Stereotypes be damned: A Liberal Atheist Supports Mitt

I’m a proud non-believer and a socially liberal person. Because of this, many people are surprised to find out I’m a Republican. Most people assume that all Republicans or Democrats must be one way or another. This is ignorant and ill-informed. Society has fed these stereotypes and many people fail to research beyond the talking heads on Fox, MSNBC and Comedy Central. Not all Republicans are fundamentalists and not all Democrats are socialist. There are loud fringe groups perpetuating a typecast. Placing diametrically politically-opposed individuals face-to-face on a news talk show makes for interesting television and keeps ratings high. This is the current state of politics today—emotionally charged debates broken into to sound bites for consumption by the masses. “Democrats stand for the working man and love people. Republicans are greedy and hate people.” False and cannot be further from truth.

In reality, the Democrat Party has a long history of bigotry and hatred while the Republican Party has a prestigious history as being forward-thinking and progressive. For nearly 200 years, the Democrat Party was known as the party of the rich white landowner. It was a party that always had a close tie to industry and big business. Through decades long control in Congress, Democrats shaped laws to benefit the industrialists, corporations, and themselves—a practice that continues today. As America grew and became more diverse, the party tried to adapt and maintain power. To accomplish this, it had to consolidate various special interests: urban blacks, blue collar works, unions, and others. In order to maintain power over these groups, the party propagandized and manipulated them into thinking certain liberties were being infringed upon when in reality they were not. Enemies were manufactured and maintained to this day. Because of the ignorance of these groups, they bought and continue to buy into these lies.

Republicans on the other hand are the party of low taxes, minimal government and individual liberty. This is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Robert Green Ingersoll, Teddy Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater and even Martin Luther King, Sr. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the conservative, fundamentalist Christians became extremely vocal within the GOP. Many leaders felt it necessary to appeal to this particular constituency to consolidate power as the Democrats had with blacks et al. Yes, conservative Christians have tried to impose socially conservative restrictions on abortion and marriage, but to no avail. Although extremely vocal, they have become more and more impotent throughout the past 20 years. Despite this outspoken minority, the party is still home to those with the core principals espoused by its most prominent leads throughout the past.

I support the Republican Party and Mitt Romney, because I’m liberal in a classical sense. I believe individuals should be free to do as they please without infringing on the natural rights of others. From all I’ve seen and read of Romney and based on my reading of the party platform, the GOP believes individuals have a right to be free from government intrusion into their businesses and their bedrooms. Sure, there are some who vocally express disdain for homosexuality or abortion, but neither is illegal and there is no concerted Republican effort to end either. These are mere distractions manufactured by Democrats to instill fear in their pathetic, fractured coalition. Most Republicans stand for individual liberty as do I.

I’m a Republican because I’m an atheist. The GOP has a long history of appealing to atheists. Why? Because it is the Big Tent Party. It was the party that embraced religious and non-religious diversity. Where the Democrat party sees groups, the Republican party sees individuals with varying beliefs and perspectives. It is the party of the freethinker. Robert Green Ingersoll was a vocal agnostic/atheist Republican in the 1800s. He was opposed to slavery and any sort of oppression by individuals or government. He, Ayn Rand, Milton Freidman, and other atheists are held in high regard among Republicans to this day.

Mitt Romney has demonstrated through his work as governor of Massachusetts that he is a capable businessman who understands the importance of individual liberty. He’s familiar with the hard work that goes into starting and running a successful business. Sure, he’s a Mormon, but there are plenty of good men throughout history who were indoctrinated into a religion at a young age. Based his history of government service, it seems it has had zero affect on his ability to govern. Mitt is a Republican in the vein of all the other great ones before him.

The Republican Party welcomes all nonbelievers, liberals and freethinkers. It’s the party of liberty and limited government. It always has and will continue to be the mainstream party for me.

Liberty Lesson—Understanding the Indoctrination of Positive Liberty

The concept of liberty is dear to my heart. It’s a fundamental right, because it is the state in which we naturally seek to exist. Humans and animals desire freedom. Lock up a human or an animal and he tries to escape. In fact, some humans would rather die than be imprisoned.

Many other so-called “rights” are cultural or secondary and are derived from a governing body. In contemporary Western society, many Americans mistake cultural or social rights for fundamental or natural rights. Healthcare, housing, or even clean water are NOT fundamental rights because to have them, there must be an institution in place to provide them—which is not always possible or the case. They are important and sometimes necessities, but not rights.

The basic role of government is to ensure that our fundamental rights are not infringed upon. That’s it and nothing more. Often times, when these secondary, cultural rights are enforced for some, it is at the expense of fundamental rights of others. This is morally, ethically, and constitutionally WRONG. When we sacrifice our fundamental rights for necessities—food, housing—and perks—health insurance, security—we lose our freedom. When government becomes the force infringing upon those basic rights, it becomes the enemy. This is central to libertarian, classic liberal, and individualist anarchist thought. According to philosopher, Sir Isaiah Berlin, this is known as negative liberty (for further explanation, click here).

American Democrats, Democratic Socialists, Socialists, Communists, anarcho-communists, and syndicalists view liberty in an entirely different way—as positive liberty. They see rights and freedom managed and distributed by government or a centralized body—accompanied by power to enforce. They view the individual as part of a whole and should be told how to live and coddled by the nanny state. The laws they establish must be followed on pain of punishment. This inevitably leads to dictatorship and tyranny.

Yes, freedom is a philosophical concept, but science has demonstrated that it is part of our reality. In the wild, you see no forced compliance among animals. You only see survival. If one doesn’t hunt and strive, he doesn’t eat and therefore succumbs to natural death or is eaten himself. Likewise, if an individual, small company, large bank, auto manufacturer, or government can’t survive within the natural framework, they should be allowed to fail and discarded.

When I see fellow atheists turning toward socialism, I am appalled. It is NOT the way of a free thinker or rational person. They shake the shackles of religion only to replace them with the shackles of government. Unfortunately, many people seek to be controlled—whether through government, religion, or some other institution. It is unnatural and weak. These weak-minded people should be defeated and left to rot in their own solipsism.

Most who know me, know I have rejected the concept of god and am not subject to an imagined being or its mouthpiece, the church. Likewise, I will not be subject to any government.