We now know that the Obama administration is a crude mixture consisting of about one third incompetence, one third corruption and one third left-wing fanaticism.  Each of these traits has been detectible since the beginning of Obama’s brief tenure on the public stage.  Each is now readily apparent to any American serious enough to pay attention.  It is also clear that this mixture is unpalatable to the broad majority of Americans.  Indeed, no President (perhaps no comparable leader) has ever squandered so much good will so quickly. 

With the exception of a few prescient individuals (like your humble correspondent), most Americans were almost desperate to give Obama the benefit of the doubt last January.  By the end of the summer, few could doubt the monstrous mistake the electorate had made.  It is hard to imagine that this turn of events will not redound to the benefit of the Republican Party in 2010 and perhaps beyond.  And therein lies a real problem that’s getting too little attention. 

For millions of Americans (Free Market Warriors), in the Tea Party Movement and 9-12 and other groups around the country, we’ve come to a critical juncture in American history.  Whatever else Obama has done, he’s done us the service of clarifying the direction in which we don’t want to go.  This lesson has been bought at a very high cost.  And it continues to be, arguably, the most expensive lesson in the history of the world.  Our goal, now, cannot be to have our national and individual futures squandered by people with “R”s after their names.  And, sadly, the mainstream of the Republican Party has come to stand for growing the government at a slightly slower rate than the Democrats do. 

This has been the practice for over 100 years now.  The Democrats come to power and vastly increase the size of government.  Then the Republicans take over and increase it more, but at a slower pace, and the Democrats await their next opportunity to argue that if Americans want bigger government, it’s better to get there expeditiously.  And the governmental football continues its inexorable journey to the left.

All the signs are in place for 2010 to be (as Marco Rubio suggested the other day) a costume party where liberal Republicans dress up as fiscal conservatives or perhaps just run on not being lunatic Democrats bent on national destruction.  At moments, that argument seems persuasive enough, given the alternative.  But I caution my fellow Americans not to be seduced by it.  The gullible complicity of Bush’s original bailout of AIG paved the way for the far more egregious abuses of the Obama Administration, just as Herbert Hoover’s diluted socialism opened the door for Roosevelt’s purer blend.  And it was John McCain’s inability to imagine free market solutions to our problems that furnished the Obama administration with the cover of “consensus” that they still hide behind (although much less successfully) today.

My reading of American history tells me that third parties have very little chance.  But it is equally clear that there is no future to be based on “me too, but less”.  That leaves one solution for Americans who are desperate to return to the freedom that is our heritage.  We must take over the Republican Party.  Let me be very clear:  Nothing would be more disastrous to lovers of freedom than for the Republicans to win in 2010 as the “moderate” party.  I think that would be the death knell for the America of our founders.  I’ll be clear again:  It would be better for the Democrats to win.  (As hard as it is to write that sentence!)  Our only hope for the future is to have an opposition party that stands for principle.  In this case, our principle must be to dismantle the governmental monstrosity which has been built up by Democrats and Republicans (yes, mostly Democrats) for 100 years now and more.  We cannot accept, or vote for, Republicans who don’t support us on this.  And the time is now!  Republican candidates are being chosen right now!

So, here’s a little Free Market Warrior test before you support, contribute to, or vote for anybody.  It seems to me that this is a bare minimum to ask of anybody who claims to represent Free Market Warriors:

1.  They must agree that every unspent stimulus dollar be immediately rescinded; and that bailouts given to corporations must be paid back as quickly as possible regardless of the effect on the corporation; and that the money be returned to the taxpayers in the form of lower marginal rates. 

2.  They must be able to name one agency (examples: NEA, NEH) and one cabinet level department (agriculture, energy, commerce, HUD) that they would support discontinuing at the soonest possible opportunity. 

3. They must agree that total federal spending for 2011 should be less than it was in 2007 (Bush’s last pre-stimulus, pre-bailout budget) and should go down (not up) from there.

These are very modest proposals.  They barely scratch the surface of what needs to be done to return America to its heritage of liberty.  It’s just a small beginning.  But mark my words, any candidate who won’t endorse these three easy principles, will be voting to expand government and raise your taxes, before their term is done! 

Can we succeed?  Yes!  More about that next.  In the mean time, I would welcome everyone’s comments on how we can hold Republican candidates and elected officials to small government principles.  Please log in and comment at FreeMarketWarrior.com, so everyone can share in discussion.