Now it's Paul's time to school. There's simply no ground for
argument against his claim that the Republican party has
deliberately and progressively abandoned its core policy
commitments. As I've said elsewhere, the strength and vigor in
Paul's candidacy, disorganized as it has been, came from his
constitutionalism more than his libertarianism. But there's no
doubt that a major dent has been put in Paul's campaign. There are
few high-profile constitutionalists writing -- and few people who
mention Taft -- but more libertarians, both cultural and political.
Their despond over Paul's newsletters probably will suck all the
wind from his sails. It's clear that Thompson's making a play --
despite what he's implied to bloggers today -- for Paul's votes and
Huckabee's votes. As he should. Rudy continues to be limp by
comparison. Thompson still, still has the unbelievable chance to
make himself a real player. I'd encourage him, in the same way I
encouraged him to declare in the first place, to get hopping.
topics:
Constitution, Libertarianism
About the Author
James Poulos is a doctoral student at Georgetown and the former Political Editor of Culture11. His writing has been published by The American Conservative, The National Interest, The New Atlantis, Partnership for a Secure America, and The Weekly Standard. In addition to AmSpecBlog, he has blogged at The American Scene, Doublethink, and Postmodern Conservative, which he founded. With degrees in political science and law from Duke and USC, he is currently at work on a dissertation about life after Napoleon. In his spare time he anti-blogs at Pish Tosh.
