Ron Paul as a lesser-of-evils Republican

Ron Paul is extreme and libertarian, but he gets some things right. According to the article Ron Paul slams Herman Cain’s media coverage, he said “I’m challenging the whole banking system, the military industrial complex, the welfare state, our foreign policy. I want to go back to following strictly the Constitution.”

Paul has won several straw polls. This shows that some Republicans have some common sense and realize that the rest of the GOP candidates belong on a freak show.

The Left should welcome Paul as a lesser-of-evils among the Republicans; he’d damage candidates like Perry, Bachmann, Cain, and Romney, and he’d bring some sense to the GOP on some issues.

On the other hand, if the Left did promote him, other Republicans would probably use that as reason for opposing him.

Perhaps the Left may even need to enter into some sort of  twisted strategic coalition with libertarians like Paul. Sigh. In this imperfect world we do need to make difficult lesser-of-evils decisions.  People complain about America’s political system and sometimes suggest that a parliamentary democracy would be an improvement. But in such a system, there’s even more of a need for parties to enter coalitions with other parties.

At the AM 1090 forum in Kent this summer Dennis Kucinich “pointed out that a huge number of Tea Party congressmen voted against funding the war in Libya. We need to build some coalitions on separate issues and forget about labels and parties. Forget finding someone who agrees with you on every issue. With 50% of discretionary spending devoted to the Pentagon, we need to be flexible about ending it.” (source)

Think strategically. Don’t expect to win all battles right away.