This last decade has seen a resurgence in freedom oriented rhetoric coming from Republicans, but zero in the way of action. They promised a smaller government, less taxes, fewer regulations, and more devolution of power. Instead, we got more of  the above, plus a series of very atrocious and oppressive crime bills.

Liberty is violated with general search warrants.   Public officials freely steal the property of citizens without proven cause.   Congress is not concerned about the legality of the confiscation of private property.  No, all they are debating is whether it should be stepped up or slowed down.

The “dumbing down”  of our American youth has not been slowed one iota on the Federal level.  Goals2000,  Schools-to-Work, and Outcome-Based Education are but a few of the tricks used by Congress to mandate this.   For voting records, see http://www.senate.gov/activities/103-2/vote_00085.html  and  http://143.231.123.93/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=1993&rollnumber=496.  The text for what became Public Law 103-227 is found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c103:./temp/~c103EHxPhI.

Public Law 206-105  does nothing to curtail the power of the IRS, it only categorizes the application of power, and renders this application immune from complaint and indemnification, provided that the  method of application is followed. This type of "Reform" is common, and is dangerous - it simultaneously shields the IRS from citizen complaints and legal action, and puts the sheeple back to sleep.

A balanced budget is one of the biggest lies proclaimed by the  Republicans in Congress.  Even the staunchest of Republicans really do not believe this but are willing to propagate the lie.  See http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37847aea3bb0.htm for an excellent article on this.  Also,  Joseph Farrah’s February 6, 1998 commentary is excellent, and can be found at http://www.WorldNetDaily.com under his column’s archives.

Congress has decided it will again violate the Constitution by further restricting the use of personal arms. Rather than oppose more legislation on gun control, they buckled under and passed a weaker measure in the House.  By a margin of 78-20 the Republican–controlled Senate voted to require safety locks or secure containers to be sold with every handgun.  Of course,  House Speaker Dennis Hastert, “plainly aware of his party’s vulnerability on the gun control issue”, told the Washington Post that the issue was not dead and that he saw room for more compromise with the Democrats. The  Speaker wants to convince Americans that the Republican party supports meaningful gun control, and he and his colleagues will accept the Senate’s gun show provision.  Watch and see.

Mr. Clinton’s E.O. 13083 "redefined" federalism so as to justify federal usurpation of the rights of the states. In effect, it unconstitutionally inverted the Tenth Amendment. Mr. Clinton claimed that his order would take effect in "90 days" — which would have been August 12, 1998. But Congressmen Ron Paul (R-TX) and Bob Barr (R-GA) immediately proposed legislation to block it, and they were supported by many state and local officials. The uproar reached such proportions that the White House suspended the order on August 5, 1998.  Now, this was good!  However, on that same date the House of Representatives first defeated a measure that would have prohibited the use of federal funds to  implement both E.O. 13083 and E.O. 13087 (Mr. Clinton’s order banning federal agencies from job discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation". )  Instead, Congress could have enforced the Constitution’s clear delegation of lawmaking authority to it and it alone. The Constitution cannot enforce itself. It must be enforced by a vigilant Congress, a constitutionally committed Judicial branch, and, most of all, an informed public determined to remain free.

The GOP, after turning down Hillary’s National Health Care, has managed to implement much of it piecemeal.  Don’t believe me?  Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d106query.html on the internet and type in  “health” for the keyword.  See what you get. I found 1015 bills dealing with health care for the 106th Congress, alone. Look long and hard at not only the bills, but their sponsors. One bill, still in committee in the house, H.R. 1200, is titled:   A bill to provide for health care for every American and to control the cost and enhance the quality of the health care system.  In six years the 37 million Americans lacking medical coverage has grown to 43.7million. The more government regulates medicine, the less medical care we have. In six short years Congress has been reduced to arguing about legislating the length of hospital stays for women and juggling the number of people who will end of being forced out of their managed care insurance programs because the cost has gotten too high.  No one is talking about who got us into this mess.  Definitely, our Republicans are not trying to get us out of it.

 We are on the verge of national ID cards. When  querying Thomas for "health card", two things showed up consistently, "smart card" and "health card".  One bill that is disturbing is S.1059:   An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2000 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. Oh...you should read it. Sponsored by Senator John Warner (R-VA) the data states:  LATEST ACTION: 07/01/99 Motion to close certain portions of conf. comm. meeting passed House, roll call #267 (413-9) .  Our Republican party has not only allowed regulation of personal property, but seeks to control the wealth we, as citizens, are permitted to accumulate (yes, I said permitted).  Banking regulations are imminent that track even cash transactions.  Our personal privacy is invaded on every hand.

Not only have “our” Republicans given full-blown support for one of the biggest fiasco’s in the history of the military with the invasion of Yugoslavia, but they have watched and actually participated in the demoralization and erosion of what was once the best military force in the world. Bill Clinton has attacked more foriegn countries than all of the presidents since Ike, combined.  And what has the GOP done about it? Not one damned thing.  And where have the Republicans been while Clinton has been cutting the military? At the trough with him, spending that "peace dividend".

In brief, let me offer the following:

Bill Clinton hasn’t even had to veto any tax relief. And why? Because the Republicans have always killed any tax cut bills in the Senate.

H. CON. RES. 78 has been introduced to pay all U.N. financial “obligations”…..don’t believe me?  Take a look: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c106:2:./temp/~c106DDld3x::    How much you want to bet the Republican Congress goes right along with it?

Remember term limits? How many Republicans are living up to their promise to abide by term limits?

Not one member of Congress has come forward to call for the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton for moral turpitude in light of the accusations of Juanita  Broaddrick.

The Republicans in power no longer lead.  They follow. They do not stand up to  the tremendous pressures applied by the cultural and political  establishment. They bend. They compromise. They yield. It is unusual for any politician to place principle over personal ambition, and that Senator Smith did, to me, is encouraging.  To believe in the Constitution, one must uphold it, regardless of polls, events, or news coverage.

This Republican Congress has been confronted with a venomous press, a criminal White House, a president that lies to them and the American people, a depraved Attorney General and Justice Branch and a Democrat minority that has no regard for the truth.  And these are the excuses they use--nothing is their fault.  If the President is dishonest, remove him. If the Attorney General is corrupt, impeach her. In lieu of appointed Special prosecutors,  the Congress should instigate their own investigations.

Many are using the fact of Clinton’s ability to veto as an excuse for this.  Let’s see some vetos come out. Let’s see the Republicans fight them. As it is, they go along with the charade. They have a Constitutional duty to pass proper budgets and to uphold our Bill of Rights. regardless of what Clinton does with the veto pen. That sad excuse is yet another reason for dissatisfaction with the Republicans.  Clinton would only dare so many vetoes--eventually the American people would notice.

Many supporters say the GOP has done one thing:  impeach Bill Clinton. Certainly they impeached him. They impeached him for the one crime they knew would never result in his removal when they could have and should have considered other crimes such as treason and bribery, abuse of the IRS & FBI, racketeering, money laundering, rape, extortion, illegal use of FBI files and more.  But these people refused to even deliberate it.  A small victory in light of what could and should have been.

I don’t pretend to offer alternatives here.  Whether one remains with the GOP or chooses another option is a personal choice. But until we recognize the duplicity and socialist nature of even our own GOP, we are like ostriches with our heads in the sand. We MUST see it. Then, we must fight it. I am afraid that MANY are going to fight it by leaving the GOP. I suspect we’ll have a very poor, eye-opening election next go-around. Only after that will we see the GOP truly addressing these issues.

A friend of mine said to me, "One of the finer and neglected nuances of fascism is the methods by which progression to oligarchial rule are attenuated. One of those  delivery mechanisms is polarity or "divide and conquer". The primary goal of an oligarchy is to control both opposing halves and offer  nominal choices that do not harm the final objective. Such are the choices we are offered in our two party system. "

Joseph Farrah of World Net Daily, in his March 3, 1999 commentary put it more succinctly, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Democrats  and Republicans.”