I occasionally read The Next Right, the new blog started by Patrick Ruffini,Jon Henke, and Soren Dayton, whose purpose is to "repair" the conservative-libertarian axis and serve as a forum for promoting bottom-up, grassroots methods--"modernizing" the traditional top-down regimen associated with the Right--for the next generation conservative activist.

Writes Ruffini in announcing his new blog venture:

If you’re looking for pure-play opinion and link bait on sundry topics from Ann Coulter to Jimmy Carter/Hamas, you won’t find it here. What you will find is in-depth (often unabashedly technical) writing about the election, the polls, the strategy, and the issues. Our analysis will track truth and stay true to the numbers. But it will self-consciously serve a greater purpose — educating YOU to be your own political strategist and start doing something — whether that’s blogging about your local Congressional race or Democratic corruption in your state, organizing fundraising drives, and maybe even managing races or running for office yourself. Only a revival of civic engagement at the grassroots level will create a conservative future we want: one that is pork-free and robust in the defense of our country and its values. We can’t call a switchboard and wait for Washington to fix the mess. We have to do it ourselves, from the ground up, in every state.

Yes, TheNextRight.com is a departure from the brain-dead partisan bloviations of the likes of Malkin and Coulter, and Henke's recent column indeed makes good on this promise, but Ruffini's recent post that uses the "Georgia/Russia crisis" as pretext to argue why Republicans get elected demonstrates precisely why true libertarians should avoid the Right like the plague.

Writes Ruffini:

The Georgia/Russia crisis is the reason why Americans have elected Republican Presidents for 28 of the last 40 years, even if they lean a little to the left on domestic issues. In a time of crisis, you need a hard-headed, tough leader who will have his eyes wide open on foreign threats. McCain, a long-time Putin critic, is perfectly suited to that 3 AM role. In a thumbnail way, Obama is the least-well-suited Democratic candidate on this score since McGovern.

So, Ruffini endorses the Hillary Clinton 3AM model of the Imperial American President, perched stark-eyed a la Poe's Raven by the phone awaiting the latest news of blowback from another ill-conceived American interventionist foreign policy. No doubt, there is always a crisis afoot(H/T to Flagrancy to Reason for the following links)

MCCAIN: My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first
probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War. This is an act of aggression.

MCCAIN: "Eighteen months ago, America faced a crisis as profound as
any in our history. Iraq was in flames, torn apart by violence that was escaping our control."

January 22nd, 2006:

"This is the most serious crisis we have faced, outside of the entire war on terror, since the end of the Cold War," said one, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. "A nuclear capability in Iran is unacceptable."

January 11th, 2002:

MCCAIN: As the president has said, there are significant challenges that remain in the region, from getting control of the country of Afghanistan to this very serious crisis that exists between Pakistan and India. So there's challenges in the region, but overall the success so far has been very impressive.

October 10th, 2000:

MCCAIN: I think we're seeing, perhaps, our worst fears being realized there in that part of the world. I believe that unless something turns around rather quickly, we could see further escalation and open welfare, whether it be in Ramallah, the West Bank, Gaza or Lebanon, Syria. I support the administration's efforts strongly to bring this -- to defuse this crisis that's looming that could be the greatest since the '73 war, '67 war. And it's very, very serious. It has very serious consequences and it is clearly in the United States national security interest to see this situation defused.

I do not think it's appropriate for me or any other politician right now to criticize the administration while this very serious crisis is going on.

Any libertarian with any modicum of sense is aware that Statists' claims of perpetual crisis is but a pretext for imposition of tyranny at home. Now our latest "crisis" is induced by our support of Saakashvili's thuggish failed invasion of South Ossetia. Yes the Russian thugs kicked our state-sponsored Georgian thugs in the butt. No doubt, for the likes of McCain, it is a crisis when our thugs lose. Yes, we are all Georgian thugs now. That our thugs lost is exhibit A why it is high time for a new nuclear arms race and a v2.0 cold war.

That Ruffini somehow buys into this transparent crap is all you need to know that the Next Right is not serious about limited government nor about bottom-up grassroots reform. War, perpetual crisis, is the health of the State. It is clear who Wags the Dog when it comes to Ruffini's Next Right. Sorry to say, Patrick, most libertarians are not going to eat the dog food you are peddling. It's already been removed from the shelves....