Political Liberalism, governmental imbalance, and the Deceptive Quality

In my June 15, 2007 AFB article, What is Balanced Government?, I wrote the following concerning my theory of an internal healing quality inherent to Balanced Govenment:

... Having put quite a lot of thought to it, I have concluded that there's a quality inherent to balance that is somewhat elusive under a mere cursory investigation. For my own purposes I have denominated this "the non-deceptive quality." For the sake of putting a definition to it, I will say this: Balanced Government does not abide deception, or the practice thereof. ...

I quote that passage from the article because it was brought to mind as I read this commentary by Tom Tancredo over at the Team America site. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The opponents of immigration enforcement have stooped to a new low in Arizona with their latest attempt to undermine the state's workplace verification laws. After exhausting their usual tactics, they are resorting to outright and intentional deception of the voters. This November, Arizonans will vote on Proposition 202; which will be described to them as such:

"Stop Illegal Hiring" Act is an initiative designed to crack down on unethical businesses who hire illegal immigrants. This initiative targets employers who hire workers and pay under-the-table in cash, which fuels illegal immigration in Arizona. It revokes the business license of employers who knowingly or intentionally hire illegal immigrants. This initiative increases penalties for identity theft, as illegal immigrants often use stolen identities to conceal their undocumented status...

If this were all I knew about Prop 202, I'd wholeheartedly support it; and the initiative backers are hoping that voters won't learn anything about the initiative beyond the title.

Read the rest of the article to find out what the real motive behind this proposition is.

My purpose here is not to criticize for the sake of criticizing, particularly someone I greatly admire like Mr. Tancredo, but his rhetoric implies that he gives credit where credit is not due. I understand why Tancredo would feel compelled to use the language contained in the opening sentence, but isn't what these liberals are doing purely consistent with the inherent nature of their political ideology? What is political liberalism in truth but deception? Have Arizona liberals really "stooped to a new low" in attempting to deceive the People of Arizona into throwing down the very walls which they themselves only recently erected for their future security? It may be a new tactic, or one we're not used to liberals employing to achieve their ends, but it's in no way a "stooping to a new low" for liberals, as if to say that this new method is below even them.

My impression is that Tancredo's rhetoric, well intended and righteously indignant as it is, serves to illustrate the vital necessity of our accepting the reality of what liberalism truly is, and to what extent it will go in order to achieve its ends. Until that time we cannot begin to understand by what means we must restrain it, given that it cannot and will not restrain itself; that it must be restrained, if it is to be restrained at all, by a force outside itself.

I say to you in the words of the Psalmist that liberals are the heathen of the earth raging and imagining a vain thing saying, let us break their bands assunder and cast away their cords from among us.

Incidentally the exact same thing applies to the problem of Islam. Like liberalism Islam is an inherently deceptive belief system which literally knows no bounds to its ability and willingness to deceive by any and all means in pursuit of its ultimate ends. Islam has but one objective and it will stop at nothing to achieve it. The same applies to liberalism.

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The surest, most effective and enduring way to advance Social Conservative causes

I know how important it is for social conservatives to hold fast to their principles. I know this because I am one, or, more properly, I used to consider myself one. But that has all changed...

If you're a social conservative, or consider yourself to be one, yet you experience a level of discomfort and realize the problems involved with advancing social conservative causes via the liberal method, take a good hard look at this AFB Appeal to Social Conservatives.

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How "conservative" is the Sooner State?

Fellow AFBer Mike Tams indicates here that he is surprised that Republicans in my state went for John McCain in the GOP primaries on Super Tuesday. I guess I understand that he's surprised by this, but I've mentioned numerous times that Oklahoma is only conservative "relative to." Indeed, I'm the most conservative Okie I know, by far.

Anyway, if you want to know how "conservative" Okies are in general, look at how strict our requirements are for registering to vote in Oklahoma:

HOW TO REGISTER

You must fill out a voter registration application form. Voter registration applications are available at your County Election Board, post offices, tag agencies, libraries and many other public locations. You will be offered a voter registration application when you get your driver's license and when you apply for assistance at some government agencies. (emphasis mine)

There you have it. Oklahoma is such a bastion of conservatism that we just cannot wait to get all those conservative residents applying for state assistance signed up to vote in our elections.

Still surprised Mike? ;-)

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Webster's receives "Excellent Blog Award"

I need to acknowledge this as a matter of good form for the moment. I'll get back to you later with my list of ten excellent blogs, which slightly differs from the others out there.

I want to say thank you to Mike T. over at the AFB, and to Vanishing American (Wow!) for naming Webster's on their respective lists. Also, thanks to John Savage over at Brave New World Watch who gave Webster's the equivalent of "honorable mention" (I hope I'm not misrepresenting John's mention) in his post on the subject. Personally I think John has it about right for a couple of reasons, (1) I don't post frequently enough, and (2) most of my postings are not as "meaty" as they should be to qualify Webster's as an excellent blog. But I am working on improving on that, rest assured.

And on that last note, I've been thinking a lot lately about the call going out to conservatives to save the Republican party as a vehicle for conservatism. Without getting too deep into it right now, let me say that perhaps I need to be reminded (or convinced) why it is I'm supposed to be trying to help save the Republican party? It seems to me that in doing so I'm being asked to yield yet more ground to the liberal elements within the Republican party which incessantly work like a cancer to eat away at conservative principles, installing liberal principles in their rotted out places; that it is not the liberal factions which are being asked to back off a bit, but the conservatives. Can someone explain to me at what point in this process the cancerous effects of liberalism cease to make further advances within the Republican party?

At what point does the congregation rise up and demand adherence to the principles of orthodoxy on the threat of leaving the church en masse?

I suppose each of us has his breaking point, or his tolerance threshold. In the case of the Repbublican party and its continual slide into liberalism, I think I've just about reached mine.

I'll try to get back to this subject later, but in the meantime, I'd appreciate any input you might have, agreeable or disagreeable to my main premise. Thanks.

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Webster's Recommended Blog Posts partially updated

I finally updated that section with some fresh posts this morning, as well as removed an equal number of the old ones. I'll continue to add more once I've had a chance to make a few more rounds. Also, see my AFB post from this morning, Fred Thompson and Balanced Government.

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Updated Webster's

Just a quick note to inform you of a few items added at Webster's the last few days.

First, I've added a few articles to Webster's Recommended Blog Posts, to include Mike's AFB interview with Dr. Kevin Gutzman, Herme's latest at Wise Man's Heart -- Another reason women should not be in the military, The People United over at VA's, and Why I support Fred Thompson from the Maritime Sentry. Be sure to check those out.

Also, I've added yet another article to Select VFR Articles in the left sidebar, The transparent intellectual fraud that is Darwinism. Another great article (and discussion) that we've all come to expect over at VFR.

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Which is more important?

Over at the AFB Mike discusses the importance of virtue in a free society. Mike and I have discussed this topic many times privately. And of course he knows that I agree with the contents of his post. Mike concludes the entry with these thoughts:

Virtue is indeed indispensable for healthy families and a free Republic. But don't count on your children hearing that from anybody other than you, their parent (or Aunt, Uncle, or other relative). It's incumbent upon us to ensure that our children have a moral, as well as an intellectual foundation before they go out into the world. I would submit that a child with no moral foundation is at a greater risk than a child who cannot read, yet you'll never see a "program" designed to correct the former deficiency. (emphasis mine)

Indeed. Reading is important, but religion is indispensable, as Noah Webster said:

EDUCA'TION, n. [L. educatio.] The bringing up, as of a child, instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.

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The Late Great GOP Debate

Mike has an interesting post up concerning the latest GOP debate over at the AFB. Like Mike I didn't catch the debate. Unlike Mike I have yet to read the transcript.

I will say this re Romney "On abortion I was wrong": That's about the best answer I personally could ever wish to hear. I think it was unnecessary and uncalled for, and a little bit insulting to be honest, to scold everyone for seeking a candidate who never made a mistake, but whatever.

Is it ok to seek someone who's made fewer mistakes by comparison, or, someone whose mistakes are or have been less damaging to conservatism? That is, the only political force standing in the way of the totally unacceptable and intolerable absolute dominance of the destructive ideology of liberalism.

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Tams lands interview with Gutzman

Don't miss Mike's interview with Dr. Kevin Gutzman, author of the book Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution, posted over at the AFB.

Here's a snippit:

MT: The contributors and readers of this blog are firm believers in the principles of balanced government. What are your thoughts on the prospects of balanced government as a political movement?

KG: By “balanced government,” I presume that you have in mind a situation in which each branch of the federal government is in the proper relationship to the others? I agree with the great Virginia senator and political theorist John Taylor of Caroline, who said that far more important than checks and balances — some form of separation of powers — within the federal government was the principle of division of powers — the assignment of responsibility in only a few areas to the center, with most reserved to the states — between the states and the federal government. Alas, this most significant of American governmental principles is now largely abandoned. However, one can hope for its resuscitation, and the first step toward that goal is to educate Americans at large about their real constitutional heritage. (emphasis added)

Respectfully to Dr. Gutzman, his presumption is a bit of a simplification as to what we mean by the term Balanced Government. I'll have to come back to this later when I have more time.

Dr. Gutzman also says that he thinks Constitutional amendments are an underutilized tool for the correction of defects in our governing systems earlier in the interview. I'm in complete agreement with this assessment. We've been so conditioned to believe, or so it seems, that the amendment process is a dangerous innovation on our liberties and the form of government structured to preserve and protect them, that out of fear that all will be lost, many times and most times, and at critical times when the process is most necessary, we flat refuse to use it.

I would also remind folks, once again, that Article V provides for two methods of amendment, the second of which, as both Mike and I (and others) have pointed out elsewhere, is, particularly in the situation we find ourselves now, the preferable one.

Thanks to Mike for taking the time to do the interview and sharing it with us. And thanks to Dr. Gutzman as well. Y'all go get his book.

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Your attention please to the AFB

Whenever anyone brings up the topic of the fourteenth amendment, my ears, eyes, and my whole being perks up, as some of you may have already noticed.

Well, my fellow AFBer, Mike Tams has put up an interesting post concerning the fourteenth amendment over at the AFB which I've added a comment to. I'll say nothing else at this point except, y'all go check it out.

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