Where are the Real Republicans?

Where are the real Republicans? You know, the ones who believe in limited, transparent government, checks and balances, fiscal responsibility, taking care of yourself, minding your own business, strong national defense.

The current crop of Republicans seem to believe in such principles only where they apply to limit the ability of anyone to challenge their power (refusal to comply with Congressional subpoenas; exempting themselves from the FOIA), or where they deny government support to individual people (the current campaign to deny health insurance to uninsured children). But these principles do not seem to apply to limits on the wielding of power as long as those in power are Republicans (waging war with borrowed money; executive secrecy), or where power over individual people is the issue (unsupervised wiretapping; abandonment of habeas corpus). There are dozens of such issues in play where the power over individuals by government and corporate interests has been expanded and where the ability of individuals to challenge that power has been diminished. Folks, this is not conservatism. This is corruption and the consolidation of power for its own sake.

Seems to me that our Founders well understood the impulse to abuse power and set up our system to minimize the damage any individual or group could do. In the past it was Republicans who were most vigilant in guarding against such abuses of power. I know there must be real Republicans out there. I implore you to take back your party. We need real Republicans, just as we need real Democrats. The fundamental impulses of these two parties are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary. Balance is the key, which requires ongoing vigilance and occasional corrective action as well as mutual respect. We'll see what the Democrats do when they get back into power, but right now it is the Republicans who have lost their way and need to get back to their roots.

Public Office is a Sacred Trust

The power to determine our lives is the property of each individual in society. In order to more effectively organize our common affairs, we give that power in trust to our representatives in government to formulate and administer government policies that will uphold our best interests and that of the common good.

When an elected or appointed government official accepts graft in any form, including PAC money, or otherwise sells the benefit of public policy to any individual or group or promotes the interests of any such individual or group to the detriment of his constituents or the common good, that representative has violated the sacred trust that he holds from his constituents.

Government officials such as Mr. Jefferson from Louisiana who betray their trust for money are the obvious ones. But ideologues and partisans such as Mr. Libby who do the same for their cause are no less guilty. They expropriate the power of government, given by the people in trust for the common good, to promote the interests of their financial backers and their partisan supporters. This should be considered the most egregious of all possible offenses for a government official and cause for great shame and ostracism. But looking out at the political field in 2007, it's hard to identify anyone who has not betrayed their trust in one way or another. So it is no wonder that in this environment Mr. Libby and his backers feel that he is the victim, or that Mr. Jefferson also claims to be a victim.

It is always darkest before the dawn, so we can hold out hope that we will somehow find our way out of depravity to a more enlightened political process and government. There are many elements in the formula for enlightened government, such as a general commitment to truth, service and mutual respect, but the first and biggest obstacle to real progress is the utterly corrosive influence of big money in political campaigns. For those who want to make a contribution to the greater good, there is no more pressing issue than this one.