Are Republican policy
makers conservative?

Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death.” Mr. Henry blocked the new Constitution until and unless a Bill of Rights was passed to define individual rights. These include free speech, the right to a jury trial, and property rights. Are these rights being bulldozed by the present government/industry merger?

The OCM Annual Meeting theme is “Antitrust, Trade and the Political Right.” Our panels will be decidedly right of center. This is a partisan and ideological era, and presenters will speak in partisan and ideological terms. Thomas Frank recently wrote the popular book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” as a lefty commenting on the right. OCM’s conservative and libertarian wing will conduct their own examination on August 12, 2005 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Omaha.

Why do today’s Republicans try to dismantle Teddy Roosevelt’s antitrust laws? Are they true conservatives?

President Bush criticized Kerry for seeking global consensus before foreign policy decisions. Why then cede national sovereignty to bureaucrats –some of them French – occupying international tribunals who can strike down US laws? The WTO, NAFTA and CAFTA are, after all, the UN on steroids.

The Boston Tea Party shows our country was founded to protect people from the merger of corporations and government. The protest was not about higher British taxes. King George III actually lowered taxes on tea sold by the British East India Company, an international trade monopolist essentially integrated with the British government, to give it a competitive advantage over Colonial tea sellers. Those competing with the East India Company were called
“interlopers.” The tea went overboard to protect the local economies and local sovereignty.

The Colonists fought and died for their political and economic freedom. But we stand sedated as our government retracts these rights for the benefit of business. The Eleventh, and primary, Commandment is now, “Thou shalt not interfere with legitimate business decision making.”
Independent farmers, ranchers and feeders are the interlopers… obstacles in the path of government’s business partners. Here are recent examples:

• In Kelo v City of New London, the Supreme Court said the government can condemn private party and transfer it to Pfizer for private economic development.
• In Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association, the Supreme Court said the USDA can take cattlemen’s money and transfer it to the packer lackeys at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.
• In Pickett v Tyson, the district court offended the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, by finding Tyson’s interest in procuring low cost cattle outweighed price manipulation harm.
• Secretary Johanns, last month, stood arm in arm with meat packers hyperventilating about high beef prices. While retailer supermarkets continue historically high price gouging at the meat case.

Our speakers are noteworthy and provocative. The OCM Annual Conference is well worth your time. It is a nice outing with your spouse or family. Good people, good food, good conversation, and an oasis of rationality in a somewhat irrational world. MS