In Defense of Libertarians (being libertarian and being Republican are not mutually exclusive)

In Defense of Libertarians (being libertarian and being Republican are not mutually exclusive)

American Thinker ^ | 01/12/2012 | Rachael Williams

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 7:55:31 AM by SeekAndFind

Throughout the primary election season there’s been a group unfairly villainized by the rest of the Republicans. Not the establishment (they can’t be villainized enough for giving us McCain and trying to keep folks like Rand Paul from getting elected in 2010) — I mean libertarians.

Republicans like to villainize libertarians for infiltrating their party — but refuse to acknowledge that being libertarian and being Republican are not mutually exclusive. I wish someone had told me, but apparently all self-identified libertarians are the same caricature of Ron Paul supporters who refuses to debate and instead just shouts “Neo-con! Neo-con!” at everyone with whom he disagrees.

I’m not what you’d call a “Ron Paul libertarian”; I don’t think he’s the end-all, be-all personification of what a libertarian is or what libertarians must believe to fit the title. Love him or hate him — which seem to be the only two options — I’d like to believe that everyone on the right can admit that Ron Paul has brought the mainstream of the far right a little closer to libertarian beliefs. Without Ron Paul, you wouldn’t have candidates like Rick Perry and Rick Santorum pushing for trillions of dollars in spending cuts, nor would they be promising to outright eliminate regulatory agencies.

 

When I “came out” as a black conservative, I had to explain ad nauseam how the two were not mutually exclusive. I’m finding myself having to make the same point over and over with regards to libertarianism — that the most vocal members of a given group do not speak for the whole. There is as much diversity of thought between fellow libertarians as there is in the Republican Party. While I self-identify as a conservative libertarian, many people react to that label as though I cannot be both simultaneously.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com …

via In Defense of Libertarians (being libertarian and being Republican are not mutually exclusive).

 

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