By Lone Shark
I have a lot of respect for my libertarian friends out there, and I really respect former Libertarian VP candidate Wayne Allen Root for taking a strong and principled stand against Barack Obama without compromising his own principles. If you haven’t watched his very candid and upbeat “conversion” video, I highly recommend that you do so.
Yes, yes, there’s no doubt that the hard core Ron Paul supporters in this audience and elsewhere will label Root as a sellout much as they do Senator Rand Paul and others who clearly understand that you can’t roll back 100 years of noxious progressivism in one election. A sampling of prominent libertarians don’t sound particularly thrilled about Root’s departure from the Libertarian National Committee either.
But the one thing you’ll never hear any Ron Paul supporter ever admit is that even if he were somehow elected president, he’d still have to govern and compromise with Democrats to pass a budget, and he’d still be the President of the Welfare States of America.
What we need at this particular juncture in American history is a complete course reversal led by someone who can bring a substantial number of Democrats along for the ride. If we’re somehow able to effectively repeal the damage of the Obama years by changing our fiscal course and rolling back the federal overreach that Obama inflicted on every sector of the private economy over the next four years, we’ll then need to sustain that path for decades if we’re serious as a nation about returning to a federal government with constitutionally limited powers.
Too many Libertarians seem more preoccupied with scoring debating points within their own little social circles or ridiculing Republican failures than they are about responsibly wielding their power and influence on the national level in order to do the heavy lifting that is required to re-orient the Republican Party towards constitutional moorings.
I get a bit irked when I hear of Libertarians who would prefer to make themselves irrelevant for purposes of federal elections because they can’t somehow bring themselves to vote for a candidate whose record or positions aren’t as white as the wind-driven snow. If you use that as your standard for voting, it means that you likely would never have cast a ballot in a presidential election- even for Barry Goldwater, who was arguably as libertarian a candidate as we’ve ever had in American politics that had a chance of winning the presidency on a major party line.
One can wish that our primary current national political battle lines were drawn between Republicans and Libertarians/Conservatives, not as they are between Republicans and an increasingly radicalized Democrat Party, but that’s the current fight that’s coming to a head right now. If we can’t prevail in this fight, all the other internecine squabbles still simmering on the Right won’t mean much if we’ve irretrievably oriented our federal government towards the “fundamental transformation” that Barack Obama has set it on which will inevitably lead us towards increasing global chaos and a sovereign debt crisis with its attendant civil strife and unrest.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong about upholding constitutional principles and being consistent about your personal policy preferences, but when the impulses of a doctrinaire attitude supersedes comprehending the overriding political reality that confronts us all, you have yourself a mindset that amounts to nothing more than naive egoism. It’s about as reasonable as demanding that your suit must first be tailored, dry cleaned and pressed before you entertain any notion of jumping into the lifeboat even as your luxury cruise ship sinks to the bottom.
I have no brief with Libertarians’ criticisms and mockery of many Republicans’ past episodes of cowardice, compromises and failures, because it’s criticism unfortunately well deserved. But politics is all about field position, and we are collectively right on the precipice of irretrievably losing the distinctive character of our 236-year old political experiment- that’s the choice we have in seven weeks.
We’re either going in one of two directions as a country, and I hate to break it to you die hard Libertarians, but a vote for Gary Johnson achieves exactly nothing to alter that fact. Patriots of all stripes need to stand up and be counted now- otherwise, spare me the puritanical rants about what you’re doing to “teach us a lesson” by sitting out this election or casting a meaningless vote for someone with no chance of winning.
49 Responses to “Will Ron Paul Supporters and Libertarians Unite or Die?”
Your analysis indicates you must have thought Tom Dewey was a great president. Romney is going NOWHERE and may actually trail Johnson in many, if not most states. The neocon FISCAL TIMES has already essentially written Romney off. In any event Gary Johnson has a better chance at becoming POTUS that either Obama or Romney have of finishing four years without either a military coup or armed rebellion.
Seriously? You would waste a vote against Obama? I’m holding my nose and voting for Romney. Putting the breaks on the train to socialism has to start this November. Promote Johnson in 2016 or 2020. Give Americans more time to embrace the Liberarian doctrine.
YOU better hope mitt wins…or our world is over…today 2 more marines died…could have been prevented…and who leaked out where those seals were that got killed???? someone in the white house…gee i wonder who has the BIG MOUTH !!! obama must go…just this week says it all…he is not capable of handling our little world
“Romney is going NOWHERE and may actually trail Johnson in many, if not most states. The neocon FISCAL TIMES has already essentially written Romney off. In any event Gary Johnson has a better chance at becoming POTUS that either Obama or Romney have of finishing four years without either a military coup or armed rebellion.”
Seriously, where did you read the statistics to backup such tripe? Wishful thinking won’t get it done, and unless you’ve enjoyed Obama’s first term, you’d better hold your nose and vote for Romney. If thinking such as you do from the above post re-elects Obama, shame on you, and those like you!
In my opinion, you’re a fool.
That’s it? Your opinion? No facts? That’s the way liberal/progressive/socialists think, with their feelings, not their heads, then they resort to belittling those that they’re unable to rebut because they have no facts! Just as you’ve done.
Proof, please. Oh, I see you have none. How nice.
I’m a Ron Paul fan, voted for him and I’m just fine with Mitt. We’ll never find the perfect candidate. Mitt is honest, a nice fellow, very capable, has great private sector experience, is plenty smart and all should remember to help get the current occupant out of there.
the BEST part MITT WANT THE JOB..not just the position he WANTS T?HE JOB…obama is there to say…hey i’m the first black pres….thats it…he did not WANT THE JOB…wake up people…just this week says it all..obama is out fundraising..instead of having meeting with the intel……..REALLY????? he could care less…but let a few muslims get killed..and HE IS ALL OVER IT !! he is not an american…wake up and vote for mitt…. someone has to take over and lead
take a good look of where our world is going….no big problem of who to vote for…more killings or rest!!??!!
Mitt Romney and Obama both support the Project for the New American Century and the Foreign Policy Initiative, the think-tank which promotes: diplomatic, economic, and military engagement IN THE WORLD!
Romney and Obama BOTH agree on:
the NDAA, TARP, kill-lists, drone strikes, bailing out banks and corporations with taxpayer dollars, ObamneyCare, war, the Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke, the Patriot Act, 30,000 drones in US airspace, TrapWire, Internet regulation, and assassinating American citizens without due process or proof.
I am voting for Ron Paul! END THE WARS!
Hope you enjoy Obama’s second term then, and the end of the USA as we’ve known it!
The problem with this rhetoric is that it’s simply not true. We are not “going in one of two different directions as a country”, as is claimed. The only substantial difference is that the Republicans are going in the same direction as the Democrats, only at a slower speed. Liberals make bad policy and conservatives “conserve” or “save” those bad policies. Rarely do they ever actually reverse them. So yes, you can’t reverse “100 years of noxious progressivism in one election,” but politics is the last item on the worldview ‘food chain,’ and changes in politics comes first from changes in belief system. Today’s Republicans are simply yesteryear’s Democrats, all marching in the same direction. Their belief system is cracked, and that’s what history shows. That’s why Libertarians have had it with Republicans. Either people are for the Constitution or they’re not. Enough with the labels.
A vote for anyone other than Romney is a vote in Obama’s favor. If you like Obama that much then step up and just vote for him. Voting for a third party only teaches us that you are spoiled children who would rather see an opponent win and America lose. What comes first for you, your country or your candidate?
No, that is a lie. A vote for Obama is a vote for Obama. A vote for anyone else is just that — a vote for anyone else. What comes first are my principles, and on Judgment Day, that’s what I’ll be evaluated on, not on whether I was faithful to a headless RINO party.
I’m voting for Romney (before you throw a fit at me) but I don’t really feel the GOP has made a good case for my vote and after this election I may never vote Republican again. And it’s more the supporters than the actual politicans. When I look at the people that I’m voting with I’m almost ashamed of myself…
This is the dumbest thing I’ve read all week, and I have the internet.
I will not vote for Romney if Gary Johnson is still on the ballot come election time.
Others can play politics with their votes; I’ll be voting for the best eligible candidate.
Should Romney win the election, and it turns out he is a good president, I will wholeheartedly and gladly support him for reelection in 4 years.
You are Obama’s dream independent voter, the prize of his campaign to divide and conquer. Every person he can convince to vote like you are proposing puts him one step closer to winning another term, and light years closer to destroying what’s left of our country, our Freedom and our prosperity. Way to go!
What are you then my friend? A dream unquestioning Romney voter?
No, because Obama will never get that man’s vote, so Obama gains nothing.
you fool…if you vote for anyone other than mitt…you are voting for the idiot in the wh now….wake up…gary’s votes do NOT count…can’t you see that???? gary…who???/ who cares…vote for a new pres…this is not a game
NO TIME TO PLAY FOLKS….NO TIME TO PLAY….. gget obama out of the w/h…gary whoever he is..can’t do it…but mitt can !!!!!!!!
What we need at this particular juncture in American history is a complete course reversal led by someone who can bring a substantial number of Democrats along for the ride
Yeah, because that’ll make a difference. Democrats, even those who occasionally display a logical streak, are too enamored with state power being gifted to fix every societal ill, that any appeals in either party to non-violence and “constitutional moorings” (as you put it) would be fleeting and counterproductive. In fact, this would only keep us furthe divided on the trite “left-right” paradigm that is seemingly worthless to most intelligent people (people who know something is wrong with the sytem itself, but cannot find the language to express why).
Never will you hear a candidate state “I’m for your individual liberties while my opponent is not”, or “I am for private property rights while my opponent is not”. Instead, we welcome a charade of “personalities” to decided elections, where both empty suits repeat the same tired slogans: “My opponent doesn’t know how to rule you properly. Only I can enslave you the correct way but giving you ____________ (insert bribe here”.
Your analysis suffers, not from your lack of knowledge on the topic, but instead by your actual belief that November’s election will change the course we are on. At least with Ron Paul getting the Republican nomination, we would have two clear cut choices on the debate stage with where to head with this nation.
If, even after that display of obvious choices our vapid neighbors cast the vote for the parasitic candidate of choice, so they could continue leeching off the productive, then it becomes abundantly clear that the United States, that long-dead Republic, might not be the best place for the productive to continue living in.
A (devalued) penny for your thoughts.
Until next time.
Ian
“Our Devil has two wings (both left wing and right)
they carry him far on his anarchic flight”
- Skyclad (1992)
I often refer to myself as a “pragmatic Libertarian”. Like most Tea Party people, I believe in limited government and maximum Freedom.
I love hearing Ron Paul on the national stage. He’s a codgy old guy who tells it like it SHOULD be – except those utterly naive foreign policy ideas he has. Believing that Islamic radicals would like us if we just ignored them is like sticking your head in the sand and offering your derriere for, well, for whatever…
What really impressed me watching the RNC convention was how much influence the Tea Party elements have had in the direction of the party. And that is exactly what we need to be focused on – getting our own house in order by getting back to the basics that founded this country and made it great in the first place.
If nothing else, this presidential election is an important referendum on Barack Obama. Are we going to let him win and give him a mandate to intensify the havoc he’s rained on our Freedom and our pockets? Or will we stop the bleeding?
This race is going to be close. It’s going to be TOO close for people to offer up protest votes for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul or anyone else. If you aren’t voting for Romney/Ryan, you ARE voting for Barack Obama. Nothing personal, that’s just the way it is.
That’s exactly correct!
What’s the difference? Seriously. Have you examined Romney’s record as Governor of Mass? If you haven’t, you should. It’s the only reliable source we have to try and determine how he would govern as President.
Since 1988 the Republican Party has made it clear that it is committed to Big Government at the Federal level: Bush 1, Dole, Bush 2, McCain and now Romney. Any doubters?
We desperately need a strong Independent or a viable 3rd party.
Yes, I have reviewed Romney’s record in MA. Taken in it’s historical context, he did a terrific job and turned around a financial crisis while he was there. Just as he did with the Salt Lake Olympics.
I’ve actually met Mitt and Ann a few times and I have absolute confidence in him.
I think his pick of Paul Ryan shows his commitment to fiscal responsibility and less government.
The DNC is on a campaign of divide and conquer. The more independents they can get to buy into the idea that Romney isn’t conservative enough, the better the chance we’ll get stuck with another term of Obama – which might actually be terminal to our country. Who’s side are you on?
Viable 3rd party? Perhaps, but that dog has never been able to hunt. On the other hand, in the past few years we’ve seen a HUGE turn around within the Republican party – there’s still more to do, but the Tea Party influence is DEFINITELY gaining strength. If your goal is to effect real conservative change in government, you’ll get more results for your effort by getting more involved in the RNC. You’ll never get an ear in the DNC and the other parties simply aren’t getting any traction. Of course, you could just sit back and complain – but that’s how we got into this mess in the first place, too much hot air and not enough action.
What’s the point of preaching repentance if you’re just going to keep condemning the repentant?
Forgive me for pointing this out, but it is difficult to take your self-description of “pragmatic-libertarian” seriously when you call a constitutional foreign policy “utterly naive”. I suppose naiveity can have many faces, most alarming of which details a “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” mentality.
Intervention is intervention, no matter how you slice it. It’s just sad that liberals (who call for intervention by the state on the domestic front) and neo-conservatives (who call for intervention by the state on the foreign front) are still, yet, statists in love with intervention of some sort who call for meddling into the affairs of others while doing so on the public dime, plain and simple. Both forms of intervention are wasteful, costly, and pointless when simultaneously trying to convince the world that we are some nebulous beacon of freedom.
Those who adhere to libertarian principlesaren’t buying it. And neither do I.
Your analysis, while on target part of the time, ignores some very relevant facts.
First, the corruption exhibited by the RNC by last minute rule changes which will prevent any grassroots candidates from ever receiving the nomination, would have been viewed as an act of treason by our founders and should be considered such. There will no longer be any way of transforming the party from within, given the rule changes.
Secondly, thousands of Ron Paul supporters left the party after being treated so poorly. In Florida alone, we saw the Libertarian Party grown by THOUSANDS only two days after the convention and our numbers are expanding exponentially.
Thirdly, your premise denies American history with regard to 3rd party candidates. There were parties that no longer exist, like the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party (which is neither of the two current parties). The Republican Party didn’t even win an election until the mid-late 1800′s. When, they won, they won as a 3rd party. So the idea that a 3rd party cannot come to the forefront and win an election has no factual basis.
Finally, the libertarian movement, especially those who supported Ron Paul, tripled in size from the previous Presidential election. Our numbers are increasing, our ideas are rooted in the Constitution, we are here to stay, and we are here to restore our Constitutional Republic. We are not deterred just because we are a part of the minority. For it is only those people who are crazy enough to believe that they can change the world, who actually do! Only 3% of the American colonists rebelled against the crown initially. The rest thought they could reform the system from within. Others were too fearful to stand up to the tyranny. Others simply wanted to play as if they were supporters of neither side so that the status quo could be maintained without suffering a reprisal against them. Eventually many more Americans joined our founders in their good fight but some remained silent or supported the King. After the smoke had settled and our Patriots had won the war, they told those colonists who sided with England or took the middle ground that they had two choices: Return to England, or be tried for treason and hung. It is time for many who claim to love liberty and the Constitution to put their money where their mouth is. Vote for genuine Constitutionalists and stop voting for the establishment puppet who the bankers own lock, stock, and barrel.
That’s all great stuff. And I agree with you generally.
But the fact remains that it may be several more election cycles before the Libertarian Party has enough traction to win – and if Obama gets another term, it may all be over before the next one. Getting re-elected would be an overwhelming mandate to keep pushing a big-government, socialist agenda and submission to the U.N. – it would also be an implied approval of his many circumventions of the Constitution, which would be rendered meaningless.
Here’s the real important question – are you a party loyalist or a principle loyalist? If it’s all about party, then keep banging your drums. If it’s about the enduring principles of Freedom, Responsibility and Work that founding this country and made it great – then you’ll get the most bang for your buck by working within the Republican party to make the RNC more committed to those ideals. Why? Because the RNC has the traction to actually get candidates on the ballot and winning elections. We’ve already made significant improvements since the Tea Party influence has taken root – let’s keep it up!
Look at history.
Who signed the UN Agenda 21 Treaty – George Herbert Bush. The same guy to talk about the “New World Order”. Is adding $7 Trillion to the unfunded liability of Medicare a big govt or limited govt move? Well that was done by George W Bush. Both Bush’s were Republicans.
BOTH parties are destroying this nation. You need to be “born again” or something to fully awake to that fact. NDAA, which took away our 4th amendment rights was passed by both parties.
They have scared the right with fear of Obama just like they previously scared the left with Bush. So scared that you are not thinking properly.
Romney is a joke and they are laughing at us in their backrooms.
I am voting for Gary Johnson, because I like his positions best. It is my right as an American and I am tired of people telling me its wrong to vote for the person you evaluated and found would do the best job.
You are voting for Romney, not because you like and believe in him, but because you were brainwashed into thinking that although their are many names on a ballot you are not allowed to stray from the “R” or “D”. Its called mind-control.
Here’s why a Libertarian shouldn’t vote for Johnson from a Libertarian’s POV:
http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3018977
Voting Johnson in this election is akin to betting it all on double 0 in Vegas and then scratching your head as to why you didn’t win. Betting on red (Romney) at least gives us a 50% shot at winning. Then we must continue working to hold him accountable.
Voting for a candidate with a 2 to 3% share in the polls on “principle” to send a message is utterly stupid and accomplishes nothing.
To paraphrase Reagan, be our 80% ally, not our 20% enemy.
That’s the same BS you feed on every four years Lone Shark. You seen how the republicans truly are during the RNC convention. Obama is just continuing down Bush’s path. Ron Paul as commander in chief could end the wars, and shut down the 900 hundred bases of intervention, and meddling immediately. A meaningless vote is for either one of the establishment guys. Stop lying to yourself look at the facts they are the same. For a republican to win they need independents, and disenfranchised democrats to put them over the top. They blew that by not picking Ron Paul who drew many of both groups. How can anybody be so naive to believe anything that Romney says or Ryan for that matter? Look at their records.
I was one of those stupid gullible Christians who bought the whole NeoCon lie, and were the reason they were able to take over the republican party years ago, what an idiot I was. Tell me, do we still murder babies in this country? How about those wonderful supreme court Justus’s we have to have appointed by ( our guys ) ?
I could go on but you will not see it if you haven’t seen it yet by what is going on.
I would just love, love, love to see what harmless and benevolent forces would fill your hypothetical vacuum once the “900 bases of intervention and meddling” picked up and left, as if that type of naive approach wouldn’t seriously imperil our allies, interests, international commerce, and those American citizens who live abroad.
To paraphrase a famous maxim, America has no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only interests, and those we shall pursue.
-Lone Shark
Some people really are gullible enough to believe that our enemies, especially radical Islamists, will magically like us. This is a fantasy based on the myth that other people think like we do – they don’t. The international stage is not the sandbox we all played in with the neighborhood kids when we were 3 years old.
One need to look no further than this week’s events in Libya, Egypt and Yemen to see the proof of my point. Libya and Egypt in particular owe their new found democracy to our interventions on their behalf AND our financial support. In short, we couldn’t have played nicer with them.
But hate is a very powerful thing. It’s always easier to preach hate and jealousy of someone else than it is to preach love for others. No matter how much you do for some people, they will find a way to contort your efforts and blame you for their lesser circumstances.
News Flash: People in the Arab world of the Middle East DO NOT think like we do – their culture is very different than what most of us understand.
Hate is evil – and hate is epidemic in the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and many other groups are VERY influential and they are all heavily indoctrinated with hate. You CANNOT fix stupid and you CANNOT negotiate with evil. Only a willingness to seriously kick @$$ will be be respected – all kindness will be perceived as weakness.
Just keep spending money we don’t have to protect us from the blow back we incur? No one is trying to take us over. They don’t hate our freedom ( what is left of it ) like anybody else they don’t like being pushed around. Free trade makes it awfully hard to fight each other. You don’t think they want the better life that it would bring to all? No one said close all the consulates, you are being very political in your argument by spinning untruths. We don’t need the military bases with the firepower all over the world if we mind our own business. You know that is what is being said. You want to volunteer your son to go and die for another country you go right ahead, just don’t force mine to.
If the republicans have a chance of getting enough votes to elect Romney then they should do that–If you can’t then maybe –just maybe you have the wrong guy –or the wrong ideas or maybe you’ve misled in the past and can’t be trusted– In any case blaming Liberty minded folks for your problems is beyond the pale.
I may vote for Romney or I may not— What I’m waiting for is some indication or proof of past performance that Romney will represent me. So far -zilch- Obama will not represent me either. Both seem bent on paths that are moving in the direction that I think will destroy my country. Whether it happens in my life time or in my children’s life times is a moot point–
If the Republican party loses it is no ones fault but their own-the leadership, the Neo-con pundits, the top down Soviet style party politics, the lack of moral direction, etc, etc,
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I am not sure this article littered with name calling and rehashing of the failed conventional wisdom by which the republican party has held onto their more principled voters, will do much to bring anybody to your side John. I am not a libertarian although I lean more in that direction than I do the “conservative” camp which is all to happy to sacrifice liberty and our Bill of Rights for a false sense of security. But the principled liberty lovers that support Ron Paul HAVE been doing the heavy lifting at the grassroots level for some time now.
As thank you for our efforts, liberty loving patriots (many of them young and the future of the nation) across the candidate spectrum where shut out of their convention and told, in no uncertain terms, we were not wanted. Therefore, it is a little disingenuous to ask them now if they love their country enough to unite as if we are all self serving egotists that could care less about our children’s future. We were invited to leave but we will never stop fighting for liberty.
We do not owe this mystery writer an explanation: we have demonstrated our love for the country God gave us. But I will give him one anyway. We did not pick up our marbles and go home to pout. We are working in areas were each man and woman can make progress on the local, state, and national levels. The fact that we are not selling our souls to a corrupt party who said we don’t want you, but we WILL insult you if you don’t turn in your principles and come help us fool the nation, does not mean we are sitting this one out.
We are doing what we have done for the last 12 years: educating those arising from slumber, working, creating something that our founders would recognize. It is slow and hard and a path littered with insults from “our friends” that continue to try and move hope just out of reach by declaring there is no other way but to support a party conceived in corruption and beyond any hope of reform. The writers false message known as conventional wisdom has not changed the continuous decent into socialism and oligarchy for the last 100 years in which it has been successfully employed to keep power concentrated in the duopoly.
But there is something moving across the nation. Liberty lovers are waking up and refusing to worship at the feet of the Rubios, Wests and all the others that try to talk like Constitutionalists but consistently vote against it to make the world a more dangerous place. I will not join you in defeat aboard the good ship malarkey and call it progress.
This writer can believe with his whole heart that “political realities” give him no other choice. It is sad to be enslaved. But our founders concentrated power in We the People who now refuse to use it. The “no other choice” campaign was successful, up until McCain, in convincing conservatives that was reality. But the argument has been crushed under its own weight of corruption, deception, and inferior candidates with no heart to defend liberty and no vision of a Constitutional Republic. Just look at the pathetic, tepid, weak presidential campaign by the R side of the duopoly. It should make all who are observing it wonder if they really want change.
Yes, we need to dump Obama and the nation will suffer greatly if we don’t. Until enough voters learn to fear God more than man, America will continue to suffer. We demand, like spoiled children, that God Bless America. He is not our servant, He is our King.
It is time for Americans to once again Bless God! It is time to Withdraw Consent and refuse to comply with the duopoly. Don’t vote for one more candidate who compromises the law of the land- our Constitution, or the law of God. Then put all your faith in Him for hope and change and stop putting faith in men who will say anything to get elected. The victory always comes at the moment when the enemy seems to surround us like the sand of the seashore. Today America fears man more than God. He is not finished drawing us back to the real reality.
Jeff-
I hope you’ll permit this “mystery writer” a rejoinder to your interesting response. First off, there was no “name calling” in my article, just some pointed criticisms of Libertarians as well as an acknowledgement that many of their grievances with the Republican Party are legitimate ones. Second, you are correct, there are many ways to further the cause of freedom- instruction of the young and a return to God are probably the two most important ones I can think of- but the immediate challenge for us is to stop a President who is actively undermining this country and presenting a grave threat to the cause of freedom around the world. My article was by no means an indictment of all Libertarians, it was directed towards those whose doctrinaire and dismissive attitudes towards others somehow leads them to believe that they’re free of any responsibility to do the necessary work to get us out of our predicament. Folks who simply want to mock Republicans and assume a “holier than thou” attitude at this stage of the game have made themselves irrelevant in the most important election in a century, and that’s the bed they’ve made and have to sleep in.
-Lone Shark
If this is the last free election cuz you had to vote on principle, where do I send my thanks…please, this admin is dangerous.
Ron Paul supporters have shifted to Gary Johnson. Even the most reluctant of pollsters have rated him receiving 4% nationally, which equates to 2x any Libertarian ever achieved. Where Gary Johnson surges in the polls in the double digit range, the GOP attacks him legally in an attempt to get him off the ballot. It is an underhanded tactic which could have backlash. At this point Gary Johnson will only surge higher in the polls and we can only hope he gets there quickly in time to enter the debate.
The problem is that the corrupt GOP wants no competition. They have changed the rules so never again will a candidate that is not selected by the corrupt establishment politicos will get as far as Dr.Ron Paul did. There will be no more Reagans folks. This is what the corrupt GOP and the RNC have accomplished. They want the status quo to continue and if you are not with them, then you are out. And, now they have made it clear that it is either Romney or Obama. And, they are counting on folks holding their noses and voting for Romney. What they haven’t factored in is that many voters and especially Ron Paul supporters have had enough of all the corruption and voter fraud, attacks on legitimate candidates and their supporters, changing the rules to benefit themselves, and they will never vote for Romney because they recognize that Romney may very well be worse than Obama. All you have to do is to focus on the corruption that has gone on behind the scenes to know that he is underhanded and dangerous. So, those that are still dreaming for positive change, well guess what, you blew it because you will get the same with Romney. It is principle before party for many of us. No more will we settle for the lesser of the two evils. Unfortunately, they made a very big strategic mistake. Whatever the percentage that will switch to johnson or those that will write in Ron Paul’s name, it will still be votes that Romney will need to win. Too bad for Romney and his Council on Foreign Relations handlers and the corrupt GOP/RNC. We will not vote for Romney. If we end up getting Obama, then go blame the GOP that has done plenty to push us away.
Amen! (slug)
Lone Shark,
As usual you are OUT TO LUNCH, perhaps being gulped down by a smarter fish. The spirit of liberty is born in people at birth. It will manifest in many different ways and through an infinite number of vehicles, because it is inseparable from life itself. It is entirely independent of any political instrument or stupid coalition. You are manufacturing a limitation and a crisis which doesn’t exist. If the Ron Paul movement and the libertarian movement were to both dissolve tomorrow, the Liberty movement would continue to manifest in a 1000 different ways, and probably be more vibrant and effective than it is today. You think from an artificial, fossilized, calcified mind.
What I see as the bottom line is, does the voter choose a candidate who continues to damage nation? Or a candidate who will return perhaps 10% of the liberty that has been taken in the past 4 years? Never mind the 30 to 40 years beyond the past four years of the rolling back of liberty – neither candidate will begin to restore that.
Romney is more of a leftist than most other choices we had earlier on. I think we get 4-8 years of Romney doing little to restore liberty then the Democrats roll over the Republicans in the next election. So what we are talking about here is a pause in the destruction of liberty then a continuance in 2016 or 2020.
Losing the 2012 presidential election would probably end the Republican party. I speculate they could not muster enough votes to win any office for a very long while. This might give us constitutionalists / Christians / libertarians a chance at building a party with 80% of our values rather than the 10% we get from the current Republican party. The bad part is we may need to do something unthinkable to regain control. This can only be done if it is in God’s will. What is 80% of your values worth to you as opposed to the 10% of your values that Romney will give you? Which part of The Law did Christ say would be repealed when He came to live among us? None of it if I understand correctly.
Those of you making excuses for the leftism present in the current Republican party have had 4 years to fix this. You had to know how important the 2012 election would be. You had to know the shifting of the Republican party to the left has been going on for 40 years. That you believe the Republican party is entitled to the votes of those who disagree with 80% of their positions…well, good luck with that my friends.
Until we begin to unite under the principles given to us by God, in the name of Christ, many of us will remain at odds with the Republican party.
God bless,
Paul Lohr
It’s not just Governor Romney. The Republicans picked up 63 seats taking back the House in 2010, much of it with Tea Party support. And yet – even though they hold the purse strings – when push came to shove, when it really mattered, they failed to draw a line in the sand on Government spending. Every single liberty-minded, limited Government Republican should have abstained on every continuing resolution, letting the budget busting increases and funding of Obamacare and every distasteful federal program to pass with only Democrat and RINO support. Even Paul Ryan voted for the most recent CR. Because positive change would be more likely in six months with a Republican Senate and President – neither of which is guaranteed? How is that statesmanship or putting country ahead of Party?
Sorry, should have been “If they couldn’t bring themselves to vote
‘no’, every single liberty-minded, limited Government Republican should have abstained on every continuing resolution…”
[...] Services Roundtable, one of K Street’s poshest jobs. Good work, if you can get it. – Are Libertarians putting Debate Club above all else, even their own relevancy? – Tim Tebow in Vogue. [...]
[...] Services Roundtable, one of K Street’s poshest jobs. Good work, if you can get it. – Are Libertarians putting Debate Club above all else, even their own relevancy? – Tim Tebow in Vogue. [...]