drunken sailors: part 4

i am actually becoming rather encouraged by the discussions brewing on some of the better conservative websties regarding the spendthrift ways of the republican leadership (in both houses of congress, as well as in the executive offices). Dan Mitchell posts on the Townhall.com C(Conservative)-Log "soapbox":

Townhall columns from Jonah Goldberg, Jacob Sullum, and Mona Charen should make any conservative nauseous. They expose a Republican Party - at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue - that has cast aside principles in an effort to buy votes. At some point, conservatives probably will realize that the long-term interests of the nation are best served by a GOP defeat. Can anyone suggest another approach to cleanse the ideological corruption that infests the Republican Party?

he then summarizes each of their fine posts.

interestingly, thought not unpredictably, the comments following Mitchell's post have turned into a discussion regarding libertarianism and the Libertarian Party (LP). that often seems to be the (rightful) first place fiscal conservatives turn when fed-up with the Republican Party. however, the current LP is beholden to special interests that are out-of-step with mainstream desires - notably drug legalization / decriminalization.

i suggest there could be breakaway elements of the Republican and Libertarian parties which might recombine into something which holds to fiscal responsibility and a certain set of conservative core social values. the Libertarians would have to give up their more controversial issues as would the Republicans. though personally i am in favor of drug decriminalization and against all abortions, i would be willing to lay down both issues for the time being - in order to stabilize our runaway government.

that's good imagery: a runaway government. what does a governor do? it regulates a system - be it a machine or an administration - by applying a dampening or attenuating effect on that system. a runaway governor would do so to the point of causing that system to cease functioning efficiently or perhaps even completely. does anyone really desire this, save for the few true anarchists among us? well, yes - they and their self-loathing America-hating brethren. but even most of those - if truly pressed - would have to admit that an America with no money is an America which can't undo the "wrongs" they believe it has perpetrated. in order to redistribute wealth, there must be wealth to redistribute.

i call on all clear-thinking leftists, liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to band together for the purpose of supporting legislators and an executive which would:

1. take off the current budget all entitlement (social security, medicare) revenue. this would have the effect of showing the true federal receipts.


2. balance the resulting budget with REAL figures (estimates agreed upon by a non-partisan agency).


3. allocate some portion (10-20%) of that budget to debt retirement (eliminating the $8 trillion national debt over time).


4. pass a constitutional amendment requiring the budget to be henceforth balanced except in time of national emergency (requiring a supermajority vote).

THEN and only then can we reasonably talk about dealing with entitlement spending. so long as it is mired in the current-year budget, the true picture is near impossible to envision.

are ye with me?