Republicans and the rape of truth

By Joseph Farah

Sen. James Jeffords, R-VT, apologized over the weekend for saying the
rape allegation by Juanita Broaddrick against Bill Clinton was a
“private matter.”

Maybe the remark was a slip of the tongue by an inarticulate nabob.
But I submit it is further evidence of much more public rape that is
taking place — the bipartisan rape by government of truth, of reality,
of our Constitution and of our inalienable human rights.

For those of you looking for political salvation to the “Grand Old
Party,” it’s time to get realistic.

There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democrats and
Republicans.

The nickel’s worth of difference between the two major parties can
best be summarized as the choice between the express lane and the
regular commuter lane of the road paved with good intentions. And you
know where that highway leads.

The Democrat-Republican trap is actually little more than a
mutual-protection racket for an organized criminal conspiracy of the
most dangerous kind. Here’s what the modern political paradigm
represents:

  • The theft and redistribution not only of actual private property,
    but a full-scale frontal assault on the whole sacred concept of private
    property. Thus, the only debate going on in Congress today is over the
    possibility and propriety of whether legalized confiscation of property
    should be stepped up or slowed down ever so slightly a la a modest tax
    cut.

  • Invasions of personal privacy that would make the boys in Beijing
    proud. Government not only decides which pitiful portion of personal
    property citizens are permitted to keep, it also seeks broader control
    of how citizens are permitted to use the wealth they have managed to
    accumulate under the watchful eye of Caesar. We’re on the verge of
    mandatory national ID cards, banking regulations that track even cash
    transactions and electronic surveillance of our every move, conversation
    and communication.

  • The debate over a thoroughly failed government education system
    never touches on whether it should be scrapped, but focuses instead on
    how increasing amounts of forcibly confiscated taxpayer money should be
    spent to perpetuate the dumbing down of the citizenry — making
    government’s “subjects” and “dependents” even more pliable and accepting
    of control.

  • The one trump card held by the remnant with enough historical
    memory to understand that government is supposed to serve rather than be
    served and be limited in power rather than unlimited — the
    constitutionally enumerated right to bear arms — has been so narrowly
    redefined and broadly attacked as to be rendered meaningless. It’s
    simply a matter of time under the Demonicrats and Republicons before it
    is eliminated and government confiscates all weapons that would pose a
    threat to its authority and control. The day is coming. Mark my words.

It’s not just the Washington political culture that is perverting the
debate, narrowing the choices and subverting our freedoms. Take a look
at last week’s political action in Virginia, a state in which
Republicans control the governorship and one house of the legislature.
Both houses of government unanimously passed a “patients’ bill of
rights” and Republican Gov. James Gilmore III is eager to sign it. There
was not so much as a hint of suggestion in the debate that government
intervention in health care has caused most of the problems consumers
face. Instead, both sides agree with Bill and Hillary Clinton that
government holds the key to solving virtually every problem encountered
by mankind. Not one Virginia statesman bothered to ask whether “rights”
descended from government, or pointed out that if they can be granted,
they can be taken away.

The founders of this once-great country believed that personal
freedom could only be realized through self-government — the concept
that each individual is responsible for governing himself. When was the
last time you heard a Republican, let alone a Democrat, even use the
term “self-government”? It’s simply not even in their limited
bureaucratic vocabularies.

Neither is the simple yet profound notion that “Government governs
best which governs least.”

Some will argue with me, saying that, despite their lack of vision,
connection with the Constitution, understanding of America’s founding
principles and ability to distinguish themselves from the statist
policies of the Democrats, Republicans represent the lesser of two
evils.

My answer: America is too far down the road paved with good
intentions to be salvaged by lesser degrees of evil. It’s going to take
a radical change of course for Americans to rediscover the wonders of
freedom, limited government, individual rights and personal
responsibility.

Have you heard any leader in either major party give more than lip
service to such concepts?

Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union. Read more of Joseph Farah's articles here.