Adam Kokesh: A classical liberal?
I've written an couple of entries about Adam Kokesh, who is a Republican candidate for Congress in NM-3. Today, David Maass of the Sante Fe Reporter penned an article about Kokesh titled, "Republican Dark Horse Winning Over Some NM Voters," which begins like this:
Adam Kokesh doesn’t believe 9.11 was an inside job, doesn’t question President Barack Obama’s citizenship and argues that insurance companies have already instituted death panels. He’s for pulling all
combattroops from Afghanistan [and Iraq] and opposes government control of whom a citizen—gay or straight—can marry. In other words, some of Kokesh’s positions are downright liberal. (emphasis added; line-out to correct the original author)
Mr. Maass' article doesn't strike me as biased for or against Kokesh, but I disagree with the way Maass frames Kokesh's platform with the L-word. Politicians and pundits have redefined the terms liberal and conservative so many times that neither has any absolute meaning anymore. Everything is relative now. Whatever the senior elected officials of the Republican Party claim to be true gets labelled as conservative; ditto for the Democratic Party and liberal.
Perhaps what Maass meant to imply is that some of Kokesh's positions diverge sharply from the Republican dogma of the last decade. That is absolutely true, but it isn't because Kokesh is a closet Democrat; it's because there's absolutely nothing conservative about the GOP anymore.
Classical liberal might be an accurate description for Kokesh. However one choses to describe him, that fact that he sounds nothing like McConnell, Boehner, McCain (who Kokesh protested during the 2008 RNC), or any of the other Republican "leaders," is to his credit. The United States of American doesn't need another straight party hack of any variety, and we certainly don't need people trying to destroy civil liberties in the name of "security." We need problem solvers and people who actually believe in the enlightenment ideals embodied by the U.S. Constitution.
Adam Kokesh impresses me as such a person.
Tags: Adam Kokesh, Dave Maass, liberalism
October 18th, 2009 at 8:58 am
I agree wholeheartedly in your assessment of Adam. He has helped me to believe that we as a people can be better than our petty bickering over whose "party" is right or wrong. We need people to represent us that have the Constitution as a guiding principal and not some corporation's balance sheet. We need government to play it's role as thje Founders defined it, eliminate the illegal Federal Reserve and return power to the local level where it was intended to be.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Thanks, James. I've spoken with enough voters of various affiliations to know that most people basically want the same core things. The party distinctions are largely superficial. Politicians exploit minor differences for electoral advantages.
The United States of America would be much better off if we elected people who simply follow the principles of the U.S. Constitution--people like Adam Kokesh.