I used to be a card-carrying, capital “L” libertarian in the 1990’s. It was through then that I began to learn about the Original Intent of the Constitution & that our rights come from God, not the government. They caused me to become interested in the words of the Founding Fathers, & after reading George Washington’s Farewell Address, I left the LP due to his criticism of what he called “the Spirit of Party”....& I have been a non-party independent ever since. I will always be grateful to my Libertarian friends for teaching me about the wisdom of the Founders, Thomas Jefferson, in particular!
Good lessons.
I’ve traveled a fair amount politically over the decades, having started out as something of a well-intended, knee-jerk lefty in my indoctrinated youth. For a while I wanted to rest under the libertarian name, but my dismay with the lack of global realism among the capital L’ers led me to move on.
I’m now a eensy-weensy, tiny-government Republican. Part of what I like about Palin has been her willingness to take on the corrupt Republican Establishment—cause that’s something we sure need now. I’d like to see a small-government, constitutionalist, Tea Party, libertarian caucus become active and powerful within the Republican Party, state by state and nationwide.
We need new foot-soldiers within the Republican Party and I fervently hope Palin can lead the Tea Party in that direction.