Is Belief in Government a Religion?

Statism: The Most Dangerous Religion (feat. Larken Rose)

Happy Juneteenth from A Consicous Conservative

     Conscious Conservatives are always ready to celebrate freedom in whatever form it comes.  Today marks the celebration of Juneteenth.  Here is a description of Juneteenth, from the website http://www.juneteenth.com.

     Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States.  Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19^th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

What Happened to the Goldwater Republicans?

I am a Goldwater advocate (not Republican) and there still is a Goldwater Institute that studies and promotes his ideas.  There are Goldwater Republicans in the Republican Party, although many, like myself, have joined the Libertarian Party.  
 
A Goldwater Republican is somebody who believes in traditional conservative values of a smaller, constitutionally bound government.  They advocate a Free Market and personal responsibility.
 
They differ from most modern Republicans in both their religious and racial policies.  Goldwater was of Jewish ancestry and did not embrace the "Christian Nation" standpoint that became a feature of the modern Republican "Southern Strategy."  He was involved in the founding and expansion of Planned Parenthood.  He also was for racial equality.  He advocated an immigration policy that led to Mexican workers freely coming to the United States.  After the graduation of the Phoenix Union Colored High School, no venue in Phoenix would let the "Colored" students have a reception.  Barry Goldwater invited the entire class to his house.  He had sharp words for people that said it would hurt his political and business career.
 
Several Goldwater campaign workers became disillusioned with the politics of Richard Nixon and formed the Libertarian Party in the early 1970s.  Those that stayed with the Republican Party can still be found in the Republican Liberty Caucus and in support of candidates such as Dr. Ron Paul and his son Rand.

A Conscious Conservative Solution to Workers' Rights

  A corporation is not a creation of the market.  It is a collectivist creation of the government.  Individual states allow groups to create corporations and provide special protection to  members of those groups (look here for information on those protections, C Corporation: A Definition).  Over time, the states have competed with each other as to how many protections they offer, with Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware leading the way.  For example, even though General Motors has traditionally had it's corporate headquarters and most of it's operations in Michigan, it is officially a corporation protected by Delaware.  Why?  Because Delaware offers more protection and lower taxes than Michigan.  

By creating what is known as a "corporate veil" (What is corporate veil? definition and meaning) in legal terms, the principle decision makers of a corporation are protected financially and sometimes have limited criminal liability for their actions.  Even the CEO is merely an employee of the business.  An example of this is the recent meltdown of the banking industry.  None of the executives of the large banks lost their personal fortunes.  They were protected by the "corporate veil."  The banks were owned by individuals (sole proprietorship) or a group (partnership), the owners would have lost  their personal fortunes and could have been sued personally.  They might have even faced criminal prosecution.  Do you think they might have made different decisions if that was the case?

Back to the relationship with workers.  If the owner of a business does not have corporate protection, they become personally responsible for how an employee is treated.  If an employee was abused, the owner(s) would be held directly responsible, civilly and/or criminally.  If nothing else, the employee can leave and go work for somebody else.  Although there is a disagreement as to how big, there is agreement that companies cannot get megalithic without government protection and support.    

The combination of the lack of government protection for employers and the increased competition for labor from more numerous smaller companies should be more than adequate to protect individual laborers.