Jen Kuznicki

If you have ever voted for a Republican, and plan to campaign and vote for another, the leader of the Northern Michigan Liberty Alliance describes you as a statist.

Yes, to the sectarian Chad Stevens, the GOP is exactly the same as the Democrat Party. No difference. If you are a member of the GOP, you are anti-liberty, that is, unless you are Ron Paul. Nobody other than Ron Paul can call themselves a Republican, or is it, can be a true Republican, unless they embrace isolationism, legalization of drugs, and a total abolishment of the Patriot Act.

I’m not a member, I used to be, but Chad has this uncanny ability to piss off people he could otherwise utilize to help his goals of liberty. But Chad is not interested in leading an alliance of liberty-minded people toward a common goal, he is interested in leading the most narrow-minded group of xenophobes, consistently asserting that any person, especially me, who dares take on the unpaid job of turning the direction of the GOP toward conservatism, must be a hack. In his view, if I am completely against illicit drug legalization, I’m not for liberty.

There is a sign in the front of one of our local churches that says, “Do not use your freedom as an excuse for sin.�? I agree with that. Therefore, Chad’s continual rants against people who understand there is more to governing a free people than complete liberty really doesn’t injure me much.

But I worry about those who may view the name “Liberty Alliance�? as a sort of inclusive group, it is definitely not.

Conversely, the Michigan GOP is one of those big tent organizations who typically consider conservatives as fringe. They are of the belief that welcoming ideas and bipartisanship from the Democrat Party is the way to gain independents to their side at election time. I vehemently disagree with their politics, because I know it is quite the opposite.

In life, to be a leader means to do the right thing, even if you are alone, and others will join you. It is the same in politics, but the party seems to like to find out what the other side thinks and incorporate that into their philosophy to seem “open�? to their ideas. That is wrong, and it has brought us away from leading, to become mere followers of bad examples.

So, as a conservative, I have a very difficult time with these two extremes. The NMLA dotes on Ron Paul, who is not a Republican, but a libertarian using the Republican Party as a tool to gain power, and the Michigan GOP, as a whole, veers toward moderation and crony capitalism. As a county chair, I know that my views match a great number of the rank and file of my local GOP. There are a few moderates, a few Ron Paul folks, a few party over principles folks, but by and large, most are to the right of Rush Limbaugh, but not so far right they embrace the left like Ron Paul.

But the biggest help to Ron Paul is the Republican Party’s big tent. Ironic, ain’t it?

In my mind, political thought and philosophy is a spectrum, with the largest amount of people in the United States of America being socially and fiscally conservative. We are not interested in legalizing heroine. We are not interested in letting Israel become a sight of massacre. We are not interested in turning our military into strictly defense-only, because that would welcome attacks on our soil. We are level-headed and mature. We are not happy about the influence of public unions. We do not think prostitution should be legalized. We do not believe that government should pick the winners and losers in business. We believe immigration is wonderful, done legally. We know we cannot survive while we spend more money than we take in. We are at war with radical Islam. We do not want another 4 years of Obama. We are Americans.

I sometimes equate Ron Paul fanatics with a form of communism. I read a book about a boy who grew up in Poland during the Second World War. He was taken from his family and sent to Siberia by the Soviets. He made a contrast of the Nazis and the Soviets by explaining that the Nazis were more concerned about your bloodline, and the Soviets were very paranoid about what you may be thinking, both societal and political. The leader of the NMLA is very concerned about your thoughts, to the point of regularly drumming the familiar line, “The GOP is absolutely the same as the Democrats.�? This bigoted statement is absurd, and his purpose is to weed out those who disagree with him. The GOP consists of millions of people. The idea that individuals can possibly all think the same thing is tantamount to a racist assuming all blacks are associated with gangs. With that kind of logic, he can happily become the leader of the smallest, most pure alliance of Ron Paul enthusiasts on the planet, and solidify his hatred.

Why communism? Why not some sort of movement of freedom? Most followers of Ron Paul are not open-minded. They are not tolerant, nor are they kind and friendly. Freedom-loving people are live-and-let-live types, loving, allowing for people to come to their own conclusions about life, rather than forcing an established prejudicial cage. They understand that with freedom comes responsibility, and most American family employ limits without the government needing to interfere.

Ron Paul followers are Ron Paul’s second biggest impediment, following his views.