Patrick Ruffini's blog post on Clown Hall today about Ron Paul is nothing short of bizarre, and is just riddled with factual errors and a complete lack of understanding of libertarianism. When I have more time tonight, I'll give a more thorough commnetary on the piece. But for now, I just wanted to point out this one comment that just left me stunned:
His movement already did the smart thing by making peace with social conservatism. Libertarianism is no longer aligned with libertine stances on abortion and gay rights.
(My emphasis)
I suppose it's nice that Ruffini thinks he understands the appeal of libertarianism. But if he really thinks libertarians have abandoned or even diluted their gay rights stance, well then wow- he's got no understanding what libertarianism is about. I might also point out that the abortion issue has long been a thorny issue for libertarians- to my knowledge there's never been a libertarian consensus on abortion, and there still is not.
His intimation that pro-gay rights and pro-choice positions are "libertine" also shows how little he understands libertarians.
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