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Bureaucracy is Not Freedom

by Rudy Takala



Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote, “In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, ‘Make us your slaves, but feed us.’� Such words would seem to describe the state to which modern proponents of constitutionalism and individualism have been relegated.



The most recent example of this is the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). CAFTA passed the U.S. House on July 28th by a vote of 217-215. It’s a treaty that, as the name alleges, makes us a freer nation. Unfortunately, freedom today has been defined by bureaucrats as being large numbers of convoluted regulations. As one lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in justifying CAFTA, "We as a country are a party to a very small number of trade agreements globally, particularly compared to the EU (European Union).�



So the European Union is ahead of us in terms of economic entanglements. We must be doing something wrong.



The United States shouldn’t have to consign its sovereignty to international bureaucrats, as it did in CAFTA, to achieve “freedom.� Perhaps if our own legislators weren’t so incompetent at governing this nation, they wouldn’t need to ask foreigners to do it for them.



I also found what inhibited the two non-voting Republicans of the House from acting to be interesting. The first, Rep. Charles Taylor of North Carolina, thought he had voted against CAFTA. However, a problem with his voting card prevented the House’s computerized tallying system from recording his vote. He was told of the problem the morning after the vote.



The other, Rep. Jo Ann Davis, missed the vote by about half an hour because she was attending a Boy Scout Jamboree. That was after House leaders had to keep the vote open longer than usual to keep from losing.



So in the spirit of our democratic and somewhat sovereign Republic, CAFTA was approved by the House on account of a computer that disregarded the vote of one representative and a leadership that managed to block the vote of another.



Our government’s method of legislating has become more like a game than a serious legislative process. The question is no longer which side has more support, but rather what party will have the most dysfunctional voting cards on any given day of the month. Vladimir Putin was right when he said the United States lacked credibility in criticizing other brands of democracy.



Though the CAFTA vote may be over, that debacle should have served as an illustration of the extent to which we can trust our current elected officials to honor our liberties. The next big issue we might expect them to fail on is President Bush’s nominee for the Supreme Court, John Roberts. We don’t know much about him, but it’s been purported that he has Hillary Clinton’s vote. That probably isn’t a good sign. As Ann Coulter wrote, “Republican presidents – especially Republican presidents named ‘Bush’ – have lost the right to say ‘Trust me’ when it comes to Supreme Court nominations.�



Why is the Republican leadership so plagued by liberals who always manage to do the wrong thing on major issues? They’ve made their constituency look like it has no objectives, no ideals and no vision. Of course, many people don’t have those qualities; they think freedom and constitutionalism sound like good ideas, but they’ll refuse to accept that their favorite welfare programs contradict those ideals. They’ll lay their freedom at the feet of anyone who promises to feed them with government money and flowery speeches about liberty.



The rifts in the Republican Party are a result of the people who have a purpose versus the people who don’t have a purpose. Members of the prior group are devoted to unwavering ideals, and they work within a political party to realize them. Members of the latter group are committed to nothing more than talking points; they don’t care what effect legislation will have so long as the proper jargon about God and compassion is used in justifying it.



As a result, we have a party that doesn’t know where it’s going or why it exists. This can be made no more evident than by the recent spectacle of Senate majority leader Bill Frist breaking with his own president over stem cell research. Our highest Republican officials don’t know what their party stands for.



Those who accept euphemisms as a substitute for action only encourage our leaders to shirk their Constitutional obligations. It’s nice to have so many politicians talking about the role of God in their lives, but when their actions are nothing more than a detriment to American freedom and sovereignty, their alleged motivations are irrelevant. Until that fact is realized, the ascendancy of our bureaucracy’s size and corruption is not going to cease.





Rudy Takala is 16 years old and writes a column for more than thirty Websites across the Internet. He can be contacted at RudyTakala@Yahoo.com.



The opinions expressed in this column represent those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, or philosophy of TheRealityCheck.org, Inc.