On 1/28/2016, the Libertarian Party officially added Shawna Joy Sterling of Kentucky to their 2016 list of recognized Presidential Candidates running for the Libertarian Presidential nomination which will be voted on between May 27,2016 and May 30, 2016 in Orlando, Florida at the Rosen Centre Hotel.
Shawna Joy Sterling is one of two women currently running for the 2016 Libertarian Presidential nomination. The other woman is Joy Waymire of California. Both women have “Joy” in their name and while Joy Waymire is a current resident of California, Shawna Joy Sterling was born in Long Beach, California.
I think its cool that the Libertarian Party has two “California Girls” running for the Libertarian Presidential nomination! – Shawna Joy Sterling
Well, this is fun!
I’m a California girl, although my name isn’t Joy. “Jill” Is a bit close to that, though–
FYI, I have located Miss Joy Waywire. She has been without internet access since early December, but she’s back online now.
I had dinner with Ted Brown and his wife tonight, and we spent some time tlking about the debate planned in California for all the Presidential candidates. I hope to post something this weekend inviting everyone to California (Los Angeles) the weekend that includes April 1 of this year.
I will be there, live-blogging the debate. Would any other IPR writer like to join me?
So another person whom I have never heard of seeking the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.
Well, after reading about some of her beliefs, we don’t have a whole lot in common besides the CA thing.
One would think that someone running for office under a party’s name, would research that party and what we stand for.
She originally filed with the FEC as a Republican. Her principal campaign committee is called PRO LIFE PRO AMERICA.
Both women have “Joy” in their name…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf-d-Ka30EY
Jill,
You write:
“One would think that someone running for office under a party’s name, would research that party and what we stand for.”
How do you know she didn’t?
On abortion, since 1996 the LP has nominated “pro-life” three times (Browne x 2 and Barr), “pro-choice” once (Johnson), and “three different and mutually exclusive positions over the course of the campaign” once (Badnarik).
On same-sex marriage, in 2008 the LP nominated the author of DOMA.
On the basis of party history going at least as far back as 1988, a presidential aspirant could be forgiven for concluding that the LP doesn’t really care whether or not its presidential candidates support its alleged principles.
Did one of the LP candidates drop out? I thought they had 12 candidates listed before at https://www.lp.org/candidates/presidential-candidates-2016/ — but now they’ve added Shawna Sterling, and they still have 12.
One was removed for being under 35 and not eligible to run.
Thomas Knapp said: “once (Badnarik).”
I recall that Michael Badnarik was personally against abortion, but he did not think that the federal government should be involved in the issue.
Harry Browne was against abortion, but he also said (half jokingly) that if the federal government banned abortion, “that it wouldn’t be long before men started having abortions.” Harry Browne thought that trying to persuade women to not have abortions was the better route to go than to try to enforce laws against it.
“On same-sex marriage, in 2008 the LP nominated the author of DOMA.”
Bob Barr claimed to have changed his position on gay marriage upon joining the Libertarian Party.
“On the basis of party history going at least as far back as 1988, a presidential aspirant could be forgiven for concluding that the LP doesn’t really care whether or not its presidential candidates support its alleged principles.”
The Libertarian Party and movement has long been divided over the issue of abortion.
Andy,
You write:
“I recall that Michael Badnarik was personally against abortion, but he did not think that the federal government should be involved in the issue.”
That may have been his position at some point.
Between December of 2003 and August of 2004, he went through three positions, none of which were that one.
In December of 2003 in a debate with Nolan and Russo, he said he believed that a fetus was a person with rights from conception and that abortion was therefore aggression and should be illegal.
Some time in early 2004 — in an interview published in a newspaper that was circulated at the national convention — he changed his position to the fetus only being a person with rights at the point of showing detectable brain activity, after which abortion was aggression and should be illegal.
Then in August of 2004, his web site popped up the LP’s platform plank on abortion as his position on the issue.
Thomas Knapp said: “In December of 2003 in a debate with Nolan and Russo, he said he believed that a fetus was a person with rights from conception and that abortion was therefore aggression and should be illegal.”
He could have meant that idealistically it should be illegal, but that he knew that nothing like that would pass under the current political climate, or that it is an issue that should be left to the states, and that he’d encourage state governments to make it illegal, but that as President he’d stay out of it.
“Some time in early 2004 — in an interview published in a newspaper that was circulated at the national convention — he changed his position to the fetus only being a person with rights at the point of showing detectable brain activity, after which abortion was aggression and should be illegal.”
He could have been elaborating on his previously stated position, or perhaps he did in fact change his position.
“Then in August of 2004, his web site popped up the LP’s platform plank on abortion as his position on the issue.”
The LP’s platform plank on this issue is almost not even taking a stance, but it is somewhat defacto pro-choice without being outright pro-choice, which is due to Libertarians having differing views on the issues.
I know that you worked on Michael Badnarik’s campaign. What do you think of him as a candidate? I thought that he did a good job under the circumstances.
Michael Badnarik was the last Libertarian Party candidate for President for whom I had any enthusiasm.
Tom, who are your favorite Libertarian Party candidates for President? Do you even have one?
Speaking for myself, since I have been in the party, which is since 1996, my favorite Libertarian Party candidates for President have been as follows:
1) Harry Browne
2) Michael Badnarik
If you count candidates running outside the Libertarian Party, I would add in Ron Paul’s runs for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012, and I actually wrote in Ron Paul for President in the 2008 general election (he was an official write in candidate in the state where I voted in 2008, which was California). Technically speaking, although he was running for the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012, Ron Paul still maintained his Life Membership in the Libertarian Party which he had from the 1980’s, and given that he never revoked it to this day, one could say that he was a still a Libertarian Party candidate, although he was running in the Republican primaries.
I am not as familiar with other Libertarian Party candidates for President prior to when I joined the party in 1996, outside of Ron Paul’s 1988 run. The only thing that I remember of Ron Paul’s run for President in 1988 was seeing his name on a sample ballot a teacher taped to a chalk board in school (I was too young to vote at that time). The teacher said something like, “Class, this is a sample ballot for the upcoming presidential election.” and then pointed to it, but said nothing else about it beyond that. I think that I was the only kid in class that got up and actually looked at the sample ballot, and I actually do remember seeing Ron Paul’s name on the ballot, but I had no idea who he was. The only thing that I remembered about him was, “That guy has two first names.” I also remember the name of some weird political party that I’d never heard of next to his name called the Liberation Party or the Liberalarian Party or something like that.
I did not see or hear anything about Ron Paul or that weird political party that started with the letter “L” again until 1996 when I stumbled upon Harry Browne speaking at the Libertarian Party National Convention on C-SPAN. I remember thinking, “Hey, that was that weird political party that started with an ‘L’ and that had that candidate with two first names that I saw taped to the chalk board in school. I wish that I would have known that this is what this party stood for because I would have joined it back then if somebody had explained it to me.”
I joined the party shortly after seeing the National Convention on C-SPAN on the 4th of July weekend that year, and a few months later that same year I received an issue of LP News in the mail that talked had a story about 1988 Libertarian Party candidate for President, Ron Paul, rejoining the Republican Party, and getting elected to the US House of Representatives as a Republican. I remember thinking, “That was that guy with two first names that I saw on that sample ballot taped to that chalk board at school, Ron Paul!” I did not have a computer at the time, so I walked to a local library and I looked up Ron Paul on the library computer. I found that he wrote a weekly column, and I started reading it just about every week for several years.
So, if I can include Ron Paul in the mix of my favorite candidates for President, my list would go like this:
1) Harry Browne and Ron Paul (tie – This is a tough choice for me, as in certain aspects I would say Harry Browne, but in other aspects I would say Ron Paul, so this is why I’m calling it a tie.)
2) Michael Badnarik
I’m really not familiar enough with the campaigns of John Hospers, Roger McBride, Ed Clark, David Bergland, and Andre Marrou to make an informed rating of them.
I will say that John Hospers loses a lot of points for me with his endorsement of George W. Bush for President and his support for the neo-con wars of aggression in the Middle East later in his life.
Going back to rating candidates since I have been in the LP, my ranking continues as follows:
3) Gary Johnson (I was not an enthusiastic Johnson supporter, and I ended up writing in None Of The Above for President that year in the general election, but even so, I actually did provide some support for Gary Johnson. I handed out some Gary Johnson for President campaign materials as a volunteer, plus I posted and emailed some of his videos online, and I told people that if they were planning to vote, that Gary Johnson was better than the other choices for President on their ballot. This was not quite the same as the enthusiastic level of support that I gave to Harry Browne, Michael Badnarik, and Ron Paul, all of whom I donated money to and engaged in more volunteer work on their behalf, and whom I strongly encouraged people to cast their votes for them. I was actually torn about whether or not I should vote for Gary Johnson when I walked into the voting booth, but I went with None Of The Above due to Johnson’s support of the Fair Tax and for not pardoning that many people while he was Governor.)
And coming in at a distant 4th place,
4) Bob Barr (Not voting for Bob Barr was a much easier decision for me than not vote for Gary Johnson. Like I said above, I wrote in Ron Paul for President in the general election that year.)
“I am not as familiar with other Libertarian Party candidates for President prior to when I joined the party in 1996, outside of Ron Paul’s 1988 run.”
I have seen several videos online from Ron Paul’s 1988 run as the Libertarian Party candidate for President, so Ron Paul’s 1988 run for President is the campaign I am most familiar with that happened before I joined the party.
” than not vote for Gary Johnson.”
Should read, “than not voting for Gary Johnson…”
Stewart Flood: “One was removed for being under 35 and not eligible to run.”
Under 35 people are eligible to run, they’re just not eligible to serve if elected.
Under 35 people have run before. Third party candidates are primarily salesmen for their parties, not real candidates in that they have a chance of winning (sorry, it’s true). Thus it can make sense to choose an under 35 candidate were he especially charismatic, principled, and eloquent.
I went to Shawna Joy Sterling’s website: http://shawnajoysterling.com/
In her Issues section, under the Budget section, she answers the following question:
In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? No.
So it seems that Ms. Sterling does not support a reduction in military spending. Really? Military spending is one of the largest portions of the federal budget (I include the intelligence agencies), and yet she sees no room for any cutbacks?
Some of her other answers:
Do you support same-sex marriage? No.
Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? Yes.
Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? Yes.
Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? Yes.
She also says that she wants to Greatly Increase federal spending on Agriculture, Defense, Environment, Space Exploration, and Welfare.
Yet she wants to Greatly Decrease federal spending on Arts, Education, Homeland Security, International Aid, Medical Research, Scientific Research, United Nations.
Curiously inconsistent.
She seems like an intellectual lightweight. A talk radio “conservative” with no understanding of libertarian principles — or of consistent principles of any ideology.
Just another ego-tripper who wandered over to the LP tent because of our great ballot access.
Quoth Andy:
“I know that you worked on Michael Badnarik’s campaign. What do you think of him as a candidate? I thought that he did a good job under the circumstances. … who are your favorite Libertarian Party candidates for President? Do you even have one?”
I thought he did a fantastic job. He busted his ass for the party and he was the credible peace candidate in a year when the war on Iraq was the big issue. Of the candidates who actually got the nomination since I joined the party in 1996, he’s far and away my favorite. Of those who didn’t, I’d have to think hard about which one is my favorite and why.
I didn’t agree with Badnarik on all the issues.
Writing (and then defending — IIRC, Paulie may have been one of the big “WTF is THAT shit” questioners) his position paper on immigration/borders had me taking extra showers with lye soap and a scrub brush trying to wash the filth off.
His hopping around on abortion exasperated me so much that when the campaign asked me to write the position paper changing his position YET AGAIN to that of the platform, I declined and told Barb Goushaw to find someone else to do it.
It was that kind of experience that drove me more toward a more perfectionist standard for candidates just so I can sleep at night. But Badnarik is a great guy, and he worked hard for the party, and those nominated since him have been worse, not better.
Tom, how would you rank the candidates for President since you have been in the LP? What year did you first get involved with the LP, sometime between 1994 and 1996, right?
I recall you being a Harry Browne critic? Perry Willis controversey aside, I thought Harry Browne was an excellent candidate.
Who do you think was the best VP candidate since you have been in the party? I would say Art Olivier.
Out of candidates who ran for the LP presidential nomination but did not get it, I would probably have to go with Aaron Russo as my favorite.
Andy,
I joined the party in early 1996 when Russo’s Constitution Party fell apart.
I don’t exactly “rank” the nominees since then so much as “group” them — Browne and Badnarik on top, Barr and Johnson on the bottom.
Browne was better than Badnarik ideologically; Badnarik was better than Browne when it came to the ethics of campaign organizations. Johnson was marginally better than Barr ideologically, but even more of a train wreck on the ethics side.
IIRC, she challenged Mitch McConnell in the GOP Senate primary in 2014, then ran as a write-in candidate in the general.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/this-kentucky-gop-senate-candidates-bizarre-website-is-perfect/
http://2016.republican-candidates.org/Sterling/
There are some who say Nanacy Lord would have been a good presidential candidate, instead of being a VP candidate. She spoke at a rally during the 1993 LP Convention.
Correction for David above: Nancy Lord.