Liberty Maven

Witnessing the Tea Parties last week left me a bit queasy. Perhaps the “tea” was too sweet or perhaps it was the effort to appropriate an idea just because the “other” team is now in power. During Glenn Beck’s broadcast of the Tea Party held at the Alamo you could clearly see a Ron Paul 2012 sign in the background. Since Ron Paul continues to claim that he doesn’t intend to run in 2012…

My thoughts veered once again to Gary Johnson, New Mexico’s former libertarian-in-Republican-clothing Governor. I wondered if he’s still considering a 2012 run, then I read a beautiful article by Bill Kauffman yesterday exploring the potential for a Johnson run by comparing him to Mark Sanford.

From American Conservative:

Yes, as a congressman Sanford opposed the U.S. intervention in Kosovo under a Democratic president; Gary Johnson opposed a Republican president’s war upon Iraq. Sanford reluctantly endorsed McCain in 2008; Johnson emphatically endorsed Ron Paul. Sanford has potential on civil liberties; Johnson, like Paul, has the guts to call for the legalization of marijuana and an end to the drug war.

As this issue went to press, Governor Johnson told me that he was keeping his options open for 2012. Keep an eye out for him, will you?

Ron Paul started something. Or, rather, he revealed something: liberty has a constituency. I was heartened mightily by the crowd in Minneapolis, which was overwhelmingly young. What a rousing sight: bright and enthusiastic kids afire with the spirit of liberty, of resistance to regimentation and the tyranny of standardization. Homeschoolers, homebrewers, punk rockers, evangelical Christians, radical Kansans, and reactionary New Englanders. These were American girls and boys, beautifully stained in the American grain, hip to Republican lies and numbing Democratic statism. Hell no, they won’t go. They’ll not be cannon fodder for the wars of Bush-Cheney or Obama-Biden. They demand honesty and liberty and respect for all things small and smaller; they have nothing but scorn for the liars and whores who run the empire.

Kauffman is fun to read no matter the subject matter, but when he goes on like this for liberty it makes my brain smile. For more check out his book, “Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism“.

I’d love for Gary Johnson to start getting his name out there as a potential candidate like Sanford is doing. I like Johnson more than Sanford at this point, but both are arguably more marketable than Ron Paul would be in 2012 mainly due to his age, certainly not his ideas.

I have worries and concerns for both potential candidates though. Ron Paul is unique and no candidate not named Ron Paul can claim 38 years of consistency fighting for free market and limited government principles. It appears more and more likely that the fight for the Ron Paul Republican voting block in 2012 will come down to Mark Sanford, Gary Johnson, or both.