A Libertarian Hawk for Ron Paul ?
Perry de Havilland, one of the pro-war on terror libertarians over at Samizdata, mulls over the prospect of a Ron Paul presidency, and decides to root for his victory in spite of Paul's "Bring the troops home" stance.
I've already voted for an anti-war candidate in 2004 with the Libertarian Party's nominee Michael Badnarick, so my own personal precedent has been set for this.
Will I be voting for Ron in 2008? Depends on if he's on the general ballot or not.
I doubt he'll get the nomination of the GOP. But will he jump to the Libertarian Party ticket?
In an unprecedented move, the Libertarian National Committee has invited Ron Paul to seek the LP's nomination. Under normal circumstances, this would be a gross violation of protocol, and unfair to the people actually running for the LP nomination. But this is simply echoing the sentiments of the party membership, who are excited about the attention Ron has gotten so far.
Ron however, has dismissed the idea of a third party run. He's focused in on the GOP and understandably, any talk of 3rd party runs would undermine his efforts there. It is possible that later, he'd take up the LP's offer. The way things are, all he has to do is ask for the nomination the day of the vote, and he'd get it. So he can stay away from even the idea of an LP run until May.
But if he gets enough delegates to the GOP convention, he may well want to leave the LP be, in favor of participating in that convention. He is also likely to run for reelection to Congress if he doesn't get nominated, and will want to do so under the GOP banner, as he has in the past, which will also keep him away from an LP nomination for the presidency.
So fasten your seat belts, the voting's about to begin. It's gonna be a strange journey, whatever happens.
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