Jeff Flake, on Republican revival.

H/T Libertarian Republican.

Republicans are not normally ‘flavor of the month’ over at Reason, they tend to fail the libertarian purity test. Jeff Flake is an exception, being among the most libertarian members of the Republican Party.



Reasons comment on him was:

At last November's gala dinner in Los Angeles celebrating 40 years of Reason, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) spoke about why the Republican party was in a shambles—and what it needs to do to stage a comeback. A principled libertarian who actually votes his conscience, Flake is one of his own party's toughest critics.

In these days of runaway spending, historic deficits, and nationalization of industries, Flake's message of a return to free minds, free markets, and limited government has never been more relevant. Either for his party or the country as a whole.

He doesn’t actually say in this clip that the party is in a shambles, but I guess a little liscence can be allowed.

For a site like Reason he had a surprising degree of support among the comments, including one of the better ones: (From The Angry Optimist)

There must be some bizarro libertarian world where it's a good idea to disregard potential allies because they aren't perfect.

I must have missed the memo where libertarianism was so popular we had that luxury. Of course, some people revel in their status as Libertarian Acolytes; Pure Worshipers of the Faith. A blend of Lenin, Torquemada and John Locke, if you will.

The rest of us live on planet Earth. Flake voted against: No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, Medicare Part D, (and) Homeland Security Act.

He also supports repeal of the Cuba Trade Embargo and wants a guest-worker program for immigrants.

This is a good point as last year Flake had to withstand a strong challenge from the “Ayatollah Republicans,” on the basis that he was not conservative enough. Libertarianism cannot afford to lose men like this over minor philosophical differences of opinion, face it; this guy votes for liberty most of the time and if he were to stand for the LP he would lose, probably to a dedicated statist.

As an Australian, I see things over there from the outside looking in. I see people like this and I envy Americans for having people like this representing mainstream parties. As an Australian libertarian I do not have the comfort of knowing that there are MPs out there who believe in similar things to me, they don’t exist.