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The Republican Freedom
Coalition by Montana
Rep. Joe Balyeat April 10, 2002 Back in 1924, one national political party
platform contained the ominous warning: "Every generation must wage a
new war for freedom against new forces which seek through new devices to enslave
the citizenry." As Montanans enter a new millennium, we also enter a
new struggle for political freedom as well. This last decade has seen a new
movement on Montana and across the United States to band together for the sake
of preserving our individual freedoms against a runaway bureaucracy. This
movement includes many people of diverse perspectives: people concerned about
high taxes, government reformers, libertarians, "red tape" weary small
businessmen, religious conservatives, gun rights advocates, worker rights and
property rights supporters. Most of these good people are drawn together by one
main issue - Their common denominator is
freedom. All of these same groups joined together in
1994 to bring about the Republican revolution. I call it the "Freedom
Coalition". None of these good people want to take anything out of
government, each simply seeks freedom from overbearing government to practice
individual liberty. The essential ingredient – all these people have their
finger on the pulse of freedom. And together we have a vision of Montana for our
children to share. Our vision is of a Montana where small business
entrepreneurs can start businesses and provide services and jobs for their
fellow Montanans, free from oppressive taxation and ridiculous regulations. We
see a Montana where landowners who love their land, and have nurtured it their
whole life long, are free to use it and care for it the way they feel best, with
no government bureaucrat saying he knows better or cares more. We see a Montana where parents can freely
choose to educate their children in the way they see fit, without fear of
reprisal from social engineers who claim they know better. We see a Montana
where individuals are free to practice and express their beliefs without
intimidation or indoctrination from "politically correct" thought
police. We envision a Montana where individuals are
free to keep their own money in their own pockets, or spend it on their own
causes; with no government official insisting he can spend it wiser or for a
better cause. And we see a Montana where all Montanans are free from the
overwhelming burden of a tax system which presently makes them slaves to
government for almost half the year. And in recent years, a new group has been added
to the freedom coalition - hundreds of thousands of voters who feel robbed of
their most basic political freedom - disenfranchised of their right to vote for
the issue or representative of their choice. These 1000's upon 1000's have been
outraged by the utter contempt for the voters and our elected representatives
displayed by the leftwing Montana Supreme Court – decision after decision
over-riding our elected legislature, over-riding voter approved tax initiatives,
and even over-riding their own prior decisions whenever it is in their liberal
political interest to do so. So the ranks of Montana's Republican Freedom
Coalition have swelled to formidable proportions; and is it any wonder? It is
relatively easy to maintain our Republican coalition because of our common
denominator – Freedom. The democrats, on the other hand, must attempt to
sustain an unstable coalition which is doomed to failure from the start. Their
coalition is of truly strange bedfellows, who each want to get their own special
"benefits" out of government. Environmental extremists; blue collar
unions, radical gay activists, government employees, etc. Each of these self-interest groups can only get
what they want out of government at the expense of everybody else --- even at
the expense of the other interest groups who make up their fragile coalition. And
as each group gets a concession from government on some new special right or
benefit for their group, they must press for even further (and more extreme)
concessions in order to maintain the viability and sense of purpose for their
various organizations. So, eventually, this fragile coalition is doomed to
disintegrate – blue collar union workers can only tolerate so much anti-jobs
extreme environmentalism, and elderly social security recipients can only
tolerate so much radical gay activism, etc. The Democrats’ coalition of government
"demanders" is, thus, doomed to failure; while the Republican Freedom
Coalition is destined to succeed. Republicans can look to the future with
confidence through the eyes of Abraham Lincoln. Back in 1856, when his political
views and Republican Party were still very much the minority, he stated
prophetically: "We will make converts day by day; we will grow strong by
the injustice of our adversaries. And, unless truth be a mockery and justice a
hollow lie, we will be in the majority after a while, and then the
revolution which we will accomplish will be nonetheless radical from being the
result of peaceful measures. The battle of freedom is to be fought out on
principle." So, the only way we can’t succeed is
if we lose sight of the very thing which holds us together – Freedom. We must
not (as Benjamin Franklin warned) "trade freedom for security." As we
have become the majority party, as we have assumed the reigns of power, we must
resist the temptation to use that power just like the Democrats use political
power – to get some special payoff out of government for our own special
interest group. We must continue to inculcate the next
generation of Republicans with the truths handed down from the founding fathers.
And this truth being paramount -- that government is not God. Many have been
indoctrinated with the false notion that government is the answer to our
prayers. That every individual problem can be cured by another government
program, and every societal ill can be solved by another government regulation.
So we have replaced the Ten Commandments with the Ten Thousand Regulations. We
have transformed government from being a protector, to being a provider. While
our founders understood government to simply be a protector of individual
freedom – many now see it as a provider of every need and every comfort from
the cradle to the grave. Rather than simply protecting our property rights,
protecting our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness- government
has now become the very provider of that happiness. But you see our individual right to pursue
happiness is a very different thing than a guarantee that government provide
happiness. And when we turn that corner from government as protector of rights
and freedoms, towards government as provider of things, the answer to every need
and prayer, we have set up a false god which will ultimately fail and gobble up
freedom in the process. I, for one, have hope that the Montana
Republican Freedom Coalition will continue to see that vital distinction. I
envision a Montana on the verge of a new renaissance for lovers of freedom. I
envision a future where Montana men and women engage in self-government;
exercising individual freedom and responsibility and interacting with one
another in a prosperous free economic marketplace and a free marketplace of
ideas as well. I envision a Montana where state government is once again put
back in its place as a servant to the people, and freedom reigns in the affairs
of Montana men and women. I believe I share with you that vision for a truly
free and prosperous Montana, something we can proudly pass on to our children
and to our grandchildren – the next generation of the Freedom Coalition. (Rep. Joe Balyeat is chairman of the Montana
Republican Liberty Caucus, and a member of the Montana Republican Executive
Board.) |
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