In The Pass

Christian Libertarian Oriented Commentary on Current Events

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Politics above policy?

Overheard on the radio the other was Newt Gingrich who made a favorable comment about people who put good law above politics or principle, or words to that effect.

Wait a minute. I thought we sent people into government for the expressed purpose of voting the principles that we sent them there for. What a crock! And this from the guy who was without a doubt the most effective expositor of "conservative" principles.

Anyone without the conviction to vote his or her principles while in office has no business being there. Regardless of who says its OK.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Libertarianism and Lies

I caught this article refered by one of my favorite blogs. From the wonderful people at Inside Bay Area, comes this sweety:
Remember, too, that we invaded Iraq primarily because we were told Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat with his weapons of mass destruction. Now the Bush administration acknowledges that wasn't so, but insists there were (are?) other reasons to invade. History is malleable.
I guess history is malleable for this author in any event, since the only advocates of the "immediate threat" came from the left, not the right. Bush's argument was that there was no immediate threat, but that the threat would come eventually, but without warning.

What remains to be seen was why the referral was posted on the libertarian blog. As the focus of the article was the manipulation of public opinion by deciet for "big brother" in the Orwellian vein; this is more than a little ironic.

The rationality of Bush's position is suspect enough, why lie in an attempt to make it worse? It only ruins the credibility of the reporter, and does nothing to address the grievance spoken against.

Libertarians everywhere should be the bastions of truth and trust, not the repeaters of stupid lies that make our own positions look like so much spin. There is a tendency for people to jump on the bandwagon for anyone who bashes the "enemy." But this is foolish, as we've said before. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend, but often; just another enemy to be fought on another day.

Let not the truth be hostage to your ideology.