http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=82054§ionid=3510302
By Luke Manzarpour, Press TV, Tehran
Comic and writer Doug Stanhope’s ‘not for everyone’ take on contemporary America has been a voice of manic reason amid drab observations and mechanical feel-good entertainment -– an anomaly in the culture industry conveyer belt of distraction –- for nearly twenty years.
Having dropped his own run for presidency in a campaign based on “individual freedom, self-government and making America fun again”, Stanhope took up active participation in the Libertarian Party, backing Ron Paul’s run for presidency. Late into the campaign, however, disillusion with the party saw him switch allegiance to Barack Obama.
The following is Press TV’s exclusive interview with Mr. Stanhope about US politics:
Posted to IPR by Paulie
Yes Barr is more libertarian if you count economic issues. But I am not libertarian, so I praise Mr Stanhope for this move.
Glad to see Alex here.
Im going to agree with Alex, whom I remember from the Students for Paul facebook group and RonPaulForums. Barr may not have been great—but he was definetly more libertarian than Obama.
I understand Mr. Stanhope’s distaste for Barr, but that’s not a rational reason to instead support a war-mongering statist like Mr. Obama. I would hope that most libertarians could see that Obama, despite the rhetoric of change, was (and is) just going to continue the same failed policies of the Bush administration–this much should have been clear from Mr. Obama’s congressional voting record.
Under Bush, we had huge, wasteful spending bills that (A) exploit the American tax-payer, (B) fail to do a single beneficial thing for our long-run economy, and (C) lined the pockets of individuals and firms that could not raise their own funds honestly through the market process.
Under Obama, we get exactly the same thing. Further, we knew we’d get the exact same thing because he voted for the corporate welfare in the Senate. No change.
Under Bush, we got warrantless wiretaps, the REAL ID Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, and unnecessary war coupled with military excess. Under Obama (who voted for these things), we see no sign of discontinuation. We’re now seeing bombing in Pakistan and we all know of Mr. Obama’s plans to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. No change.
We can all understand frustration surrounding the Barr campaign, which was in my opinion very poorly ran, but I fail to see Mr. Stanhope’s rationale for backing Mr. Obama.
Yours,
Alex Peak