I don’t really understand Ryan’s courting of libertarians… he’s obviously not one himself, judging by his pro-bailout, pro-war votes in the past. Is he just doing it for cynical vote-grabbing, or does he genuinely believe that he is a freedom-loving Hayek & Rand disciple?
There are plenty of people who aren’t libertarians in any sense that would mean anything to the likes of us (and plenty more people who would reject the label outright) who would nonetheless be impressed by namechecking the likes of Rand or Hayek or even Mises. By this point there are probably hordes of conservative Christians who consider Rand some kind of champion of their worldview without ever having read her. Hell, it’s basically what they do with the Bible.
I don’t really understand Ryan’s courting of libertarians… he’s obviously not one himself, judging by his pro-bailout, pro-war votes in the past. Is he just doing it for cynical vote-grabbing, or does he genuinely believe that he is a freedom-loving Hayek & Rand disciple?
There are plenty of people who aren’t libertarians in any sense that would mean anything to the likes of us (and plenty more people who would reject the label outright) who would nonetheless be impressed by namechecking the likes of Rand or Hayek or even Mises. By this point there are probably hordes of conservative Christians who consider Rand some kind of champion of their worldview without ever having read her. Hell, it’s basically what they do with the Bible.
It looks just about thick enough to contain Galt’s Speech.
No wonder Ryan can’t seem to believe what he is reading, and no wonder Romney has fallen asleep already.
Yea there are a lot of conservatives who like to think of themselves as libertarians. And they’ll vote a straight mainstream Republican party ticket.