Liberty Phoenix

Building a unanimous consensus on any issue, has typically been an exercise in futility. However, in watching the main stream news lately, one might come to the conclusion that we have finally resolved all points of contention here in the United States. Exploring both sides of an issue is considered a waste of time for most of our news critters. After all, we are told that Americans are tired of partisan politics and that we must come together to solve the near insurmountable challenges we face. It sounds reasonable on the surface, but only if you accept the assumption that our politicians were in any significant disagreement in the first place.

Listening to talk shows, Republicans and Democrats do frequently argue with each other about what is best in theory, but when it comes time to vote they, more often than not, choose to agree for the sake of practicality. The theories that each side espouses are always confined to their campaign rhetoric and rarely culminate in any sort of legislative action. Both sides are guilty of this, leading to the frustration of liberals and conservatives alike.

The two most obvious examples of this pertain to war and the economy. Liberals elect Democrats to end wars, and act shocked when their guys vote to continue them. Conservatives elect Republicans to be champions of free-market capitalism, and act shocked when their guys vote to nationalize the economy. In both cases, the Republicans and Democrats argue that the immediacy of the moment prevents them from staying true to their core beliefs. Just like hypocritical parents, they call on everyone "do as they say, not as they do."

Apparently, everyone now also agrees that we must stimulate spending to get the economy back on track. Some of the proponents of this misguided philosophy have even flat out referred to it as "digging our way out of a hole," entirely missing the point of the expression. The credit crisis that we are now facing was the direct result of spending beyond our means, but the talking heads on TV insist that if we do the same thing all over again, we can expect different results. Albert Einstein would regard this as a definition of insanity, whereas our leaders would have us double our bets in order to chase our losses. Either way, the house edge is the same. We the people lose.

A consensus born of genuine debate will always be more beneficial than one achieved through threats or intimidation. Each time we face a crisis, a dubious solution is presented that does nothing but enhance the power of those that perpetrated the crisis. Each time, the public is rightfully skeptical at first, but eventually convinced when enough pundits and politicians cry that it's necessary to avert an even greater crisis. In this time, we would all do well to recall William Pitt's admonishment to the House of Commons:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."

If there is one thing that we should all agree upon, it is that no man of good conscience should seek to be either a tyrant or a slave.