January 28, 2002

Well, Mr. Smith, I will not pretend to write well enough to best you in wordsmithing.

Nor will I defend Buchanan, who I view as having betrayed us the first time he ran (withdrawing and supporting the Republican), then the second time, as well, by pandering so pathetically to liberals with his VP choice.

Nor do I believe Buchanan requires others to defend him - he does so rather well all by himself, most recently in his "Death of the West," which you clearly have not read (I commend it to you, as it forcefully refutes much of the castigation you inflict upon its author). Buy it quickly, though, because I have seen far less inflammatory books banned and removed from circulation in America these days.

However, you raise an excellent point with your paint-by-the-numbers prescription for political fortune: do it all, just as recited, else don't do it at all. Where have I heard that before?

Oh, yes, that's what the communists always say, isn't it, in excusing one execrable failure after another? Guess the Libertarians must have the formula right, though, despite having to resort to this tired, old incantation.

As my 11-year-old daughter might say, sir: Catch a clue, dude. In other words, if you need laboratory conditions to make it work, don't expect results in the real world.

Wipe all forms of welfare, including public schools, off the books? Sign me up! I'll buy the whole Libertarian load, in fact, if you will first sell everybody else. Life in Utopia. Wouldn't that be just grand?

But, there's the rub, isn't it? In the real world, the whole load just doesn't fly (nor will it ever). By your own formulaic approach, then, it isn't worth even starting the trip. That's why, though I was a card-carrying Libertarian 30 years ago (I walked precincts for Anderson), I no longer toe the party line.

Now I support what works.

What worked was America, for the first 150 years, excepting only that dreadful suspension of the Constitution for the Civil War. But, no more. Unfortunately, not much does work these days. Nor do I believe our system can be fixed within the framework that exists.

That's why I agree with Buchanan's new-found belief in borders, tariffs and other forms of protectionism and separatism. Libertarian thinking has been a large part of the conservative decision to roll over for the globalists now in control. In that sense, we would be better off if the Libertarian party had never formed in the first place.

But, then, if a total system breakdown is what might lead at least some of us to return to true liberty...play on, because you hasten the day that some of us can pick up the pieces and construct a New America, using what worked once and can work again: The Constitution.

New America. An idea whose time has come.

-ed