I'm rarely surprised by the actions of politicians any more, but I admit to being nearly stunned last night when I went to stop my phone from persistently beeping and realized the message it was trying to get me to read was that Ron Paul was considering a presidential bid - as a Republican.
I was at a Wake County Libertarian Party meeting when I glanced at my phone for that message, which I think can only be considered irony. Ron Paul is probably the person I can most directly give the credit (or blame, if you like) to for my presence at that meeting. His presidential race in '88 took him to some pretty strange and wild places, including somewhere in western Kansas where an unfocused young farm wife (that would be me!) first heard real live people speaking political sense and from that moment on considered herself a Libertarian (not a very good one for a long time, but that's another story). Naturally I shared the news with the folks at the meeting, and it was right then - with the war drums of Bush's escalation beating and the still-stunned sense of seeing in my own life the war madness I'd only heard and read about - that the perfect description of Paul's candidacy came to mind: Paul is the Republican Dennis Kucinich. That was a happy thought, as it seems as if the Republican Party has suffered from not having a 'conscience candidate'. His bid, along with that of other limited-government Republicans who are finally rising in response to the Bush threat, can only be good for the Republican Party. But what does Paul's bid mean for the Libertarian Party, and more importantly, for the freedom movement? For the movement as a whole the answer is very clear: having someone stand up and say the things Ron Paul will say to the Republican Party and the people of America will only grow people's understanding of freedom and its potential - as it did for me back in '88. That's an unqualified good. And for the Libertarian Party? Again, I see only good news in a Ron Paul candidacy - even if he is running as a Republican, and perhaps because he is running as a Republican. When Paul stirs a love of, and a longing for, justice and freedom in the hearts of those who listen to him, many will find that the Republican Party will never be serious about freedom, preferring to struggle for power instead. Many of these folks will - because of Paul's candidacy - have heard about the Libertarian Party for the first time. After the presidential race, they will seek us out. It is vital to the success of our movement and its goals that when they come to the Libertarian Party it catches their inspiration rather than quashes it. We cannot disappoint these new idealistic folks with nonsense about new taxes and replacement taxes and regulating drugs and regulating travel and regulating ... freedom. They will be leaving the Republican Party precisely because that's the sort of talk they got there. When I joined the Libertarian Party, I still had many very un-libertarian ideas, and kind, intelligent, and more-or-less patient folk in the Party helped me to learn to think consistently about freedom. They did not try to re-orient the Libertarian Party to center around my muddled understanding, but helped me to really understand freedom and its implications. The Libertarian Party must position itself to take a new wave of idealism created by Paul's candidacy and offer the people whose hearts and minds he will surely stir a crystal clear vision of real freedom and how it can work in America. I want to be here - and I want other Libertarian Party folks to be here with me - to welcome them home properly. -- Susan Hogarth http://www.lpradicals.org
