Steve Deace: The Libertarians and Ron Paul Were Right

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sailingaway

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One of the most brilliant and famous allegories in the history of Western literature is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Whole books have been written on its multiple layers of allegorical subtext. One of my favorites is the ring of power itself.

Symbolic of fallen human nature, the ring of power corrupts everything it touches. The evil Sauron, inspired by Lucifer, seeks to possess the ring so that he can subdue all of Middle Earth with it. Mankind seeks the ring believing that if “good people” possess it they will use its power for good, but alas these “good people” are unable on their own to rise above their base fallen nature, and thus the ring of power corrupts them as well. “Good people” end up becoming monsters. Only by casting the ring of power into the fire, which is a Biblical metaphor for purifying/refining, can Middle Earth be saved.

Such is also the case with government.

During the George W. Bush years, Republicans gained total control of the federal government for the first time in half a century. While this was obviously better than the alternative, it was still fraught with peril because the temptation was to believe that “big government” becomes “compassionate conservativism” and thus becomes our friend when “our guys” are in control of it. Instead of dismantling the statist monstrosity threatening liberty, we just tried to manage it better.

In other words, we put the corrupt ring of power on our finger believing we’d do good with it, rather than casting it into the fire for the sake of real freedom.

And now as we see what truly committed statists are capable of with a government this big – whether it’s the IRS scandal, NDAA, American citizens placed on a drone “kill list” without due process of law, or the now emerging NSA surveillance story – our partisan naiveté about the nature of big government is coming home to roost.

We conservatives would’ve been wise to listen to our libertarian friends about the potential danger of setting a precedent that government can become the good guy provided the good guys are running the joint. We forgot that government is neither good nor bad, but what George Washington once famously compared to a dangerous tool like fire. Both government and fire are necessary to a point of limitation, but left on their own they can quickly rage to the point of diminishing returns.

We didn’t dismantle the IRS when we had the chance, but instead let the “good guys” use it to pick winners and losers. We didn’t dismantle the surveillance state, but instead introduced it ourselves as a response to a post-9/11 world. We just trusted that we weren’t going to exchange freedom for security because the “good guys” were in charge. And I admit I fell for it hook, line, and sinker myself.

But one time shame on you, two times shame on me. I’m not falling for the banana in the tailpipe again.

Whenever Republicans don’t dismantle statism, but instead try to manage it or even grow it themselves (i.e. No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Medicare Part D, etc.) we simply set a precedent for the Democrats to extend further once they reclaim the throne. As recent headlines have proven, we’re not defending freedom and liberty by managing statism, but instead setting the baseline for government’s future intrusiveness into our lives moving forward.
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more at link, and you really should read it all: http://townhall.com/columnists/stevedeace/2013/06/15/the-libertarians-were-right-n1618711/page/full
 
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Yeah. He had it narrowed down to Ron or Grinch before the caucuses to give him credit, then some spin came out on Ron not wanting to nationalize a law against abortion but make a law federally defining life to begin at conception and leave the states to implement as the constitution requires. Deace was upset, it was HIS pledge Ron wrote a clarification on (the pledge was written poorly, but try telling that to any author....).

So I'm glad to see this, I think Deace has political instincts (I don't say that in admiration) but I think he is a good guy struggling with 'what is right and what is wrong' and trying, ultimately, to to say what the truth is. I can respect that.
 
Deace has been coming around especially on foreign policy lately, here is a clip of his show from 2 weeks ago where he quotes from a Paul Mulshine article and says he used to buy into neocon groupthink on foreign policy but interventionism has proven to be a failure and Iraq was an unmitigated disaster.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da2EzqlObB4
 
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here's some audio from his show Tuesday talking about how libertarians were right about everything during the Bush years and that he was wrong to focus on social issues ahead of reducing the size/scope of government



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbPAbgC-Xc
 
I think Steve Deace has integrity. If he realizes he was wrong he will admit it and describe in detail his mistake. I think he truly does mean well. He doesn't hold my positions 100%, but he is among the best in talk radio. I can't think of anyone better other than Jerry Doyle perhaps? Steve Deace has a lot different style and goes into deep detail and analysis of things much more than other radio hosts it seems.
 
I'm more inclined to believe this man changed his heart, by admitting his faults, and where he was wrong and we were right. This, unlike that conniving, slobbering, tool Beck who people think has any principles whatsoever...lol.
 
ord33 said:
I think Steve Deace has integrity. If he realizes he was wrong he will admit it and describe in detail his mistake. I think he truly does mean well. He doesn't hold my positions 100%, but he is among the best in talk radio. I can't think of anyone better other than Jerry Doyle perhaps? Steve Deace has a lot different style and goes into deep detail and analysis of things much more than other radio hosts it seems.
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Well, Jan Mickelson is also stationed in Iowa and does a great job.
 
ord33 said:
I think Steve Deace has integrity. If he realizes he was wrong he will admit it and describe in detail his mistake. I think he truly does mean well. He doesn't hold my positions 100%, but he is among the best in talk radio. I can't think of anyone better other than Jerry Doyle perhaps? Steve Deace has a lot different style and goes into deep detail and analysis of things much more than other radio hosts it seems.
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Mike Church is good too. (And Glenn Beck of course. :D)
 
Steve Deace made a nice lead in to his story of where we are at as a nation if your "Hep to Hobbits".
 
Why does Mike Church make it so difficult to listen to his show? Deace and Mickelson and others make it very easy posting podcasts of their show daily.
 
Props to Deace. He's slowly starting to understand the nature of govt. Here is the quote he was referencing:

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
 
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