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DEFINITIONS Alinsky, Saul His Book Rules for Radicals, Propagated DEFINITIONS Alinsky, Saul His book Rules for Radicals, propagated ideas for Large Government tyranny through Machiavellian lies and deceit. American Slogan "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". An idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the favorable along with the unfavorable. Discarding the essential while retaining the superfluous because of excessive zeal. Autocracy A form of government where unlimited power is held by one single individual. Autonomy A limited form of independence where, for example, a state or colony can control its own domestic affairs but has no say over its foreign affairs. Balance of power In the U.S., the relationship between the national branches of government; legislature, executive, judiciary and also the States required by the Constitution for proper Limited Government. Bureaucracy Unaccountable system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state unelected officials rather than by elected representatives. The inherent problem with Large Government. Capitalism An economic system based on free markets and on the recognition of private property rights, where prices are mostly dictated by supply and demand, and where the means of production and distribution of goods and services derive from privately owned resources. Capitation A direct tax imposed on each head or person. Command economy An economy which is mostly under the command of the government. Commodification The action or process of treating a person as a mere commodity rather than someone possessing natural rights such as autonomy. A result of the Harvard business model. Communism (Marx) Political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of the major means of production and the natural resources of a society. Communism is a form of socialism— and as such is beset by malingering, poaching, the free rider, limited incentive to save and the tragedy of the commons. Communism’s distinction from socialism rests largely on adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx. Tragedy of the commons-The impracticality of communally owned resources. Individuals while malingering, will maximize their benefits above others, by poaching and other means, and in time deplete the common resource. Alternatively, where resources are privately owned there is an incentive to moderate its exploitation so as to preserve for the owner further use. Con-Federalism A form of federalism where the individual States composing the national government exercise a larger degree of autonomy. Often the right to secede, as embodied in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and other protected rights embodied in the Article Amending the U.S. Constitution, specifically Articles IX and X. Conservative In the U.S., the political ideology supporting Limited Government as embodied in the U.S.: Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Progressive as to the former condition of oppression of people since recorded history and affording freedom. Also Forward looking in the protection of individual Rights. Democracy (Tyranny by the Majority) From the Greek ‘demos’ for the ordinary, common people and ‘kratos’ for power or strength. Democracy is the most vile form of government. (James Madison) Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. (John Adams). Protection of group rights and Rule by the Mob rather than protection of Individual Rights and the Rule of Law. Relativism rather than Absolute Truth! Democracy (Populist) No supposed constraints such as a Constitution. Democracy (Liberal) A deceitful misnomer term, (better referred to as a Republic), to reflect democracy controlled by supposed restraints that only allow the good. Ie. A constitution or common law perverted to protect group rights instead of Republican individual natural rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, a free market, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, separation of powers, minority rights and the notion of the individual. Tyranny by the Majority A concept first coined in the nineteenth century by French writer Alexis de Tocqueville and also embraced by John Stuart Mill, who claimed that democracies had limitations in that minority rights could be forfeited in the pursuit of popular causes. Solutions to such tyranny would be a constitutionally entrenched bill of rights, proportional representation, or a democracy divided up into a federation (States’ Rights) where peoples of different beliefs and values could gravitate to separate geographical areas that maintained their own distinct laws and practices. Democracy (Direct)-Participatory democracy. Government by the people in fact rather than merely in principle. Practiced in ancient Greece and in some cantons of Switzerland and the New England states of America. A highly impractical form of government. Democracy (Representative) What is commonly known as a democracy, even though the people do not directly vote but surrender that right to their duly elected representatives. Dystopia Alternative to utopia. Large Government (Democracy, Autocracy, Fascism, Communism, Socialism), which seeks to negate imperfect human nature and sin and therefore impossibly create a perfect Utopia “Heaven on Earth”. Nightmare vision of society actually planned by those in power, creating, most often, a totalitarian society. Fictional examples are Jack London’s The Iron Heel, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984. Fascism (Nazism) An authoritarian and nationalist political ideology that embraces strong leadership, singular collective identity and the will to commit violence or wage war to further the interests of the state. Averse to concepts such as individualism, pluralism, multiculturalism or egalitarianism. The name derives from the collective identity, the connotation of the Italian fascio, or English faggot, for a bound collection of sticks. The symbol originally used by Mussolini was a ‘fascio’ of sticks bound with that connotation of war, an axe. Federalism A system under which governmental powers are divided between the central government and the states or provinces all within the same geographical territory such as Constitutionally envisioned in the United States. Not a unitary system as in the UK, New Zealand and Japan. Fourth estate In the U.S., the First Amendment protected political institutions comprising the press and other forms of the media. Such protection was envisioned only for those institutions, which through the reportage of the Truth and the freedom from bias, promoted the security of the Citizens’ Sovereignty. Term comes from the first three estates of the French States-General which were the church, the nobility and the townsmen. Free rider Someone who receives the benefits of government policy without incurring the costs. Groupthink The danger of Democracy. An attitude existing in academia and the media where there is found to be unanimity in approaches to certain issues, either due to laziness in research, or fear of the consequences of going against the prevailing wisdom. Harm principle Theory advocated by 19th century British philosopher John Stuart Mill that the state should not interfere with the actions of an individual that harm no one else: "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." Income Redistribution An unconstitutional policy concerned with altering the pattern of the PERSONAL DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME in an economy, mainly with social rather than economic objectives in mind. Income Redistribution is an economic practice which is aimed at leveling the distribution of wealth or income in a society through a direct or indirect transfer of income from the rich to the poor. Proponents of this practice argue that it promotes the development of an egalitarian society and addresses a number of social problems that are linked with poverty. Income redistribution and economic growth have a complex relationship. Taxes and transfers allegedly reduce income inequality, but in reality are a drag on growth. Identity politics Political advocacy which, rather than proposing better rational ways to govern, seek power and control through emotional arguments oriented towards the alleged victimhood of certain identity groups because of their demographics, i.e., age, religion, gender, race, etc. Invisible hand The free market theory of 18th century economist Adam Smith that the aggregate of individual choices by people participating in the free market far surpasses a demand economy in the efficient and effective utilization of resources. “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.” Judicial activism Why the Supreme Court of the United States is not a proper branch of our Republican Limited Government! An unconstitutional judicial philosophy advocating that courts are allowed to take an active role, not supported by existing law, to remedy alleged wrongs in society. Judicial interpretation The various methods different superior court judges regularly use to interpret constitutional law: literal, original, doctrinal (stare
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