Ron Paul VS RNC

[Wumbologist]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169618/hi ... ack-romney

Paul was the Romney challenger who stayed in the race longest, and who won almost 200 delegate votes. (The actual delegate vote for Paul was hard to measure, as RNC officials only announced votes for Romney during Tuesday night’s roll call, but the Seatte Times counted 193 for Paul.)

Not that many years ago, coming second in the convention vote might have guaranteed Paul a convention speaking slot.

At this convention, it guaranteed him—and his supporters—treatment so rough that his supporters, the largest dissident block on the floor, openly accused party chair Reince Priebus and his team of “corruption.”

Paul backers had enough delegates and support in the states to have their candidate’s name put in nomination. But that didn’t count in the Priebus party. As the New York Times noted: “Delegates from Nevada tried to nominate Mr. Paul from the floor, submitting petitions from their own state as well as Minnesota, Maine, Iowa, Oregon, Alaska and the Virgin Islands. That should have done the trick: Rules require signatures from just five states. But the party changed the rules on the spot. Henceforth, delegates must gather petitions from eight states.”

I'd be interested to hear some Libertarian opinions on what's going on here. It seems that the Republican party is making it abundantly clear that they don't want Libertarian meddling in their continued far-right shift, to the point of actively suppressing dissent within their own party. Now Ron Paul is refusing to back Romney. Personally, I'm thrilled to watch the Repugs dig their own grave, and while I don't agree with Libertarians on a ton, I do think they could bring something of value to the nation's political discourse if they seperated themselves from the growing insanity of the GOP.

[Drewish]

The Republican party is also attempting to block the Libertarian Party from getting on the ballot in several states.

[Twoflower]

That's messed up.

[Wumbologist]

The Republican party is also attempting to block the Libertarian Party from getting on the ballot in several states.

What do you think will become of the Libertarians who, thus far, have tried to work within the confines of the Republican party?

[Seth]

It's frustrating to be a Libertarian these days, but I've always thought that Paul was something of a sellout because he joined the Republican party under false pretenses.

Libertarians need to approach politics openly as Libertarians. Trying to pretend to be a Republican in order to get elected is a bad plan, and it's morally and ethically dishonest.

I'm unsurprised at the machinations within the Republican Party, they rightly see this election as a pivotal moment in history and they see a grave danger if Obama is reelected, so they are determined to solidify support behind Romney, for better or worse, because he's the only one who has any chance whatsoever of beating Obama, and anyone even remotely conservative is better than a 2nd-term Obama.

Sadly, though I'm not particularly fond of Romney, I agree with them. We've got to beat Obama, and that's all that matters. Political disagreements on the conservative side must be set aside in favor of solidarity in making sure Obama does not get reelected, which would be even more of a disaster for this nation than his abominable first term.

I just hope that Libertarians won't Ralph Nader or Ross Perot Obama back into the White House because they are pissed off.

[Wumbologist]

I just hope that Libertarians won't Ralph Nader or Ross Perot Obama back into the White House because they are pissed off.

I've got my fingers crossed for them to do just that.

In all seriousness, the Republican party needs a disaster on that level to get their shit together. In recent years they've gone WAY off the deep end, and don't even remotely resemble traditional conservatism anymore. I'd like to see some of the Repub-aligned Libs shift to the Democrats and add a dash of fiscal responsibility in there, while the Republican party is forced to get its shit together and act like a real political party instead of the insane caricature they've become.

[laklak]

The fastest growing segments of the Libertarian Party are the 18-24 year olds and the over-50s. The former are traditionally Democratic while the latter tends to lean towards the GOP. I think the younger ones are attracted more to our left-of-Obama social views while the latter are more in tune with our right-of-Romney fiscal position. This worries both the GOP and the Dems, we're poaching on some of their prime territory. The best thing is that the worse the economy, the bigger the deficit, the more regulations and totalitarian enactments, the more people turn to Libertarianism and it's philosophy of individual rights and individual responsibility. The GOP and the Democratic Politburos are our greatest recruiting officers. It's a good time to be a Libertarian, me boyos.

[Drewish]

It's so hard not wanting to run other people's lives. They get really pissed at you for it

[Seth]

Well, yeah, but first we have to stop Obama and the progressives or there won't be any United States to save.

[Randydeluxe]

The Republican party is also attempting to block the Libertarian Party from getting on the ballot in several states.

What do you think will become of the Libertarians who, thus far, have tried to work within the confines of the Republican party?

They'll just keep doing what they've been doing. They're almost uniformly white, upper-middle-class males. They don't mind sacrificing their social values at the altar of personal gain (lower taxes, more freedom to pollute, etc.)

The GOP is their only refuge.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Drewish]

Let me guess... you watched this bullshit:

[Tero]

The best thing is that the worse the economy, the bigger the deficit, the more regulations and totalitarian enactments, the more people turn to Libertarianism and it'sphilosophy methods ofindividual rights and individual responsibility inherited money or money earned as slum lord. The GOP and the Democratic Politburos are our greatest recruiting officers. It's a good time to be a Libertarian, me boyos.

I fixed it so it makes some sense. Hehehehehe hehe hehehehehehehehe hehe hehe hehe hehehehe...

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You said "I fixed it so it makes some sense."... hehe hehe hehe...

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[rasetsu]

[Sean Hayden]