I’m sure the party has Koch money, but why would any Rational Actor waste it on anything but themselves?
2 Likes
Huhr? Now you’re saying that Libertarianism is the only viable alternative? Cuz I could point you to some socialist-leaning countries where things are working out better for the average person than they are here, the Land of Rapacious Capitalism that Would Become Even More Rapacious If Libertarian Politicians Ever Win the White House.
7 Likes
Sometimes “anything else” isn’t an appealing strategy when the anything in question is viewed as more harmful.
We want money out of politics. We want lobbyists to have less power.
The libertarian party wants the State to ACTUALLY be drowned in the bathtub and let the corporations self-regulate instead of fixing the FDA/USDA/EPA for better science and less corporate influence.
We don’t trust revolutionaries and their promises, different guard isn’t different enough. Nor are they trustworthy to provide benefits more than drawbacks.
Give us a progressive party with civil libertarian tendencies and more “fiscal conservatism” in the actual sense, devote money to things that benefit society collectively, we can come up with plenty of compromises.
But, screw the Birchers that dominate the American Libertaian party.
9 Likes
Yes, but unfortunately, the 2020 cycle (i.e., primary candidates in whichever party that loses the White House) will probably ramp up no later than March 2017.
1 Like
The one I remembered is “a Libertarian is a Republican who smokes pot.” A college friend and I modified that to include “watches porn” (based on a roommate I had, who indeed made the jump from R to L).
6 Likes
It isn’t the only viable alternative. I find it more appealing that either R or D at this point, who, other than a few pet issues, are two sides on the same coin. Feel free to point out your alternative candidate.
I realize that some libertarians want zero oversight. Not all of them do. It isn’t like these governors got rid of all regulations in their states, did they? And wanting things and getting things are two different things. Sanders wanted a lot of thing that I doubt he could have made happen either. Obama claimed to want a lot of things, and didn’t get them. Electing a libertarian isn’t a magic wand where they can just form what ever they want. There is still a little thing called the Legislative branch.
Finally, only a small percentage of supporters for every party can check off EVERY thing on the list their party supports. Just because I don’t support EVERYTHING on the Libertarian ticket, doesn’t mean I should ignore it.
Well that starts with people like you (assuming that is what you want) getting involved and shaping a platform. That sentence sums up what I want nicely.
Feel free to tell me, since you’re talking alternatives, why you prefer Gary Johnson to Jill Stein.
5 Likes
Under hypocrite, they might have depicted the guy with whom I had an email run-in about 10 years ago. He advocated deporting anyone who was undocumented, overstayed their visa, snuck in, etc. (a la Trump). He had immigrated himself, via the official channels, and waited a very long time for his family to join him (also via the official channels). So he seemed very, very bitter about anyone else getting a shortcut. He also professed to be staunchly libertarian. I asked him how he squared his stated philosophy of less-instrusive government with his proposal for armed agents of the state to, well, intrude. He gave me something about a country being nothing without its territory, which has to be defined etc.
4 Likes
I’ve bumped into all of them at one time or another, usually two or three combined in one. It’s amazing how many of them are wanton hypocrites acting like whiny overprivileged teenagers getting upset with their parents.
4 Likes
Very last shot of the ad has the slogan “Our best America, yet.”
Yet what? That comma makes it seem ominous, doesn’t it?
7 Likes
The system is rigged to make sure third party candidates don’t stand a chance. The thing is, most politicians don’t give a rats ass about you or the country. They are there for themselves, and it doesn’t much matter who is in power – what matters is being near the power. So democrats and republicans are 100% fine with swapping control every so often. Do they want to win? Sure - will they survive if they don’t? Sure. Do they want the Libertarians coming in and ruining this balance? No.
Sort of like Federer / Nadal. In a 6 year period the two of them won 20 of 24 slams. They’d have been very happy with that – especially if it meant the other came in second – continuing for infinity.
They’re not libertarian enough for the Koch Bros.
3 Likes
For everyone crapping over the production quality of the video,
- This was a crummy transcode off the original that some random group posted on YouTube. Good grief.
- If all you have to gripe about at the end of the video is that Libertarians don’t spend a lot of money on production values, recognize that this is because Libertarians don’t take a lot of large corporate donations like the other candidates. Gary Johnson’s NM record in particular shows this - he self-funded his initial run in the primaries until the GOP subsidized him, then chastised him repeatedly for not “playing ball” with the legislature.
- If you can do better, I encourage you to offer your help to the national campaign at lp.org.
Finally, the only way the anti-Libertarian trolls are going to get their dreams fulfilled about what an epic failure a Libertarian presidency would be is to actually have a Libertarian elected president. How excited are you for your current options, with a war hawk democrat who actively circumvents national security policy so she can read her classified emails on her Blackberry facing off against American Hitler from the GOP?
1 Like
Not at all excited, which is why I’ll likely vote for someone who realizes that the problems with government mean we need to fix it, not basically eliminate it (Jill Stein, that is).
3 Likes
What was the name of the documentary?
Except some of the states are part of the problem. Should the federal government hand over more power to state governments run by people who apparently hate their constituents and love the big businesses that exploit them?
3 Likes
Johnson and Weld aren’t anarchists in the same way Obama isn’t a communist. Your reductivism politics chops need some polish.
What does that even mean? 
Not Libertarian enough, apparently.
4 Likes
