My Comment to the plan on rebuildtheparty.com

I posted this as a comment on the new plan at rebuildtheparty.com.

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To identify the 800lb gorilla in the room, the Republican party is in shambles because of:

1) Drifting to the left away from the principles of individual freedom and the free market.

2) Looking towards technology, grassroots support, recruiting, and fundraising, to address the problem instead of addressing the problem (see #1)

A reason why I left the Republican party is that Republican leaders have lost the philosophical battle by default - they choose not to identify and advocate the principles that won elections in the past. In the process they conceded their values to the new ideal of "the center". A centrist is someone who tries to escape the responsibility of thinking by not taking a consistent stand on relevant issues. By doing this they also implicitly reject the concept of certainty.

Observe that politics is the application of morality in a social context. If challenged, Obama would have been unable to make a consistent moral case for his socialistic policies - but nobody challenged him on a moral basis. All it would have taken is for McCain to ask during the debate:

"Sen. Obama, what is the proper role of government?"
"Sen. Obama, how do you differentiate right from wrong?"
"Sen. Obama, how do you know?"
"Sen. Obama, by what process of reason would you convince a rational person who disagrees with you that your policies are good and proper?"

In summary: as a party *you are your principles*. Republicans need to win the intellectual battle first, to do this Republican leaders need to choose to fight it. Republicans have traditionally been the defenders of individual freedom in the United States, and will only be a viable alternative to Democrats if they understand this role with it's full ethical justification.


Sincerely,

Matthew W. Yucha
Mentor, OH

Why I love Tony Stark

If you haven't seen the movie Iron Man I highly recommend it. Unlike many other super hero movies, the source of Iron Man's "powers" is the mind of a single man - an inventor named Tony Stark. As the story goes, Stark inherited a fortune from his father and chose not to corrupt his money. He instead decided to practice rationality and used his brilliance to become Stark Industries greatest asset. Like John Galt, Tony Stark created a machine that could produce incredible amounts of energy. While Galt used his motor to power the buildings that supported the last of the worlds producers, Stark used his technology to defeat those who initiated force against free people.

Tony Stark is a self-made individual who practices many elements of the morality proper to man. The film is centered on Stark achieving his values in the face of evil and adversity while shamelessly enjoying the fruit of his efforts. This is a consistent theme thorough the entire movie - at the end when he is encouraged to take the altruistic approach and cover up the fact that he defeated the villain, he simply responds to the press: "I am Iron Man".

In an age when I see a large segment my country's population marching to the drumbeat of self-sacrifice, intellectual stagnation, bailouts, welfare, and mediocrity as an ideal, it is inspiring to see a character like Tony Stark come out of Hollywood.