The new libertarian hero: Justin Amash?
The most interesting question comes from a young man who starts off by thanking the congressman for posting about his votes on Facebook. The comment elicits immediate applause and whoops. After that dies down, the questioner continues:
“There’s a strain of libertarianism — people believe that the state is completely immoral and that we shouldn’t have any involvement in it,” he says. “I disagree with that, and as a congressman you probably disagree with that as well. What would you say — ”
Amash cuts him off: “Or I’m really sneaky.”
The crowd laughs, whoops, and applauds. A few leap to their feet.
“Touché,” says the questioner. More laughter. “What would you say to the people who believe in that, and that we should not work within the system to try and fix it?”
“Well, I don’t know how to convince the people who don’t want to work within the system,” says Amash. “We have a system here. The Founders of the country certainly believed in working through a political system. That’s why they put it in place.” He defends the American system as the best protector of liberty. And he concludes by arguing that anarchy would eventually end in some sort of government anyway.
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Amash is awesome. Great voting record and great accountability with his constituents. He should be Speaker.
iwasbornwithit on February 18, 2013 at 2:18 PM
A ash has a real conservative voting record.
MoreLiberty on February 18, 2013 at 2:21 PM
Young stud – great sense of how to report back to his voters.
The GOP NEEDS WOMEN !!!! – put the women in charge !!!!!!!!!
jake-the-goose on February 18, 2013 at 2:26 PM
Anarchist: Leaders? What leaders. We don need no steenking leaders.
davidk on February 18, 2013 at 2:27 PM
He’s a sell-out, he once touched a bill that allowed Amnesty or he once said, “Please don’t spark that doob in here.” Either way he’s a Rovian Sell-Out to the GOP-E and if he runs I will never vote for him.
IN FACT, I will vote for Hillary or Bernadine Dorn, because they wuld be less awful than this guy…..Give me Purity or Give me Hillary.
JFKY on February 18, 2013 at 2:31 PM
Amash has a disturbing Christie-ish tendency towards childish behavior and backstabbing. Hence this: http://twitchy.com/2013/02/13/jay-carney-enlists-buzzfeed-justin-amash-in-effort-to-pin-sequestration-cuts-on-gop/
I don’t give a DAMN what his beef is with the leadership. There’s no excuse AT ALL for collaborating with the enemy like that. Maybe when he decides to grow the eff up he’ll be worth discussing.
cicerone on February 18, 2013 at 3:03 PM
I assume that was an attempt at humor… However, Rep. Amash has been rock-solid in Congress and he explains every vote that he makes so that even if you don’t agree with him, you know why he voted the way that he did.
iwasbornwithit on February 18, 2013 at 3:04 PM
So did the GOP Congress vote for sequestration or not? How was Amash wrong? Do you care?
iwasbornwithit on February 18, 2013 at 3:08 PM
I still haven’t figured out what’s wrong with sequestration. You mean we actually have a law in place to cut spending across the board and that’s bad?
jr.ewing.78 on February 18, 2013 at 3:49 PM
I liked Representative Amash before I discovered that he explains every single vote on his Facebook page; now, I’m an enormous fan and think he’s one of the most valuable weapons we have in our arsenal. I’m aware of the criticisms against him, with things like the sequester comments, but as with so many politicians on our side, the distortions of the facts make things look a lot worse than they actually are. From what I’ve been able to tell, Amash looks and behaves like he is beholden only to rock-solid conservative principles and good-old-fashioned common sense, which means at times he’s going to ruffle feathers on both sides of the aisle. Personally, I’m okay with that. I may recognize and acknowledge the Republican Party as being the only real Federal tool we have to combat the evil that is Statism, but I find myself at odds with the GOP almost as often as with the Democrats. Amash recognizes what the stakes really are and is on the front lines fighting for what’s really right, and articulating the why behind every choice he makes, so I will be proud to stand behind him or at his side any day.
WesternActor on February 18, 2013 at 3:50 PM
I don’t agree with him all of the time, but I very much respect his principle and the aforementioned practice of explaining the rationale behind his votes. I wish there were more of him in Congress even if his libertarianism does stray from conservative on occasion (and it isn’t all that often really, IMO).
At the very least, I wish more on both sides would copy his approach, whatever conclusions it brought them to. Of course reasoned consistency and openness aren’t qualities that work well with socialism…
Gingotts on February 18, 2013 at 4:12 PM