Eyes On The Prize.

The Senate has now passed, on a strict party-line vote, their version of health care "reform. In a few months, after some more of that opaque "transparency" and back-room payoff deals the Democrats have become so famous for lately, one-sixth of the US economy - and your freedom to choose - will likely fall under direct government control. We will start paying for that right away, in the form of higher premiums and taxes. Obama may be saying he will let you keep your existing plan if you like it, but it'll be pretty hard when your employer or insurance provider drops the plan or slashes coverage because the new regulations and fines will make it too expensive to offer, or too unprofitable.

But doesn't that play right into the hands of the Republicans in 2010, I hear you ask? It does. And 2010 and 2012 will likely be bloodbaths for Democrats. But the Democrats, particularly the hard Left in the party, are taking the long view. They know that once this monster is in place it will be almost impossible to get rid of it. Like all government "programs", the only thing it can do is grow. (Being fertilized as they all are with endless amounts of bullshit. -ed.) The Democrat ideologues are willing to suffer what they see as a temporary electoral setback in order to advance their long-term goal - smashing the American notion of individualism, free markets and limited government, and replacing it with a mushy, bureaucratic, European socialism that they will manage in perpetuity. (Think Canada, only with nicer beaches. -ed.) They know well that when we are all forced to drink from the same spigot, we become totally dependent on the folks who control the flow of water.

Andrew McCarthy at NRO points out that while the Republicans and us Tea Partiers are busy playing tactics, the Democrats are playing strategy. And if those opposed to the Democrats don't start thinking strategically as well, we will get rolled just like we did during the Clinton/Bush years, only this time it will be much worse. The GOP's "Compassionate Conservatism" was a reactionary election-year gimmick. It was tactics; it was not a vision for this nation.

We on the conservative/libertarian side do know how to think strategically. I mean, Ronald Reagan was all about strategy, and he was able to toss Marxist socialism onto the ash-heap of history (which is where Obama and pals found it, dusted it off, and sold it in 2008 as "change".) Reagan didn't give a damn about Sam Donaldson's carpings, or the Euro-coward's fears of "nuclear winter". He clearly called evil what it was. Namely, evil.

So we need to do the same. We need to stand tall, turn our face to the wind, and set our course by the light of the stars - not by the lights of each passing ship. For me, those stars are this:

The role of government is to secure, protect and and defend the inalienable Rights of its Citizens, and government may only infringe upon those Rights as a last resort. Anything that requires the government to take from one to provide for another is not a Right.

Government power derives from the consent of its Citizens, not the other way around. Government power has clear and balanced limits, established by our Constitution, and government shall abide by those limits and that balance.

The greatest engine for human prosperity, progress and freedom is private property, the free market, and the Rule of Law.

The bounty of our Citizens belongs to our Citizens, and Government may only claim, through Law, what is necessary to execute its limited role.

A Free Citizen is a responsible Citizen.

Make these goals the strategy, and the tactics will pretty much take car of themselves.

UPDATE: Fiddled with and edited the piece a bit.