Just Say The Words

5/7ths of the GOP Presidential Field

As the hoopla continues from Wednesday's GOP debate, some interesting things can be noted.  The first, and probably most important item of note, is that the world saw first hand and in living color the vicious left-wing media - called by some as the mainstream media, or better yet, the Ministry of Truth - trying its best to vilify the Republican candidates.  The CNBC moderators' questions ranged from the openly insulting and antagonistic, to long orations of left wing talking points, to out-and-out inane.  If the mission was to embarrass or "take out" any given candidate, if failed miserably.  In  fact, the exact opposite occurred:  the moderators themselves were booed for their condescension and conceit.  Ted Cruz launched his "Cruz missile" at the unenlightened, deer-in-the-headlights morons posing as journalists, and was rewarded with the entire audience cheering and applauding, all but drowning out the weak protestations of the talking heads. This campaign season has shown that the GOP candidates, at long last, are refusing to be bullied, harried and manipulated by people who are less intelligent, less educated, and less interested in solving America's problems than they are in getting enough face time.  I call this the Trump Effect.  You hit me, I hit back - harder. Trump's been doing this since day one, and now it's catching on.  Good.  And it's about bloody time Republicans stopped letting the leftist media dictate the terms of the debate.  Bravo!

Get Government Out Of The Boardroom

The other interesting thing I noticed in watching this marathon was that virtually all the candidates stated they wanted to reduce the size - and reach - of the federal government.  Some cited the growth of the welfare state, some high taxes, some crony capitalism, and some spoke of overreaching regulations.  All spoke of the debt the government is taking on to finance all this.  OK, I know this in itself is a Republican platform plank, but there's a term for it that can be easily articulated.  That term?  Laissez-faire.  From the French, it means to leave alone or to allow to do.  It is an economic and political doctrine that holds that economies function most efficiently when unencumbered by government regulation. Laissez faire advocates favor individual self-interest and competition, and oppose the taxation and regulation of commerce.  For most of our country's history laissez faire was the established official economic policy, and has only recently - in the last half century or less - been pushed aside in favor of socialism, nannyism and Big Government.  And how's that worked out for us?  Well, gee, it hasn't.  It's created a ruling class that considers individual citizens untrustworthy, and as such must be reigned in - that is, controlled - by a omnipotent and omnipresent government.  Well, you get what you vote for.

If the candidates who espouse smaller, less intrusive government would simply begin using the term, and explain what it means and how it was once our driving policy when the US was healthy and wealthy, they would not get the glazed over reactions when attempting to define complex and confusing economic policy to low information voters.  

So make my day, candidates.  Say the words.  Laissez-faire.