Dan Hannan in his list of Obamacons; I criticised him at the time, but he has publicly recanted..!). And let us not be mistaken - if America does not advance the cause of freedom, then the world will slip backwards into more bureaucracy and socialism, because the most advanced society on the planet is the one currently pushing the cause of freedom most strongly. If they relent, the rest of us will follow.
As I said when McCain campaigned, I say again - the Republicans are far from perfect. They have taxed too much - but their instincts are generally right and their opponents are far, far worse. They have infringed on freedoms of late - the Patriot Act not least - but their instincts are generally right and their opponents are far, far worse. So I say, loudly and proudly,
COME ON THE GOP.
