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Thomas Woods has reminded us more than once that “no matter who you vote for, you get John McCain.”

The fact that the average GOP activist still hasn’t caught on to the grift can be seen in the fact that they still refer to people like Johnson as “rinos.” That is, “Republicans in name only.” Anyone who uses the term is advertising that he or she still hasn’t figured out that Republicans like Johnson, McConnell, McCarthy, and the usual beltway type are, in fact, quintessential Republicans.

Power & Market •Ryan McMaken

https://mises.org/power-market/speaker-mike-johnson-continues-gops-war-against-freedom

Thomas Woods has reminded us more than once that “no matter who you vote for, you get John McCain.” It’s not strictly and always true, of course, but the evidence is clear that it’s often true. The latest example is the GOP’s speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) who has turned out more or less exactly like us skeptics have predicted. Johnson is a friend to the war party, a do-nothing on issues important to the rank and file (like immigration), and a true enemy of the people on issues like warrantless spying. 

In recent weeks, Johnson has increasingly doubled down on supporting Washington’s foreign policy blob, and insists on spending at least a hundred billions dollars—dollars the Treasury doesn’t have and the Fed will have to print—on propping up the Ukraine regime. This regime, which Johnson tells us is essential in the battle for “democracy”—whatever that means—has abolished elections, ended the freedom of speech, and even destroyed the basic freedom of exercising one’s religion. 

But none of that matters because someone at the FBI told Johnson he must keep spending taxpayer dollars on Ukraine while courting World War III. Johnson—ignoring his constituents as most members of Congress do—has assured the agents of the garrison state that he will help them. Perhaps Johnson’s biggest crime is his ongoing support for a new and vast expansion of the American police state. Johnson now supports securing greater prerogatives for America’s spy agencies who seek to spy on American citizens without warrants indefinitely. 

[Read More: “FISA Exchanges Real Liberty for Phantom Security“ by Ron Paul.]

This is obviously contrary to basic human rights (i.e., property rights), but Johnson certainly doesn’t care. After all, he told us that there are bad guys out there in the world, and that means the Bill of Rights goes right out the window. 

The current drive to expand spy agencies’ power is no minor affair, and at the joint Mises Institute-Ron Paul Institute event in Houston last weekend, Daniel McAdams suggested that the GOP’s current effort to expand spy powers is even worse than the Patriot Act. 

Yet, for anyone who has been around the game very long, he won’t be surprised to note that among the greatest champions of expanding unconstitutional state police powers right now is the GOP leadership. This, of course, is how it was in the early days of the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars. Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and their acolytes were on TV daily assuring us that Americans who insist on privacy and human rights are “with the terrorists.” 

See the rest here

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