*misattributed to Charles
Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.
This last election offered a great lesson – in both party
primaries and certainly for the Libertarian Party.
What won?
Different. What lost? The same.
In the Republican primaries, there is no doubt that
different won. Out of seventeen (or
however many initial) candidates, only one sounded different. He won.
On the Democratic side, different made a big dent, and there
is much to suggest that he might have won had not the entire democratic
establishment and press conspired against him.
For the Libertarian Party, merging some of the best and
worst of the Republicans and Democrats only offered…more of the same.
What is my point?
When he first came on the stage, many thought Rand Paul
would be that different candidate. By
the time he was on the first presidential debate stage, it was clear to most
but the most ardent Rand supporters that this was not the case.
What does this have to do with the great line that
Telleyrand did not originate?
Today
the US Senate voted 99-0 — unanimously — to continue the idiotic,
counterproductive, economically-disastrous, and anachronistic sanctions regime
against an Iranian government that has proven willing to do business with the
United States.
One senator did not vote: Bernie Sanders – different at a
time when different wins. Not voting is
not really great, but at least different.
Conclusion
Just when I think that Rand is getting a clue...
ReplyDeleteSo what's the deal with Iran anyhow? Why the hysteria? Did I miss something? (other than the fact that the Israelis consider them competitors).
Yeah, I think it's mostly Israel's stranglehold on D.C., and their fervent desire to hold onto nuclear hegemony within the region.
DeleteIt kind of reminds me of when Churchill set up shop within the beltway (and Hollywood) in the early 20th century to ensure help in the wars. The British operated a massive spy network, along with collaborative efforts to crank out pro-British films. (The Germans also tried to establish control of narratives, but Britain was far more successful.) The politicians of the day were very wary of going against Mother England.
"England! My England! Can the surging sea
That lies between us tear my heart from thee?
Can distant birth and distant dwelling drain
Th’ ancestral blood that warms the loyal vein?" - H.P. Lovecraft
I guess the days when Rand personally stopped a war in Georgia against the most crazy War Hawks in the Republican Party like McCain are gone and now the Great First Term Senator from Kentucky is just another Republican. Bummer.
ReplyDeleteIf the silence you are hearing is Rand's press conference correcting basically the entirety of Washington DC that they can not just turn the internet off for web sites they don't like. Another bummer.