Even before the Republican convention ended a few weeks ago many Republicans and Conservatives were demanding that Ron Paul endorse Mitt Romney for President.

To their dismay, he has refrained from doing so. However that has not stopped them from harassing Libertarians and Ron Paul Republicans for their votes. Many of Ron Paul’s supporters have switched their support to the Libertarian Party’s candidate Gary Johnson and it has the Republicans howling mad.

This year’s Republican primary was very hard fought and in the course of the many, many debates Republican’s repeatedly lambasted Mitt Romney on everything from his record as governor of Massachusetts to how he operated Bain Capital as its CEO.

And now that he is the nominee it seems that all of the Republicans’ past reservations have all disappeared.

Nearly everyone has begrudgingly or otherwise decided to throw their support behind Mitt Romney in order to defeat Barack Obama this November.
Everyone that is, except for Libertarians and in such a close election the Republicans recognize that they will need every vote.

Having realized that the Romney campaign could really use the youthful energy and enthusiasm that defined the Ron Paul campaign as well as every vote they can scrounge up Republicans seem to have decided upon a most unusual method of convincing the libertarian vote to join them.

The abuses of the GOP establishment during the convention and primary process are well known to all Ron Paul supporters and will not be easily forgotten.

In fact, these unnecessary actions on the part of the Republican establishment are what led to many “Ronulans” choosing to sever all ties to the Republican party altogether.
Whether it was unseating delegates, vote counting shenanigans, or ignoring party rules, all of it was unnecessary as Romney would have won without cheating.

What does it say about a man’s character when he feels the need to cheat even when he will inevitably win?

To add insult to injury, Republicans and prominent conservatives like Glenn Beck have the gall to stand up and not ask for but demand the Libertarian vote.

On his radio show Beck called Ron Paul supporters delusional for not supporting Romney and said that if said Ron Paul supporters are trying to send a message by voting for Gary Johnson they are out of their mind.

Beck then proceeds to explain how he disagrees with Romney but that he is better than Obama and Obama must go. Beck’s words sum up the feelings of many Republicans.

Some Republicans’ acknowledge that Ron Paul was robbed at the convention and throughout the process but still they say that yes it was wrong but you need to shut up and get in line behind Romney because Obama must go.

What Beck fails to realize is that by voting for Mitt Romney Ron Paul supporters would still be sending a message.

The message that would be sent however would indicate to the Republican establishment that no matter how much the Libertarians are mistreated they will still fall in line and do what they are told when it comes down to it.

This election demonstrates a key difference between Libertarians and Conservatives.

While the Conservatives clearly do not like Romney and think he has a bad record they still support him because they view Obama as a worse choice. Conservatives are willing to sacrifice their principles in a vain attempt to save their principles.

If you have to abandon your belief system to attempt to save your belief system perhaps it is not a system worth saving.

Now contrast that with the Libertarians.

They recognize that Gary Johnson does not have much chance of winning this election.

They also recognize that to support Romney would be to support the same big government policies that Conservatives so vigorously denounce in Obama.

Both Romney and Obama support the National Defense Authorization Act which allows for the indefinite detention of American Citizens without trial. Both supported the bank bailouts.

Both support the failed policies of the Federal Reserve System that got us into this economic mess in the first place.

Most disturbingly of all, Mitt Romney, like Barack Obama, believes that the president has the authority to kill American citizens without trial if they are believed to be terrorists.

When it comes down to the really important things, Romney and Obama are very similar, which is why most Libertarians are supporting neither.

Sometimes Libertarians are compared to the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail who keeps on fighting even after all his arms and legs have been lopped off and he has no chance of winning.

But perhaps the time has come to take a principled stand and stand fast on ones beliefs even though it will mean losing.

Earlier this year Gary Johnson the Libertarian candidate for President was interviewed on NPR.

There he was asked if he was on a torture rack and they were going to kill him unless he voted for Romney or Obama who would he vote for.

Gary Johnson replied that he would rather die.

That same sentiment is shared by the vast majority of Johnson’s followers. Perhaps our nation would not be in the dire situation it is today if more people stood firmly behind their principles instead of compromising in order to win.

When Republicans and Conservatives demand that Libertarians support Romney in spite of him being anathema to them, they demonstrate how little they understand the libertarian mind set.

Libertarians are not members of either major party precisely because they believe that neither party aligns with their belief system.

While Libertarians do not like Obama they certainly do not like Romney and therefore shall not vote for either. If Republicans’ believe that people should vote for a candidate even though they do not like him or her simply because he or she has a better chance of winning that is their choice.

It is time for the Republicans to recognize that insulting Libertarians and then insisting they support their candidate will not work.

Perhaps because standing on one’s principles and beliefs is such a foreign concept to the Republicans’ they do not recognize that is what prevents the Libertarians from supporting

Romney and they assume they are being sore losers because Ron Paul did not win the nomination.

Whatever the case, if Obama is reelected in November, the Republicans and conservatives will have no one but themselves to blame.