Sen. Rand Paul has won several recent straw polls and surveys, and his brand of libertarianism seems to be on the rise in his party. But anointing him the early GOP front-runner for 2016 may be going too far.

Is Rand Paul really the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination? Theres some chatter to that effect at the moment among Washingtons pundit class. It was sparked by last weekends victory for the Kentucky senator in another straw poll, this one at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference. Then CNN/ORC released a poll on Sunday with Senator Paul leading the list of potential nominees for GOP and GOP-leaning voters.

Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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As CNN notes, thats a feat that Pauls father, Ron Paul, never accomplished in all his years running for president.

Plus, Paul is already making good use of his fathers base of committed donors, notes Washington Post political expert Chris Cillizza. Hes done well in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Pauls brand of libertarianism seems to be on the rise in his party, particularly among young Republicans.

Its past time people start taking him seriously as a potential Republican nominee, Mr. Cillizza writes.

Well, sure. Paul himself seems intent on making a serious run. Where his fathers presidential efforts seemed more purely ideological, based on promoting the libertarian brand, Paul is doing the sort of stuff you do if you actually plan on trying to win the thing. Thus hes established an alliance of sorts with the very establishment Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, his fellow Kentuckian.

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Rand Paul 2016: Front-runner or overrated?

For the second year in a row, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has won the CPAC Washington Times Straw Poll. This year he won by 31 percent of the votes cast, 20 points higher than his closest rival for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

This is disturbing since 50 percent of those attending the conference were millennials between the ages of 18 and 25.

Libertarians have always been outliers in the American political scene. Their extreme individualism militates against the republican principles upon which this country was founded, first and foremost of which is a common concern for all those who share in the national franchise.

The Founders built safeguards into both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to protect all Americans rights. They also recognized that a certain amount of personal liberty had to be ceded to the state to guarantee security and good functioning of the civil order. For example, a military draft and taxation have always been recognized as legitimate rights of the state necessary for the common good.

Libertarians favor a limited state, minimal taxation, and an unfettered free market. The question always remains: How much is limited? This is difficult to determine since libertarians run the gamut according to which issue is being discussed.

These issues apply to international and national affairs. For example, libertarians favor isolationism. Is this wise with American interests present in a globalized economy?

Even if there were no imminent threat to the U.S. or her interests, is it not true that as a part of the family of nations we have an obligation to help weaker nations overcome invasion and rapine by more powerful states? Or, can we tolerate genocide within national borders and make no effort to stop it? This would be ethically wrong.

Certainly, one can make the case that President Barack Obamas proposed cutbacks in military spending for the next fiscal year could be deemed a nod to libertarian principles, since this would limit Americas international presence.

Libertarians basically believe in the maxim, Every man for himself. This being so, the national fabric is in jeopardy.

For example, during the latter part of the 20th century, legislation was passed to prevent monopolies from gaining hegemony over American business and inhibiting free enterprise. An important part of our democratic life is the ability for each individual to achieve his or her full potential. To do this there are occasions when government must intervene to allow fairness of access to wealth for all.

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