Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Libertarians Eating Their Own: A Lesson For The Ages?

Working tirelessly for both Ron and Rand Paul and even marrying Paul's granddaughter, didn't spare this young libertarian mover-and-shaker from being destroyed by fellow libertarians who believed he betrayed the cause by not being ideologically pure enough...




(Daily Caller) Jesse Benton’s story is a parable for the liberty movement, that heavily young group of libertarian-leaning activists taking the GOP by storm, no matter what you think of the scandal that led to his resignation from Mitch McConnell’s campaign.

Benton rose through the ranks of Ron Paul’s Republican presidential campaigns, as the candidate himself went from an asterisk in 2007 polls to a top-three finisher in both Iowa and New Hampshire in 2012. He married the boss’ granddaughter.

Along the way, Benton helped Rand Paul win a Senate seat from Kentucky. Since that involved prevailing over McConnell and the entire state Republican establishment as well as the Democrats, some were surprised that he was tapped to manage the Senate minority leader’s 2014 re-election campaign.

From working with the backbenchers to the height of Republican leadership in less than a decade, Benton’s ascent stalled when his name was mentioned in association with a scandal in which an Iowa state senator pled guilty to taking a $73,000 bribe to support Ron Paul in 2012.

It was a veteran of Ron Paul’s first, less successful but in some ways more ideologically pure GOP campaign who taped and exposed the bribery. A libertarian site that has been highly critical of Benton was one of the first to run with the story.

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Posted By: Chris Carmouche