Via Roy's place, we have an account of Libertarian Fonzie (catchphrase "Ayyyyy is Ayyyyy!") pinning his hopes for a Rand Paul presidency on a popular Young Adult fiction series and its movie adaptation. After typical "don't call me a Republican hack, A POX ON BOTH HOUSES!" Libertarian boilerplate, Gillespie gushes about his dreamy Randian protagonist:
Whether or not the Kentucky Republican actually wins the Republican nomination, much less the White House, is besides the point. The question is whether the politics of the future will be the same as the politics of the present. “I don't want to be just one thing,” explains one of the protagonists in Divergent. “I can't be. I want to be brave, and I want to be selfless, intelligent, and honest and kind.” If anything explains Rand Paul’s rising profile, it’s precisely his ability to be more than just one thing—a social conservative, a civil libertarian, a budget cutter, a decentralizer, and more. There’s no reason to fear— and every reason to promote—such divergence in our elected representatives.
Rand Paul is a decentralizer? I must have missed all the antitrust legislation that he introduced since attaining his senate position. Oh, well, I'm sure that young female voters will eventually see that Rand Paul and his political supporters have plans for their demographic.
Back on Planet Earth, I have to note that Mr Gillespie is headed for a heartbreak if he believes that the popularity of a Young Adult fiction series will have any bearing when it comes to wooing millennials in the 2016 election... Even though the "Twilight" books were wildly popular, young voters didn't throw their support behind a sparkly Mormon vampire in 2012.
This post is expanded from a comment I left at Roy's place. In response, commenter mds wrote:
Maybe if there had been some actual sparkle.
The vampirism sure as hell was real, though.
Cross-posted at Rumproast.
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4 comments:
Kentucky is the gift that keeps not giving.
Here's Mrs. Mitch McConnell.
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2 things remain true. First, once anybody gets past the obviously attractive positions in the libertarian ideology - international non-intervention, drug legalization etc - one discovers that their absolutist positions can only lead to anarchy, chaos and the rule of the gun. Somalia. And that's why throughout history no nation or people has actually sought to implement a libertarian form of governance.
Second, the key to understanding the American electoral system is to recognize it's massive, albeit legal, corruption. The wealthy took advantage of an unwieldy, obsolete system and just bought it outright. You don't end up on the ballot unless they're comfortable with you and your likelihood to interfere with corporate profits.
At this point it's hard to say if the people who own the system are comfortable with Rand Paul. I'm not certain they've even made a decision yet. But unless and until they are, he's not going to be on the ballot in '16...
I'm all for staking the toothy bastards….whether they sparkle or not. And as for Twilight fans? I have to stay away from them….they give me itchy hammer and chisel fingers, too.
The previous self portrait is doing my head in......
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