http://youtu.be/DYeqxmE6Q94
Mr. Johnson starts out by speaking about the militarization of police, then about third-party debates at about 2:50, and goes on to talk about ISIS and how Libertarians would handle the current crisis.
Gary Johnson was the 2012 Libertarian candidate for President and is a possible candidate for 2016.
I like to imagine that some of my non-imaginary acquaintances are my friends 🙂
L, yes. You? 😉
LOL.
Likewise.
I thought Gary Johnson’s comments on non-interventionism as a Libertarian Party principle was positive. I am glad he is staying active and hope he runs for the Presidential nomination again.
She does seem to cling to the Rothbardian worldview, but then some of my best friends are Rothbardians!
Wait a second. You have friends? Non-imaginary ones?
Well, I’m no fan of dirty tricks…not at all. Still, no one has thus far addressed her response to the take down. IIRC, she didn’t cleanly disown her inartful words from a decade prior, which was a compounding misstep, I’d say.
Perhaps I should have picked another extremist position that some Ls hold to illustrate my point. MR’s generally a sympathetic figure, and while I personally view her endorsement of Bergland in 83 to be the pivotal turning point toward the fringe that the LP has never recovered from, she seems like a decent and well-meaning person. She does seem to cling to the Rothbardian worldview, but then some of my best friends are Rothbardians!
This story does illustrate for me the difference between political theory (based on constructs) and practical politics.
Dr. Ruwart seems to have lost some of her enthusiasm for the party after that, or perhaps it was also from some unpleasantness from her time on the LNC. What a shame. We don’t have any other spokespeople for the party with her particular flair, and I think we’re the worse for it.
Paulie, your memory is pretty darn good. Mary got the call from Laissez-Faire books. They saw the controversy and was frantically apologizing for ever shipping the copy of the book. Sloppy job not covering tracks. Frankly, I don’t think that person gives a damn about covering tracks.
Hard to deal with people who obviously don’t care what people think of them or their actions.
Did that come out? It was an anonymous comment made with an IP anonymizer. I remember it. As far as I know no one figured out who made it.
Apparently according to at least one source Starr also sent the book to someone on Root’s campaign with a note to check out page so and so, and someone on Phillies campaign may have also discovered it while doing opposition research, maybe even earlier than all what transpired with TPW, Root, Barr etc. I think it was a few weeks before that but was not posted publicly, I got something about it in an email though. Then LPHQ got in on the act and put out a release that while it did not mention Dr. Ruwart as far as I can remember did seem to a lot of people like a thinly veiled attack on her and her campaign.
If it wasn’t that it would have been talking about Steve Kubby dropping acid with his then 16 year old son which he had a chapter on in his book, they had their attacks ready one way or the other so we kinda dodged a bullet when Mary got in the race.
Happy b-day!
RC, the attack came from the 1998 edition of the book. This was ten years prior to her presidential run. One fellow candidate posts the two paragraphs on Third Party Watch.
If I was concerned with a fellow candidate damaging my party, I would have done the responsible thing and picked up the phone and talked to that person about it.
But no, they had to post it publicly for the world to see. Then Wayne Allyn Root’s campaign ran with it. I saw the WAR’s private, copyrighted emails to Mary, threatening her to drop out or he would ruin her reputation.
Bob Barr talks about it on Glenn Beck the Friday night of the LP national convention.
These people never gave a hot damn about the Libertarian Party! It is all about winning and building up their childish egos.
So this home cooked controversy cost Ruwart the presidential nomination and gave us the Barr/Root shit sandwich.
The party still can’t get that crappy after taste from its mouth.
And btw, Happy Birthday, Dr. Mary Ruwart!
fwiw, TH, I seem to recall that MR put out a statement during that period. I recall being surprised that she didn’t simply say that she supported laws against pedophilia and kiddie porn.
Frankly, my memory’s a bit hazy on the matter, though.
I recall my reaction at the time pretty well, and it went something like this: Gee, I’m sure MR believes hers is the “principled” position, but if so, she probably should not run for office. I support challenging taboos, but those particular taboos involve matters that SO offensive to SO many, such a challenge is best done outside of electoral politics.
I sometimes find RC’s comments annoying, very occasionally bordering on trolling. But, overall, I think his playing of devil’s advocate adds to the value of IPR.
Good points, Thane.
Gary Johnson spent 15 minutes with Stephen Kruiser on PJTV talking about all things Libertarian without once mentioning any scheme to implement a National Retain Sales Tax with Prebate (I hear some people call it the Fair Tax. Why they call it that can only be explained by sophists.). I voted for Gary Johnson in 2012 and just might advocate for him in the next upcoming Presidential nomination process for the Libertarian Party. I love the idea of a robust NOTA campaign but I’m not convinced that one quirky tax proposal beats the 84%+ time he and Jim Gray spent talking about issues of interest to Libertarians with more people than any other Libertarian in recent memory.
http://www.pjtv.com/s/GI4DONZU
jp: Please know that his version of activism is sitting home in front of his computer finding things to criticize true activists for.
me: Technically, no, JP. I’ve never claimed to be an activist. I simply like to share ideas now and then.
I offer activists and non-activists another way of looking at things. I trust you don’t somehow find that threatening! 😉
http://www.theagitator.com/2008/05/28/one-more-thing-2/
th: What would be the Ruwart position on pedophilia be, Robert?
me: iirc, that they can sue after they become adults, but that children can consent to sex with adults.
I was less criticizing her view and more referring to one of many examples of VERY fringy ideas that some Ls cling to. I was contrasting that with GJ’s Fair Tax, which I don’t like for a lot of reasons, but I don’t find to be profoundly self marginalizing positions that some Ls take now and then.
Thomas, you don’t play in this sandbox much, but my job here is to raise extremist L-ism to the light for further radical examination. So sorry if my shorthand reference to a well-discussed controversy caused any angst for you. Nothing’s ever personal with me.
It’s a huge negative, but on balance I still support Johnson. I do however hope he gets some good spirited competition for the nomination that grills him hard on the phony “fair” tax (I never, ever call it the fair tax, it’s not and it’s giving in to bad propaganda to call it that). I am strongly against NOTA for reasons explained on many past threads. I hope Gary gets persuaded to come off the “fair” tax nonsense and will use future opportunities to keep discussing the issue with him again. I think he is more likely to be persuaded by an upstart campaign for the nomination getting traction, though. He is a politician, after all, and politicians respond to pressure.
Thomas, I saw Capozzi’s comment but wasn’t up to commenting on it. Please know that his version of activism is sitting home in front of his computer finding things to criticize true activists for. Most of us ignore him.
I don’t post here regularly. When I do, I post positive content promoting Libertarian candidates and issues. I am too busy being an activist to waste my time and words.
Dr. Ruwart’s reputation is worth the time I could be spending our the campaign I manage.
Reputations, especially in a libertarian society, are of the highest value. I will defend Mary Ruwart’s with every fiber of my being.
What would be the Ruwart position on pedophilia be, Robert?
I am very interested in any facts you can share, especially since Dr. Ruwart is a dear friend of mine and I was on her staff in 2008 when the epic smear and character assassination occurred.
It was the most disgusting and vicious attack I have ever witnessed within the LP. Her words were twisted and taken out of context. I will never forget page 43 of the original version of Short Answers to Tough Questions. She admitted that those two paragraphs were the most poorly written of her long career of writing.
If Dr. Mary Ruwart can not expect the benefit of doubt in this party, then no one can.
It is unfortunate that several of Mary’s fellow LP colleagues, including fellow candidates, LNC and LNC staff didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt.
They stabbed her in the back before pushing her under the bus.
A few of those people are damn lucky not to have had their asses beaten into the ground.
I am still amazed I restrained myself.
Yes, I am overly sensitive about this.
Any true friend of Dr. Ruwart would be.
B, can’t say I’ve met the person who never “sacrifices” a value to some extent. 100% concurrence has yet to happen to my knowledge.
Say GJ came off the FAIR tax but adopted the Ruwart position on pedophilia. Some might REALLY admire him for that, but my guess is his support would dry up to only the most fringey. Yes?
The “FAIR” tax is enough to guarantee that I will be voting “NOTA” in Orlando unless a true libertarian wants to represent the LP on the ballot.
Are we so desperate that we would sacrifice our values again?
This was a B performance.
I’m disappointed he’s sticking with the FAIR tax.