Do you ever wonder why conservative Republican
journalists and commentators support a man like
George W. Bush -- someone whose proposals for
foreign aid, health care, education, farm
subsidies, and constitutional violations
contradict everything the conservatives claim to
stand for?


They suffer, I believe, from a sickness.


A Republican sickness.


Like a virus, it can start very subtly, but
eventually it takes over one's whole being.


An individual believes in small government, low
taxes, and the free market. He decides that
Republicans seem slightly more freedom-loving than
Democrats. At least, that's what the Republicans
claim.


So he supports the Republican candidates. In fact,
he quickly comes to decide that good Democrats are
so rare that he might as well vote the straight
Republican ticket.


And he comes to believe that only when the
Republicans have complete control of the
government will he finally get the small
government, low taxes, and free market that he
longs for.


   Contradictions?


He sees Republican positions that are opposite to
those goals -- such as the insane War on Drugs,
tough-on-crime violations of the Constitution, and
reckless military spending. But someone persuades
him that those measures are essential to establish
a framework in which we can have small government,
low taxes, and a free market.


From time to time, he notices Republican
politicians promoting big-government programs --
like corporate welfare, farm subsidies, and
foreign aid. But he becomes persuaded that some of
this is necessary "in today's political climate"
in order to remain in office. And if the
Republicans don't remain in office, how can we
ever hope to have small government, low taxes, and
a free market?


By this time, the sickness is well advanced, but
he still retains some control over his thoughts
and actions.


   Advanced Stage


However, in 1992 the virus exploded inside him --
triggered by an event from which he has never
recovered . . .


Bill Clinton was elected President.


This man, who seemed to embody everything bad
about the Democrats, won the Presidency, won it
handily, and proceeded to smirk and waffle and
lord it over all those who want small government,
low taxes, and a free market.


Not only that, he had a wife who seemed to make
Lucrezia Borgia look like Sister Teresa.


But Bill Clinton's worst attribute -- the quality
that drove Republicans over the edge into complete
irrationality -- was that, no matter how many sins
he committed, _he got away with them_.


Even when Clinton was nailed dead to rights for
having sex with a White House intern, the
Republicans couldn't bring him down.


From that point on, the Republican couldn't clear
his head, evaluate what his party was doing, and
think objectively. Now, to concede _any_ failing
by a Republican would imply that Bill Clinton
wasn't so bad after all. And that simply couldn't
be admitted.


Al Gore, as Clinton's surrogate in the 2000
election, _had_ to be defeated. Every future
Democrat _has_ to be defeated. Every Republican _h
as_ to be supported. To do otherwise is to
acknowledge that Bill Clinton might not be much
worse than your garden-variety, everyday
Republican political hack.


   This Is your Brain . . .


In one tragic case history, a conservative
columnist decided in 2000 to run for Congress as a
Libertarian. She wanted to take enough votes away
from Connecticut Republican Congressman
Christopher Shays to make him lose his seat -- to
punish him for voting against Clinton's
impeachment. But the Libertarians refused to
endorse her.


Suffering from a particularly severe case of the
Republican sickness, she wrote two nationally
syndicated diatribes condemning Libertarians for
believing what she had professed to believe only
two weeks earlier.


Young people, please pay attention to this tragic
story -- and resolve to resist peer pressure.
Don't let this happen to you.


   The Terminal Stage


So is George W. Bush pushing for more taxpayer
money for foreign aid, farm subsidies, government
health care (also known as "socialized medicine"
during 1993-2001), and federal education? Well,
that's just what we have to do now or we'll never
get small government, low taxes, and a free
market.


"Oh to hell with it. I don't care about small
government, low taxes, and a free market anymore.
I just want to show those damn Democrats they
can't get away with what they've done!"


And so we see Republican talk-show hosts,
columnists, and TV commentators supporting George
W. Bush for doing the very things they had
condemned Bill Clinton for doing. The Republican
sickness is a tragic thing to behold.


   The Authoritarian Strain of the Virus


There also are authoritarian Republicans who
never did believe in small government, low taxes,
and a free market. They're the ones who all along
have loved the insane War on Drugs, the
tough-on-crime constitutional violations, and the
bullying foreign policy. They chose the
Republicans because the Democrats seemed soft on
these issues.


Most people don't realize that the Republicans
have been for big government ever since the
party's inception in the 1850s. Until Woodrow
Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, the Democrats were
the party of smaller government.


When the Democrats switched ideologies, the
Republicans attempted to move slightly to the
libertarian side of the Democrats' new stance. But
they still chose big-government leaders like
Herbert Hoover, Thomas E. Dewey, Dwight
Eisenhower, Robert Dole, and the George Bushes.


(But that's a different story for another time.)


   Symptoms


As I said, the Republican sickness infects the
body very subtly. You must be on the lookout for
early warning signs:


* Do you find yourself saying, "I must vote for
the lesser of two evils"?


* Have you ever said, "Sometimes a politician has
to vote for a bad bill in order to stay in
office"?


* Have you ever maintained that not voting or
voting for a third party is "wasting your vote"?


If you've experienced any of these symptoms,
please seek professional help as soon as possible

IBTL.

I forsee a blasting response from more than a few on this site that seem to have "The Republican Sickness."

IBTL.

Erm yeah

Libertarians take note, when you drop LSD and post, you tend to come off just a tad megalomaniacal.


Anyone else reminded of Eric Cartman's `Fucking hippies' line? I don’t vote LP because they don't represent my views. Their leadership is a mass of crackheads. Browne is totally disconnected from reality. Take his reaction to 9/11...

...reaching for my clue x 4

The Republican sickness.

I can sum it up in fewer words.

Siding with the Christian 'Right'.

Which is neither Christian, nor Right.

They want POWER over peoples lives, nothing else.  

For a bunch "crackheads" who "drop LSD" the libertarians seem to hold this enormous power of making the republican party lose elections, or so the whiny gop sheeple bleat.

However, many of us Republicans consider there to be a 'Libertarian Sickness' which involves

A) An obsession with legalizing dangerous and medicaly useless (hence currently illegal) drugs.

B) An insane interest in turtle-shell foreign policy (i.e. isolationisim).

C) The inability to realize that their running candidates in major elections serves no purpose except to derail their own agenda (by increasing the power of the Democrats).

I agree. This is why Ron Paul should be kicked out of office by the gop.

Dave_A - you forgot:

D: Open boarders and immigration policies.

-edit for spelling-

Sickness, only sickness we have is not ban together to fight the liberal tide.

I like the saying(I think RAF)their ideas sound good but don't survive contact with reality.

Like the commies.

They peobably were worthwhile ideas back when everybody was working on the farm.

People made the two hour walk into town once every week or two.  

Whatever the US did in the world didn't matter a whole hell of alot and got even less attention.