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

Labels: LP

¶ 11:10 AM