The “liberty movement” is a true coalition, a big tent political and philosophical movement, one that transcends party, my purpose in penning this opinion piece is to explore different aspects of the movement and the select groups of the coalition.
The liberty movement grew out of the ashes of the Ron Paul 2007 presidential primary, excited by a candidate that spoke unpopular truths on a national stage, hundreds of thousands of young grassroots activists had awoken to the principles of liberty as displayed by Ron Paul during the debates that he was allowed to participate in.
The bedrock of the movement is the philosophy of libertarianism: self ownership and the nonaggression principle. Alliances were made with other philosophies, everything from paleoconservatives to progressives have called themselves “Paulbots” and part of the liberty movement.
Ron Paul spoke often of the “remnant” of the old right, consisting of the Barry Goldwater, Robert Taft philosophies and paleoconservatives such as Patrick Buchanan. Driven to ground by the neoconservatives during the 1970’s and with mixed influence in the Reagan presidency, the remnant combined pragmatic populism, non-interventionism and the “Chicago Boys” economic vision.
Blue Republicans, Democrats, principled liberals and progressives, made a move to the GOP during the 2012 Primaries, derided by neoconservatives and social conservatives, these allies were attracted by the non-interventionist foreign policy of Ron Paul. It is ironic that the very foreign policy that conservatives said made Ron Paul unelectable brought in new members to the GOP. While many of our friends on the left have turned a blind eye to the degradation of civil liberties and prosecution of war under President Obama, the principled left has been without a home, some wandering to the Green Party, others turning independent and many joining the Blue Republicans.
Many social conservatives have found themselves with the liberty movement as well. The “Religious Right” seeks to use coercion in order to enforce their interpretation of the Bible to form a Godly nation. This theocratic authoritarianism can lead to one thing, tyranny, where the rights of the individual are second to a narrow interpretation of Biblical law. The social conservatives that have moved toward liberty have recognized that by setting a good Christian example, convincing others to voluntarily accept Christian doctrine and that by rejecting force, that their own religious liberties are protected by the limited government proposed by the liberty wing.
