Those of us in the Freedom Movement have been watching our own little soap opera the last few weeks as some of our heroes and leaders blink and make some embarrassing mistakes. I’ve heard a lot of griping and done a little myself. It’s been suggested that Ron Paul botched his primary campaign and then fragmented support across four parties. It’s even been suggested that the Bob Barr campaign has failed and that we should temper or withdraw our support. Now Ron Paul has endorsed Chuck Baldwin.
As someone who’s given significant time and money to Paul, Ruwart and Barr and who voted for Ruwart on all 6 ballots at the convention, I started thinking about the appropriate response. I’ll confess I needed a little pep talk from an old friend at Libertarian HQ but I have emerged re-energized an unapologetic.
We are Libertarians – not statists who need fancy leaders to tell us how to live our lives. We value thinking for ourselves and decentralized decision making. Looking to Ron Paul, or Bob Barr for all the answers sounds more like a lap dog than a Libertarian.
Nobody’s perfect and politicians are less perfect than others. Even “our” politicians are not going to fix things for us. We have to do it for ourselves.
Ron Paul’s endorsement of Chuck Baldwin decentralizes power among the third party movement which delays effectiveness but it doesn’t reduce it. It increases competition which may not be good for the Libertarian Party but it’s good for the movement. The most important thing is to break the monopoly strangle hold of the existing system and get people listening to the third parties. Our message – the freedom message – will win.
Ron Paul’s endorsement of Chuck Baldwin increases competition and we libertarians think competition is good. I’ll be voting for Bob Barr and I wish Paul had endorsed him but while Ron Paul is a hero of the Freedom Movement, probably its biggest living hero, he doesn’t own it and he’s not perfect. Nor does/is Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin.
If our leaders are all fallible then who can we look to for leadership? Duh – the Mirror! That’s right YOU lead the Freedom Movement and you have to take responsibility to strengthen it and move it forward. For the next 40 days we have no time for griping or second guessing. We have no time for arm chair strategizing. The only thing we have time for is winning hearts and minds and maybe even a few votes. Of course that doesn’t mean any blind devotion to cults of personality or abandonment of principle to increase media visibility. It means picking a candidate or an issue or initiative, making your own decision and then making something happen. If you want to work with other, like minded people there is no shortage. You can connect with a lot of us here. www.libertarian.meetup.com/324
Ron Paul focused a Freedom Movement that has been developing since the dawn of man. Bob Barr has gotten a lot of media attention and is polling about 12 times better than our usual Presidential vote. The statists are is in disarray. We are bigger and better organized than ever. The people are crying out for a change. This is the time. This is our opportunity. It’s up to you to make freedom happen. Now!