Rand Paul and Libertarian Success

Rand Paul's winning the Republican nomination for Senator from Kentucky with 59% of Republican primary voters, and now leading in the general election polls, gives the libertarian movement new hope. But much more importantly, it gives libertarians a template for success.

The crucial mistake Rand Paul did not make, which most libertarian candidates consistently make to sabotage themselves, is demonize the Republican Party and alienate all the many thousands of voters who have historically voted for Republican candidates. In this respect, Rand Paul was smarter than most libertarians.

Here is the principle: libertarians cannot win elections, or even broadly influence people via the election process, if they are seen as anti- all Republicans. Voters who have historically supported Republicans will tune out and dismiss libertarians who voice blanket condemnations of the party which in the past has felt like home to them.

But there is a deeper underlying principle: when you attack anyone, you are really saying something about yourself. Here's how Jesus teaches it:

"Only the self-accused condemn. You never hate your brother for his "sins", but ONLY for your own. Whatever form his sins appear to take, the form obscures the fact that you believe it to be yours, and therefore meriting a just attack." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles

This of course is a much deeper psychology than most people care to look at, so Jesus offers a solution in the simplest possible terms: Give up attack thoughts.

"The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. One can well ask if this can be called seeing. Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?

"If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. There is no point in lamenting the world. There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause. The effects will change automatically." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles

This is a lesson libertarians will eventually learn. There is no value in attack, only self-sabotage. In the meantime, Rand Paul, by appealing to rather than attacking Republican voters, has taken a step in the right direction.

To understand the evil psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles