Is anyone familiar with the American Nationalist Union?
The very name kind of creeps me out, and they never explain what they mean by nationalist. But I am in general agreement with its platform. Here I will post its provisions in italics, with my comments in plain text:
Repeal U.S. participation in NAFTA and GATT and protect American jobs and industries.
Presumably, CAFTA and the WTO would be listed in an updated version. I agree that we shouldn't have "free trade agreements," but we still need free trade. Get rid of the "protect American jobs and industries" part. Such wishful interventions only distorts the economy and hurts other American jobs and industries.
Balance the federal budget every year and return to a constitutional money system.
Great!
Abolish the IRS and the federal income tax, to be replaced with tariffs and a consumption tax of no more than 8%.
Taxes need to be sharply reduced, and ultimately transferred to ground rents, user fees, and taxes on consumption of non-renewable resources. I don't think consumption taxes can be fairly collected without IRS-style tactics. Still, the principle of sharply reduced taxes is good. The rest is negotiation.
Establish a ten-year moratorium on all immigration, construct a security fence along the Mexican border to stop the Third World invasion of America, and deport all illegal aliens back to their place of origin.
I believe the USA should be pragmatic in its immigration policy, and has the right to "keep out" economic refugees from unfree countries. But greater immigration enforcement today is one thing, but I suspect that the means by which we would be able to deport all illegal aliens would require a police state.
Repeal all gun control legislation, and reaffirm the Second Amendment right of all law-abiding Americans to be armed in order to protect their family and property, and, when necessary, be able to defend against governmental tyranny.
Great!
Greatly reduce the size of the federal government, ending the permanent welfare/warfare state by restricting the federal government only to those powers granted it by the Constitution, and returning power to the people at the local and state levels.
Great!
Support private schools and home schooling, and return control of public schools to local communities.
If "support" private schools means "allow them to exist without regulation and harrassment," I'm all for it. Even income tax deductions as a transition measure. But absolutely no vouchers.
Allow self-determination for all peoples and nations, while opposing the exploitation or oppression of any country or group of people.
Terminate NATO and substantially reduce the United States' worldwide military empire, end internal meddling in the affairs of other countries, while maintaining a strong military for legitimate purposes.
Can't argue with that. "Strong military" hopefully doesn't imply the continuance of the military-industrial complex and absurd budgets we have today.
Withdraw from the United Nations and oppose the New World Order in all its forms.
Great!
Get career criminals off the street permanently. Everyone has the right to be anywhere at any time of day and feel safe.
Provided we know what we mean by "criminals." Murderers, rapists, and thieves are criminals. Drug dealers and their customers, prostitutes and their clients, are not.
Have equal ballot access laws for all political parties, and return to the paper ballot in elections in order to cut down on election fraud and manipulation.
Great!
Begin a renewed commitment (through free enterprise, not the government) to space exploration as a healthy expression of Western man's basic need to discover and explore.
Great!
Return to a strengthened family unit as the norm for society, rejecting feminism, homosexuality and all other types of so-called "alternative lifestyles."
If this had been rephrased as "ending special privileges and legal recognition" of "alternative lifestyles," this might have been a worthwhile provision of the platform. As it is written, it just doesn't belong with the other parts of the platform. There is nothing government can or should do to have us "return to a strengthened family unit."
Return to Americans their traditional right of freedom of association, including voluntary racial separation, along with the abolishment of all forms of government-mandated racial discrimination, such as affirmative action and quotas.
Great!
Give Americans freedom of choice in all matters concerning health and medical treatments.
Great!
Let abortion be a states rights issue, decided by the people and the legislatures of each state rather than by a Supreme Court which acts too often as an unelected legislature.
Great!
Dismantle the federal government's police state spying apparatus and return to Americans their privacy rights.
Great!
Create a clean environment through a balanced approach that does not hurt the free enterprise system. Individuals, business and industry should be encouraged to use abundant, non-polluting energy sources, such as solar energy.
I would suggest this can be encouraged through the aforementioned tax on non-renewable resources.
End foreign aid.
Great!
UPDATE: An anomynous commenter alleges that this is a Nazi organization, although there's nothing Nazi about this platform. To be safe, I've withdrawn contact information for the group (easily found on their site anyway) so as to not imply my endorsement.
James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.
Monday, August 15, 2005
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They're Nazi's, basically. Honest to goodness Hitler-lovin' Nazis. They're just wearing small government conservative clothing to gain respectability.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say that the anonymous comment that is not spam has a point. I don't think that the small government stuff is a cover per se, but they definitely seem to be a bunch of homophobic white supremecists who believe that women should do little more than bake cookies and make babies. I may not support the mainstream version of feminism which seems almost female chavinist in nature (I prefer individualist feminists), but these guys seem to think that women should always submit to the rule of a man, and I vehemently disagree.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll "segregate" myself from those people.
The problem is that on any given issue, we need all the help we can get to pass whatever it is that we want to pass. If we disassociate from ultra-conservative groups because we're embarrassed by their social philosophies, then we lose the base by which a good 80% of the libertarian agenda could be passed.
ReplyDeleteYet if we work with such groups, we're subject to accusations that we endorse things we really don't.
That's a good point, and one that I agree with. On certain specific issues, it is often prudent to reach out to such people.
ReplyDeleteMy previous comment merely spelled out my desire to avoid linkage with such groups on a more general level. My personal background has much to do with why I feel the need to be vocal about this. In addition to my more mainsteam leftie past, I was also raised in an environment full of hatred for non-whites and growing up around such ideas has made me increasingly intolerant of such views, views that I find deeply appalling.
So, in other words, I'll applaud them when they criticize things like FTAA or other government monstrosities, but I'd rather be very careful when it comes to associating with them aside from such applause.
The first comment is false, it is sad that any group with conservative ideals is automatically labeled as Nazi. Especially when many of the people doing the labeling have absolutely no understanding of what a Nazi really is.
ReplyDeleteI mean look at the media now who is calling GW a Nazi, sorry, anyone who throws the term 'Nazi' around is using it for shock value and to create opposition to a conservative agenda with which they do not agree.