Amash Quits Republican Party

[Superfluous Man]

I’m not a huge Trump fan. What I would say is that he has done more to protect the unborn than any other President. This alone is worth serious consideration.

What has he done to protect the unborn any different than every other Republican president?

 

[Snowball]

7/4/19: Justin Amash is no longer a Republican.

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1146739241189355520

His OpEd:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a036854d4985

Justin Amash Quits Republican Party After Backing Trump Impeachment

Justin Amash—the only Republican who has said publicly that he wants President Trump to face impeachment—is celebrating the Fourth of July in style after announcing that he's quit the GOP.

Writing in the Washington Post, Amash made a thinly-veiled attack on Trump in an emotional plea to Americans to reject “the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us.” He went on to say that American politics is trapped in a “partisan death spiral,” and warned : “If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.”

Amash's decision to quit the party comes after he joined Democratic calls for an impeachment inquiry after the publication of the Mueller Report in April. Since then, he's had to deal with the scorn of his colleagues and has been publicly singled out as a “lightweight” by the president, who said Amash was “a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!”

Trump welcomed the news of Amash's exit Thursday, calling him “one of the dumbest and most disloyal men in Congress.” He added: “[Amash] knew he couldn't get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!”

In his article, Amash quoted extensively from George Washington's farewell address which warned against the dangers of partisanship. Amash wrote that Washington's fears are coming true and that Americans allowed elected officials to toss the constitution aside for the sake of party unity, and that he's become “frightened” by the two-party system in recent years.

“Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,” wrote Amash, summing up his announcement. “No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system—and to work toward it.”

Amash's departure will fuel speculation that he's hoping to become the nation's leading anti-Trump conservative and seek the Libertarian Party nomination for the 2020 presidential election. He's been evasive on the question before, telling CNN earlier this year that he can't rule out the move because he feels that “someone” has to shake up two-party politics.

The move will also throw open the GOP primaries in Michigan's 3rd District, where several Republican candidates have already announced their intention to challenge Amash for his congressional seat.

Providing he does try to keep a hold of his seat—which he didn't mention in the article—he’ll now face reelection as an independent.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/justi...ing-trump-impeachment?source=articles&via=rss

 

[juleswin]

Listen I voted for Trump...I voted for Trump because Trump railed against the iraq war.
Trump is wrong on some issues..But he is the best President since Eisenhower.

Just for the record, the last 3 president we had railed against the wars. Bush said he did not want to be the world's police man, Obama criticized the Iraq war saying it was a mistake, and same goes for Trump. If that is what convinced you then you haven't been paying attention. How is it that people are still falling for this trick?

 

[spudea]

What has he done to protect the unborn any different than every other Republican president?

Are you blind to anything that makes Trump look good? He is defunding planned parenthood and appointing pro-life federal judges. Here you go: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow...inics-funding-9th-circuit-20190703-story.html

Planned Parenthood, which has said it would not comply with the rule, faces the loss of nearly $60 million in federal funds annually.
The panel that decided last month to permit Trump’s rule to take effect noted that the Title X family planning program at issue was limited by similar abortion-related restrictions in the past, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld them.
“The Final Rule’s prohibitions on advocating, encouraging, or promoting abortion, as well as on referring patients for abortions, are reasonable,” the panel wrote.

 

[nikcers]

What has he done to protect the unborn any different than every other Republican president?

Lowest unemployment in history, people abort babies because they can't afford them.

 

[RonZeplin]

New & Improved.

 

[juleswin]

Lowest unemployment in history, people abort babies because they can't afford them.

You think the sizeable number of women who abort their children do so because they can't afford it? I thought the welfare system in this country took care of that and birth control and condoms are way cheaper than abortions. This is just not true.

I present to you pro life Donald Trump

 

[Anti Federalist]

So, what are we celebrating today????

The introduction of one of the most radical manifestos ever penned and agreed to.

The Declaration of Independence.

It really did change the course of the world.

Human nature being what it is, we've lost that, and now Jefferson is being deposed as a racist and becoming an unperson.

 

[nikcers]

You think the sizeable number of women who abort their children do so because they can't afford it? I thought the welfare system in this country took care of that and birth control and condoms are way cheaper than abortions. This is just not true.

I present to you pro life Donald Trump

I argue that people are more likely to have children if they can afford it and you give me some old video of him. You are really not worth arguing with if you are this stupid.

 

[devil21]

Why are there so many trump fans here now?
Did all the smart people give up and move to the woods after 2012?

Not all is what it appears to be on RPF, or other websites for that matter. A lot of shills and bots pushing Trump worship mind control psyops. These days one person can literally control 5 or more accounts at once using VMWare (Virtual Machine softWare) and it look like 5 different posters. You've probably noticed the bizarre transformation of long time RP supporting accounts turning into Trump authoritarian supporters. Not all is what it appears to be.

 

[nikcers]

Not all is what it appears to be on RPF, or other websites for that matter. A lot of shills and bots pushing Trump worship mind control psyops. These days one person can literally control 5 or more accounts at once using VMWare (Virtual Machine softWare) and it look like 5 different posters. You've probably noticed the bizarre transformation of long time RP supporting accounts turning into Trump authoritarian supporters. Not all is what it appears to be.

Who hacked Rand Pauls twitter?

 

[susano]

https://wapo.st/32aAIV2

That's all real nice and I agree with George Washington. It was so good of Justin to use the NWO paper of record, that hates our constitution, to publish his agreement with our first president. That said, did he just fall off the turnip truck? Since when has the Republican Party been about limited government and all of that other good stuff? Not in my lifetime. They're just a tad better than Democraps in that regard. Was it US policy in central and south America, propping up dictators and regimes that tortured dissidents that made Justin think the Republican Party was all about freedom and limited govt? Maybe Desert Storm, initiated by Mr New World Order himself, Bush 41? Perhaps the Iraq war and Bush 43? The massive deficits? The militarism of the neocons? Democraps are the ideological descendants of the Bolsheviks but Republicans sure as hell have never been Jeffersonian so I find his farewell to the GOP to be insincere or, maybe, kind of ideologically delusional because it doesn't reflect reality.

All that aside, there was no Russia "collusion" and no matter how distasteful Justin finds Trump, he's done nothing impeachable. By endorsing the sham Mueller report , Justin aligned himself with those who cooked that fraud up (talk about doing ANYTHING to retain power). I would have respected him more if he'd just said he'd done some soul searching, realized he's a Libertarian, opposes US sovereignty and supports open borders and went on his way. I'm very glad he's done this, though, because Democrats would have assured his win in the primary.

I hate our partisan system and wish that anyone who runs for office would have to do so in under their name only without party affiliation. That's not what we have, though. What we DO have is a country teetering on the edge of going full on Marxist, thanks to immigration policies that allowed a fifth column into this country, and Justin wants more of that. We're in death spiral, alright, and even the all powerful (snark) Trump can barely keep it at bay.

 

[Ender]

The introduction of one of the most radical manifestos ever penned and agreed to.

The Declaration of Independence.

It really did change the course of the world.

Human nature being what it is, we've lost that, and now Jefferson is being deposed as a racist and becoming an unperson.

Read it and weep:

Why Most People Embrace the State — And Why Some Will Always Reject It
By Murray N. Rothbard

Mises.org

July 4, 2019

[From “Concepts of the Role of Intellectuals In Social Change Toward Laissez Faire” in The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Fall 1990]

Why, La Boétie cries out in anguish, why, when reason teaches us the justice of natural rights and equal liberty for all, why, when even animals display a natural instinct to be free, is man, “the only creature really born to be free, [lacking] the memory of his original condition and the desire to return to it?”7 Why, in short, are people steeped in such a “vile” and “monstrous vice” as consenting to their own subjection?

La Boétie answers, first, that the difficult act of initially establishing tyrannical State power is accomplished through some form of conquest, either by a foreign power, an internal coup, or by the use of a wartime emergency as an excuse to fasten a permanent despotism upon the public. And why then do people continue to consent?

In the first place, explains La Boétie, there is the insidious power of habit, which quickly accustoms and inures the public to any institution, including its own enslavement.

It is true that in the beginning men submit under constraint and by force; but those who come after them obey without regret and perform willingly what their predecessors had done because they had to. This is why men born under the yoke and then nourished and reared in slavery are content, without further effort, to live in their native circumstance, unaware of any other state or right, and considering as quite natural the condition into which they are born. …

Thus humanity’s natural drive for liberty is overpowered by the force of custom, “for the reason that native endowment, no matter how good, is dissipated unless encouraged, whereas environment always shapes us in its own way. …” Hence, people will grow accustomed to the idea that they have always been in subjection, that their fathers lived in the same way; they will think they are obliged to suffer this evil, and will persuade themselves by example and imitation of others, finally investing those who order them around with proprietary rights, based on the idea that it has always been that way.8

And so consent of the public need not be eager or enthusiastic, but rather of the resigned “death and taxes” variety. But second, the State apparatus need not wait for the slow workings of custom; consent can also be engineered. La Boétie proceeds to discuss the various devices by which rulers engineer such consent. One time-honored device is circuses, for the entertainment of the masses:

Plays, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts, medals, pictures and other such opiates, these were for ancient peoples the bait toward slavery, the price of their liberty, the instruments of tyranny. By these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so successfully lulled their subjects … that the stupified peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures, … learned subservience as naively, bit not so creditably, as little children learn to read by looking at bright picture books.9

Another important device for gaining the consent of the public is duping them into believing that the rule of the tyrant is wise, just, and benevolent. In modern times, La Boétie notes, rulers “never undertake an unjust policy, even one of some importance, without prefacing it with some pretty speech concerning public welfare and common good.” Reinforcing ideological propaganda is deliberate mystification. Thus the ancient kings set up the idea in the minds of the public that they were above ordinary humans and close to gods. Symbols of mystery and magic were woven around the Crown, so that “by doing this they inspired their subjects with reverence and admiration.” Sometimes tyrants have gone so far as to impute to themselves the very status of divinity. In this way, “tyrants, in order to strengthen their power, have made every effort to train their people not only in obedience and servility toward themselves, but also in adoration.10

Circuses, specious ideology, mystery — in addition to these purely propagandistic devices, rulers have used another strategem to obtain the consent of their subjects: purchase by material benefits, bread as well as circuses. The distribution of largesse to the people is a particularly cunning method of duping them into believing that they benefit from tyrannical rule. For the fools did not realize that they were merely recovering a portion of their own property, and that their ruler could not have given them what they were receiving without having first taken it from them. … The mob has always behaved in this way — eagerly open to bribes.11

Finally, La Boétie comes to another highly important and original contribution to political theory: the broadening of the concept of tyranny from one man to an entire State apparatus. This is the establishment, as it were, by permanent and continuing purchase, of a stable hierarchy of subordinate allies, a loyal band of retainers, praetorians, and bureaucrats. La Boétie considers this factor “the mainspring and secret of domination, the support and foundation of tyranny.” For here is a large sector of society that is not merely duped with occasional negligible handouts from the State; but who make a handsome and permanent living out of the proceeds of despotism. Hence, their stake in despotism is not dependent on illusion, habit, or mystery, but is all too great and real. In this way, an elaborate hierarchy of patronage from the fruits of plunder is created and maintained. A large number of men thus permeate down through the ranks of society, and “cling to the tyrant by this cord to which they are tied.” In short, “all those who are corrupted by burning ambition or extraordinary avarice, these gather around him and support him in order to have a share in the booty and to constitute themselves petty chiefs under the big tyrant.” It is true that they, too, are subjects and suffer at their leader’s hands, but in return for that subjection, these subordinates are permitted to oppress the remainder of the public.12

On deeper reflection, then, the strategy for the achievement of liberty is not so simple; for even though mass civil disobedience is the master key, how is the public to be brought to such an action, blinded as they are by a network of habit, propaganda, and special privilege? But La Boétie does not despair. For one thing, not all the public is deluded or sunk into habitual submission. Environment may influence, but it does not determine; for, in contrast to “the brutish mass,” there is always a more percipient remnant, an elite who will understand the reality of the situation: “There are always a few, better endowed than others, who feel the weight of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from attempting to shake it off.” These are people who possess clear and far-sighted minds, who will never disappear from the earth: “Even if liberty had entirely perished from the earth, such men would invent it.” It is true that rulers invariably attempt to control and suppress genuine education in their realms, depriving the elite of freedom of speech and action, and thereby of making converts. But still, there are always heroic leaders who can arise from the mass, leaders who will not fail “to deliver their country from evil hands.” This knowledgeable and valiant elite, then, will form the vanguard of the revolutionary resistance movement. Through a process of educating and rousing the public to the truth, they will give back to the people knowledge of the blessings of liberty and expose the myths and illusions fostered by the State. Furthermore, they will be helped, as La Boétie indicates, by the fact that even the privileged courtiers and favorites lead miserable, cringing lives and that therefore at least some of them will join the popular resistance and thereby split the ruling elite.13

Étienne La Boétie was therefore the first modern libertarian theorist, who also — and remarkably — offered a strategic theory that stemmed logically from his analysis of the groundwork of State power. But what did he personally do about it? Did he, to use Marxian jargon, unite theory and praxis in his own life? Certainly not; ironically, La Boétie demonstrated that he may have been a member of a knowledgeable elite but scarcely a valiant one. Not publishing the Discourse, he took his appointed place in the ruling elite; and as Professor Keohane states, “Whether he ever mused on the irony of finding himself a prominent part of the network he had once condemned so scathingly, we cannot know.”14

 

[juleswin]

I argue that people are more likely to have children if they can afford it and you give me some old video of him. You are really not worth arguing with if you are this stupid.

I just think that is a very tiny number. Factors that would have a much greater effect on abortion are things like being in a committed relationship, being in a confortable place at work, completed school/work training etc etc. This country has so many support system for poor mother that I find it hard to believe any sizeable number of mother will abort their kids because of money problems. Also just having a job doesn't mean one is financially stable enough to raise a baby.

I posted the video because it was one of Trump before he started vying for votes where he states his values. Sadly for some of you supporters, he has a secular New York city value system. This for the most part means that he hates abortion like more pro choice people do but is OK with people making that decisions for themselves. This is his true nature and I think the only area where his live and let live principles show.

 

[nikcers]

I just think that is a very tiny number. Factors that would have a much greater effect on abortion are things like being in a committed relationship, being in a confortable place at work, completed school/work training etc etc. This country has so many support system for poor mother that I find it hard to believe any sizeable number of mother will abort their kids because of money problems. Also just having a job doesn't mean one is financially stable enough to raise a baby.

I posted the video because it was one of Trump before he started vying for votes where he states his values. Sadly for some of you supporters, he has a secular New York city value system. This for the most part means that he hates abortion like more pro choice people do but is OK with people making that decisions for themselves. This is his true nature and I think the only area where his live and let live principles show.

This isn't about strategy this is about results. The results speak for themselves unless you have TDS blinders on.

 

[juleswin]

This isn't about strategy this is about results. The results speak for themselves unless you have TDS blinders on.

What results are you talking about? do you know how many abortions that has been performed this year? Do you even know if the number is up or down?

 

[nikcers]

What results are you talking about? do you know how many abortions that has been performed this year? Do you even know if the number is up or down?

Jobs.

 

[juleswin]

Jobs.

Those job numbers have been trending down before Trump took power. I am really not entirely sure Trump make any big difference with that trendline.

 

[susano]

It certainly seems like it includes you. Does it?

First bad rep I've ever given.

You from the Democratic Underground or something?

 

[susano]

No, I will not ignore him, nor will I allow the dreaded shouts of "racist" to carry any weight with me or affect what I do or what I advocate for.

The clock has just spun back 20 years that's all.

I was a Buchanan supporter all through the 90s, and heard the same $#@!, from the same tired one worlders, over and over.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Anti Federalist again.