David_Boaz

The drug war involves a million arrests a year, hundreds of thousands of people jailed, police diverted from real crimes, corruption in law enforcement, communities destroyed, and too many poor young people saddled with a criminal record early in life. That would be an important thing to change.

That's a longstanding debate. Libertarians tended to be Democrats back in the days of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland, Republicans in the FDR-Reagan era. What now? If Rand Paul runs for president, then I'd guess most libertarians will want to support his campaign. If he isn't the nominee, then our studies show that the libertarian vote can swing between parties. Also: not all politics is parties. Libertarians can get involved in tax-cut, school choice, term-limits, antiwar, and other social movements and initiatives.

No.

I'm no expert on Catholicism, but I would say that Christianity sets moral standards for individuals. I don't see that it requires coercive actions by government. Christianity, in someone's view, may tell people to help the poor, avoid premarital sex, or whatever. But Jesus didn't say "tell the government to help the poor with tax money." He said you should help the poor.

Partly politics. They think the base of the party is anti-immigrant, though in fact polls show most Republicans want a reasonable solution. Partly they focus on the illegality of some immigration and are concerned about the rule of law. Partly they just forget their commitment to free enterprise when it comes to foreigners.