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Entry: Ron Paul versus the Beltway "Libertarians" Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/ron_paul_versus_the_beltway_libertarians#8056 Post contents: Paul Revolution sez: “ (for) every entry Raimondo has at Taki’s Top Drawer, you play the same tune. No offense. Raimondo obviously is well-aware of the sell-outs parading the label libertarian. It is no surprise to him. But then you also have a lot of sell-outs parading the label conservative. What else is new? “ It’s not that Libertarian sell-outs that are the problem, it’s “Libertarianism”…the utopianism of the right that is the problem. As has been pointed out before, Ron Paul is not “libertarian” at all on gay marriage, abortion-on-demand, or unrestrained immigration. As for abolishing the FED and returning to the gold standard---Ron Paul’s other issue---we’ll that’s just as much out of step with Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan, and the entire Wall Street CEO crowd that finances the big “libertarian” think-tanks that Justin Raimondo calls “fake libertarians”. But because Ron Paul is so out-of-step with mainstream libertarians on economic reform as well as social issues, it’s questionable as to whether or not the Ron Paul campaign represents “libertarianism” at all. In large part, I see Ron Paul’s tirade against the Fed as the surviving remnant of Nineteenth Century politics of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, or maybe Lysander Spooner: opposition to the national bank. In his opposition to the unfairness of the FED and it’s role in maintaining and supporting the inequity that is intrinsic to finance capitalism. This is hardly “libertarianism” but old fashioned populism. His opposition to internationalism and interventionism also addresses an old strain in American agrarian politics that ended with WWII. What with the Ayn Rand cult, and the all the high powered “libertarian” think tanks representing the interests of Wall Street bankers, hedge fund managers, trust fund babies and the Park Avenue/Country Club crowd swarming all over DC, what you call “Libertarianism” are really just special interest politics the Democrat‘s “identity politics” represents the interests of blacks, single women with children and government employees. Sorry man…I have nothing but admiration for Ron Paul’s efforts, and despite what you may think, am cheering for his campaign to succeed. But Justin is wrong, the “sell-outs” as he called them are in fact, the mainstream of libertarianism, and Ron Paul, Justin and you as much on the fringe as Nader and the Green Party were to the Left. Sent at: 2008 07 06