Farmer Tom doesn’t know what to call himself:
I think I’m confused. I want to end the oppressive socialist welfare state that is we currently live in. I want to return to the freedoms and personal responsibility embodied in the words of the Declaration, “We hold these truths…. So what label do I use?
It depends on why you want to return to those things. If you want to do so primarily because you believe that the Constitution is sacred and the Founding Fathers were inspired by God, you are a Constitutionist. If you want to return to them primarily because you believe they happen to have been an effective means of limiting the evil power of government, you are likely a potential libertarian.
One thing you are not is a modern Republican. While many constitutionists, libertarians, conservatives and republican’s still belong the Republican party, the Republican leadership has not only abandoned republicanism, they have also abandoned conservatism and federalism. They have become much more similar to the European parties of the center-right, like Germany’s Christian Democrats and France’s Conservatives. Remember that Jacques Chirac is the French equivalent of a Republican when you feel tempted to engage in knee-jerk defenses of Republicans simply because they are not Democrats. Chirac uses precisely the same argument; at least he is better than the Socialists.