Paul has not yet tarnished libertarianism. The libertarian movement's fate is still in its own hands.

It can rescue itself by taking this opportunity to demonstrate on no uncertain terms that liberty and racism are incompatible -- by walking away from Ron Paul and condemning those who defend him by saying it's a smear, it's no big deal, it's not really racist, and so on.

Or it can cripple itself by continuing to support Ron Paul and continuing to rub shoulders with the openly racist fringe of his defenders.

Either way, libertarianism is going to redefine its public identity in the next weeks.

Early returns are pretty depressing . . .
zariou | 01.13.08 - 7:33 pm | #

I second zariou, but I disagree that early returns are depressing. It seems that an increasing majority of libertarians have explicitly denounced Ron Paul and the Rockwellians over the last week. Many have also pointed out that they long ago dissociated from the crowd in Alabama. Even most libertarians who are still supporting Paul (Rockwellians aside of course) are doing so without any illusions, but are instead doing so out of pragmatic reasons like Nate (although I respectfully disagree that it is still pragmatic to support Paul; then again, I started jumping off the Paul bus a little earlier than most, and it takes a certain amount of time to get completely off the bus).
Mark | Homepage | 01.13.08 - 11:21 pm | #