Friday, January 22, 2016

As Rand Flounders in the Presidential Race, He Suddenly Discovers He is a Libertarain

In a new tweet, Rand says his favorite economists are Hayek, Mises and Rothbard:

But never forget, he scrubbed this book list from his website.

Rand also has discovered he has a father, who happens to be respected by  the youth and by many voters.

Rand issued a statement today that included this:
 Rand Paul will host the 'Revolution Continues Rally' at the University of Iowa on Sunday, January 31, 2016. Rand Paul will be joined by special guest Ron Paul, and together they will focus on energizing the youthful base by discussing the importance of protecting the entire Bill of Rights and being boldly for conservative ideals that limit the powers of the Washington Machine. 
Just remember, it  is desperation that is causing Rand to bring his father into the campaign just days before the Iowa caucus.

I had lunch today with a senior official of a major libertarian organization, who I would not classify as unsympathetic to Rand. Because of his position, he has a very good pulse on how people are discovering libertarianism.

He told me the first major wave of libertarianism was as a result of Ayn Rand,

A second wave developed with the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul.

He then said, "Rand Paul hasn't driven anyone toward libertarianism."

"The only way people discover libertarianism these days is as a result of the internet, It's one by one," he said.

Thanks, Rand. You dropped the libertarian torch a long time ago tat your father was trying to hand you,  Those of us that are long time libertarians have no use for your last minute desperation antics.

If you really think it made sense to cozy up to Mitch McConnell and Al Sharpton, why don't you ask them to campaign with you this week in Iowa and then in New Hampshire?

You are the Big Tent guy, why don't you ask them to join you? And, oh yeah,what about your other buddies summer 2015 pals, Rupert Murdoch and Sarah Palin. I'm sure they are just waiting for your call.

  -RW





14 comments:

  1. The problem with Rand is that he has no principles, and no political instincts. If you are going to sell out, make sure you have a buyer.

    Rand needs to lose his Senate seat as an object lesson for others.

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    1. "you are going to sell out, make sure you have a buyer. "

      Awesome quote. Can I use it?

      Delete
  2. Rothbard might have labeled Rand an "opportunist liquidationist." Meanwhile too many libertarians are what Rothbard called "sectarian."

    Ron Paul was so effective because he 1)always embraced libertarian ideology fully and publicly. This gave him credibility among hardcore libertarians, who were happy to get out and recruit and donate their money and time. He 2) was an excellent campaigner in New Media. Ron Paul's campaign called out the Old Media, invented the Money Bomb, and got to young people through social media and college campuses.

    But more importantly, I think, he was so shrewd in pointing out the incoherence of conventional wisdom. Whenever his view was challenged, he could easily demonstrate how government - especially federal government - made things worse for average Americans in national, international, and economic affairs. He made Guiliani, Santorum, Gingrich, Romney, Bachman look foolish in debates. He could point to the old GOP - Taft, Eisenhower, etc. - to endear himself to the mainstream, older GOP while never selling out libertarian principles.

    The GOP tried to co-opt Ron Paul's verbiage to fool and win back the masses, even though they didn't believe what they were saying and talked out of both sides of their mouth.

    His presidential campaign in 2012 was a massive success and Rand in 2016 let the air out of the room.

    I think libertarians should forever leave the GOP. There is no Liberty Caucus. It's an absurd farce. Let the GOP debate whether they want hardcore neocons or moderates as their leader. Libertarians should form the Voluntaryist Party or the Tea Party (and take it back from the neocons) or take back the Libertarian Party and rehab its image.

    We should run a massive campaign "Breaking up is hard to do" where we target Democrats and Republicans who are fed up with their "opportunist liquidationist" leaders. We can show a good number of these people that they make worse trade-offs by sticking with their Party than by switching to Libertarian Party.

    Rothbard in 1961 saw that the GOP was no good. He flirted with the New Left and found that was no good. Part of the reason libertarians continue with the GOP is because of people like Ron Paul, Thomas Massie, Justin Amash. I'm sure there are others that I don't know. They get elected. They can't get anything done. They can make an impact, but they eventually fade away.

    Here's a thought experiment. Would it have been better for Ron Paul to drop the Republican Party after his first term and run as a Libertarian, even if he had lost? I think if he was Dr. Libertarian for the past 30 years rather than Dr. No, the Libertarian Party would be much stronger today.

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  3. I have commented that he's "gotten better lately." I think you're right Robert. Low poll numbers inspired him back to his base.

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  4. Get him on the show, Robert Wenzel. I haven't seen Rand confronted about his nonsense.

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    1. Rand absolutely never would come on and own up to his disastrous choices that have completely squandered his value to the cause of liberty.

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  5. To see Rand do this makes me dislike him even more. It's in such poor taste to all the sudden return to his roots after selling out didn't sell very well. Rand needs to go back to being an unknown eye doctor.

    We would have been so much better off with Judge Napolitano running this year and carrying the message.

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  6. Rand Paul is almost a prototype for the cheap clap-trap American politician.

    He has no principles and his so-called movement turned out to be a self-promoting bad joke.

    He could not be much less like his father if he tried.

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  7. Rand Paul is a sell out who kisses Israel's butt

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  8. "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"

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  9. Too Late Rand.
    We already know you are NOT your father son.
    You have made it well known that you support and serve Jewish Organized Crime and their illegal cesspool headquarter ISRAEL!

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  10. Ron Paul takes the stage and lectures the audience as to how his son's political behavior has caused him to reassess his position on abortion.

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