Why We Are Republicans

“Who will provide the grand design, what is yours, what is mine?”
In one of their classic songs, the Eagles posed one of the fundamental questions about government. Our Founding Fathers knew the answer; that the “who” were the people, not King George, and they fought a war to establish that principle. Since 1776, property rights and the rule of law were the arbiters of socio-economic questions and it was not until the 20th century that the Federal Government began to seriously encroach on the rights of the people.

Like the Founders, Republicans believe in strict limits on the powers of government. Those limited powers flow from the consent of the people and are carefully enumerated in the Constitution. However, Democrats believe in the power, even obligation, of government to affect social change. The role of government is perhaps the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats; other differences in principle or policy are related to this ideological difference.

{This is the first installment of the opinion piece by John Kolin and me that will be submitted to the Palos Verdes News. The next part deals with the primary government responsibility, defense of America. Comments are welcomed.}