THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 168, September 10, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
GOP ENDORSES LIFE-LONG BREAD LINES
By Tom DeWeese
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, U.S.A.: ITS ENDORSEMENT OF GLOBAL SOCIALISM, THE SOCIAL WELFARE STATE, &
REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH -- THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES ITS SUPPORT OF THE "POVERTY
ERADICATION" PROGRAM DEMANDED BY IRISH MARXIST ROCK STAR PAUL DAVID HEWSON BONO & OUTLINED IN THE
UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM DECLARATION OF 2000 -- HOW DOES THIS SQUARE WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S PAST
ADVOCACY OF FREE ENTERPRISE, LIMITED GOVERNMENT, & INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY? WHY HAVE ALL PAST EFFORTS
TO ELIMINATE POVERTY IN THE WORLD FAILED TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL? WHAT IS THE REAL ANSWER TO THE
PROBLEM OF ERADICATING POVERTY?
FULL STORY:
I've been waiting for the disbelief and outrage to emerge from Republicans across the nation over the Republican Party's
recent announcement. Incredibly, the Republican National Committee announced that it is endorsing the poverty
eradication program of rock star Bono. There hasn't been any outrage yet from GOP rank and file. Is there nothing left of
the old GOP?
For those who missed it, in August, 2007, the Republican National Committee took steps to endorse Irish rock star Bono's
proposal to spend $30 billion in U.S. taxes to eliminate global poverty. Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, has dogged
political leaders around the world, using his rock star status to pressure them into accepting his brand of global guilt.
However, the GOP's capitulation to Bono's charms goes much deeper than getting excited about the passions of a rock star.
This time, Bono is acting as the messenger boy for the United Nations. You see, back in 2000, every head of state in the
world agreed to the UN's Millennium Declaration, which calls for the end of poverty by the year 2015. There, the world's
leaders agreed to put up the money for UN poverty programs. Now the UN is working to collect. Bono has declared himself
to be the collection agent. And the Republicans jumped when he called.
How can it be that the Republican Party, which once advocated free enterprise, limited government and individual liberty,
could fall for such a wealth redistribution scheme, and at the request of an avowed Marxist like Bono? The two should have
nothing in common, what so ever. Or don't they?
Eradication of poverty is certainly a noble cause. People throughout the world are suffering from hunger, poor health and
filthy water. The number of poor in the world is growing higher each year. There is no doubt that something must be done.
Of course, there are thousands of efforts in the world aimed at eradicating poverty or feeding and clothing the poor. From
churches to charitable organizations to local, state, federal and international government programs, billions of dollars are
collected and presumably distributed to the poor.
Yet, every day we have more poor. Why? Because none of these efforts focus on the source of poverty. None of them take
steps to reverse the situation and help the poor to help themselves. And neither will the GOP's new Bono-inspired scheme.
And that is what's so astounding about the GOP's announcement. It should know better.
Poverty, as run by the international poverty cartel headquartered in the United Nations, is big business. As in almost every
case where there is unlimited cash and little accountability by mindless, faceless bureaucrats and all-powerful potentates,
corruption, embezzlement, exorbitant salaries, and inside procurement deals fatten the pockets of a few and leave the poor
hungry and left out.
Adam Lerrick, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) told the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Security and
International Trade and Finance that he estimates between $100 billion and $500 billion in World Bank funds intended for
African development have been smuggled into offshore accounts.
As poverty grows ever greater, Bono establishes himself as the self-proclaimed savior of Africa. He uses his concerts to
enflame young audiences to hate the rich. He postures. He snarls. He marches up and down the stage waving a red flag
while the music pounds a steady, military beat. And political leaders cower as he shakes them down for the cash.
Yet, where is Bono's indignation over the theft by the very organizations he promotes? Where are his revelations of radical
environmentalist groups who openly advocate that African villagers must continue to live in mud huts and walk five miles for
water, because that is "sustainable?" In fact, Bono, and the ilk he supports, arrogantly deny the poor the opportunity to live
in the Twenty First Century because they don't want them to have electricity, cars, better roads, and modern homes. This,
they say would damage the environment. And this is the policy the Republican National Committee has chosen to support?
Even as the poverty cartel demands the eradication of poverty by 2015, how do they propose to achieve that success? How
are the poor supposed to climb out of poverty? They aren't. Ending poverty would mean the end of the stolen funds and the
political power that the poverty cartel has come to expect.
Instead, they have condemned the poor of the world to live in life-long bread lines, dependent on others for daily existence,
no hope for a future of betterment. The poor are mere pawns in the game. And this is the policy the Republican National
Committee has chosen to support?
Moreover, even without the corruption, redistribution schemes are not the answer to saving the poor. The GOP should know
that taking money from hard working people and giving it to those who must instantly consume it solves nothing. It's a
momentary band-aid. Tomorrow, the poor and hungry will need more. And more will be taken from the providers. Anyone
who has ever studied economics 101 should know that the only possible outcome of such a scheme is to make everyone
poorer. And this is the policy the Republican National Committee has chosen to support?
So, why are some nations so poor, and others are so rich? What is the real answer to eradicating poverty? The "2007 Index of
Economic Freedom," published jointly by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal may hold the answer. It
examines 10 economic characteristics of 157 countries. Those include property rights, monetary stability, freedom from
government, trade restrictions, business regulations, and government corruption.
The report includes a color-coded map showing the nations that are free, mostly free, moderately free, mostly unfree, and
repressed. Does it surprise anyone to discover that the most repressed nations also contain the poorest people in the world?
People who lack freedom have no ability to produce wealth.
As Economist Walter Williams points out, "Extensive government control, weak property rights, and government corruption
almost guarantee poverty." Those three factors are almost universal in United Nations' anti-poverty programs and the very
reasons why none of its programs will ever achieve the goal of eradicating poverty.
If the GOP was actually interested in helping the poor and making itself a hero to the masses, it should abandon any
connections with Bono and the UN. It should renounce any such wealth redistribution schemes. It should advocate the
policies that made the United States of America the wealthiest nation on earth -- the policies of private property ownership,
limited government, and free enterprise.
The United States isn't wealthy because of an abundance of natural resources or good Karma. The United States is rich
because it's free. And every nation on earth could be as wealthy, if they too allowed their people to live their own lives
without interference from busybodies who want to dictate how others should live, or who seek to confiscate the fruits of
someone's labor. Every nation could have it, no matter the education level of the country or the population.
If the GOP needs a hero to follow why not choose a real one, with real solutions -- solutions which actually reflect the
freedom the GOP insists it promotes? Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto is such a man.
De Soto wrote a book, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else.
That book has become an international phenomenon with those who truly want to do something about eradicating poverty.
De Soto has been sought out by at least 50 heads of state, each asking him to come to their country to help establish
programs and guidelines for eradiating poverty, helping the poor build their own wealth.
So why hasn't the GOP endorsed de Soto's brand of freedom, instead of Bono's tired old socialism? The answer may
surprise most GOP supporters, for it is no accident or miscalculation.
Few Republicans are aware of an organization called the International Democratic Union (IDU). But they should know abot
it because the GOP is a major player in it. It's no accident that, every four years, at the same time and in the same city as the
Republican National Convention, the IDU holds its own meeting.
Formed in 1983, the IDU says it's a "working association of over 80 Conservative, Christian Democrat, and like-minded
political parties of Centre and Centre Right." Some of the political party members of the IDU include the German Christian
Social Union, the British Conservative Party, the Conservative Party of Norway, and the U.S. Republican Party.
Now one would expect that an organization which is made of "Centre and Centre Right" organizations which advocate "free
enterprise, free trade and private property," as the IDU claims, an organization with America's Republican Party as a major
active member, would also advocate the greatest collection of ideas for freedom ever written -- the ideas expressed in the
American Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. What an opportunity for the GOP to advance
American ideals for eradicating poverty throughout the world.
But such is not the case with the IDU. A careful look at the group's founding Declaration of Principles reveals a very
different message. The second paragraph of the IDU Declaration states: "Being committed to advancing the social and
political values on which democratic societies are founded, including the basic personal freedoms and human rights, as
defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...." That, of course, is the United Nations' Declaration of Human
Rights which the IDU is promoting.
There are two conflicting philosophies of governing in the world. One, the American view, as outlined in the Declaration of
Independence, states that all people have rights they are born with and that government's main job is to protect those rights
at all costs. America's founding document says that these rights are forever and unquestioned. It is the foundation of
human freedom.
The other view says that government decides the rights we should have, professing that all such rights give way to an
unidentified common good whenever the situation is warranted. That means that all socalled rights are subject to the whim
of whatever gang is currently in power. This is the position promoted in the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover,
Article 29, section (3) of the document says: "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the
purposes and principles of the United Nations."
To understand why the Republican Party has embraced the socialism of Bono instead of the freedom of de Soto, one only
has to connect the dots. As an organization advocating human freedom, the Republican Party is a fraud.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The United Nations, Its Agencies, & U.S. National Interests
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The Political & Cultural Left -- Liberals, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Tom DeWeese is the Publisher and Editor of The DeWeese Report and President of the American Policy Center, a
grassroots activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. The Center maintains an Internet website at
www.americanpolicy.org.
Copyright 2007 Tom DeWeese
Published with Permission of Tom DeWeese
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity