The American Guesser

A columnist at the Emory (University) Wheel says that while Ronald Reagan is held up as the ideal to which the conservative presidents should aspire, the opposite is true.

Ayn Rand wrote that when the weight of the world is stacked against you, the best course of action is not to engage in futile battles, but simply to withdraw your support. For an entire generation, the Republican name has become inextricably tied to Ronald Reagan, George Bush and the warfare state they stood for. So it is time for libertarians and principled limited government conservatives to simply walk away. Reforming the Republican Party from the inside would take far too much time and effort and involves a give-and-take process in which the give far outweighs the take. Witness the Ron Paul delegates to the Republican National Convention, who, in a vain attempt to win “respectability,” cast their votes for the neocon John McCain. If ever there was a betrayal of principle, it was this. In fact, the longer libertarians and the libertarian-minded stay within the Republican fold, the more vulnerable they will become to charges of hypocrisy.

My two cents: It’s a call for abandoning the GOP.

But the Libertarian Party has existed for decades as an option for “libertarians and the libertarian-minded.” This subset of the GOP has rejected the LP. They rejected Ron Paul. These folks aren’t going to wake up tomorrow as Ron Paul supporters.

I think the alternative to the GOP might very well be the new Modern Whig Party.

Via Independent Political Report, voters in Lee County, Alabama have elected Ken Belcher as an Alabama Constable; a position similar to a county sheriff in that it is an elected peace officer, but is often unpaid. Belcher becomes the MW’s first member elected to public office under the party banner.

“It is fitting that our first member elected to public office is on the local level in a somewhat antiquated position,” said Mike Lebowitz, National Chairman of the Modern Whig Party. “Since the national election last night, our movement has been and continues to be inundated with new members ranging from the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties. We will continue to build off of these small victories as we follow our longterm strategy toward our first organized attempt to seek a handful of state and local races in 2009.”

Kudos to Belcher.

The Modern Whig Party has chapters in 23 of the 50 states now. The party saw a surge in new memberships after the election ended, according to this article. This media blogger has as good explanation as any for the group’s platform, which takes common-sense middle of the road approach on many issues.

As a friend of mine said, “It’s like their platform is talking to me like it’s my pal.”