| | What is liberalism?
liberal - adj. - open to new ideas; favorable to progress, improvement, and reform.
Prior to the 20th century, there was something called "classical liberalism". Wikipedia defines that as the belief in the importance of individual freedom. It was the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, and most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Wiki also defines the hallmarks of liberalism as the support of free markets, free trade, and de-centralized decision making.
Then in the 19th century, John Stuart Mill began a reconsideration of the failures of classical economic models (which he claimed erroneously modeled "perfect markets"). leading eventually to a new definition of "economic freedom". The National Center for Policy Analysis suggests that modern liberalism adheres to a strong central government to regulate economic injustices on behalf of the worker - including, where people work, when they work, the wages they work for, what they can buy and sell, the prices they can sell it for, and so on.
Also in the late 1800's, Thomas Hill Green began the movement now known as social liberalism, which has its roots in the view that unrestrained capitalism is a hindrance to true freedom. In other words, it equates political security with economic security. And a strong case can surely be made that suffocating a man's economy is just as dangerous as trampling on his Rights.
The morality of keeping the working class on a sound footing is not lost on most Americans. But today, that picture has become distorted by the creeping influence of a government that seems to value its own continuity more than the Rights of the People. Modern liberalism for the American citizen, has given way to a condition of dependence, wherein individuals rely on the government for almost everything of real value, including income, job security, retirement, healthcare, transportation, and the education of their children.
Dependence is the opposite of liberty. When a person is in a position of dependence, those upon whom he depends have a substantial measure of control over his life. And since power is by nature corruptive, eventually the only way such dependence can be maintained is by coercion. And that is exactly what we see today, as a consequence of a central government that has grown beyond bounds, both in size and in influence. Modern liberalism has become associated with a Statist perversion of the core principles of Democratic government, extending into every aspect of our lives, including the centralized regulation of markets by decree, state administration of social and corporate welfare, and an interventionist monetary policy that simply expands the money supply every time Wall Street gets into trouble.
What happened? How did this dramatic change in the definition of "liberalism" come about?
A big part of the problem, is that corporations and the government, have become one and the same. The government owns the corporations, and the corporations own the government. Today the government owns the biggest insurance company in the world (AIG), and a substantial fraction of the three biggest banks in the country, along with General Motors and so on - and the corporations in turn, "own" the government through a complex network of lobbyists and financial contributions to candidates and elected representatives. If the people doing the regulating, are the same as the ones being regulated, then how can this possibly result in the safeguarding of the interests and economic freedoms of the worker?
We consider that the Democratic Party, the bastion of liberalism, has sold out the American People. It has become beholden to Big Money and special interests, and today it no longer represents the vast majority of its constituents. Democratic Party leaders today, pay lip service to core values, but if you look at their actual behavior you'll see that it's quite different from what comes out of their mouths.
The Democratic Party says it wants to help the People by providing healthcare for all, and yet the legislation it offers does not provide healthcare, it only enriches private insurance companies at taxpayer expense. It says it wants to save the planet by regulating harmful emissions, but in doing so it creates a new derivatives market that allows speculators to profit from the misfortunes of struggling nations, on the backs of the American taxpayers.
The Democratic Party claims it offers the People jobs and opportunity, and yet it uses taxpayer money to advance corporate welfare and economic dependence, and delegate American sovereignty to international bodies with no allegiance to the United States or its People. Even as Democrats were speaking their minds on the issue of privacy, every Democratic Senator but one voted in favor of the Patriot Act, and the new Democratic President has asked the Court to uphold the Telecom Immunity measure, which is an Ex Post Facto law and therefore explicitly un-Constitutional.
Is this the progress you want? Next year when the temporary tax cuts expire, your taxes will go up an average of 1500 dollars apiece for the healthcare bill, and another 1400 dollars for the Cap & Trade bill, and another 700 dollars for the expiring tax relief. And that money will be going to enrich private insurance companies, and big energy companies that speculate in carbon credits. In this time of economic hardship, can you afford to pay an extra 3600 dollars a year in taxes? That money will be withheld from your paycheck, which means your take home pay will decrease by 300 dollars a month. Can you afford it?
One of the main reason for this drain on the People's economy, is that Big Business is in bed with Big Government. Take the healthcare bill for example - both the House and Senate versions of that bill were written in large measure by insurance industry executives and lobbyists! Is it any wonder that the same insurance companies that are somehow mysteriously exempt from anti-trust legislation, will write perqs and loopholes into a bill that so large and complex that our representatives don't even want to read it? But it's even worse than that - if you do a little research, and find out who the witnesses were at the hearings that the House and Senate held on the healthcare situation, you will discover that the majority of the "experts" testifying at those hearings, were lobbyists! They didn't hear from doctors and patients, they heard from lawyers and public policy "experts"! As long as these are the people whispering in our Congressmen's ears, is it any wonder that the People are getting repeatedly shafted by the legislation passed on Capitol Hill?
The solution is to remove the lobbyists from the political equation in Washington DC. The influence peddlers on K Street have their own little economy, which is being paid for out of your pocket. Every time you buy a product at the store, a percentage of the price is being siphoned off to pay the lobbyists who pander on behalf of the corporations that make the product. Are you comfortable with that? Or would you rather see lower prices on the store shelves, and simply stop paying the lobbyists who create the regulations that make those same products more expensive?
The American Populist Party seeks to restore the core values that define classical liberalism. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that All Men Are Created Equal". That we are endowed with certain unalienable Rights - that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed.
These immortal words and timeless principles are a big part of what makes America great. But today's Democratic Party, is the party of coercive control, a plethora of regulations reaching into every aspect of our personal lives, and Big Money that corrupts the actions and decisions of its leaders. They say they're doing it for your benefit, but they're not. All you have to do to see the truth in that, is follow the money. Our government is caught in a tangled web of economic deceit, and you can read all about it on our web site. We want you to know what's going on, and then we'd like you to help us do something about it, because the solution is really quite simple, once you know what the problem is.
It's time for a change. The power and the law-making authority belongs in the hands of the People, not in the hands of lobbyists, appointed bureaucrats, and Executive Branch administrators. If you're a liberal, you're open to new ideas, and favorable to progress and improvement, right? Well, the situation is getting quite desperate, our government is 12 trillion dollars in debt and the dollar is sinking like a rock, and our Federal Reserve system is sucking money out of the economy even as it dilutes the buying power of the American People. Once the richest nation in the world, we are now beholden to Communist China, whose banks are so big that they make ours look like second class pawn shops.
We want to help. We care more about whether you stand for the People and against the corrupt special interests that dominate today's power elite on Capitol Hill, and less whether you happen to be a liberal or a conservative or an independent political thinker. The American Populist Party wants your help - not because you're a liberal, but because you're an American who cares deeply about the future of our country. We consider that it will take politicians with integrity and intellectual honesty to restore some sanity and respectability to our elected representation and our federal government.
We're looking for candidates with guts, and the sincerity and dedication to stand up to the special interests and tackle the issues we face today, with the best interests of the American People as their number one priority, and without being sidetracked by Big Money and corporate influence. Such candidates do exist, and it is time to give them a voice, at the same time we remove the gaggle of weasels from our government and its agencies.
Please take a few moments to read through our Essential Information pages, and browse our video library, and think about ways that you can help, to restore a Constitutional government - Of, By, and For the People.
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