The Easter Rising
columnist: Jack Galway

Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Where do we go from here?

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Thoughts on the developing McCain bid, the next logical move for libertarians, where are the neo-cons, and why do we care?

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by Jack Galway
(Libertarian)
Thursday, February 14, 2008

Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to any thing but power for their relief. -- Edmund Burke

I often look to the travails of my ancestral Ireland to decide what is the most libertarian way to view today's events. Once the British Crown enslaved Ireland after Kinsale in 1601, it was 321 years before the libertarian founding of the Irish Free State.

The people in power "never can willingly abandon it." That's why it is such a matter of concern to this writer to know where are the neo-cons and to take pains to explain, why we should care.

They are with Mr McCain. It was no accident that Giuliani rushed to put his backers behind McCain -- this may have been the plan all along. Then a few days later, Mitt Romney precipitously withdrew (prematurely, in my opinion, but also none too soon.) I suspect some enticement to Mr. Romney from the neo-cons.

Some of my friends have now accused me of wearing the proverbial tinfoil hat, mostly because I see no strong reasons why the neo-cons will not also hedge their white house bets with Mrs. Clinton. She strikes me as just the sort of person who would strike an unholy alliance to extricate herself from the whirlwind she has reaped.

Now, why should we care? If the neo-cons are not the very antithesis of the libertarians, then I will want to find a new faction that is the antithesis of the neo-cons. Neo-cons care not for balanced budgets, reduced debt, just war, small government, democratic representation, constitutionality, or any of a frightenly long list of anti-authoritarian objectives held dear by libertarians.

So how does Ron Paul come into this? Ron Paul has caused more public notice of the founding truths and philosophies than anyone since the Boston Tea Party. It becomes critical now that we not lose momentum. We must have enough strength left by November 2008 that we can at least derail the neo-cons' mighty resistance to leaving the throne room. We have a golden opportunity to win if both majors offer neo-cons, and we can convince voters of why that will be deadly to America. If we face only McCain then we can likely split his base.

Again, how does Ron Paul fit here? He has promised not to run against the GOP, but until he finishes the primaries he can inveigh against the non-conservative, non-constitutional, imperial, spendthrift, scofflaw inclinations of a GOP in neo-con control.

Next, the Libertarian Party needs to come up with its nominee, a person who can profit from Paul's notable success and learn from Paul's missteps. The platform from this year's convention must be tuned to the needs of the day. It makes little sense to argue the pros and cons of expeditionary war, when we already have such a thing on our hands; the platform must address what is. Then we can work for a more libertarian foreign policy in the follow-up. Great but controversial causes such as curtailing the war on drugs must never be forsaken by the veteran libertarian, but perhaps we can backburner this item until we have shown the people, who will have been bombarded by authoritarians for 28 years, that liberty, constitutionality, and open markets will work to bring the happy pursuits they have been promised.

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2008 Jack Galway, all rights reserved.
Published: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, February 14, 2008

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