So Gary;
Where do you go ? Do you go with the old line elitist Republicans...or do you stick with the Democrat/communist control-freaks ? I never said the Tea Party was perfect, no man-made thing ever is...it's just that they are many miles ahead of the other two..
Ironglow, I used to be a Republican. I have spent the last few years reading Hazlett, Mises, Hayek, Bastiat and other free-market economists. After reading a book by Robert Higgs where his research shows little difference in republicans and democrats in social spending and warfare spending, I have rethought my views. Let's say Bush was the final nail in the coffin. I would consider myself an independent but I agree very much with some Libertarians. I think though that we have gone to far into the welfare/warfare state and into the financial debt destruction of this country and don't see much hope. A Ron Paul could possibly bring us back, but maybe it is too late. Anyway, I hope people will remember Jefferson when it is time to start over. Everything that plagued the Roman Empire is now plaguing us. If a tea party candidate proves out then I will support him. Rand Paul is a tea party member that I strongly agree with.
We have many young people today in various colleges that are familiar with liberty, free-market economics, and the philosophy of Mises. I think that it is with them that our future stands.
------------------------------------------------------
As far as any established Republican or Democrat, I would not give them the time of day. The system is corrupt and they are part of that corruption if not the cause.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds. Frederick Bastiat