Ron Paul and Libertarians

I came across this nice little short blurb in The Nation that gives some background about the Paul movement. Turns out there was an ideological split in the movement in the 80's, and the two sects have been at each other's throats since.

The division between paleolibertarians, centered around the Mises Institute, and cosmopolitan libertarians, centered around Cato, is also a case of "culture clash," according to Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com and prominent member of the Mises set. "There's the populist wing of the libertarian movement, and then there's the Washington crowd that's still trying to sell libertarianism, or their version of it, to elites. These people want to go along and get along. As long as they can abort their babies and sodomize each other and take as many drugs as they want to, they are happy. They don't care who is being killed in Iraq and how many Iraqis are dying. That's their hierarchy of values."

Sounds like a lovely group of folks.

I've been struck by the ideological fervor for the Paul campaign on campus. The number of acolytes is small, but they are an enthusiastic bunch. It makes me think that the Paul campaign has probably tapped into disenfranchised LaRouchies. They sure seem to have an awful lot in common, especially the propensity to not advertise too widely the crazy crap each believes.