A New Dawn for the Libertarian Party
And the obstacles that are still in the way
Mike Riggs & Garrett Quinn | May 9, 2012
Four-page article summarizing this past week’s Libertarian National Convention. Excerpt:
The Libertarian Party has struggled with its identity since its founding in 1971. Technically America’s third largest political party, the LP’s political efforts have often made it seem like America’s Third Largest Debate Club. The LP has elected only a handful of its members to state legislatures, and elected no candidates to federal office. In 2008, the party broke with tradition by nominating a carpetbagging repentant drug warrior, former Republican congressman Bob Barr, whose nomination over LP mainstay and perennial candidate for office Mary Ruwart nearly tore the party in half.
It appears the party has found a balance with the nomination of former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson for president and Judge Jim Gray of California for vice president. Both men are former Republican officeholders with high media profiles, both are committed libertarians, and both won their respective nominations at the Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas by large margins and after only one round of voting.
Yet shortly after confetti cannons fired celebratory glitter directly in front of C-SPAN’s cameras, the party resumed its internal squabbling, and a confusing and frustrating fight over who would chair the Libertarian National Committee lasted two days. Eventually, a candidate from the more purist wing of the party, Geoff Neale, won out, defeating two candidates from the more electorally focused wing of the party. LP delegates then cleaned house, replacing every party officer.
With the LP slated to have its highest profile presidential ticket since Ed Clark and David Koch ran together in 1980, hundreds more candidates running for lower offices across the country, and Americans more interested in libertarian ideas than ever before, the Party of Principle still has some questions it needs to answer. Can it qualify for the ballot in all 50 states? Can members stop fighting each other over who is more libertarian? Can the Libertarian National Committee do its job?
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YES WE CAN ! Stop the infighting that is, it always draws a smile to my face to see Reason and others imply the moderates are “MORE” electorial minded. I don’t think there is a LP purist anywhere out there who doesn’t wish ALL LP candidates are elected this year and truly CHANGE the F****** MESS the Rs and Ds have got us into.
When (if) the masses ever realize they (the Ds and Rs) are destroying the value of their money, things will change. The purchasing power of our money is nosediving and the LP is the BEST Party with parachutes and real life answers that are FAIR for all, not just to pay off “special interests”!!!
The new NatComm needs to get to work on doubling the PAID LP membership THIS YEAR. If they can’t do that they need to be replaced in ’14. PRODUCE or get the hell back to where you come from, we DON’T need you !!! Stop settling for stuffed shirt egotist who don’t really produce. LIVE FREE NOW !
Meet Gary Johnson – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boHvCmRm3SQ&feature=channel
Gary “IRONMAN” Johnson 2012: The Athlete’s Guide to Good Government – http://www.youtube.com/user/govgaryjohnson?feature=BF#p/u/15/FmDLD4h7Ydg
Gary Johnson 2012: Don’t Get Fooled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNXdoeF3KaM&NR=1
YES Even $25 Can Help Get This Message To The Masses! Help Gary Spead the Message of Peace and Prosperity! Donate to the Campaign Today! –
https://donate.garyjohnson2012.com/
Thanks!
Can members stop fighting each other over who is more libertarian?
This will happen when all the disgruntled conservatives go back from wherever they come from. They seem to think that actual libertarians are engaging in a pissing contest with them when advocating actual libertarian ideas, as if nobody could actually believe that drugs should be legal or that taxation is the same as theft or slavery.
Perhaps it is because conservatives tend to feel that the more radical their rants are, the more conservative they are. Such as the more bombs you drop, the more conservative you are. The more people you want imprisoned, the more conservative you are.
The only thing worse than a conservative is a progressive that thinks the more government you insist on, the more progressive you are.
They don’t get Johnson was the ‘radicals’ guy (as was Wrights)…