A while back I wrote that I had set up the Liberty & Freedom Initiative. Well, all is pretty much in place for a launch date in the near future. Goal #1 (foreign policy) of the L&FI is to oppose the sort of neocon thinking that has guided the Republican Party for as long as any of us cares to remember. The Neocons want to police the four corners of the world with your tax dollars and at the risk of the lives of your sons and daughters. Switzerland, the most paranoid home defense country in the world, spends 0.8% of GDP on defense (as opposed to offense). The U.S. spends 4.6% of GDP on offense/defense, six times as much and, in the process, stirs up an ever-larger hornet’s nest of international resentment and hate against America. It’s well past time to throw off the mantle of the global hegemon, the American empire/nation building strategy kicked off by Dick Cheney & Co. in the early 1990s and continued today by the Defending Defense Project.
Goal #2 (domestic policy) of the L&FI is to help return America to the constitutional federal republic form of government intended by our Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Taylor of Caroline, George Mason, and John Randolph. We are talking a format based upon strong states’ rights and weak central government. It is our belief that the majority of Americans would be behind this one/two punch, but do not know how to proceed given the lockstep, arm-and-arm attack by both the Republican and Democratic parties.
A third party approach has some philosophical appeal, but given the structure in Washington today, the third party option is probably a losing hand from the start. This means co-opting either the neocon-controlled Republican Party or the Marxist thought-dominated Democratic Party. Our target is the Republican Party. This will mean gathering a strong coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents who believe a strong constitutionally based federal republic is the way to go. Such coalition would be against foreign entanglements and big government and in favor of a strong states’ rights form of government. The Republican Party umbrella is required, but with fresh, young leadership and a deep, well expressed disdain for both foreign entanglements and big government. The old guard Republican model has proven to be a loser for America. A wrong message has been delivered, and Americans have repudiated the message. This failure has allowed the Marxists to move in and, in the process, turn America into one big fiscal sludge heap.
Constitutionally strong leaders like Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz figure to emerge. (Read Who Speaks for the GOP? and President Paul: Rand Rising?) In order for new leadership to assemble the type of coalition required to rescue the Republican Party, a re-tooled policy platform must be built. The Cato Institute produces just the sort of policy research required. Other smaller groups are also on the right track. The Liberty & Freedom Initiative will help keep you informed and ready to do your own part in changing America. We all need to be involved.
Coalition is the name of the game. A big tent approach to gathering Americans from all backgrounds is a winning hand that deserves to be played out.
Warm regards,
Dick Young
Co-Founder, The Liberty & Freedom Initiative
