Whither the Conservative Movement? pg. 12
made of deficits or any connection to the moral stance earlier conservatives made against them.
The only moral stance is that government should not take money from the people. The only “big picture” statement is that taxation is a sort of theft and therefore immoral. Since it is immoral, there can be no middle ground. There is no “proper” level of theft. There is no moral argument for a little less theft. Therefore, there is no moral argument for any level of taxation – only less taxation.
Ideological Connections
Connecting the rhetoric of the earlier conservative politicians with political theory and philosophy is actually fairly easy. Intellectuals such as Russell Kirk, Frank Meyer, F.A. Hayek, and Gerhart Niemeyer etched out a broad opposition to state action as being incongruent with individual liberty. The creation of The National Review by ideologue William F. Buckley, Jr. ensured that such ideas would be put into the hands of as many people as were willing to purchase a magazine devoted to them. Liberals sometimes protest that the conservatives’ ability to get their message out is an unfair advantage, but the truth is that it was assembled piece by piece for anyone to see.
The philosophy has already been laid out in the words of Goldwater and Reagan, but it bears repeating and attributing specific efforts when the ability to do so exists. For example, Hayek, a native of Austria, was in good position to understand the rise of Hitler and he was among the first voices that decried the position of the National Socialist Party as being against the sum total of western individual liberty (Hayek, 1994). “We have
Go on to page 13
The only moral stance is that government should not take money from the people. The only “big picture” statement is that taxation is a sort of theft and therefore immoral. Since it is immoral, there can be no middle ground. There is no “proper” level of theft. There is no moral argument for a little less theft. Therefore, there is no moral argument for any level of taxation – only less taxation.
Ideological Connections
Connecting the rhetoric of the earlier conservative politicians with political theory and philosophy is actually fairly easy. Intellectuals such as Russell Kirk, Frank Meyer, F.A. Hayek, and Gerhart Niemeyer etched out a broad opposition to state action as being incongruent with individual liberty. The creation of The National Review by ideologue William F. Buckley, Jr. ensured that such ideas would be put into the hands of as many people as were willing to purchase a magazine devoted to them. Liberals sometimes protest that the conservatives’ ability to get their message out is an unfair advantage, but the truth is that it was assembled piece by piece for anyone to see.
The philosophy has already been laid out in the words of Goldwater and Reagan, but it bears repeating and attributing specific efforts when the ability to do so exists. For example, Hayek, a native of Austria, was in good position to understand the rise of Hitler and he was among the first voices that decried the position of the National Socialist Party as being against the sum total of western individual liberty (Hayek, 1994). “We have
Go on to page 13
© 2004 by Xpatriated Texan
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