This was supposed to be our big year, but it all went awry. Liberty conservatives had two strong horses in the race: Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. It was more conceivable than ever before that one of those men could win the GOP nomination for President, but they were upstaged by a reality TV blowhard instead.
Every liberty-minded conservative should be asking themselves the following simple question: How did we allow this to happen?
Arrogance and haughtiness is not going to make the situation any better. Brushing it off and making rationalizations will only ensure that more crushing defeats are in our future. Right now, it is time for liberty-minded folks to re-group and re-evaluate. We have many months to do that as Trump struts around the country as the GOP’s top dog. It is time to take a step back, and make sure all our ducks are in a row.
In spite of a disappointing year, lovers of liberty should not toss the baby out with the bath water. What’s happening in the GOP right now is actually a net positive for the cause of liberty in the long run. It may not seem like it, but the Trump phenomenon can be co-opted for our noble ends. We just have to be intelligent, and put ourselves in the right position to capitalize from all this turmoil.
Three Ways that the Trump Phenomenon Actually Helps the Cause of Liberty
Snakes like this have never looked more foolish!
1. It Hurts Our Enemies More Than It Hurts Us – In terms of entertainment value, watching the GOP establishment take it on the chin like never before has been the best part of the Trump campaign. Wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing frauds such as Glenn Beck and Mark Levin threw conniption fits and squandered the trust of their conservative audience. The Neocons have to champion Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy record publicly. The mask has been ripped off for all to see. This is tremendous!
The entire political class is melting down right before our very eyes. The historic nature of these developments cannot be understated. It is the aftermath of what Ron Paul started. Ron put the bad guys on their heels. He opened the GOP up so a guy like Trump could come in and do immense damage. It’s happening now, folks. With the Trump phenomenon, ordinary Americans are experiencing what liberty conservatives experienced during Ron Paul’s campaigns for President. Although the policies may be different, the enthusiasm and the mentality is very similar, and the same seedy interests are feeling the pain as a result!
What went wrong?
2) Liberty-Minded Politicians Are Forced to Step Their Game Up – Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and others may have let the success go to their heads. They probably felt like they were on top of the world after rocking the political scene back from 2010-2012. Those were magical times, and we made tremendous gains during the Ron Paul revolution and subsequent tea party movement. Rand and Ted needed to shore up that base, and throw gasoline onto the fire. They needed immense enthusiasm to overcome institutional disadvantages. Unfortunately, they let it slip away.
Ted was able to shift into gear during his campaign, but it was too little to late. Rand was never able to adapt. Rand’s nuanced strategy may have seemed clever to the Beltway elites who he surrounded himself with. It may have impressed the “smartest guys in the room” in Washington D.C. and gotten him some nice mainstream media headlines. It may have initially seemed forward-thinking and pragmatic, but it was ultimately a failure. Rand and those in his camp need to accept blame for this failure and adjust accordingly, rather than making excuses and doubling-down on mediocrity.
Pitchforks and Torches? Yes, please!
3) Populist Fervor Can be Marketed to Push Liberty – We need to understand that populist fervor works to our advantage. We aren’t going to win by playing patty cake with social justice commies and showing how PC-friendly we can be for the mainstream media and political class. We have to realize that the political left is our staunch enemy, and we need to use populist sentiment to rally the public against them. We can ride that populist, anti-establishment wave into power, and subsequently enact more libertarian policies.
The political left is never going to come onto our side, but they know how to spot opportunities when they see them. If we are always bending over to accommodate them, they will certainly use our weakness against us. They will climb into our movement, infiltrate us, co-opt us, and destroy us. Hapless Gary Johnson supporters in the Libertarian Party are going to figure that out the hard way. We don’t have to make it easy for our enemies on the left, but if we do, they will happily make suckers of us all.
Although you may be down in the dumps right now, all hope is not lost. Remember that we are in a marathon, not a sprint. There will be ups and there will be downs. We just need to keep our perspective, and make some lemonade out of the lemons that were served to us. Yes, it’s getting dirty, but this is the time to show the world what we are made of. The animating contest for freedom is on!
Nobody who has achieved liberty has done so without immense sacrifice. Millions have fought and died throughout the world for this sacred cause. If you were expecting a cake walk, you joined the wrong movement. It is time to take the gloves off and scrap for liberty. Consider this the dawning of a new era of the liberty movement. It is time to get into the trenches and take it to the next level!
