Isaac Chotiner links to Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch’s splendid piece on libertarianism and calls it pretty absurd:
I have no idea what most citizens think about smoking bans and online gambling restrictions. But I do believe they are smart enough to know that these issues neither matter much, nor are worth voting on.
Well, I don’t think Ron Paul is going to win the Republican party’s presidential nomination either. But I’m willing to bet that for every person who votes for Ron Paul – knowing full well that he’s not likely to win – there’s at least one other person who would vote – or seriously consider voting for him or any other libertarian-minded candidate – if they thought that candidate had a realistic chance of winning.
And while Isaac may scoff at voters who consider matters such as smoking bans and online gambling important (the former hardly being a federal issue after all), I’d suggest that these are in fact pretty useful indicators of would-be Presidential temperament and philosophy.
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