The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help. – Ronald Reagan.
CNN reports that a bill that would reverse a 28-year ban on yoga instruction in public schools stalled in committee. Republican opponents were worried that the practice would introduce Hinduism into schools. I’ve personally done Yoga by Adrienne two version of P90X yoga. A friend’s daughter teaches yoga. In my research about Fibromyalgia, yoga’s come up a lot as a tool to help reduce stress and fight the condition.
The word Hindu never came up in any of that.
Mitch McConnell warned corporations to stay out of politics this week. His warning came after threats to pull Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption after they moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta. The Georgia state legislature is considering removing Delta’s break on jet-fuel costs, as well.
There’s more, but the point’s already been made.
The Republican Party used to have a strong libertarian streak, made obvious by President Reagan’s remark and approach to governing.
In the 1990s, Bill Clinton famously said “The era of Big Government is over.” These days, the era or big government being over are over.
Republicans, who used to believe that the government that governs least governs best, now believe that the government that intervenes as much as Democrats (but to a different end). No one in government believes in limiting government power or reach.
Government has a place in a civil society. As much as liberals like to claim libertarians would forsake the socialist fire and police departments and socialist roads and the like. Most libertarians understand that libertarianism doesn’t mean no government; it means appropriate government.
Government should do the least amount possible to maintain peace and reasonable fairness, and then allow people to make their own way.
Republicans would do better paying attention to financial shenanigans and working on creating reasonable tools to respond to things like worldwide pandemics, so we don’t unilaterally give control to whoever happens to head the executive branch. They could look for ways to prevent things like the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Instead, they’re not only pandering to their base, they’re using their power to cook the electoral books and to punish anyone who doesn’t fall into line.
People who believe in limited government have no place to go. Libertarians don’t need to win every time to add value, but they should be there to act as a counterweight to the idea that every government solution just needs a problem to apply itself to.
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