The American Spectator has an interesting angle on why our votes should be for Mitch McConnell, and it's just what I've been saying. McConnell is effective, experienced and shows a significant interest in pursuing a more conservative agenda. Bevin would be, at best, a back bencher in the fight.
All I’m trying to remind my comrades is that making the Republican Party a true small-government party requires two things: replacing big-government Republicans, which candidates like Bevin are striving to do, and changing other Republicans’ minds (or behavior in office).
McConnell is the member of the Republican leadership team who has been most swayed by Paul’s rise.
Reid suggests that the moves McConnell has made in recognition of this new political reality are unprincipled. I’d remind him of an observation by Milton Friedman. “People have a great misconception in this way, they think the way you solve things is by electing the right people,” Friedman once said. “It’s nice to elect the right people, but that isn’t the way you solve things. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things.”
It’s nice to envision a Senate filled with Rand Pauls. But the way you solve things is to have the Mitch McConnells and John Cornyns think it’s a “no-brainer” politically to stand with Rand on various issues.
[L]ibertarians and small-government conservatives should at least be willing to entertain the following question: Is there any benefit we can derive from a Senate majority leader who takes Paul seriously, even if only out of political calculation, that we can’t get from a freshman trouble-maker?
Good question.
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