I do get a little weary of people like Rand Paul who oppose bills that are doable, and are certainly better than anything the Democrats would come up with, because they are not perfect. I sympathize with Paul and others who (justifiably) are concerned about spending and deficits, and want to see bigger cuts. But they always seem to be blind to the political reality on the ground: Republicans barely control the House and Senate, and both houses are chock-full of RINOs who have no interest at all in tackling the scourge of government debt. My question is two-fold: (1) what precisely are you trying to accomplish, and (2) how do you propose to get there with a razor-thin majority that is only nominal?
Don Surber: "Where is Rand Paul's Big Beautiful Bill? He's had 14 years to write it".
He's part of the problem
ReplyDeleteHe voted for Obama's and Biden's picks because they deserved a chance to pick their folks but against Trump's because of His Principles!.
Poseur ahole.
There are Libertarians and libertarians.
ReplyDelete"Capital L" Libertarians tend to be navel gazers, and overthink problems.
"Lowercase l" libertarians tend to mind their own business, so you don't see many of them in politics.
You can guess which one Rand Paul is.
Far too many Libertarians are more interested in establishing their intellectual purity than in actually doing something. And for the most part, that purity is mostly confined to legal drugs and hookers.
ReplyDeleteI've known RINOs like that, too. They'll throw their vote away on some third-party vanity candidate, even though that means indirectly supporting a Democrat who's worse than the Republican (e.g., Trump) they don't like. This was particularly bad among inside-the-beltway types, whose friends were mostly Democrats. Thank God I was able to shake the dust of that place off my shoes and retire to God's country.
DeleteThis article and the comments strike a chord with me. I joined the Australian Libertarians during the covid years, because their MPs in Victorians stood up and tried to fight. There were other politicians, mostly Liberals, who were in there too, but the Libertarians were saying No as a party.
ReplyDeleteBut the party is not without its problems. Prior to 2022 they were known as the Liberal Democrats; I was aware of them, and not highly impressed. They seemed then, as Stephen A says, focused on their intellectual purity. A political party for people who found politics too distasteful to engage in.
That mood has changed - not coincidentally, some long-time leaders have exited. Results have been disappointing so far, but with Australian politics in its current turmoil we might yet gain a substantial foothold around the country.
Sounds like your libertarians are getting serious. I recollect a time back in the 70s, when I was at a party, that an organizer came up to a group of us and asked if one of us wanted to run for governor of North Carolina on the Libertarian Party ticket. Looking around at my pals, I immediately decided that the party was somewhat lacking in discernment.
DeletePaco, you might enjoy this speech from Libertarian John Ruddick, MP for New South Wales, on the state guvvvmint's attempt to DEI retrospectively.
Deletehttps://x.com/JohnRuddick2/status/1928000886166671830
That was good!
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