[rabscuttle385]

.

[fwdude]

No, thank you.

[Jim W N]

"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." — Ronald Reagan

Up to the point of the Constitution. Sometimes I'm not sure that some Libertaians cross that line.

[dirtboy]

Regrettably there aren't enough libertarian-doers in Congress who would stop the decades of runaway-spending and cut the government down to constitutional size.

And Ron Paul talks the talk, but when it comes to inserting earmarks, he doesn't walk the walk. This will make your pointy little head explode, Rabs, but when it comes to earmarks, McCain is actually better than RuPaul (McCain more than makes up for it elsewhere in being a stinker, but Paul is hardly as pure as the driven snow when it comes to spending).

And I notice there is utterly no mention of Paul's antiwar moonbattery, which more than neutralizes any domestic sanity he promotes from time to time. And Paul is hardly alone in the libertarian movement in promoting such views.

[K-oneTexas]

Commentators have had a difficult time labeling tea party citizens.

How about calling them 'concerned citizens!' Works for me.

[ansel12]

Sure. Fight conservatism, fight America, and help the left with their 1960s agenda to destroy American Christian culture and traditions, while somehow fantasizing that you can win those left wing compatriots to leave the conservative economic policies standing.

Here is the leftists agenda hidden behind the Libertarian Party curtain.

Libertarian Party Platform:

Throw open the borders completely; only a rare individual (terrorist, disease carrier etc.) can be kept from freedom of movement through “political boundaries”.

Homosexuals; total freedom in the military, gay marriage, adoption, child custody and everything else.

Abortion; zero restrictions or impediments.

Pornography; no restraint, no restrictions.

Drugs; Meth, Heroin, Crack, and anything new that science can come up with, zero restrictions.

Advertising those drugs, prostitution, and pornography; zero restrictions.

Military Strength; minimal capabilities

[KoRn]

That's fairly accurate. I tend to be a right leaning libertarian.

[jenk]

"So is Paul crazy?"

Yes.

By the way, Paul didn't start the tea parties, nor do most tea partiers agree with his brand of libertarianism.

[bamahead]

Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
View past Libertarian pings here

[SoConPubbie]

Considered a "kook" by many of his congressional peers, Paul may be the only sane one there. This is the man who just returned $100,000 of his congressional budget back to the U.S. Treasury. His congressional frugality borders on treason within free-spending Congress. Nicknamed "Dr. No" because of his thriftiness, he votes no to any legislation unless it adheres to the Constitution.

Rabs,

Come on already.

Nice statement, however, given his unethical behavior of loading up bills with pork for his district that he knows in advance he will be voting against, and he is sure will pass totally negates any of the positive PR (from a small "l" libertarian perspective) he gets for being called "Dr. No".

Furthermore, his anti-war shenagins such as aligning with Code-Pink, being against all international wars (it would seem), being against the Civil War (or claiming it was not necessary) make him out to be a complete kook!

I wonder if Ron Paul is happy that France came to our rescue in the war 1776? Without them, you and I wouldn't have the freedoms we have today. So I wonder if he thought France should have done what they did, intervene in an international war, thereby saving our butts!

[Cyber Liberty]

I got about this far...

So is Paul crazy? Of course not.

...before I started taking this article with a rather large measure of salt.

[FrankR]

"Citizens who consider themselves conservative might be surprised to find they're somewhere between conservative and libertarian."

The use of the word "might" usually signifies the writer isn't at all sure of what they are saying, and tries to cover their ass by using weasel words like "might", "may", "could be", "perhaps", etc.

That goes right along with the "libertarians", who pick just enough planks from both parties to ride the fence and not be slammed by either.

To rephrase that statement it should go something like this:

"Citizens who consider themselves libertarians will be surprised to find they're somewhere between conservatives and LIBERALS."

Libertarians find the fringe things they disagree with in both parties, and then clammor for the center.

A "right leaning libertarians" is an OXYMORON.

Fiscally conservative and socially liberal is NOT the road for America...for social liberalism by its very nature will lead us all back to FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY. It must, to finance the frills of social liberalism.

Glenn Beck and others who are now pumping libertariansism up our butts will do nothing to reinstate the Constitution, and will eventually peel off weak conservatives to vote Libertarian, and we end up with a split vote again, and poof...four more years of obama.

Libertarianism offers conservatives NOTHING that is not offered in conservatism, except may the desire to legalize dope and open the borders. It will still lead to unemployment, high taxes and chaos.

Say NO to libertainism...no matter which "celebrity" thinks it's great...and we know that celebrities are such political geniuses...don't we Sean Penn?

[ohioWfan]

Libertarians aren't conservative enough.

Elect ONLY Conservative Republicans. There are plenty of them out there.

[higgmeister]

The sentiment is great! The exemplar really blows!

[DakotaRed]

About that little quote of Reagan's, "If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism."

Did you intentionally leave out what else he said in the 1975 quote?

"Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy."

[KDD]

Ron Paul doesn't sing Hosanna to the religious right.

Prepare for much “righteous” rationalizations and much irreligious invective about one of the truest conservatives in government today.

[dalereed]

Libertarians can go straight to hell!

[Raider Sam]

Can anyone define “non-conformist?” All the non-conformists I know conform to each other.

[jnsun]

I believe this author is a confused person. As are at least half of the chronologically adult citizens in America today.

Libertarianism is NOT Conservatism.

Libertarianism is a reaction (like in "reactionary") to the authoritarian mandate of Leftism. That is all it is. It is an understandable phenomenon, like a juvenile rebelling against the constant oversight of his parents, but that is all it is. Although certainly it can become violent.

Indeed Leftism arises from so much liberalism that the entire internal moral consciousness of the individual is lost and abandoned. Thus centralized authoritarian mandate becomes necessary even for the simplest social commerce.

Conservatism is the recognition and commitment to personal responsibility, hardly libertarianism. It is personal responsibility, its recognition, its practice, its insistence in all, that allows each of us to pursue our own decisions, in an atmosphere of freedom. It is being a mature adult, as opposed to leftism and libertarianism, i.e. manifestations of juveniles.

How obvious is that? How obvious is this juvenilism in millions of college students, Harvard Professors, government careerists, Barack Obama, numerous politicians?

One is honest with one's self and responsible, or a problem to America.

Julian Jaynes makes this wonderfully clear. But many many historic figures before do likewise, e.g. Plato, Buddha, Christ, Shakespeare, Voltaire, H.G,Wells, GBS (in a convoluted way).

And then there is the New York Times, CBS, NBC, Bill Clinton, George Soros, Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Henry Gates. What a joke on America.

The terrible spin of the LEFT (sinister in Latin) has distorted the perspective of American civilization. And "they" own the Media.

How obvious is it?

Johnny Suntrade

[snarkpup]

Some commentators have suggested that Republican-Libertarian Rep. Ron Paul is responsible for the grassroots Tea Party movement rising up against the present Washington chaos.

I've been to pretty much every Tea Party or Tea-Party-like event in Grand Junction and I've never heard Ron Paul's name mentioned. This is why I pay no attention to the opinions of "commentators".