The cabal of delusional neo-cons in the Whitehouse are not conservatives at all but are just another brand of Big Government cheerleaders like their liberal cousins. Paul Craig Roberts asks a question I’ve been wondering, “Where have all the conservatives gone?”

You see, grasshopper, St. George of the Bush is a false prophet in the Church of Conservatism… unless you’ve warped the definition of “conservatism” to now mean favoring massive budget deficits and national debts (since “deficits don’t matter,” according to Deacon Cheney) pervasive and invasive government snooping into your personal life a la the Patriot Act, and waging imperial wars around the globe. After all, to real conservatives, war is nothing but the biggest, most expensive, and most destructive government program there is. But you neo-con brownshirts get all puffed up in your fleshly minds and declare that, “If’n you ain’t with us, yer agin’ us!”

Now, before you dismiss Paul Craig Roberts as some kind of wild-eyed liberal, think again. Dr. Roberts is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

Let’s pause from genuflecting before the altar of the Humongous Gubmint Beast with its attendant clergy of neo-cons and read how real conservatives think:

The conservative movement that I grew up in did not share the liberals� abiding faith in government. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Today it is liberals, not conservatives, who endeavor to defend civil liberties from the state. Conservatives have been won around to the old liberal view that as long as government power is in their hands, there is no reason to fear it or to limit it. Thus, the Patriot Act, which permits government to suspend a person�s civil liberty by calling him a terrorist with or without proof.

Thus, preemptive war, which permits the President to invade other countries based on unverified assertions.

There is nothing conservative about these positions. To label them conservative is to make the same error as labeling the 1930s German Brownshirts conservative.

American liberals called the Brownshirts “conservative,” because the Brownshirts were obviously not liberal. They were ignorant, violent, delusional, and they worshipped a man of no known distinction. Brownshirts� delusions were protected by an emotional force field. Adulation of power and force prevented Brownshirts from recognizing implications for their country of their reckless doctrines.

Like Brownshirts, the new conservatives take personally any criticism of their leader and his policies. To be a critic is to be an enemy. I went overnight from being an object of conservative adulation to one of derision when I wrote that the US invasion of Iraq was a “strategic blunder.” ~ Paul Craig Roberts

This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for the all the bright voices of Liberty vigilantly watching the steady trespassing of government meddling in our lives and dutifully sounding the alarm. Below is a list of some of guardians of freedom for whom I am especially grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

And thanks to Bob Smith for the list of links.

The Samurai has linked to some really good, thought-provoking political articles lately. They inspired me to write my own little election summary. Thought you might like to see what the Mrs. has to say about all this. Here goes…

Democrats’ reactions to President Bush’s re-election have been extreme, to say the least. People are seeking therapy, researching Canadian residency requirements, and even committing suicide. But if they are feeling depressed, perhaps it should be from a sense of guilt. The Democratic Party, more than any other group in our country, has worked tirelessly for decades to increase the scope and power of government to shape our society according to their vision. And they succeeded – at least in the ‘increasing government’ part.

But there’s a catch. For all of their talk of smaller government, the Republicans are always more than happy to take the reins of the Federal leviathan and steer it in the direction they want – to the utter horror of those very people who inadvertently put the power in their hands. Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate this whole big Federal government thing.

The colonists overthrew a tyrannical government, set up a system based on liberty, and quickly became a prosperous nation and beacon of hope for the world. It’s important to recognize that America was a tremendous success story not because of what the government did, but what it DIDN’T do. It didn’t treat citizens as property, overly tax them, disarm them, over-regulate them, wage imperial wars around the world, interfere with freedom of speech and worship, circumvent due process, and so on. I speak, of course, in the past tense.

George Washington said, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force.” While you might agree with the way one group uses that force, you never know whose control it will be in next. Washington went on to say, “Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master.” Not sure you agree? Think of how you’d feel if you received an IRS audit notice in the mail tomorrow.

Next time, vote for Liberty.

To all you suicidal liberals still simpering after the repudiation you endured in the last election: you have a friend in J.D. Tuccile. He feels your pain and offers you an open and heartfelt invitation to join forces in taking America back.

Now, as for this new-found secessionist sentiment of yours and this talk of a looming civil war between progressive blue states and reactionary red states …

Ummm … are you sure you’re up to it?

It was all well and good when your side was running the show to sniff at the Second Amendment and say that the government should have a monopoly on force. You insisted that any talk of resisting the powers-that-be was just SO reactionary (you DO remember our little chat after the Waco unpleasantness, don’t you?). But the world looks a little bit different when the cops work for the opposition, doesn’t it? If you plan to redraw national borders, you’re going to want something of a heavier caliber than those sharply worded e-mails you’ve been circulating. Frankly, the other side is heavily armed; you’re not.

It’s OK. My friends and I are here to help. But we’ll have to come to an understanding. If we’re going to work together, you’re going to have to stop trying to shove your god down the throat of nonbelievers.

No, I don’t have you confused with Bob Jones. I know you call yourself an agnostic. But whatever you call yourself, just like the Bush supporters you worship an awesome god in whom you put all faith — and you think the rest of us should do the same. The Bushies call their god Jehovah and you call your god Government. As happy as I am to hear, yet again, about the sainted John F. Kennedy who died for our sins, I don’t plan on joining your church. Just as I’m unenthusiastic about coughing up a tithe to appease the other side’s Lord in Heaven, I don’t really hanker to make a cash sacrifice to your Lord in D.C.

So here’s the deal: If you agree to let me live my own life according to my own values, so long as I don’t trample on your rights, I’ll agree to do the same by you. Think about it; if we all lived according to that sort of understanding, the stakes would be an awful lot lower when your side lost an election. Then you could go about your business without taking time out to chat with immigration lawyers or draw maps with creative new borders on them. [read more]