Where Were the Libertarians in 2016?

In 2010 and 2015, I did some data analysis to see which states had the most libertarians, based on Libertarian Party and Ron Paul election results. I've now done something similar for 2016. Unfortunately, in 2016 we didn't have a libertarianish Republican presidential candidate continue through every primary, and so we can't use primary election …

The Changing Political Geography of New Hampshire

Now that the 2016 election results are available by town for New Hampshire, I thought I would take a look at where libertarian candidates tended to do well or poorly, and how that pattern compared with conservative versus progressive support by town. To measure libertarian voting by town, I used different variables in different years. …

Afternoon Links

Would South Sudan have been better off with international trusteeship than independence? My reaction: 1) the South Sudan civil war is likely to kill far fewer than the original civil war by which they gained independence (2 million), so independence may be better than that alternative; 2) autonomy without independence would have been a nonstarter …

Two Stories from NH

Concord, NH is about to acquire a Bearcat "tank" with federal grant money, similar to the one that spurred protests from all walks of society in Keene, NH recently. (One Keene councilman looks back and describes the purchase as a "waste of money.") More disturbing is the fact that the Concord police cited "Free Staters" …

Would President Paul Ever Stand Up to His Party?

Following the defeat of his amendment that would give Congress the right to vote to verify border security as a condition of permitting the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants to go forward, Senator Rand Paul has decided to oppose the immigration reform bill. While the immigration bill has many flaws, it is certainly a …

Rand Paul Changes Americans’ Minds

As I argued, this is what he set out to do with his filibuster: A year ago, as the presidential race was taking shape, The Washington Post's pollster asked voters whether they favored the use of drones to kill terrorists or terror suspects if they were "American citizens living in other countries." The net rating …

Self-Imposed Stupidity on Rand Paul’s Filibuster

Establishment hacks are lining up to sneer at Rand Paul's filibuster as accomplishing nothing (see for instance, here and here in The Economist). "The U.S. government is not going to use drone strikes against American citizens on American soil," so the line goes. "So what's the point?" It's hard to know what to make of …

Nuts Ron Paul Fans Dis Rand for Mitt Plug

I've been seeing all kinds of abuse being hurled at Rand Paul for his endorsement of Mitt Romney in this year's presidential election. He doesn't deserve any of it. Let's recapitulate some facts for the benefit of blinkered Ron Paul devotees abusing Rand: Ron Paul can't win the GOP nomination. I don't care what Alex …

This Week’s Rants and Raves, TSA Edition

1. In the below video, Senator Rand Paul criticizes John Pistole and his TSA for their ham-fisted and invasive pat-downs, especially on children.   Senator Paul makes several good points. What struck me in particular, however, is one part of Mr. Pistole's response. He said that pat-downs on children and seniors are driven---and, apparently, justified---by …

The Beginning of the End?

I think the Rand Paul/Civil Rights Act episode might be the real beginning of the end. Here is why. The only real opposition to the growth of the federal government in the last quarter-century has been the recent Tea Party movement. It may be too late to make any real difference, but it was a …

Taranto on Paul on Civil Rights

I like James Taranto's take on Rand Paul's view of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: Far from being evasive, Paul has shown himself to be both candid and principled to a fault. We do mean to a fault. In this matter, Paul seems to us to be overly ideological and insufficiently mindful of the contingencies …

Paul Up 25

In politics, it's rare that one gets to say "I told you so" quite this quickly. So forgive my being a little smug after yesterday's post about how the left is underestimating Rand Paul, when a Rasmussen poll has come out today showing Paul up 25 points over his general election opponent.

Democrats, Lefty Blogosphere Unite Against Paul

Rand Paul's victory in the Kentucky Senate primary has befuddled and deranged much of the left. Matt Yglesias calls Paul a "lunatic," while the Daily Caller reports on Democratic attempts to portray him as "out-of-touch, elitist, and selfish." Ed Kilgore says Paul's "radicalism," identified by his association with the Tea Party and calls for "massive …

Rand Paul’s Insurgent Campaign

Over at fivethirtyeight, Ed Kilgore pooh-poohs the notion that Rand Paul's expected victory in today's Republican U.S. Senate primary in Kentucky represents an anti-incumbent, insurgent mood among voters: Kentucky has a closed primary system with a very early cutoff date for registration changes, so independents are quite literally not going to be a factor in …