Actually, many of the Tea Party candidates, includingbusinessman Ron Johnson, the newly anointed Republican unknown running againstWisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, are strongly libertarian, embracing a politicalphilosophy that has existed since the 1700s.
And there are very good reasons why the LibertarianParty has always been a minority party.
Some people describe libertarians as conservativeswho have moved so far to the right they bump into the left.
A much simpler definition that always made sense tome is that libertarians are conservatives who like to smoke dope.
That’s what makes them far more honest and lesshypocritical than most of those in the Republican Party who call themselvesconservatives. There is absolutely nothing conservative about Republicans whowant to control the governments of other countries through warfare and controlpeople in our own country through laws that intrude into their personal lives.
As I’ve written, the truly conservative position ongay marriage should be to insist upon it. Why would conservatives want gay peopleto go around having sex willy-nilly without being married?
The libertarians’ absolute belief in preserving ourcivil liberties against unnecessary government control in our personal lives issomething folks across the political spectrum can agree upon.
But libertarians are political proof you canadvocate too much of a good thing. Many of them make the enormous leap fromopposing unnecessary government action in our lives to opposing absolutely anygovernment action at all.
Business Trumps All
That is why libertarianism is so attractive tomillionaire businessmen such as Johnson. Johnson refers to libertarian AynRand’s 1957 novel, Atlas Shrugged, ashis “foundational book.” It waspretty thick. You could stack lots of books on top of it.
What businessmen particularly like aboutlibertarianism, though, is the idea that government shouldn’t have any power atall to tell business what to do.
So nice libertarians who worry about protectingindividuals from abuse by totalitarian governments end up opposing anygovernment action to protect individuals from abuse by totalitariancorporations.
Anyone living through the recent financial collapseand even more recent epic destruction of jobs and the natural environment inthe Gulf of Mexico knows which uncheckedsource of powercorporate or governmentpresents a greater threat to ourpersonal lives.
Yet, true libertarians follow their esotericpolitical philosophy right out the window by opposing all regulation of WallStreet and the oil companies and even such long-accepted curbs on corporateabuse as child labor laws and worker safety regulations.
Rand Paul, the Tea Party Republican candidate forthe U.S. Senate in Kentucky,did not say anything unusual for a libertarian when he declared that PresidentBarack Obama’s blasting of British Petroleum for the still uncheckedenvironmental disaster in the Gulf “sounds really un-American in his criticismof business.”
The same goes for Paul’s incendiary racial remarksthat the Civil Rights Act of 1964 went too far when it banned privatebusinesses from turning away African Americans from lunch counters or hotels.
Actually, Paul’s ridiculous statements in televisionappearances before he was pulled off the air by Republicans and put under wrapsare just the tip of a very bizarre iceberg.
Paul also is one of those conspiracy theorists whobelieve there is a secret Democratic plan to wipe out both the Mexican andCanadian borders and turn North America into a“borderless, mass continent” connected by a 10-lane superhighway running northand south. That’s what he said in 2008.
But you’d never guess what Paul’s most controversialviews are among libertarians. The Kentucky Libertarian Party actually isconsidering running its own candidate against Paul, an ophthalmologist whose Texas congressmanfather, Ron Paul, was the party’s national presidential candidate in 1988.
Among libertarians, the worse things Rand Paul saidwere when he started backing away from libertarian principles to repair thepolitical damage and try to become more acceptable to mainstream voters. Sothey didn’t particularly like it when Paul insisted he wasn’t racist andultimately would have supported a ban on blacks being chased away fromrestaurants with ax handles.
Libertarians also object that Paul, in wooingRepublican votes, has abandoned some of the party’s bedrock principles thatappeal to the left, including support for a woman’s right to choose andmarriage rights for gays and lesbians.
The Tea Party rallies greased the way for previously“fringe” libertarians whose views are decidedly not mainstream to win majorRepublican nominations.
These anti-government candidates in Wisconsin, includingJohnson and several congressional candidates, are virtually unknown, havingnever held public office.
That’s why it’s imperative for the media tothoroughly examine the political views of these candidates on basic Americanrights and government responsibilities.
Prepare to be shocked.
