Lovers of liberty lose big with Justin Amash’s reelection decision – Washington Examiner

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who know who Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan is view him through the lens of where he (and they) stand on President Trump.

Thats a pity.

The congressman was the only Republican to support the articles of impeachment against Trump, and the negative reaction from the MAGA-centric GOP base was just as extreme as Resistance Democrats rush to embrace him. The heat from conservatives would become so hot that Amash would soon leave his party to become an independent and then eventually embrace his identity as a tall L Libertarian in full, even briefly seeking that partys presidential nomination.

Trump-loving righties did not care that Amash had the most fiscally conservative record in Washington, just as much as Trump-hating lefties did not care, or at least ignored, that Amashs unshakable small-government political philosophy ran counter to their collectivist or socialist agendas. Both camps perceptions of Amash were all about Trump. They still are.

On Thursday night, amid that climate, Amash announced he would not be seeking reelection for his seat, leaving it to the two major parties to duke it out. A conventional Republican or Democrat will no doubt fill that seat.

But Amash was always anything but conventional. Long before the current president radically shuffled our politics, one would be hard-pressed to find a stauncher defender of the Constitution and the nation's founding principles than him. On civil liberties, foreign policy, the drug war, the size of the government, taxation, education, systemic racism, social tolerance, religious liberty, and more, Amash always stood for the Bill of Rights and individual rights against the authoritarian tendencies in both parties.

One of the highlights of Amashs political career came in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowdens 2013 revelations that the U.S. government was mass-surveilling its citizens in every way imaginable. Amashs amendment to rein in NSA surveillance that year failed 205-217, a close loss that resulted in a failure to protect the public's Fourth Amendment privacy rights but cemented the Michigan congressman as one of the leading civil libertarians in Washington.

Amash was one of the few libertarian Republicans to get elected in the wake of then-Rep. Ron Pauls popular 2008 and 2012 grassroots presidential campaigns, along with fellow House member Rep. Thomas Massie and Pauls son, Sen. Rand Paul, all of whom have led the libertarian faction of the Republican Party for the last decade.

Each of these three men has virtually the same voting record when it comes to policy. They only differ on their approach to Trump. But since Trump is the only thing that has mattered to anyone for the last four years, what leaders actually stand for has mattered less than crude tribalism. Conservatives who are glad Amash will be gone because he dared to defy their glorious leader have nary a principle to stand on in making such an argument. Liberals who once, and might still, praise Amash for defying his partys president completely disagree with him on what government should or should not do.

Amash has remained an unwavering libertarian throughout his decade in Washington, and you arguably wont find a more dedicated champion of the principles that founded this country than this son of immigrants who aspired to become a U.S. congressman out of a pure desire to do what he thought was right.

Whatever happens in November and no matter where you stand on the president, Trumps indelible mark on our politics will not soon pass. For lovers of liberty, neither will Amashs.

Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.

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Lovers of liberty lose big with Justin Amash's reelection decision - Washington Examiner