Flada Blog

My brother has told me several times that, as a libertarian, I should be far more sympathetic to the ideas of liberalism than to those of conservatism. I believe his rationale is that libertarians generally agree with liberals about more issues than they do with conservatives. Of course, I’ve never debated that point because I agree with it. It’s just that some of the conservative issues always seemed to rank higher on my “personal issues” list than those of liberals. After almost 7 years of a so-called neocon in the Executive and 12 years of conservatives controlling Congress, my opinions have changed.

It’s not that I don’t still find conservative issues regarding liberty more important, it’s just that I don’t find very many real conservatives holding office. The whole feigned outrage with the most conservative member of Congress after the last debate drives this home. It brings the lying hypocrisy of the neocons right out into the light for the whole world to see. It shows their “big tent” to be a reverse TARDIS–that is, it looks much bigger on the outside than it really is on the inside.

For years, I’ve taken part in online debates. Every time an important election was imminent, the Republicans have always argued that I was wasting my vote on guys like Harry Browne, Michael Badnarik, or other third party candidates. I have always maintained that they were wasting their votes on watered-down, centrist candidates; but now I believe that’s what they really want. Anyway, one of their major arguments has been that if we wanted more liberty-minded candidates we would be better served working within one of the major parties to achieve that end. So, that’s exactly what Dr. Ron Paul has done. Now look what it gets you to work under the Republican tent. Turns out that they aren’t interested in liberty or smaller government at all. Of course to anyone who’s been paying attention that much has been obvious for years.

It has been obvious that big government is just fine in regards to things like drugs, marriage, religion, and other social issues–so long as the big government is enforcing things the Republican way.

Well, I have bad news for the Republicans. The only way they can win the next Presidential election is with Ron Paul. They say he doesn’t stand a chance in the Primaries. I say none of their candidates stand a chance in the General. The issue where they find the most fault with Dr. Paul is regarding foreign policy and the failed Iraq war. That is also the issue that will certainly lose them the election. While I still support involvement in Iraq, my position is that we owe it to the people of Iraq to help straighten out the mess we’ve caused. I’ve said before that we have no right to pull another Vietnam and leave the Iraqis in the hands of a Pol Pot clone. Is it fair to our troops? Is it Constitutional? Probably not, which is why we need more elected officials who won’t put us in these situations in the first place. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are the only candidates who can be counted on for that. Paul because he values the Constitution, Kucinich because he supports peace at all costs.

Well, I’ll say this now: I’ll pencil in Ron Paul before I’ll pull a lever or punch a chad for any of the other Republican candidates. If I wanted Hillary Lite, I’d just go for broke and vote for Hillary. Some Republicans will argue that I might as well just vote for Hillary if I vote third party. I counter that three of their fingers are pointing back at themselves–they might as well vote for Hillary if they don’t support Dr. Paul. I’m not the only libertarian who feels this way. Furthermore, Ron Paul is right on the issues that would win him a lot of crossover votes in the General election. He’s the only hope you’ve got, Republicans. And he’s one of the last hopes for our Constitutional Republic.