Posted on 09/26/2013 9:00:07 AM PDT by Kaslin
Some libertarians are okay in my book, most are not
How about discussing the article instead the name of the author, huh?
It needs to be streamlined into a cleaner structure with a clearer thesis.
The idea the libertarianism is aspirational and populism punitive is an interesting one (though maybe an oversimplification as interesting ideas can sometimes be), but wading through all the name-dropping and quote-mongering to get there was a hard slog (do we really need to know about Mytheos's internships, for example?).
By the time any ideological faction manages to win elections the sharp edges tend to get worn down. A majority isn't going to vote for Ayn Rand, so talk about her in terms of practical electoral politics is mostly just wasted breath.
He's right that dues-paying union members aren't going to be voting Republican any time soon, though. Even Reagan didn't win a majority of union members, though he came closer than other Republican candidates (closer even than Eisenhower).
I think Cato should ask for their money back.
True, there are some scary folks among Libertarians, maybe Ron Paul himself on occasion, but by and large I know of only the smart ones, and they are fed up. They are not all so wild about leaving Israel a sitting duck either. And there are some scary folks in every large movement these days, even small ones.
Sadly, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a necessary coalition to try and save the country from some very bad guys. Thanks, Kas.
Rick Santelli’s cry on MSNBC (a channel libertarians and conservatives don’t watch) launched the closest thing to libertarian populism in recent memory.
At first the establishment leaders/people at FOX actually opposed the Tea Party probably because it came from MSNBC.
If we expect to win elections we need to create an organization ready and willing to mobilize the next Santelli even more effectively than the Tea Party. We need to find the Reagan personality that is friendly with a sense of humor rather than strident mean-spirited personae as our candidate.
Hypothetically, suppose Rubio-Cruz-Paul all did the confrontational stuff and then a Mike Lee came out of no where to be the friendly face of our team? Don’t get hung up on the names above. Pick your combination for confrontational and friendly. The point is that your linebacker skilled at sacking the quarterback rarely makes for a good quarterback.
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