Liberty Maven

The American Spectator published a special report by J. Bradley Jansen defending Bob Barr against the naysayers from the Ron Paul movement. Jansen outlines many reasons why Ron Paul supporters should not be weary of supporting Barr.

Six years ago, I parted ways with the Libertarian Party over its misguided attempt to defeat Bob Barr in the Republican — that’s right, Republican — primary. Just as many Libertarians cling to their pipe dream that they had a role in defeating him despite evidence showing their efforts backfired, many now harbor similar delusions about Barr himself.

My favorite criticism of Bob Barr now is that he is a prohibitionist neocon who voted for the USA PATRIOT Act. Some critics decry his Defense of Marriage Act, support of the Fair Tax. Others go further, claiming that he has “changed his whole world view” to snooker the Libertarian Party to get their presidential nomination to “ride Ron Paul’s coattails.”

As Dr. Paul’s banking staffer, I used to have ask Barr to scoot his chair in so I could pass him on the dais to get to my boss, and we always worked closely together. For one committee markup, Barr and Paul both showed up with amendments to withdraw the United States from the International Monetary Fund. His staffer and I hastily cut and pasted ours together for our “ransom note” amendment with different margins, font styles, and sizes. See how fun politics can be?

Read the full article at The American Spectator.