Comments on: Zogby Poll has Bob Barr at 6% nationwide.

By: nicholas gray

nicholas gray — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:56:27 +0000

Maybe it’s Time to buy that magazine!
Another way to discourage voters from Barak Obama is to point out his initials- do americans really want a B.O. Presidency? (I just read that his middle name is Hussein, but since that ruins the joke, I’ll ignore it.)

By: Jim Fryar

Jim Fryar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:50:11 +0000

Time Magazines issue for the week of July 11, features an article on the rise of the Libertarian Party. The article is titled, "Bob Barr may sink John McCain," and highlights recent poll numbers suggesting that Barr is eating into McCain's support in a number of States. Time calls Libertarian standardbearer Barr: "the most respectable candidate it has ever had." It ends with the following quote: "Libertarians are getting ready for the mainstream, and mainstream America may finally be ready for them."

By: Jim Fryar

Jim Fryar — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:07:19 +0000

There is a great post by guest writer Kevin Tracey on the effect Bob Barr will have on the LP for years to come, over at Libertarian Republican. Kevin Tracy is a Republican Political Consultant. He has a highly rated political prognosticating blog from a "Catholic Conservative perspective."

By: Jim Fryar

Jim Fryar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:47:50 +0000

One of the problems associated with philosophy is that when exploring ideas, those ideas do not necessarily stop at a popular position. When we look at the idea of limited small government it would be intellectually dishonest to stop short of an examination of the ‘ultimate small government,’ ie. anarchy.

If however anarchy was mentioned in a LP contest it would make the party look like a bunch of kooks in the eyes of the mainstream voter.

From a political point of view we can take what we as a group consider to be the ideal position where we are still well within the bounds of being libertarian, but not out of step with the general non statist voters, or at least not to the point where they will treat us as idiots.

Mary Ruart takes a leading philosophical position within the organization over there and while I disagree strongly with the position she has taken on this issue, Mary is one of my favorite reads from the States. She really knows her stuff which is always well thought out and lucid.

Unfortunately her willingness to explore issues to their full extent would make her a disastrous candidate unless you only want the most extreme elements of the libertarian movement to vote for the LP.

I was in fact highly critical of the candidacy of Mary Ruart, but I still consider her a great asset to the movement.

By: DavidLeyonhjelm

DavidLeyonhjelm — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:25:49 +0000

it looked silly and even repugnant to a non-libertarian and would have killed the ticket in its tracks day one

It’s not relevant who is repelled. What’s important is who is attracted. Every single policy you ever have will be opposed by someone.

If the LP got 10% of the vote while 90% were repelled by Mary Ruwart’s musings, the LP would be deliriously happy.

By: Mark Hill

Mark Hill — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:18:47 +0000

Carla Howell would be better than Ruwart, IMO.

As for Ruwarts book, the law as it stands in Australia and applied by sensible judges is good enough, and answers these questions in a limted way.

By: nicholas gray

nicholas gray — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:50:23 +0000

I wonder if muslims love Mary Ruwart? One of Mohammed’s wives was 8 or 9 when he consumated the marriage. Maybe Mary was simply trying to capture the Muslim vote? (This is one of the reasons I don’t accept Mohammed as a true prophet- child sex, and polygamy).
I don’t think Libertarians are going to win this time around, so maybe the publicity would have been worth it? (Just like Henson got all that publicity over being censored- I bet he’s doing better now than before the raid!)

By: Jason Soon

Jason Soon — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:30:02 +0000

John
Mary Ruwart got flak over some passage in a book of hers saying that in theory children could consent to sex. Now irrespective of the rights or wrongs of that argument from a philosophical libertarian perspective it looked silly and even repugnant to a non-libertarian and would have killed the ticket in its tracks day one.

By: Temujin

Temujin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:37:56 +0000

Those are all good points. Perhaps a Barr/Ruwart ticket would have been ideal. But that decision has been made and now we need to look forward.

I agree that some LPers have got their nickers in a twist… and it perhaps more to those people (rather than yourself) to whom my above comments are directed. If they really cared about liberty, they would put the general movement before their personal gripes.

By: Riley O'Neill

Riley O'Neill — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:59:18 +0000

Like I said, I do place an emphasis on appealing to both new people and to keeping the long time people on board. I dedicate a considerable portion of my life (see my link for details) to bringing people into the libertarian movement and educating others. I know the things to say to left and right leaning individuals to get them to think about liberty. Like I said, we need someone who can bring in new potential people AND appeal to the already existing movement. Putting someone in there thinking they will get new members and turn off a considerable portion of long time supporters is a bad idea. I make such a big deal with this because so many people have left the party and have posted numerous ‘The Libertarian Party is dead’ and immense criticism of Barr, Root, and the LP. That sort of PR was avoidable by NOT selecting Barr/Root.

I do think Barr may do some good things, but I also think in this process that a lot of bridges are being burned down. If Barr makes it to the televised debates he will probably kick some ass, and yes, I would be cheering him on. But now the question is if he will make it to the debates. Considering that it is routine to exclude 3rd party candidates from these debates it seems unlikely that he will get in.

While I do not support Obama I feel that America needs him. Not in the context that we need his actual policies to fix everything but we need to get this leftist savior idea out of our mindset. The Obama movement to its supporters is far more than just a man, it is this abstract idea that people in their minds have of something that will be the unBush. I had a conversation about a year ago with a friend of mine. The idea he had was that Bush wasn’t the worst president of all time, but due to the prevalence of the internet he was the most observed and this newly created transparency enabled people to see what he is all about and then judge him.

The Obama presidency will also be under similar transparency. The internet was around during the Clinton years but it was not such a strong element of American culture. There was no youtube. Expressing yourself on the internet and having discussions like we are having now was in the realm of the small nerdy population (which I pridefully claim I was one back in the day!). At first people will be high if he wins. I know people already dreaming about how great America will be. Bluier skies, people getting along, prosperous economy, free and plentiful health care for all, we will be a new America. There was a set of videos posted here a while ago about a girl going crazy over Kevin Rudd and 2020. I thought it was hilarious and pretty much spot on with the same feeling that many Americans are having about Obama right now. Once the novelty wears off, and the internet machine starts up I have a very strong feeling that Obama’s popularity will drop.

The internet hammer has been beating Bush and the neocons for quiet a few years now. As a result people feel that this shows how great the Democrats really are. Well now the democrats need to be under the hammer as well.