Posted by staff at LP.org:
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Like you, most Americans are unhappy with the Republican and Democratic parties. Earlier this month, a Zogby poll found that 58% of people think the U.S. needs more than two major political parties.
People are also unhappy with Congress. (No surprise there.) In fact, according to a Rasmussen poll released yesterday, 57% of people would like to throw out the ENTIRE CONGRESS and start over.
Many of these dissatisfied voters are libertarians — but a lot of them don’t know it. Past polls have shown that only about 2% of people identify themselves as libertarians, even though a much higher percentage have libertarian opinions on political issues.
The Libertarian Party is working to change that. We are out there, showing that there’s more to politics than "Democrat or Republican," and more than "liberal or conservative." We are bringing the desperately needed libertarian option to American voters.
The Democrats and Republicans are working hard to take away our liberties, but with your help, the Libertarian Party can become a major political force and restore those liberties.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not yet become a member of the Libertarian Party and wish to do so, please click here and join the only political party dedicated completely to cutting taxes and maximizing liberty. If you need to renew, please do so by clicking here.
Lake admires paulie’s philosophy
and considers him ‘slightly left of a
doobie toking Siberian Gandhi’
it is the process that ‘gets me’
having been the victim of John Blare’s
reform party ‘Net Cops’ censorship
I can not thank the IPR gods ever enough
for their stead fast dedication to the First
Amendment. There are things that TPW
and IPR do exceedingly well. And BAN,
Richard Winger is just a National Treasure
[without the pop corn and Cracker Jack!]
paulie [IMNHO] is smart but not wise
he is time less but very juvenile
[and remember Juvenal was widely
published in his day, before his
censorship and banishment!]
History tells us that Lincoln gave orders [shutting down the Maryland legislature, firing and hiring generals] ……..
As an active duty type during the Ford years I can tell you that even mid range officers referred to Gerald as ‘our water carrier’ and inferred that he took orders from the CIA [Bush Senior], FBI [Gray the Water Gate Post Hoover Clerk] , and Pentagon.
Beeeeg Difference ……..
[Lincoln might have admired Nixon but (IMNHO) would not have pardoned him!]
Well said, Mr. Blanton.
Substantial numbers of the general public have told pollsters that there needs to be third parties going back many years. Apparently, most of them are lying.
Americans view politics much like sports – they want to root for a winning team. They feel third parties can’t win and won’t vote for them. Even the supporters of third party candidates will sometimes vote for the major party candidate running against the candidate they fear and loath the most once they get inside the voting booth.
As long as the LP continues to mimic the GOP by focusing on “cutting taxes”, why would anyone vote LP when they can vote Republican? I seriously doubt that the LP will ever be a “major political force” because the LP refuses to give people a good reason to vote Libertarian.
When half the population doesn’t vote at all, you might think the LP would direct their attention to giving these people a reason to vote – especially since many people don’t vote because they don’t see any big difference between the major parties. Of course, trying to look like and sound like the major parties doesn’t seem to be working so well for the LP.
It seems to me the LP has nothing to lose by alienating Democrats and Republicans. It also seems the number one LP priority is to not offend or alienate Republicans.
Good one
need a REALLY short one…maybe:
Peace At Home and Abroad
Hey IPR – why have my comments stopped appearing?
Found three in spam filter and pulled them out. Write [email protected] if it happens again. The spam filter is automated and I have no idea why it tags some legitimate comments and misses some actual spam comments. I no longer have time to monitor it in real time.
Also, if you can post the same stories here that you do at GPW, I would love to sign you up as an IPR writer, and then you will also be able to pull them out yourself as well. Interested?
I’ll guess that Donald thinks that I’m to the right of Attila, although personally I consider myself far left.
Jefferson’s was the most succinct.
I’d be happy with Jefferson’s famous quotation, “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. ”
Other nice anti-aggression topics while we’re on the subject:
“America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom.” – John Quincy Adams (1821)
“War has all the characteristics of socialism most conservatives hate: Centralized power, state planning, false rationalism, restricted liberties, foolish optimism about intended results, and blindness to unintended secondary results.” – Joseph Sobran (1991)
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.” – Benjamin Franklin (1773)
[I particularly like Franklin’s quote given that the nostalgia for WWII as the ‘good fight’ seems to be the foundation of the perceived morality in fighting other wars for many]
“Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few … No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” – James Madison
[ironic, but good]
“Not in government or force, not in slavery or war, but in the creative, and thereby spiritual, power of freedom, shall our inspiration be found. “– F.A. Harper
“In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.” – Leo Tolstoy
ts, I’d support adding left-leaning slogans, too, but not “end imperialism.” Too charged and not especially factual. While I would favor Puerto Rican independence, I’m much more interested in bringing troops home.
Be nice if the LP website added “End Imperialism” to its slogans.
It has a nice “Left” feel to it, and thus would balance the “Right” feel of “Lower taxes.”
And maybe put up a peace sign.
But many “reformers” and “pragmatarians” will claim that “End Imperialism” (or any appeals to the “Left”), would “lose votes,” whereas that seems not to be a problem with appealing to the “Right.”
Yes, the Drug-Addled Bastard Party will win a seat from the Central North American region (the current United States), in a massive surprise to the pundits. However, the War on Drugs will end and all drugs will be legalized, with only the Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Muslim Block opposing this.
Donald R. Lake: My post was not intended to belittle your comment. I am not a member of Mensa, and in fact I do not have any Mensa buddies(i.e. Mensa friends). One does not need to be a member of Mensa to understand what you meant by “slightly to the right of Atilla the Hun.”(this is a jocular remark 🙂 )
I realize that you were being slightly provocative and humorous toward those whom you disagree with i.e Third Party Watch types (I am not one).
With that said, in political debate I have heard people say so-and-so is “to the right of Atilla the Hun”, and when I ask “What is so right-wing about Atilla the Hun?,” they have no response. My guess is that it’s a way to disparage someone that one disagrees with by equating them with a tyrant and a mass murderer.
As to the NJ Governor’s race this November, I am leaning towards David R. Meiswinkle, (from his website) “He also became involved with Ross Perot and the Reform Party, and eventually became the Secretary of the New Jersey Reform Party. He served as a delegate to the Reform Party National Convention in Long Beach, California that endorsed Patrick Buchanan as its Presidential candidate in 2000. He served as Buchanan’s bodyguard when the candidate made campaign appearances in New Jersey.”
I have heard that Patrick Buchanan is “slightly to the right of Atilla the Hun.” Meaningless. That was my point David.
David your posts and comments are informative and well thought out, and I enjoy resding them. Best regards.
Sounds dystopian to me, Trots.
Can I get me one seat on there for the Drug-addled Bastard Party and pay enough to support my habits?
I see noone dares to ask whether the Catholic Trotskyist Party should abandon its Religious Left stance.
The only way to destroy the duopoly is to end America and all countries as we currently know them, and initiate a global democracy. That will have proportional representation, and here is how I project the first world parliamentary elections for the World House of Assembly to go, in about 2036.
International Socialist Labor Party, 522 seats.
International Liberal Party, 200 seats.
Alliance of Conservative Parties, 188 seats.
Global Christian Democratic Party, 133 seats.
United Muslim Block, 128 seats.
Communist United Workers’ Party, 117 seats.
International Green Alliance, 100 seats.
Global Libertarian Party, 98 seats.
Pan-African People’s Democratic Party, 87 seats.
United Indian Congress Party, 68 seats.
United Hispanic People’s Action Party, 55 seats.
Various regionalist and smaller parties, 350 seats, including the Boston Tea Party and the American Restoration Party (the successor of the Constitution Party) with 5 seats each, and also the Progressive Libertarian Alliance with 1 seat.
The Catholic Trotskyist Party will have caucuses in the Socialist Labor, Liberal and Christian Democratic parties.
me too, Erik, horrific
Anyone else horrified that 42% of those polled aren’t sure we need more than 2 parties? WTF?
You could pay me in 1000 two-dollar bills (pre-1963, no-motto US Notes, please), but I prefer it at face-value in $50 buffalo gold coins. 😀
Thx Christopher, how ever my Mensa buddies had no problem understanding ‘Left of Gandhi’ and ‘Right of ……….’
Pennies, Nichols, Ones ?????
WTF: I have been saying [long and loud] what you hinted at in your post.
Along with “well, at the end of the day” the phrase “to the right of Atilla the Hun” is quite meaningless. Is someone that isn’t “right of Atilla the Hun” slightly left of Tamerlane?
Donald owes me $2000 now for posting that. I’d charge even more, but that would imply I understood WTF he was talking about. 🙂
Melty, I admittedly didn’t look at the Zogby poll. I was looking at Wes’s words exclusively.
But yes, the CP should realize that the TC and BoR just are not compatible very much.
Check Zogby n see how many “progessives” don’t like da war-n-spend parties. . . “independents” too. How many o them’re anti-war? . . . bet a lot . . . unlike self-professed Democrats. Most o them like war if it was a top-rankin Democrat’s idea(my mother’s like that, pro-Kosovo war, lookin the other way at Obama war). Just say “cut spending,” n “bring em home.”
lookin at da Zogby poll, Mike, . . . nifty democraphics, intresting too that women and blacks are less inclined to be dissatisfied with da war-n-spend parties.
What I’m getting at is what Donald said well above, about the virtues of keeping your politics secular. Perhaps it would behoove the Constitution Party to stop lookin at da Constitution as a shorthand ten commandments, and just give God passing mention. That way they could live up to their party name.
I’m with Thomas on the prime importance of peace. I too seek a loudly antiwar party. And yes, “completely dedicated to cutting taxes and maximizing liberty” is wrong. Tax cuts’re swell IF they don’t mean “spend now, pay later” which at federal level is what they mean . It’s in our lameass LP slogan too. Just got to fix that. It should say the two most important words in the politics of our debt-ridden nation today – CUT SPENDING! . . . and that would entail cutting our Empire.
I’d like to see a poll asking voters whether they prefer a multi-party electoral system or a two-party system (then a question in another poll adding the option of a “no party” system).
A government that respects individual liberty and personal responsibility has a name: LIBERTARIAN.
“The third parties need to work together a bit more, if they want to succeed in demolishing the two-party duopoly.”
Great idea but unfortunately won’t happen. It is just too easy to take cheap shots at one another which actually gets a response of perhaps 60 or 70 posts than to scream at the two major parties and be totally ignored by them and the mainstream media.
The third parties need to work together a bit more, if they want to succeed in demolishing the two-party duopoly.
Gee Mike: ya think that like [so called] Third Party Watch, the ‘slightly right of Attia the Hun’ types are posting more and doing so informally by inappropriately treating a wide spectrum alternative political site as their own narrow partisan turf ?????
Gee Mike: NO ONE has ever brought that paradigm up before, NOT EVER, in the last four years, NOT!
Everyone: I did not pay or prompt Michael to mention this, to spot light the obvious!
Hey IPR – why have my comments stopped appearing?
No statistic on religion there at, all, Melty, so dunno what you’re getting at.
Thomas, this appears to be tailored to appeal to a narrow group, being the fiscal conservatives. I would expect there to be similar messages coming for the non-interventionist crowd, the civil liberties crowd, and so on.
At least there should be. (HINT Wes!)
Melty: just one more hint that ‘we’ [alternative party types] should stay the course on keeping our SECULAR public administration secular!
Hopefully when the lying, cheating Bible Thumpers drift away the question of whether INDEPENDENT Political Report is the church or the anti church will not even be asked!
Secure my spiritually —– keep your religion to your self!
join the only political party dedicated completely to cutting taxes and maximizing liberty.
Why no mention of peace, antiwar, or non-intervention?
Those are dealbreaker issues for me. Unless a party is loudly and incessantly antiwar, I won’t support it.
We already have two pro-war parties. I’m seeking a loudly antiwar alternative.
Is the statistic on religiosity saying something? Are we the anti-church?