That guy is playing the teabaggers for sure, and he's heinous on a host of issues. But there really is a difference between someone like that and someone like Jeff Duncan, Darrell Issa, or Ted Cruz.
Republicans are liars. They have no principles and certainly no morals. Their single goal is to promote what amounts to neo-feudalism, and since they can't possibly sell such an agenda, they play to people's fears.
Libertarians--real Libertarians, not the teabaggers who call themselves "libertarians"--are different. They do have principles, and a philosophy which they believe is beneficial for mankind in general and America in specific. It's a half-baked philosophy: It ignores much of human nature, makes huge leaps of induction, and papers over the harm it causes to real people between Point A and the mythical utopia of Point B, but it's a sincere philosophy that, generally, is internally consistent.
I think we're kidding ourselves if we on the left deny that we have a lot of common ground with sincere, well-meaning Libertarians. Rand Paul is hard to like. He spends a lot of time and energy catering to the teabag crowd; he lies a lot; he promulgates absurd conspiracy theories; and generally is kind of an asshole compared with his aw-shucks, kinda likeable dad. Plus, he has possibly the most unfortunate name I've ever heard--one that in my mind, evokes images of ass play.
But if... and this is a BIG if.... the junior senator matures into an honest conservative voice, he could turn out to be a great person to have in the Senate to counter the dishonest nihilists who call themselves "conservatives" (i.e., pretty much all the rest of the Republicans).
I'll still expect to be rooting against him 80% of the time. But I'd like to hope he'll act in good faith, and this video gives me just a bit of hope.
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Incidentally, I think Ayn Rand is the worst thing that ever happened to Libertarianism. Not only was she an awful human being who wrote lousy books, the cult she somehow built around herself has done more to make Libertarian philosophy look ugly than pretty much anything anyone could have done from the outside. My generally forgiving view of Libertarians was formed during the time I actually spent a fair bit of time thinking about this stuff; I had a subscription to Liberty magazine for about 2-3 years, read some books by people other than Ayn Rand, and looked at political and international affairs from a Libertarian perspective. (Among other things, this mental exercise greatly enhanced my appreciation for unions, which Libertarians rightly should support, even though they rarely do... but that's a longer discussion.)
One last thought: The word "minarchist" still makes me puke in my mouth just a little bit when I hear it.
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