Reason-Rupe General Election Poll (3/26): Obama 41%, Romney 30%, Paul 17%

[Crotale]

I've always been under the impression that the Libertarian Party was a more active promoter of maximizing freedom and liberty, whereas when you get to the nuts and bolts of it, Dr. Paul is an Old Right Republican whose main focus is the Rule of Law and fiscal/monetary sanity.

For example, Libertarians would say that you don't have the right to force your values on other people, and Dr. Paul would say that while this would be his preference, the Constitution(the law) says that Government at the State level can do all kinds of silly things. A Libertarian would be a bit more loose in his handling of foreign policy in order to maximize his people's freedoms; Paul would simply follow the rules by the books under the belief that they are the best list of directions we've got. That kind of thing.

I think Ron Paul is more of a voluntarist than you credit him for.

 

[eleganz]

I think Ron Paul is more of a voluntarist than you credit him for.

^^^ by god I think you are onto something!

 

[cindy25]

without a Paul 3rd party Romney-Rubio could win, and it would never end; neo-cons would control the GOP forever. even if Romney Rubio lost it would make Rubio the 2016 front runner.

 

[roc_rob]

without a Paul 3rd party Romney-Rubio could win, and it would never end; neo-cons would control the GOP forever. even if Romney Rubio lost it would make Rubio the 2016 front runner.

I hope we would also be able to shift mainstream discussion more toward liberty movement ideals, on both the right and left.

If both opposing candidates are predicted to lose votes to Ron Paul, in what may be a close race, then I think the influence of our liberty ideals have a real chance of shaping discussion.