"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force, and like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - President George Washington

by Eric Dondero

Fans of Rand Paul cannot escape the barrage of vicious criticism he's received from the Far Left media on cable news, over the blogosphere and even in the press since his nomination. Not since libertarian-leaning Sarah Palin received the Republican Party's nomination for Vice-President in September of 2008, has a single individual on the Right garnered such a massive full-frontal attack.

The NY Times this morning offers an editorial "Limits of Libertarianism."

Here's a taste:

By denigrating several of the signal achievements of modern American society, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act, Rand Paul has performed a useful service for voters who are angry at their elected officials. He has helped to illuminate the limits and the hazards of antigovernment sentiment.

Many Americans are sputtering mad, believing that government has let them down in abetting a ruinous recession, bailing out bankers and spending wildly. But is Rand Paul really the remedy they had in mind? His views and those of other Tea Party candidates are unintentional reminders of the importance of enlightened government.

And then a few paragraphs later this absolute golden nugget of a quote:

As a longtime libertarian, he espouses the view that personal freedom should supersede all government intervention... It is a theory of liberty with roots in America’s creation, but the succeeding centuries have shown how ineffective it was in promoting a civil society.

The audacity of those pesky libertarians to place personal freedom over government intervention.

I can think of another group of rebels who espoused the same philosophy similar to Rand Paul's quite a while back. They too placed personal freedom over government intervention. They did so wearing tri-corner hats, whigs and blue overcoats.

And like Rand, they too were viciously attacked by the forces of despotism. The NY Times deserves the gratitude of all libertarians for so forthrightly summarizing why it is we are so opposed to their authoritarian agenda.

We are indeed now fully engaged in the ultimate battle of Liberty vs. Tyranny.

(Memeo M2 M3 M4 M5)