The ideology of the average American Libertarian is a mixed bag for me. I really side with their ideas more than any other political philosophy but really take issue with some of the positions they are willing to take and defend in order to never budge an inch from their sacred principle of very little government.
The Tea Party houses a lot of Libertarian individuals. I have continually knocked those in the Republican Party that have allowed those in the Tea Party to hijack the GOP. This isn't a knock on the Tea Party. Those that have "primaried" Republicans and voted for Tea Party representatives have only played by the rules. They have rallied and found a voice and that's the American way. I'm knocking those in the Republican Party that didn't have enough foresight to see the damage that would be caused by allowing a third party into one of the two main parties. I suspect those in the traditional GOP were willing to chalk up, what seemed like, political wins in 2010 (an off year when the minority party usually does well) and only imagined the Tea Party being a thorn in the side to Obama and not their own party.
Rand Paul, son of Dr. Ron Paul, is a Senator from Kentucky. Jim Bunning, a former Major League baseball player and a Republican, had been the Senator since 1999. Prior to that Bunning had been a member of the House from 1987 to 1999. In 2009, Bunning noticed he was suddenly having difficulties raising campaign funds and he announced his retirement at the end of his term in 2010. Up stepped Tea Party favorite Rand Paul. Rand defeated a Republican, Trey Grayson, in the primary and cruised to beat a Democrat in the general. He caucuses with the GOP but he's hardly a traditional conservative that fits the Republican mold. He's very much like his father in this aspect and the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
On Wednesday Rand delivered a good old fashioned filibuster on the Senate floor. It went on for over 13 hours. He voiced concerns over the President's ability to order drone strikes on American citizens. Dr. Ron Paul voiced this concern the first time President Obama used a drone to kill an American citizen without a trial and simply by Executive Order. Rand Paul was pointing toward the inability of the Obama administration to simply say it was NOT Constitutional for drones to be used against Americans on American soil. He chose to use the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA as his stage because Brennan supports the current Obama policy when it comes to the use of drones.
Guess who doesn't agree with Rand Paul and his filibuster? Did you guess Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham?
"If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously, he needs to do more than pull political stunts..." ~ John McCain
"...to my party, I'm a bit disappointed that you no longer apparently think we're at war." ~ Lindsey Graham
Guess who did agree with and support Paul's filibuster? Did you guess Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both Tea Party favorites that beat Republicans in primaries. Did you guess Democratic Senator Ron Wyden?
Somehow, in some warped cultural American way, the Libertarian Party believes they have more in common with Republicans than they do Democrats. A real Libertarian would not identify with either party except when either party is attempting to reduce the government's role in our lives. Wanting the government to define marriage, not Libertarian. Wanting the government to fight a national war on drugs, not Libertarian. Wanting to engage in wars, especially unprovoked ones, not Libertarian. Wanting to spend somewhere between 30-50% of our budget on defense, not Libertarian. Whether the confused American Libertarian wants to admit it or not, they have as much in common with Democrats as they do Republicans.
There is no greater golden common ground between the Democrats and the Libertarians as there is within the ideology toward our military and our vision and strategy moving forward when it comes to national defense. For the longest time, many many years, the Republicans understood Ron Paul was dangerous to their ideology and refused to let him be taken seriously by other Republicans. It was mostly Republicans who called him "crazy" and a "nut job", not Democrats. Now his son is on the Senate floor raising the issue of the government's authority to kill its own citizens without trial and the traditional Republicans are painting him the fool. Too late. Too late. Way too fucking late.
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