Ok, I've read through this bunch of nonsense. I'd like to chime in with my own self-professed, intellectually pure bullshit.
In 2007... I'm sitting in my barracks, part of the first deployment to Korea in 50 years. Just spent months with my unit fighting Congress to fix our pay because the guy 50 yards in the other building was taking home $500 more a month because his unit PCS to Korea.
I'm watching the Republican Debate.
Ron Paul raises the question, why are we in Korea? As I sit and listen to his answers, the man hits at my deeper mind. He passes the filters, the programming, and made me really think... probably for the first time in any true, fruitful way. I didn't give a shit about libertarianism. I didn't care about philosophical purity. I cared that someone was fighting for me, in my situation. I cared that someone else was bold enough to stand up and bring reasonable, meaningful discussion to the table. Something I had never seen or heard before.. and it was a ray of light for me.
It's easy for me 8 years later, well read and fortified in my libertarian ideals, to rail against those who are less pure libertarians, those who support democratic socialism or neoconservatism or some odd mixture of all three.. or none at all.
I think our path to enlighten ourselves has fundamentally stripped us of our humility. These battles against others... each other... over imaginary lines in the "bedrock of the liberty movement"... it's our downfall.
Had one of you been next to me watching that first debate and I said "I like this guy" and you responded "that guy is an isolationist, a racist, a kook".. I might not have had the intellectual fortitude to oppose you and maybe have just maintained the safe route of NOT thinking for myself. TRUMP 2016 could be my rally cry today.
Why is that? Have any of you stopped to consider it? We are at the forefront of an idea and I know 8 years seems a long time, but it's not. Some have been fighting for these same things their whole lives and gotten no where. We are lucky to be a part of something bigger than ourselves that has accomplished more in the last 8 years than libertarians have accomplished in the 20 years before Ron Paul 2008.
A small part of America is starting to finally sway our way.. the seeds have been planted and are just waiting to be nurtured. Now is not the time to be having battles over intellectual purity. Save that for when that debate stage is made up of all self-proclaimed Libertarians and we are fighting over the best flavor.
So, with that all said.. here is my opinion.
I DON'T want Rand to be Ron Paul 2.0. I want Rand Paul to be himself and to think for himself. To be inspired by all of us to take the baton and carry it in his own way. Ron Paul wasn't all that special. But we were. We banded together knowing Ron was an imperfect messenger and we at one point agreed to disagree what perfection means and stood behind him. It wasn't because he was intellectually pure. It was because he was bold. A brave old man with nothing to lose. Speaking truth to power. I know you all know in your hearts of hearts Ron was special.. but he was only special to us and we were special to him. It changed him. It inspired him. It gave him the courage to be unafraid, unapologetic, and uncompromising. I swear to you right now... what made Ron special is gone from him because it it lives or dies in us now.
I'd like nothing more than to just once in my life to feel what Ron Paul felt November 5, 2007. Imagine that raw inspiration flowing through that man's veins seeing something special be born.. the throwing of the clay on the table, ready to be molded. I'm sure how he inspired us paled in comparison to how we inspired him. That sort of energy that turns a 70+ year old man into an unstoppable engine of energy and passion like a kid. WE DID THAT, not Ron Paul. Take away us and Ron Paul wasn't special. So to sit here and cry that Rand Paul is not like his father or that he isn't pure or sold out or any of that nonsense... it is no excuse for your lack of effort to inspire HIM. Rand Paul isn't all that special. But we are.
So it begs the question. What do you want to accomplish? Ron Paul was about as good as it gets. You won't see another one like him in your lifetime... if we keep this up. We are all spoiled from the fruits of Ron's labor and some are acting out like teenagers against their favorite underground band because they signed with a label and got played on the radio.
The most damaging thing to the liberty movement isn't that Rand Paul isn't more like his father, but that WE aren't more like his father. That we fail to recognize Rand as a simple means to progress the idea that is OURS now.. not Ron Paul's any longer. The responsibility now falls on us to inspire others. There is nothing inspiring about any of this right now. You care so much about your beliefs, you will own it for yourself.. but move it partially forward through Rand. Mold the clay and don't expect it to mold itself or be anything less than a lump of clay.
There is nothing any better you could do for the movement than to get behind Rand and inspire him, like we did his father. I frankly don't care if you don't like the man or think he's sold out, hate his hair, whatever. Rand isn't like his father.. nor are we newcomers... ignorant of the idea any longer. How many of you opposed to Rand are afraid he's going to somehow sway your ideology wrong? Surely.. you aren't the clay you once were. So therefore Rand isn't the idea and he isn't responsible for inspiring us. We shape the world as we want it from here on out and this notion of purity and petty reasoning is something we should all be ashamed of. The goal now must therefore be... WE drive the inspiration for RAND to inspire the NATION to move 1 degree toward our beliefs. Nothing more.. nothing less.
I dare any one of you to claim to have a more efficient way to spread Liberty than through Rand in this moment in history and I'll call you a liar or a fool. Because Tom Woods ain't going to do it, nor is Lew Rockwell. Rand is your new imperfect messenger.. so I think you should get behind it or move out of the way. That goes for Tom, Lew, or any of these people more concerned for their own self-righteous purity than practical advancement of ideas.
If they aren't behind Rand 100%, then I'm not willing to listen to their ideas because I don't need them to replace Ron Paul. If they aren't willing to get behind this car and help push it down the road, they ain't getting a ride in my car.
So this is my act of anger against you all. I've got a daughter now that turns 3 years old in 2 days. This is about her for me now. You want to do something for the liberty movement? Put aside your differences with Rand and support him because he is the one out there doing what he thinks is best for us. He's the one traveling the country... still fighting even though many in this movement abandoned him. My sole mission in life is to convert people to the ideals we all relatively share. And like any smart company who is trying to increase sales.. I'm starting with the current customer base before I waste money trying to earn new ones. BECAUSE IF YOU WANT A FREE WORLD, YOU SHOULD BUY WHAT WE ARE SELLING.
Making just one of you rethink your lack of faith in Rand and FIGHT FOR HIM just to progress 1 degree more of freedom... that could be the difference for my daughter living in a disaster of a country or one that is a revival of the individual where she can thrive. So forgive my selfishness when I say this... stop being so damn selfish in your ideology and just help us play this side game of inches and you can still be free to bring purity to your own playground.
Cheers.
