When Rand Paul announced that he was running for President of the United States, I was overjoyed and moved. I believed in Rand’s message, supported him to the fullest, and even purchased a Rand shirt and Rand mug.
Paul supports freedom, equality, and fairness. He would have been an outstanding nominee for the Libertarian Party and had a better shot of being President, especially with Democrats and Republicans nominating two of the most disliked candidates in history.
The central theme of Paul’s campaign was “small government.” Like a plethora of blue collar, working Americans, this is something I can appreciate. I don’t want big government forcing me to purchase socialistic programs, such as Obamacare or stealing money from my hard-earned paycheck to fund their programs. Republicans and Democrats both support big government in their own ways and Rand Paul, as the Libertarian nominee, would have provided an excellent contrast to the same coin, two party system.
Libertarians frequently struggle with putting forth excellent representation for the party. Trump and Clinton were two of the most unpopular candidates to ever run for office and Libertarians truly missed a shot to present a powerful nominee with the ability to pull support from the traditional “left” and “right.”
Rand is a true believer of libertarian values and principles. He supports gun rights, low taxes, and “defeating the Washington Machine.” Rand is charismatic, innovative, and inspirational. He would have done a superb job at pulling votes from Republicans and Democrats.
I am deeply crestfallen that Libertarians nominated Gary Johnson. He was a fruitless candidate and his running mate, Bill Weld, endorsed Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton shortly before the election, which truly hurt the credibility of Libertarians. Rand Paul would not have chosen a running mate that supported everything that Libertarians oppose.
It is my sincere hope that the Libertarian Party will pick strong, successful leaders from here on out. Our party’s values are remarkable and will benefit America by restoring power to the people and not the government. Unfortunately, due to the collusion of the two party system to lock out any competition, Libertarians are at a disadvantage. This means we must be diligent and put our best and brightest forward on our quest to victory.
* Gabrielle Seunagal is an 18 year old conservative libertarian. She currently resides in Alpharetta, Georgia and works as a hostess at Café Intermezzo.
Gabrielle Seunagal
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