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Disunity Needed between Republican and Democratic Politicians

Calling all constitutionalist candidates!

James Anthony
July 1, 2022

Unity happens when people voluntarily cooperate. Customers, consumer-product producers, and intermediate-product producers all work together. All their interactions are win-win, leaving each party’s wants satisfied [1]. Unity with voluntary cooperation creates more choices.

Disunity happens when anyone coerces. When anyone uses force on or threatens someone else, everyone is no longer working together cooperatively. These interactions are win-lose, with the coerced person being deprived of life, liberty, or property [2]. Disunity with coercion destroys choices.

Disunity still happens when Republican and Democratic politicians agree; coercion gets applied to all or some of us [3]. The people who are coerced get deprived of life, liberty, or property.

Disunity among politicians is needed for voters to have choices.

Health Coercion

In pandemics, lives are saved by doing the best at creating and using resources, which include both products and information [4].

The creation and use of resources is done best when people are free. When people are free, they naturally choose to voluntarily cooperate. As they cooperate, each person adds value using all the information he has.

No central planner will ever know all the information that people themselves know.

No central planner is infallible. Every central planner is human, with human limitations. Further, no central planner has strong incentives to correct his errors (or even to learn of his errors).

No central planner is selected by a process that selects for planners who make the best choices for people. Unlike customers, who choose the products that are optimum for the customers themselves, taxpayers don’t get to choose the bureaucrats who are optimum for the taxpayers themselves. Instead, politicians choose the bureaucrats who are optimum for the politicians themselves.

No central planner has any right to substitute for people’s own choices the planner’s own choices that might alienate people’s unalienable rights to life, liberty, and secure property [5]. Each person has every right to make his own choices.

This, then, is the criterion for identifying the pandemic policy responses that government people should make, both because these responses are right and because these responses will save people’s lives: government people should make the choices that leave people free.

People are left freer when each government person limits his own coercion.

People are left freest when each government person also uses his constitutional powers to limit coercion by other government people and cronies [6].

In each matter of health policy in which government people have applied coercion or have allowed others to coerce people, the health policy that would have been right and would have saved lives would have been to limit that coercion as fully as was within each government person’s constitutional powers.

So then, lives will be saved when government officials limit themselves in every possible way: No restrictions on prescribing and dispensing existing medications for off-label indications. No restrictions on selling supplements. No requirements to lock down. No stimulus spending and debt. No requirements to distance. No requirements to disinfect. No requirements to quarantine. No requirements to mask. No restrictions on fast in-home tests. No patent monopolies for drugs unless all data needed to develop and sell the drugs are shared openly. No limits on liability for drug effects that result from continuing to sell drugs after these effects are first reasonably suspected. No requirements to use drugs. No other coercion.

And more lives will be saved when government officials also limit others, by creating and enforcing laws punishing others who apply the coercions listed above [7].

Neither nearly-all Republicans nor Democrats nor nearly-all businesses have offered reduced coercion [8]. The result has been a predictably-long pandemic [9] with predictable deprivations of life, liberty, and property [10].

Similar large payoffs from limiting coercion, and similar limited choices of representatives who would limit coercion, are seen in most major areas involving either policies or processes.

Abortion

Neither Republicans nor Democrats in the state governments, when faced with unconstitutional supreme court opinions, have upheld their oaths to the Constitution by prosecuting abortionists for murder [11].

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have refused to disburse funds for abortion.

War

Neither Republican nor Democratic congresspeople have enacted rules-of-engagement cards that protect our people first. Neither parties’ congresspeople have blocked unconstitutional authorizations to use military force without declaring war.

Neither Republican nor Democratic presidents have refused to command troops in war without congressionally-enacted ROE cards that protect our people, nor without declarations of war. Neither parties’ presidents have withdrawn our troops from forward bases. Neither parties’ presidents have refused to execute war treaties, which usurp both congresses’ duty to declare war by themselves and presidents’ duty to command the military themselves [12], [13].

Healthcare Control

Neither Republicans nor Democrats in state governments [14] have limited government control over health-payment systems / insurance, professional licensing, hospital licensing, and care for the needy [15].

Neither parties’ people in the national government have limited government control over health-payment systems / insurance and care for the needy.

Schools and Research

Neither Republicans nor Democrats in state governments have limited government control over all schools, professional licensing, attendance, and the use of taxpayer funds for government schools [16] and research [17].

Neither parties’ people in the national government have limited government control over schools and research.

Election-Manner Violations

Neither Republican nor Democratic state legislatures have directed the manner of appointment of electors [18].

With respect to both policies and processes, voters have had little choice under our system of two majority-Progressive parties [19], which has been in place since 1894 [20].

This is changing. Voters are starting to get savvy about candidates even for local government. Constitutionalists are running in increasing numbers and are winning. This is long overdue. And much more is needed.

Disunity among government people is needed for we the people to be free.

Calling all constitutionalist candidates—your voters are ready and waiting [21]!

References

  1. Rockwell, Llewellyn H., Jr. “What Economics Is Not.” Mises Daily Articles, 23 Nov. 2021, mises.org/library/what-economics-not. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  2. Gordon, David. “Contract Rights Are Not the Same as Natural Rights.” Mises Wire, 30 Nov. 2021, mises.org/wire/contract-rights-are-not-same-natural-rights. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  3. Sumner, William Graham. What the Social Classes Owe Each Other. The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1974, pp. 107-15.
  4. Anthony, James. “The Use of Knowledge in Pandemics.” rConstitution.us, 19 Feb. 2021, rconstitution.us/the-use-of-knowledge-in-pandemics/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  5. Curry, Robert. “Getting to 1776.” Claremont Review of Books, 10 Apr. 2017, claremontreviewofbooks.com/digital/getting-to-1776/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  6. Anthony, James. “On the Reading of Old Constitutions.” rConstitution.us, 9 Oct. 2021, rconstitution.us/on-the-reading-of-old-constitutions/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  7. Anthony, James. “COVID Tyranny Should Be Overpowered Using Laws.” rConstitution.us, 15 Jan. 2021, rconstitution.us/covid-tyranny-should-be-overpowered-using-laws/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  8. Anthony, James. “Why DeSantis Matters.” rConstitution.us, 30 July 2021, rconstitution.us/why-desantis-matters/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  9. Anthony, James. “City Problems Need City Solutions: Open Up Counties Again.” rConstitution.us, 4 Sep. 2020, rconstitution.us/city-problems-need-city-solutions-open-up-counties-again/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  10. “Cost of Lockdowns: A Preliminary Report.” AIER Daily Economy, 18 Nov. 2020, www.aier.org/article/cost-of-us-lockdowns-a-preliminary-report/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  11. Anthony, James. “What the Lubbock Sanctuary for the Unborn Shows Us.” American Greatness, 11 May 2021, amgreatness.com/2021/05/11/what-the-lubbock-sanctuary-for-the-unborn-shows-us/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  12. Anthony, James. “Limiting War through Good Boundaries: Secrecy, Independence, Basing, ROE Cards, Declarations, Enemy Governments, Productivity.” rConstitution.us, 24 Sep. 2021, rconstitution.us/limiting-war-through-good-boundaries-secrecy-independence-basing-roe-cards-declarations-enemy-governments-productivity/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  13. Anthony, James. “The First 1,461 Days of a Constitutionalist President.” rConstitution.us, 8 Jan. 2021, rconstitution.us/the-first-1461-days-of-a-constitutionalist-president/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  14. Anthony, James. “rSecession: County-Region Secessions to Form Small-r republican State Governments.” rConstitution.us, 9 Jul. 2021, rconstitution.us/rsecession-county-region-secessions-to-form-small-r-republican-state-governments/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  15. Horowitz, Daniel. “20 Ideas to Crush Obamacare and Cure American’s Health Care Crisis.” theBlaze, 8 Mar. 2017, www.theblaze.com/conservative-review/20-ideas-to-crush-obamacare-and-cure-americas-health-care-crisis. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  16. Rockwell, Llewellyn H., Jr. “What If Public Schools Were Abolished?” Mises Daily Articles, 14 July 2020, mises.org/library/what-if-public-schools-were-abolished. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  17. Reisman, George. “Free-Market Science vs. Government Science.” Mises Wire, 8 Aug. 2006, mises.org/wire/free-market-science-vs-government-science. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  18. Anthony, James. “Zero Tolerance for Election-Manner Violations.” rConstitution.us, 11 Dec. 2020, rconstitution.us/zero-tolerance-for-election-manner-violations/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  19. Anthony, James. “Republicans: The Key Progressives.” rConstitution.us, 21 Aug. 2020, rconstitution.us/republicans-the-key-progressives/. Accessed 1 July 2022.
  20. Rothbard, Murray N. The Progressive Era. Edited by Patrick Newman, Mises Institute, 2017, pp. 163-97.
  21. Anthony, James. “A New Major Party Is Forming Right before Our Eyes.” American Greatness, 5 Apr. 2021, amgreatness.com/2021/04/05/a-new-major-party-is-forming-right-before-our-eyes/. Accessed 1 July 2022.

James Anthony is the author of The Constitution Needs a Good Party and rConstitution Papers, has written in The Federalist, American Thinker, Foundation for Economic Education, and American Greatness, and publishes rConstitution.us. Mr. Anthony is an experienced chemical engineer with a master’s in mechanical engineering.

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