Refocusing the Republican Party- Part IV

Seventy-six years ago Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a nation ravaged by depression and gripped in fear. He said of the nation's troubles: "They concern, thank God, only material things." Forty years ago, Richard Nixon told a nation torn apart by the Vietnam War: "Our crisis today is in reverse- we find ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit." Today, we see our material wealth dissolving and our spirits sagging. In this environment, it is insufficient to only focus on economic stimulus. The key to all is a restoration of the American spirit- the spontaneous (i.e., the personal natural self generated) pursuit and expression of liberty, freedom, equality, justice, creativity, generosity, ingenuity and responsibility. Government policies should not suppress these fruits of the American spirit. As the words in a contemporary Christian song say "While we teach prosperity the first thing to prosper should be inside of me."

Lincoln warned us against surrendering our moral liberty and freedom to an overly intrusive government. "This is the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all- gives hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty, none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost." A. Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861, as reprinted in The Essential Lincoln: Speeches and Correspondence (ed. Orville Burton, Hill and Way 2009, p. 119).

It is one thing for a generous people to willingly provide for certain necessities related to forming "a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity [e.g., national defense, education, providing for the aged and those temporarily or permanently disabled] by personally giving directly to such causes or through a level of reasonable taxation. But, when more and more of the fruits of a person's labor is taken by the government in the name of an ever broadening definition of the "common good," in the form of more economic "entitlements" (a concept not found in the constitution) then tyranny has set in and leads to the collapse of a just society.

To summarize the ideas explored over the past four weeks, the Republican Party needs to refocus by accepting and advocating that:

1. The Declaration of Independence is the core of our principles and focuses our thoughts on public policy and personal goals.

2. The right of a person to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is more important than government imposition of the false goal of equal economic and materialistic well-being.

3. The key to a healthy America are government policies and individual goals that foster and encourage the American Spirit- the spontaneous (i.e., the personal natural self generated) pursuit and expression of liberty, freedom, equality, justice, creativity, generosity, ingenuity and responsibility.