If Rand Paul Doesn’t Win, I’m Leaving the GOP

By Elias J. Atienza

When I first joined the GOP, the only reason I did so was because of Rand Paul. He, Justin Amash, and Thomas Massie are my ideological heroes in modern politics, along with Ron Paul. As I delved into politics, I had a centrist view of government. Only when I started writing is when I started to become more immersed in libertarianism. I became more ‘radicalized’ in classic liberalism and my belief in libertarianism deepened until I finally started to call myself one.

I still held hope that even if Rand Paul lost the nomination, I could vote for about half of the candidates, including Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.

But I realize that I cannot do this anymore.

I told myself that if Rand lost, I could see myself voting for Ted. Ted, after all, is as conservative as they can get, has a good voting record, and understands the Constitution. But he seems slippery, too fake, and has turned his back on criminal justice reform, one of the biggest reasons why I am a supporter of Rand Paul. It didn’t help that he missed the Audit the Fed vote a few weeks ago and that he voted for the Freedom Act last year, which was essentially a vote for the Patriot Act.

Ben Carson looked like a good choice as well. He is an honest man — not a politician — and a neurosurgeon. He didn’t defend the Patriot Act and believed in our Fourth Amendment rights. But his inexperience on foreign policy shows and his sleepiness at the debates don’t help me in confidence.

I want to like Marco Rubio, but his foreign policy scares the Hell out of me, along with his unabashed support for mass surveillance. Same with John Kasich.

The rest of the Republican field are buffoons or plain idiots (in the case of Donald Trump, both). The GOP is filled with statists who either want to expand the surveillance state, bomb the Hell out of the world, or both. The small-government approach of the GOP is only in theory and I will not vote against my principles, regardless of what people tell me.

So now I find myself in a predicament. Rand Paul came in fifth, defeating Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Kasich. The field is narrowing, and after New Hampshire, several more candidates should be dropping. I will continue to support Rand until the end. But if he doesn’t end up with the nomination, who should I support? Natural inclination is supposed to be towards Ted Cruz, but I am rejecting that approach. He may seem to be the second best, but that isn’t saying much in this Republican field.

I’m tired of hearing that a vote for a third party is a vote for Hillary Clinton. I will not choose the lesser of two evils, regardless of who it is. If everyone who said that actually voted the way they felt, maybe we could have a viable third party.

So I decided yesterday that if Rand doesn’t win, I will be supporting Austin Petersen for President. He represents the future of the Libertarian Party in my eyes. This is my official declaration of independence from the GOP. If Rand doesn’t manage to rally the GOP in his direction, I will be registering Libertarian and voting for Austin Petersen.

It should have been a difficult decision, but after some thought and consideration, it really wasn’t.