Originally Posted by
acptulsa
Not really, no. To most it represents the War on Drugs, the PATRIOT Act, blue laws, gays being told who they can't marry, war, corporatism, the NSA, asset forfeiture and tax breaks that exclusively spare the rich. As we all know, Washington Democrats are about as complicit in most or all of that, but that's the perception.
None of that has anything to do with liberty at all. In fact, most people associate the Republican Party with the Second Amendment, but figure it's against the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, at a minimum.
This forum has gotten awfully insular if we actually believe the GOP--outside of a libertarian or two who used it to get elected--has any truck with liberty at all, or if we believe people can't tell the truth of the matter by looking. Eight years of Dubya/Cheney made it all abundantly clear to most people what the GOP's true colors are. And it's a realistic view. The PATRIOT Act didn't get created during a Democratic administration, and neither did the DHS. In fact, as we have noted it seems to largely be Republican administrations that grab the guns, too, as the pro-gun people tend to let their guard down when the GOP is in the White House. That makes Republican administrations far, far more dangerous to liberty.
Freedom isn't popular? Nobody knows. All anybody knows for sure is freedom isn't available. And which party does more to place it out of reach is very much a debatable point. Very, very debatable. Yes, we who pay attention can tell the Republicans may have done more to curtail civil liberties in the past, but the Democrats with their wars on smoking, homophobia, religion, borders, small business, peace and tolerance has surpassed it. But when a fair portion of the public doesn't realize half of that is happening and still hasn't figured out the other half does more to imprison all people than to free half from the 'bondage' they figure the other half has been imposing on them, then their perception is skewed.
No, the GOP isn't losing this demographic by being a bastion of freedom and liberty. That's just silly. Yeah, maybe this crop of Millennials is stupid enough to mistake totalitarianism for liberty, like millions of communists before them, and maybe they can't grasp the concept that, as Will Rogers said, you can only have as much liberty as you give. But the simple truth is, if the Republican Party was truly in the habit of offering and delivering liberty, it would be overwhelmingly popular.
Connect With Us