The Republican
The Republican is often accused of favoring the greedy rich at the expense of the poor and the oppressed. The truth, however, is an altogether different matter extending quite beyond traditional partisan notions of rich and poor.
The Republican, in essence, is defined by his commitment to independent, self-reliant free-willing individualism over state control or collective paternal determinism. He does not believe that man is primarily ruled by race, religion, color, creed, national origin, or other outside forces beyond his control. He believes that men are responsible for their own actions, and that they operate best in a climate of maximum freedom.
The liberal Democrat, by sharp contrast, generally believes that man is not in substantial control of his own life; that he is subject to many “structural” outside forces; that man is a victim requiring generous government assistance, whether that help comes in the form of food stamps, government-backed collective bargaining agreements, or foreign aid.
Throughout the many vital issues of the day, the stark differences between the two camps can easily be discerned on the basis of the individual vs. collective, free-will vs. deterministic philosophical dichotomies. Merely consider the issues of gun control, taxation, and federalism. In each of these areas, note how the Republican position stems directly from his defining core principles of individualism and self-reliance.
On the issue of gun control, the Republican supports the constitutional right to bear arms. He believes in his right to self-defense: to defending his home, family, life and property. He believes that individual firearm ownership on the part of responsible citizens will only serve to deter violent criminals from causing harm. The
Republican does not trust federal or local law enforcement officials to prevent all criminals from acting violently. The private citizen must bear some responsibility in looking out for his own personal welfare and protecting his legitimate interests.
The liberal Democrat, on the other hand, strongly supports gun control measures. He does not trust the average private citizen to protect himself through gun ownership. He would much rather severely restrict firearm ownership or ban it altogether, allowing the government to be exclusively responsible for protecting individual citizens everywhere, all year, twenty-four hours a day.
On the issue of taxation, the Republican believes that the government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn. Republicans do not want to deprive citizens of their hard-earned income in order to redistribute it toward social causes. The Republican believes that the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.
Again, as in all other issues, the individual is supreme, individual rights are held in high esteem, and the virtue of free-willing self-reliance is gloriously extolled.
The liberal Democrat, on the other hand, generally prefers higher taxes. He believes that the centralized state–the leaders of the greater community–are better equipped to allocate scarce resources properly. Here the Democrat is concerned with the centralized governing and planning of the macro-economy through the allocation of capital by way of tax collection and state spending.
Finally, on the issue of encroaching federalism, the Republican’s adamant, intransigent position is that of preserving and protecting local self-government and restraining the predatory tactics of the intrusive, expansive federal government. Republicans favor a smaller, more docile government, because they believes that a limited state is much more conducive to the defense of individual liberty and the maintenance self-reliance.
The liberal Democrat, of course, tends to favor an expansive federal government with centralized governmental authority, because such an eventuality conforms to his collectivist premise: the idea that “we are all in this boat together,” or that the state is merely “one family looking out for each other’s interests.”
In each of these instances–guns, taxes and federalism–the stark differences between the Republican and the Democrat stand out in bold relief. In each of these instances, the Democrat endorses collectivism, shared responsibility and outside forces, while the Republican consistently opts for positions most conducive to his core principles of rugged individualism and fervent self-reliance, which ultimately serve to define both his politics and his character.
In the CNMI, we should all be true Republicans.
