Sunday, June 24, 2012

Rand Paul Kicks More Sand in the Face of Libertarians

Sen. Rand Paul is lending his name to support the Young America's Foundation, a group interested in introducing conservatism to American youth, reports the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader

RP is featured in a national fund-raising mailer sent out this week by the group that is based in Washington, D.C. The foundation has used national conservative leaders such as Sarah Palin to advocate for it.

It must be emphasized that the YAF is a hardcore conservative organization and not a libertarian group.

At past conferences they have featured such speakers as the neo-conservative war hawk Jonah Goldberg.

Their hero is the conservative Ronald Reagan. Their web site even features a major section called the Reagan Ranch,

As I have pointed out before, Murray Rothbard wrote a devastating analysis of Reagan as president and how much he wrecked the true advancement of the liberty cause. YAF is about keeping the freedom on this wrong track.

Bottom line: Rand Paul, if he ever was a libertarian, is one no longer. He has left the movement.

The  fund-raising endorsement of the YAF. The issuing of a major op-ed in the war-mongering, CIA influenced rag, National Review and his endorsement of Mitt Romney via the show of the Ron Paul-hating neo-con, Sean Hannity, tells us where Rand stands and it is not with libertarians.

Making an appearance with one of these organizations could be viewed as a mistake. His regular favoritism of these organization sends a different message. He is not one of us--probably never has been.

10 comments:

  1. "The endorsement of the YAF. The issuing of a major op-ed in the war-mongering, CIA influenced rag, National Review and his endorsement of Mitt Romney via the show of the Ron Paul-hating neo-con, Sean Hannity, tells us where Rand stands and it is not with libertarians."


    Ok people...eyes open yet or are we going to continue to play pretend?

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  2. Initially, I did not join the crowd that was foaming at the mouth about Rand endorsing Romney. Rand had said he would endorse the candidate and so forth, so it didn't really bother me. I figured he was looking to just build a positive rapport with a possible president and to me, it just looked like politics as usual.

    But, after this, well, that's pretty much it. This is the same organization that kicked Ron Paul off its national advisory board and has hosted some unsavory characters (see CPAC 2010).

    Damn it, I really did like Rand initially.

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  3. I'm sure Rand's supporters will come up with a good explanation for this latest development. Something along the lines of "great strategy by a brilliant politician".

    Of course, Rand's connection to this organization is not Rand distancing HIMSELF from the liberty movement; it is somehow the liberty movement "purging" Rand from its midst.
    Where ever Rand goes, we are expected to follow. If we don't we are "purging" him for being "impure".

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  4. I've been suspicious of Rand since he first ran for senate. I certainly will not be supporting him now, though I supported Ron Paul to the hilt with money, time and being a county and state delegate for him in Nevada.

    Simply put, Rand is of no help whatsoever to the freedom movement. That said, its time to move on. This isn't the first time a promising politician has made his peace with the establishment and it wont be the last. There is nothing more to be gained by Rand bashing. The point has been made and those who don't see it, simply don't want to.

    For the rest of us, what we can do for liberty is

    1) spread the word to as many friends and family and coworkers as you can.

    2) keep some gold or silver.

    3) keep some money out of the banking system.

    4) conduct what business you can in cash.

    Ron Paul has done an amazing thing. He moved us from 1% of the population to 10%. That was the hardest part. Getting from 10% to 50 is the much easier part and we can do that without Rand.

    Lucky for us, the establishment may prove to be its own worst enemy. There is only so much war and money printing the people can take before they start looking at other options. We need to be ready to be that other option.

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  5. I need to update my comment here - Young America's Foundation and Young Americans for Freedom unified in 2011.

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  6. Would just point out that to YAF's credit, they have long featured many Austrian titles on their recommended reading (from their homepage, Students, Recomended Reading, scroll down to Economics).

    Human Action, 3 Rothbard titles, and more ...

    http://www.yaf.org/

    Like others I don't like the apparent backtracking and expect Ron Paul's ideas to outlast any particular candidate.

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  7. Rand is his own man but maybe he can be a friend of the freedom movement if we let him. So far he a been the opposite of most politicos. Most Tea Party Republicans generate enthusiasm for their rhetorical ideals then let us down when they get to Washington. Rand on the other hand doesn't claim to be a libertarian yet has been reasonably consistent with libertarian principles when voting in the Senate. Rather than sending him packing maybe it would be a good idea to see is he continues introducing some positive legislation and winning over some of the other Senators. Time will tell.

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    Replies
    1. Damn, will you ever give up those rose colored glasses? You are pressing your apology for RP to a total state of blind foolishness. Let go of the myth. That's all it ever was. What you are witnessing now is the reality that's always been.

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  8. ...I have tons of libertarian friends in the YAF. Seriously, this "WE STAND OVER HERE, NOBODY MOVE, STAND RIGHT HERE WITH US" approach to politics is stupid. You're going to fail to do anything if you literally freak out when someone -speaks- at a conservative place or treats them for what they are -- people who are generally in agreement on a lot of topics like the EPA and taxes.

    Sheesh. So pathetic. So much waste.

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