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Message to Ruffini: If Ron Paul has Won, Then Libertarianism has Lost. 

In the past few months, Ron Paul has dramatically raised the profile of libertarianism inside the Republican Party. My small-l libertarian friends seem more comfortable describing themselves as such, even though they’ll go out of their way to disassociate themselves from Ron Paul and the big-L kind.

I’m not buyin’ this load, Pat [1]. Sorry.

You’re quite right that Paul’s antics raised the profile of libertarianism, but he’s done so in the same way that Michael Dukakis raised the profile of people from Massachusetts. If you’ll remember, the biggest question on the minds of the American people after that particular profile raising was “How in the world for the people of Massachusetts elect such an idiot to the state house?” The man almost single handedly killed off the Democrats as a party for the next decade.  (Later, our questions about Dukakis were answered completely when John Kerry showed up on the national scene.)

The depiction of country folks by Mortimer Snerd was more positive than the image Ron Paul cast of libertarians. At least in the Ol’ Edgar’s case, people laughed. In the case of Ron Paul, people have been taking him as deadly serious, and were invariably been looking around nervously for the exits.

Ron Paul is probably one of the few people on the planet that could make Dennis Kucinich look sane, by comparison. (Are you getting all this?)

Ron Paul most certainly doesn’t represent all libertarians, or even most. Certainly, he doesn’t represent THIS libertarian… I suspect I’m not alone.

Here’s one libertarian who doesn’t believe that America was responsible for 911, for example, as Ron Paul is on record as saying.  I suspect I’m not alone in this.  Here’s one libertarian who is thoroughly annoyed at our troops being called murderers, as Ron Paul is on record as having done. I suspect I’m not alone in this. Here is one libertarian who thinks there are few people in the country which can damage the libertarian movement more than Alex Jones can… and Ron Paul embraces the guy, yet refuses to show up on mainstream talkshows.  Here is one libertarian who is outright disgusted with Ron Paul’s ties to Stormfront… ties he should have had the spine to disavow, yet did not.  I suspect I’m not alone in this.  Here’s one libertarian who is disgusted with Ron Paul’s’ being a cheerleader for the PLO.  I suspect I’m not alone in this. Here’s one libertarian who is disgusted with Ron Paul’s’ stance on Israel… and so on. The list of these is easily longer than the list of his rabid, non-thinking supporters.

If as you seem to suggest, we now have a situation where Ron Paul is the image of libertarianism in this country, then libertarianism is doomed. And given the number of people from the left who’ve jumped on Ron Paul’s bandwagon, one wonders if that wasn’t the plan, all along.

Frankly, I’d like to think that the American people are not quite so stupid as to accept Ron Paul is the image of libertarianism, but given the resurgence of Hillary Clinton, I have much reason to think they’re EXACTLY that stupid. So, I’d say the damage is done. Because of this guy being propped up front and center, the libertarian movement, such as it is, has been partially defused, at least for this election cycle. One wonders if we as a country will be around for the next one, given that situation.

More, Memeorandum. Pay particular attention to Flopping Aces [2]