David Boaz writes, "Libertarians should make it clear that the people who wrote those things are not our comrades, not part of our movement, not part of the tradition of John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, and Robert Nozick. Shame on them."
Right on, but I think Boaz cuts Paul a little too much slack on the issue of gay rights. I'm not convinced that Paul is just "halting and uncomfortable on gay issues, like a lot of 72-year-old conservatives, but not hateful." His denunciation of the Lawrence decision (a denunciation that is emphatically at odds with basic libertarian principles) as well as his rather extreme opposition to gay marriage suggest (though they do not prove) much more than mere discomfort on his part.
Update: Welcome Andrew Sullivan readers! You can find more commentary on Ron Paul here and here.
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