In an Anarchast podcast. Judge Andrew Napolitano has stated that he thinks Rand Paul is “every bit as libertarian as his father (Ron Paul)“.
There is scarcely any point in reiterating all the ways in which Rand Paul’s words have indicated he doesn’t even come close to Ron Paul’s libertarianism (Rand’s own admission that he is not a libertarian being one of them), if only because Napolitano, like many wishfully thinking Paulites, simply bypasses this by claiming it is a strategy that Rand Paul uses to broaden his base.
The problem with this, of course, that it is not an argument. It is an expression of hope, of desire. Not an expression of a fact, or the employment of reason. It is most likely based on Napolitano’s feelings of friendship with the Paul family. But all of that is subjective and cannot be taken at face value. The issues at stake are simply too important to risk by simply assuming Rand Paul is cleverly masking as a more traditional Republican.
Here are the problems with the theory:
1: If Rand Paul is acting more like a Republican to ‘broaden his base’, then why should libertarians vote for him? By acting more like a Republican, he is at the same time alienating libertarians. He is thus not ‘broadening his base’ anymore than any of the other candidates are doing. He is vying for the vote from the same Republican pool. Napolitano makes excuses, that some of the things Paul has said are indefensible from a libertarian standpoint but they were said in the heat of debates to appeal to a broader base. Again, this only alienates libertarians with the supposed plus side being he appeals to the same pool of people all the other candidates are going for. How is this ‘broadening one’s base?’
2: The polls clearly indicate that a Rand Paul ‘broadening his base’ is a Rand Paul that fairly little voters are interested in. Other Republicans are more reliably statist and neocon. So why would they vote for Rand? It is also not particularly smart in that regard to attack the most popular candidate Donald Trump. Now that we mention it, how does attacking the most popular candidate result in ‘broadening your base?’ Anyway, seeing the results in the polls, should Rand Paul not realize by now his tactic (if it was a tactic) has failed miserably and show his “true” libertarian self that Napolitano claims he has? Rand Paul has not broadened his base at all. And why not? Because people ultimately see through BS. Sometimes they accept BS, but only if they feel they have to. But with Donald Trump, why not go for BS that is at least entertaining, rather than dull as dishwater? Ron Paul was honest and principled. Donald Trump is entertainment. Rand Paul is neither.
3: Selling out principles for votes is the last thing you need to do if you ever want to be trusted by libertarians, ever again.
4: If libertarianism is so out of vogue that Rand Paul needs to broaden his base in order to win, then where would he possibly get the support needed for policy enactments if he should win? He would have bamboozled his way into the white house knowing their is no big libertarian base in the Senate, in Congress, nor in the American public itself. He would be hated and everything that goes wrong attributed to his libertarianism. Whatever goodwill libertarianism has created through Ron Paul would be destroyed by the deceit of Rand Paul.
5: More than anything the problem is this: the wishful thinkers who believe Rand Paul is a libertarian masquerading as a standard Republican to get into office, haughtily assume that while they themselves can see through Rand Paul’s clever ‘ruse’, all the other people in America cannot. The Rand Paul followers see his strategy, but the rest of the country will be dupes who will support him, endorse him and vote for him and then to their shock find out they’ve put a libertarian in the white house. How deluded; how arrogant can you be to think you know Rand Paul’s secret plan, but that all of Washington, all the lobbyists, the prime movers, the media, and Joe Sixpack would never assume this possibility? Apparently, all but Rand Paul’s supporters were born yesterday. This is the core of the ‘wishful thinking’ delusion that Rand Paul is merely ‘playing the game.’ What’s more, if Rand Paul is indeed playing some secret game, then why is Judge Napolitano outing him to the rest of the world as an imposter? Shouldn’t he keep mum on this secret strategy? Now the cat’s out of the bag and no one will believe Rand anymore, right? Please… Stop the nonsense.
Quite frankly, i am disappointed that well known icons perpetuate the nonsense of Rand Paul being a true libertarian, or likely to lead America onto a more libertarian path. It makes me believe their judgment can no longer be trusted. This is sad, but it plays into my belief that only ideas should be taken seriously; not personalities.
The Individualist 