I listened to Judy Woodruff interview Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr today. When asked why he was running, he began his response “Our goal over the next two weeks is to acquaint as many American voters as we can with the fact that there is a real choice out there . . .”
The Libertarians and Ralph Nader both offer a choice. In this campaign, not only can neither win, but they are not even influencing Obama’s and McCain’s campaign rhetoric.
I took a look at the Libertarian website and found an Introduction to the Libertarian Party, which reads as follows:
What is The Libertarian Party?
The Libertarian Party is your representative in American politics. It is the only political organization which respects you as a unique and competent individual.
America’s Heritage
Libertarians believe in the American heritage of liberty, enterprise, and personal responsibility. Libertarians recognize the responsibility we all share to preserve this precious heritage for our children and grandchildren.
Free and Independent
Libertarians believe that being free and independent is a great way to live. We want a system which encourages all people to choose what they want from life; that lets them live, love, work, play, and dream their own way.
Caring For People
The Libertarian way is a caring, people-centered approach to politics. We believe each individual is unique. We want a system which respects the individual and encourages us to discover the best within ourselves and develop our full potential.
Principled; Consistent
The Libertarian way is a logically consistent approach to politics based on the moral principle of self-ownership. Each individual has the right to control his or her own body, action, speech, and property. Government’s only role is to help individuals defend themselves from force and fraud.
Tolerant
The Libertarian Party is for all who don’t want to push other people around and don’t want to be pushed around themselves. Live and let live is the Libertarian way.
This rhetoric sounds warm and fuzzy and touchy-feely. I looked at their campaign platform adopted in May of this year. It gets a little more specific and makes it clear that they feel the government is trouncing all over our rights. I can’t argue with that.
Even so, I don’t think the Libertarian Party is for me. However, if Obama wins, my plans are to post articles directed at the excesses of our federal government as well as my state and local governments.
The more I got to know about Obama the more confidence I’ve felt in my decision to work in his campaign. One of the last things I learned about him, and that was several months ago, is that he is pragmatic. He will compromise to get his foot in the door on an issue he wants to pursue.
An example is giving lip service support to offshore drilling to get an energy bill passed that included some funding for alternative energy. He’s against off shore drilling for all the right reasons and supports it for the right reason: to get something going on alternative energy.
If he wins the election, I’ll be posting articles about our national security ideology which has rendered us less secure and more insolvent. That means quit supporting the Iraq and Afghanistan dysfunctional governments but root out the terrorists. Kill the rats in place but don’t buy the house they live in to do it. We must bring our imperialism to an end if we are to regain control of our own destiny. That position shoud be consistent with Libertarian thinking.
If McCain wins, I may be posting the same stuff but with the realization it won’t be happening while McCain’s in office. Because of his military mindset, he will do anything to avoid losing a war including finishing what W set out to do, which is to run this country into the ground. This “we must win” ideology is a an instance of the dark and deadly mentally-ill state of false pride.