Gary Johnson vs Ron Paul

In the grand drama of an American presidential campaign, wondering whether Gary Johnson or Ron Paul will win the vestigial libertarian-minded vote in the Republican primary is but a tiny scene of little consequence whatsoever. At best it’s an Off-Off-Broadway production and even that might be a generous verdict. Nevertheless, it’s not without interest since it will shine some light on the heroic patriots who make up the “Tea Party”.

I considered this last November and now Ilya Somin asks the same question: Johnson or Paul? Like me, he’s a Johnson man. Will Wilkinson explains why, whatever Johnson’s merits, he’ll struggle to make an impression:

I think Mr Johnson’s gentle pragmatism, far from giving him a clear shot at independent voters, leaves him without a natural core of highly-motivated supporters.

As governor, Mr Johnson showed that a non-ideological, pragmatic libertarianism can work as a governing philosophy. But neither full-blooded libertarians nor allegedly liberty-loving tea-party enthusiasts really care much about governing.