Labels may change, but the privileged, oppressive ruling class remains
By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist
Reprinted from September 30, 2009 Current Newspapers of Atlantic County
(http://www.shorenewstoday.com/news.php?id=4630)
“The terms Left and Right. . . referred to the seating arrangements in the . . . French Legislative Assembly of 1791 (during the French Revolution). . . The moderates who favored a constitutional monarchy sat on the right side of the chamber, while the radicals who wanted to eliminate the king and all nobility sat on the left?
??The Right? thus implied support for aristocratic, royal and clerical interests, while ?The Left? implied support for republicanism, secularism and civil liberties. ?Left-wing? politicians (at that time) were advocates of laissez faire capitalism (economic liberty with free markets) and the ?Right-wing? politicians opposed it. . .??
? Wikipedia, Left-Right Politics
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People on ?the Right? also called themselves ?conservatives? because they wanted to ?conserve? the old French traditions of the king, the nobles, and the taxpayer-funded church. Those on ?the Left? wanted to be free (in French, ?libre?) of those traditions and became known as liberals.
Liberals recognized the ?unalienable rights? of all, inherited privileges for none, and not taxing people to pay for churches they didn’t go to. Those liberals were also called ?republicans? because they wanted a king-less republic like the United States. The guillotine that later chopped off the king’s head was called ?the republican razo.?
The French, like most Europeans, referred to American patriots like George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson as liberal, Left-wing, republicans. After our Revolution, America had no ?conservatives.? Most Tories on ?the Right? (including Ben Franklin’s son, the ex-Governor of New Jersey) fled to England or Canada.
Using European labels for left, right, liberal, conservative and republican in American politics is confusing. People like me who want to conserve the principles of our liberal, left Revolution of 1776 are called right-wing conservatives. People who support ?royal? families like the Kennedys, who use their wealth and power to control government, and then force the rest of us to support programs we hate (but which keep them in power) call themselves liberals on the left.
Like the nobles of old Europe, today’s highly paid and pensioned government officials ridicule and suppress us unruly and ignorant ?peasants? when we get angry, and voice our grievances at town hall meetings, tea parties and on talk radio. The teachers, professors, and media people use the old deceptive labels of Europe to hide the fact that they and the government officials they support are now a privileged and oppressive ruling class.
What labels should we use? How about ?strong politician-weak citizen? and ?weak politician-strong citizen? factions? Or the ?less-liberty? and ?more-liberty? parties? Or ?tyrant? or ?despot? versus ?liberty? groups?
Republican President George Bush and Democrat President Barak Obama together borrowed more than $2 trillion of our money to bail out the rich and powerful people who put them and their friends in office. Democrat Gov. Jon Corzine, and Republicans Chris Christie and Congressman Frank LoBiondo all support higher prices for gas, oil, and electricity so that General Electric can sell its windmills that produce electricity at $2 per kilowatt hour compared to the 10 cents we pay now.
Corzine and Democrat candidates for state Assembly all promised to spend our tax money on pay hikes and big pensions for public employees and union construction workers who support them. Christie and his Republican Assembly candidates promised to spend our tax money on the big businesses that support them. They are all tyrants and despots . They should all be called members of the Strong Politician-Weak Citizen-Less Liberty-More Special Deals for Friends party.
A lot of people think that enemies of liberty are only found in state and national government, and that small town, local politicians are our friends. But as early as 1787, James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 10 that some of the worst tyranny takes place in ?small republics.? That is because they are often dominated by one party or faction. At that time, the smallest state of Rhode Island, was well known as the worst-run state in the nation.
Many American conservatives loudly complain about politicians and bureaucrats in Washington and Trenton. But local officials often do the most harm. They include township committee folks, councilmen, mayors, county executives, public school administrators, police chiefs, and zoning officials who now have absolute power to make or ruin a life, a career or a business just by saying ?yes? or ?no.?
For more information visit www.libertyandprosperity.org, contact Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman at grossman@snip.net or (609) 927-7333, or listen to 92.1 FM 8 to 9 a.m. every Saturday. Breakfast discussion groups are held Saturdays after the show from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at two locations: Athena Diner, New Road, Northfield; and Pegasus Diner, Routes 40 and 47, Malaga.