As someone who sympathizes with many of Amash’s positions, I’m comfortable with the notion of a libertarian presidency. By most standards, however, Amash’s worldview would be considered radical. Not merely by the average voter, but by most of the pundits now willing to abandon their own positions to oppose Trump.
I’d detail Amash’s stance on gun control, for example, but I can’t find any evidence of it. The congressman has argued against any controls on Americans who “purchase, transport, store, or possess arms” on public or private property. While this might be constitutionally sound, it doesn’t sound like it comports with Salon Republican values.
It’d be interesting if some curious journalist, maybe one of his new fans, asked Amash where the Constitution empowers the federal government to (effectively) ban fully automatic weapons—or grenade launchers, for that matter? Because, color me skeptical, I’m unconvinced that the average CNN Republican is going to be a good-faith supporter of a politician who believes anyone should be able to walk into a 7/11 and buy a dozen AR-15s.
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