First a little history. I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984 primarily because I was young, in the military and a single-issue voter and our pay went up appreciably. I later discovered that Mr. Reagan spoke a pretty good game; however, was just another big government politician and wrote about it -see HERE and HERE

However, in 1988, I first saw a much younger Dr. Ron Paul on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line and thought this obstetrician had a lot of interesting perspectives on government, money and international affairs that few were talking about.

Of course this started my journey into exploring the topics of free-markets, sound money and a number of other issues.

Unfortunately, I voted for Bush Sr in 1988 and 3 years later found myself in Operation Desert Storm. While deployed, during my free time I read books–Atlas Shrugged, Free to Choose, Economics in One Lesson and several others, while others were watching TV or other activities.

I also met the first libertarian in my life, a fellow serviceman, and we chatted about these topics endlessly. I later found great admiration for the late Harry Browne and how he articulated the philosophy.

Like with most things, I didn’t subscribe to everything the Libertarians had to say–I am pro-life, I could go all the ways with legalization of drugs; however, I sincerely believed that an ounce of pot shouldn’t ruin someone’s life and the atheistic, “man-first” religion I just couldn’t swallow.

Suffice it to say, I would hope that Democrats and Republicans don’t believe or like EVERYTHING their party stands for…I hope.

Moving forward to more recent years.

Clearly, very few people would even know what a Libertarian is and understand the beliefs without one Dr Ron Paul. He may have ran as a Republican in last several years as a Presidential prospect, but that had to do more to spread libertarian ideas more than anything else since the party’s founding in the early 1970s.

It would be hard to dispute that.

Sen Rand Paul (R-KY), the former Congressman’s son, will likely throw his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination. He is a (small -L) libertarian leaning Republican. He will clearly be the ONLY one on this part of the political spectrum who even has a chance to do anything significant–and trust me, the media, the Democrats, the Republicans and the neoconservatives will do everything in their power to disparage him.

Oh, I also left out the Libertarians.

The Libertarian Party Facebook page published the photo to the left recently. I mean , Really?!

Comparing the Paul’s to the Clinton’s or Bush’s?

The Libertarians are always the first to complain about exclusion; however, the hard-line Libertarians will refuse to give Sen Paul his due. Just the other day, former NM governor and 2012 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate, Gary Johnson came out saying the younger Paul is not a libertarian, “He’s a Republican,” Johnson said.

Some have asked about the photo: “I wonder if Gary Johnson had anything to do with it?? hmm…”

First of all, I don’t think Rand Paul has said he is a Libertarian and did run and win for US Senator as a Republican. The only people that say Rand Paul is a Libertarian is Fox News and right-wing talk radio hosts, who all despise the Libertarians and consider it a disparaging term (just listen to Michael Medved sometime).

Locally, former Libertarian Senate candidate in Florida and someone I consider a friend, Alex Snitker, routinely criticizes Paul the younger on their YouTube show, Liberty Underground, not sparing the expletives.

You don’t want to be excluded but you don’t give props for what Rand Paul says, the legislation he introduces, etc. You don’t have to agree 100% with Rand Paul to do him better than that.

Paul is working on some big issues–criminal penalties, audit the Fed, foreign aid and “Read the Bills”. Typically, when I see a Libertarian in an interview it’s about drugs, fluoride or other extraneous type issue. I’m not saying these issues aren’t important, but to emphasize drugs all the time certainly can’t help the brand.

To remain so petty, critical, so narrow and exclusive will keep the Libertarian Party at 1% and in debates with the Green Party and similar parties.

Without the Paul name, when you’d say Libertarian, people would be saying, “What’s that?”

Also, like it or not, Rand Paul will be the ONLY one to get any libertarian ideas out there for the nation to digest and think about.