there are few differences between the good in theory "compassion based libertarian" planks put forward by Vermin Supreme and Gary Johnson and the "tough shit libertarian" planks destroying our country put forward by Ron Paul and Donald Trump /1

and yes, Trump very much borrows heavily from Ron Paul and Rand Paul, and they agree on a lot of things. That "brand of libertarianism" very much is in the white house right now -- albeit with an evangelical twist /2

a lot of it is tone. someone like johnson would be like "people help each other better than gov't" which i agree with, while someone like rand paul would be "the gov't wastes money on the undeserving poor" which i hate /3

but there are real issues, like scaling down the prison-industrial complex and the extent of states rights, which delineate these people within the party. a lot of former ron paul libertarians -- alt-right ghouls like razorfist and styx -- have become trump mouthpieces /4

so much about this actually relates to the social contract and values and not political decisions. the problem is that "compassion" and "anti-consumerism" very much are minority opinions /5

we exist in a cultural and social construct that runs outside the existing policy that must be defeated. tupac sums it up perfectly here. /5

my entire political theory and praxis after eight years in higher education and three graduate degrees can largely still be summed up perfectly in three spoken word verses in tupac shakur's song changes in 1996. i regret nothing