Rand Paul could have been a contender. He had a solid network of seasoned activists stationed around the country, access to his father's list for fundraising, and has even shown real political skill in the past in correctly framing his positions. Despite his infuriating flip-flops, Paul ultimately did vote against the Gang of Eight Amnesty/Immigration Surge.
But as seen with the Jack Hunter fiasco, Rand Paul (and the rest of the Beltway Libertarian Movement) seems to have gotten high on his own supply when it comes to minority outreach and anti-White racial pandering [Rand Paul: White Renegade of the Year 2013, by Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, December 31, 2013]
Not surprisingly, in a primary season dominated by populism and a conservative rebellion against political correctness, goofy posturing about being a "Detroit Republican," cringe inducing photos with Al Sharpton and aligning with black rioters hasn't helped Rand Paul at all.
But Rand Paul knows what's wrong. It's not his fault or the fault of his noodly armed advisors. It's the fault of... Donald Trump. Because he isn't sensitive enough.
"I think we, the Republican Party, becomes the party of angry people that insinuate that most immigrants are drug dealers or rapists, that’s a terrible direction for our party," he said. "We’re never going to grow as a party. We’re never going to increase our vote among the Hispanic population, the black population, among women all those things we need to expand our party."Donald Trump takes us in the wrong direction. He would be a disaster. We’ll be slaughtered in a landslide. That’s why my every waking hour is to try to stop Donald Trump from being our nominee."
[Rand Paul: "My Every Waking Hour Is To Try To Stop Donald Trump," by Cathy Burke, Newsmax, January 15, 2016]
However amusing it is to see Rand Paul emulating the brilliant campaign strategy of Jeb Bush, there is something deeply disgusting about this. At a time when other leading candidates such as Marco Rubio and Chris Christie seem to be advocating war with Russia as the main reason to support them, Rand Paul is redefining libertarianism as essentially cucking for minorities and pandering to every group except Whites.
This is especially foolish, and condescending, because non-Whites explicitly support big government and left wing economic policies, no matter what white libertarian Senators, white libertarian staffers, and white libertarian students tell them they should support. At this point, it is as if Rand Paul is deliberately trying to ensure libertarianism remains an ideological dead end and a waste of time.
Besides, if you actually care about things such as limited government, the power of the feds, or long lost rights such as freedom of association, you should be angry. As Trump says, I'll accept the mantle of anger.
Luckily, not all libertarians are falling for Rand's cringing approach. Lew Rockwell, whose website was once the home of Right-Libertarians, seems fed up with Rand Paul's stupidity and sneeringly characterized Paul the Lesser's position as, "Mass immigration is the core GOP value." [Rand: Trump Must Be Stopped, by Lew Rockwell, LRC Blog, January 16, 2016]
LewRockwell.com has also been putting out some strong material lately against what the late Murray Rothbard called the "Revolt Against Nature," Egalitarianism [The Menace of Egalitarianism, by Lew Rockwell, LewRockwell.com, October 5, 2015]
The Manlet Rand's campaign is already all but over. Years of careful planning and pandering, "playing the game" as Jack Hunter called it, is about to end in embarrassing failure. But maybe something good will come out of it.
Even as the typical "Student for Liberty" continues his devolution into some horrifying combination of an SJW mixed with a Bronie, the more intelligent, courageous, and consistent libertarian may be able to restart the long dormant Paleo-Libertarian tendency.
