The weird surge in popularity of libertarian-leaning candidates is not because there has been an inexplicable surge in Ayn Rand devotees. Most people who would end up voting for a Paul would never label themselves as "Libertarians." They are the independents in the middle who have been lurching back and forth between the major parties trying desperately to find someone who will represent them.
We're not talking about the tiny group of self-identified Libertarians in your survey, who have always constituted the base of the fringe Libertarian Party. We're talking about a larger group in the middle, actual Americans who are frustrated as hell with the corruption of both major political parties. They are frustrated as hell that no major party is representing their interests anymore and looking for a new political home.
Mass spying on Americans? Both parties support it.
Handing the internet to corporations? Both parties support it.
Austerity for the masses? Both parties support it.
Cutting social safety nets? Both parties support it.
Corporatists in the cabinet? Both parties support it.
Tolling our interstate highways? Both parties support it.
Corporate education policy? Both parties support it.
Bank bailouts? Both parties support it.
Ignoring the trillions stashed overseas? Both parties support it.
Trans-Pacific Job/Wage Killing Secret Agreement? Both parties support it.
Drilling and fracking? Both parties support it.
Wars on medical marijuana instead of corrupt banks?
Deregulation of the food industry? Both parties support it.
GMO's? Both parties support it.
Militarized police and assaults on protesters? Both parties support it.
Indefinite detention? Both parties support it.
Drone wars and kill lists? Both parties support it.
Targeting of journalists and whistleblowers? Both parties support it.
Private prisons replacing public prisons? Both parties support it.
Unions? Both parties view them with contempt.
Perhaps the corporate-purchased parties themselves have something to do with this conclusion by the American people:
People are so frustrated and disillusioned with the two corporate parties at this point that they are looking for something radical. They are so desperate that they are willing to risk the terrifying aspects of Libertarianism because these people are at least saying *some* of the right things with regard to finally ending the outrageous surveillance state, the predatory and discriminatory drug wars, and the warmongering that is emptying the country from the inside out.
That's why Democrats who care about this country had better make damned sure that we get a better candidate than Hillary Goldman Sachs.....or these voters may, in their desperation, vote to issue in the most dangerous aspects of the Libertarian AND the corporate agenda: the finalization of the privatization and gutting/looting/transfer to private ownership of our education system, our prison system, our national parks and resources....all of the shared wealth of this nation, and the democratic system that ensures our tax dollars are used to benefit and care for all of us.
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