Over at the The Daily Caller, libertarian-oriented Republican Ron Paul is quoted contending that “Republicans will be more open than they were in 2008 to nominating a libertarian-minded candidate. “I think there’s no doubt about it,” Paul said in an interview with The Daily Caller.” See, Ron Paul says GOP will be more open to libertarian-minded nominee in 2012.
I think on economic issues, Paul’s correct to conclude that the free market approach of libertarians is sure to the the Republican party’s position in 2012. The GOP strayed from that approach in George W. Bush’s second term particularly, but they’ll be a return to polices of free and private economic choice for the 2012 Republican nominee. (About other matters, and there are many other key issues, I’m skeptical that the next Republican nominee will be libertarian-minded.)
Still, 2008 was supposed to be the end of the free market, but the beginning of a new era of government intervention, and yet less than two years’ time later those bold declarations look foolish. Americans are returning to a longstanding respect for free and private economic arrangements.
Even in small towns like Whitewater, the Bush years coincided with more and more local reliance on the gimmicks of tax incremental financing, taxpayer-funded grants, and the issuance of municipal bonds (debt) to fund local versions of the Great Pyramid. Not one of those expensive projects has made Whitewater’s underlying situation better, and there’s no likelihood that the incumbent municipal administration has the aptitude or flexibility to admit failure. At the local level, one can expect further, feeble attempts to declare that All is Well and Amazing.
As federal money runs out — and it will — we will be left with a collection of overly expensive, under-performing municipal white elephants.