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| Justin Amash (I-MI) |
It's no secret to any follower of my blog or Twitter feed that my favorite pro-liberty, conservative legislators are: Rand Paul (R-KY), Tom Massie (R-KY), and Justin Amash (I-MI), the former a senator and the latter Congressmen. I'm currently at odds with the former two, dropping following them on Twitter because of unduly accommodating positions sympathetic of Trump in the context of impeachment, such as Paul's unlibertarian attitude on whistleblowers and a preposterous argument the House investigation is violating Trump's sixth amendment rights. (Trump would be tried in the Senate.)
Amash, unlike his pro-liberty cohorts, has been a consistent critic of POTUS overreach by Obama and Trump. He has in the past been targeted by establishment Republicans as an independent vote on . spending bills and other issues; not only was he likely to be primaried but he was more recently ostracized by the Freedom Caucus which he had co-founded.
Amash is good on most pro-liberty issues, especially his opposition to the Patriot Act, American support to the Saudi intervention in Yemen, and the Ex-Im Bank and his support for the Balanced Budget Amendment. He is particularly well-known for posting the rationale for his votes on social media.
Amash last July 4 quit the Republican Party and looks to get reelected next year as an independent. Running as an independent is an obvious disadvantage; only a handful of successful candidates come to mind (Sanders of Vermont, Ventura of Minnesota, Murkowski of Alaska). Others (including yours truly) have suggested his Presidential candidacy for the Libertarian Party next year. My read at the current time is that he sees reelection to his House seat as the most practical challenge to the political duopoly.
