I received the following offer from one who identified himself as Publius:
The Republicans are owned by quasi-private bureaucracies called corporatons and the democrats have adopted a fascist governing philosophy. Perhaps it is time for a new party.
Here’s my proposal:
The Federalist Party.
Platform:
1. In economics, we reject both Marxist isms:
- “Capitalism” that disregards land and labor when it considers means of production and reduces all to capital, thus destroying something valuable (capital) by turning it into an ism. When capital is exalted above land and labor, the corporations are unrestricted in their obligations and put their money interests above the interests of the people and the land. That leads inevitably to giant corporations that are above the law, that use the law to eliminate competition, and that are governed by buraucracies of the same sort as the state, thus leading to
- Socialism, when the state controls the means of production. You must understand that the state loves capitalism, because it centralizes authority in a few hands. Thus we now have
- Fascism, which is defined quite simply as “the corporate state.”
2. Instead, we call for tax policies and regulatory behaviors that disperse ownership of private property among as large a number of private owners as possible, thus eliminating the need for massive government bureaucracies to stifle the dangerous activities of the unfettered capitalists.
3. Vows and contracts are sacred and cannot be broken without a fittingly severe consequence. At the least, if one party breaks a vow, the other party is free from it.
For example, if a judge swears to uphold the consitution and then fails to do so, the community over which he has thus tyrannically acted is no longer bound to that judge’s appointment. The same applies to an executive or legislator, to all business transactions, to the marriage vow, etc. To hold someone to a vow or contract that the other party has broken is an essentially tyrannical act.
In politics:
4. We demand defined government, which is to say, we insist that the government cannot do whatever it wants and is able to do but that it can perform only what the people agree to hand over to them and what is derived from it’s natural duties, such as protecting the community over which it rules from any who would take away the right to fulfill their duties.
5. We call for a return to the natural law in the judiciary, the executive branch, and the legislatures. The fundamental principle of the natural law is that rights are derived from responsibilities and that responsibilities are derived from the nature of the case, which is obvious that vast majority of the time.
For example, a mother gives birth to a child and is genetically bound to that child. That mother will bear a natural affection for that child and will naturally know that child better than anybody with the possible exception of the father, whose relation to the child is also natural.
Therefore, it is obvious that, by nature, the father and mother of that child are the only ones who can enable that child to reach his fullest perfection. Every exception and qualification in no way changes that fact, nor the fact that the child whose relationship with his father and/or mother is broken or strained will suffer for it his entire life.
Authority is granted by nature as a right to the party that bears the responsibility and nothing a government does can remove that natural authority. Any attempt to do so is an act of tyranny, no matter how benign or kindly intended.
Thus the right to possess authority is granted, not by a people, but by nature, and nobody has the right to abandon his authority.
- All men are responsible by nature to cultivate and care for their property, therefore they have the right (authority) to do so without interference, along with the right to protect their property from any attempt to steal or damage it no matter what party is attempting to steal or damage it. This right is derived from their responsibility for the property, not from a non-existing right to do as they wish with what is theirs.
- All men are responsible by nature to maintain their own health and that of their family members. Therefore they have the right to do so without interference.
- All men are responsible by nature to seek the perfection of their own nature and person, therefore they have the right (authority) to pursue their own well-being, wholeness, etc. without interference, including using religious means to that end.
- All men are responsible by nature for the well-being and perfection of all those under their care. Therefore, they have the right (authority) to use their property to promote that well-being and to trade with others to the same end without interference from other parties, public or private. They also have the right (authority) to cutlivate virtue in those under their care according to their best wisdom without interference.
- All men are responsible by nature for the well-being of the community of which they are members. Therefore, they have the right (authority) to participate in the governance of their communities, bound to limit that governance to what is granted by nature to the governing body and never, under any circumstances, assuming a duty that belongs to another party (e.g. a father, business owner, church leader, etc.), limiting their involvement to holding the members of the community accountable for their duties and supporting them in the fulfillment of those duties when such support is needed and does not violate any other duties or rights.
- All men are responsible by nature to resist those who would meddle in their duties.
6. To fulfill these principles, we call on the federal government to withdraw from meddling in the affairs of local communities in which they are unfit to govern with wisdom and the personal understanding needed to make sound decisions.
However, we applaud the federal government for holding state and local governments accountable when the latter meddled with the rights of the children of the slaves to run their own households, to participate in their local governance, and to seek their own perpection and that of their children.
We condemn the racism of those who suppressed the African Americans and we condemn the racism of those who patronize them, holding out untenable promises in order to get their votes. We believe that the true Uncle Tom’s are those who prevent any group of people from freely seeking their own perfection in a condition of freedom, making them dependent on the largesse of the promiser. The only legitimate promise of freedom is the concrete freedom in which an individual of any race is able to seek his well-being in an independent community.
7. Whereas agents of the state are not and cannot be qualified to know what is best for individual children, we demand an education system in which parents have absolute freedom to choose the educational options for their children and where no parent or child is coerced to participate directly or indirectly in a form of education with which they do not personally identify.
8. Political decisions and structures must adapt to the circumstances in which they are made. However, any politician who attempts to lead the community over which he rules away from the definitions imposed on him by nature and by the agreements which the community (local, county, state, federal, etc.) has established through contract and vow, has forfeited his right to participate in the discussions about how to adapt to the given circumstances.
The community that permits such a person to continue to participate in political discussions and to maintain authority in the political arena has, by nature, abandoned its duty to protect the integrity of their community and has put themselves on the path to tyranny.
They have already forfeited their essential freedom, whether its present government has robbed them of it or not. They are bound by nature to turn from their error, to remove the natural criminal from office, and to review the duties they have abandoned, thus forfeiting their right to participate in their own self rule. They can only escape from their own servitude and slavery by fully assuming all of their natural duties, no matter the risk and cost to them personally.
9. We demand that our federal government return to the Declaration of Independence, or acknowledge that we are an illegitimate nation, quite literally. If there is no “law of nature and of nature’s God” then our rebellion against the king of England was a rejection of law and is therefore illegal. We are then bound to return humbly to the rule of the King of England.
That many of these policies may seem unpracticable does not change the fact that we are bound by nature to do them. If we do not submit to the law of nature, continuing on our current path toward unmitigated catastrophe, we will be a nation of slaves like the ancient Persians. If that is what we prefer, that is what we will experience.
In short, the Federalist Party is a call to Americans to resume the duties they abandoned out of love for money and the lower appetites, which have driven us, as predictably as sunrise, to anxiety, debt, and bondage. We do not believe that we are a free people and we suspect that we do not want to be a free people. But we offer this opportunity out of affection for what our ancestors gave us and out of our sense of duty.
Would you like to join The Federalist Party?
Our first action would be to refine and formulate this platform.
Our second would be to offer our platform to the Republicans and Democrats. If either of them wishes to repent, we will gladly hand this over to people wiser and more skilled in judging, legislating, and executing the will of the people and the law of nature.
If they will not, then we are duty bound to do what we are able.
Publius
