“Don’t Forget Gary Johnson!”
I have spoken with staff who migrated from the Ron Paul campaign to Gary Johnson’s camp. One thing I have been told is that they are frustrated that many libertarians in the Ron Paul camp equate being a libertarian with supporting the Paul clan. Many supporters of Ron Paul find that they can only support Ron Paul and Rand Paul, and that all the other candidates are not worthy of their attention. This past week, the FrumForum mailbox has been getting angry emails about how we’ve recently attacked Ron Paul. We’ve critiqued other libertarians before, but when you attack a person’s political savior, they take it a bit more personally.
He goes on to cite Kevin Williamson’s report [blocked by paywall, sorry] on the nature of the Ron Paul supporter:
[This] much they [Ron Paul fans] are certain of: The United States of America is an “empire,” the Federal Reserve is the capitol citadel of wickedness in the modern world, and Ron Paul — Doctor Paul — is “the one man in America who is willing to tell the truth,” “the one man who truly cannot be bought,” “the one man for the people,” and, in the Paul campaign’s own fevered imagination, “the one who will stop the spending, save the dollar, create jobs, bring peace — the one who will restore liberty. Ron Paul: The one who can beat Obama — and restore America now.”
He concludes:
One project that libertarians may want to consider is how to give the libertarians in the Republican party prominent voices that are not called Ron Paul. These voices would not have to make evasions on issues such as whether the Confederacy was a bad idea. Then the debate over whether we need a night-watchmen state can be done without Paul’s considerable baggage.
My take is this. Ron Paul supporters think they actually have a chance to make some real libertarian noise this year, which is understandable given that Paul really might win Iowa in a few weeks. But Libertarianism cannot afford a rift right now. For the movement to eventually gain support of enough of a percentage of American voters to be taken seriously, it has to stand united behind one candidate that can a) promote and sell the philosophy, and b) garner the support that demonstrates this is a viable political alternative to what we have today. Ron Paul, as a candidate, has some serious flaws — electability being the most prominent, in my view. But the better Ron Paul does this time around, the better for Libertarianism as a whole down the road, whoever the standard-bearer may then be.
For other takes on this, see Andrew Sullivan’s endorsement, David Frum’s response, and Connor Friedersdorf’s response to Frum.
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