It's been clear since the announcement of the Paul Ryan pick that the cosnervative wing of the Republican Party is ecstatic about it, the libertarian wing not so much. Andrew Napolitano, one of the most passionate libertarian voices on TV, explains why he's not thrilled about having a choice between "a president who has posed more of a danger to personal freedom than any in the past 150 years and a Republican team that wants to return to Bush-style big government."
The federal government has a debt of $16 trillion. We have that debt because both political parties have chosen to spend today and put the burden of paying for the spending onto future generations. The debt keeps increasing, and the feds have no intention of paying it off. Every time the government has wanted to increase its lawful power to borrow since World War II, members of Congress and presidents from both parties have permitted it to do so.
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I am a firm believer that the Constitution means what it says. The federal government can only do what the Constitution authorizes it to do. The modern-day Republican and Democratic Parties have made a shambles of that principle.
I don't disagree with him in general. But we have only two choices, and the thought of another four year's of Obama's rule is frightening enough to make it a pretty easy call. One reason for hope, if we're being optimistic, is that if enough Tea Party types get elected it might persuade Mitt Romney and Ryan that this is not the time to keep pushing big-government conservatism.
