Saturday, May 14, 2016

Party Time

My car
Well I finally did it. For the first time in my life, I actually joined a political party.

I'm a conservative (lower case, indicating a philosophy, not upper case to indicate a proper noun, as the name of a group or party). But now, I'm also a Libertarian (upper case, as in the Libertarian Party and as in the Libertarian Party of Georgia). Let me explain why I joined the party.

In recent years, I've increased contributions to some candidates running for office. I've not always been happy with the candidate I was financially supporting. Or the party, quite honestly.

The Republican Party has shown time and again it's unwillingness to hold to conservative principles. And I've had enough. I'm done giving money to them. I'm cutting them off. Writing them out of my will. Moving on. Looking ahead. Kinda like a divorce. Some of you know what I mean.

I don't have piles of money lying around just begging to be given away. But, I do occasionally send money to help in election years. This year, I've given to two candidates, and I'm all out of candidates. Republican ones, that is.

Anyway, I sat down one day recently and went over my options.

Democrats? I have no use for them. I have refused to vote for local Democrats, who were otherwise good people, because all that does is strengthen the Democrat Party. And anyone who strengthens the Democrat Party nationally needs to be beat with a stick. Several sticks.

Republicans? Well, they talk good. They act bad. During elections, they've taken two approaches. One approach is to assume the conservative base is there and run to the left. That pisses off the conservative base. The other approach is to campaign to the right, and then govern to the left. That pisses off the conservative base.

As a pissed off conservative, I've had enough. I'm looking elsewhere. Or was. I found the Libertarian Party.

I've read the national Libertarian Party Platform. I don't agree with all of it. A lot of it, sure. But not all. However, looking at what the three major parties say and do -- don't forget about what they actually do -- the Libertarian Party is closest to me.

So, I'm still a conservative. That hasn't changed. And I'm now associating with a national (and state) political party that is closest to my beliefs and values.

I'm not urging you to join the Libertarian Party. I'm not asking you to vote Libertarian in November. I just want you to know that if you are fed up with how the Republican Party has treated you, there are options. This is the one I chose.

21 comments:

  1. I hope your party endorses a candidate of one of the two parties then.
    There is no dispute that in this day and age, the only affect a third party can have is to choose which party to damage. IT CAN NOT WIN.

    Now I realize you want to argue that point, but you sound like a democrat when you try. These are facts, and no amount of hate is going to change them.

    If you want a third party to win the WH (and who doesn't) then you must become as well known as the other two. This of course means you must have a significant portion of both houses, most state legislatures, some governorships, etc.

    I am truly sorry Basil, but that's the only choice you get. Support one, hurt the other. There is no win for you.

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  2. I'm not the one arguing. I'm not suggesting that the Libertarian Party can win in November. But, going forward, I'm supporting that party, and dissociating myself from the Republican Party in terms of financial support.

    There needs to be a party where conservatives feel welcome. Of the three national parties (the two really big ones, and the really small one) the Libertarian Party is my choice.

    The primary objective in November is to deny Hillary Clinton (assuming her nomination) the 270 votes she needs. That, above everything else, is the goal. We don't disagree on that. I would rather Trump win than Hillary. I prefer neither.

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  3. I like the libertarian party but wish they would spend as much energy defending the second amendment as they do trying to legalize pot. I also think they don't take the Federal government's role in maintaining a strong military seriously enough.

    Party platforms are great, but as I just said to one of my Libertarian friends on Friday, if you had to choose a party based only on reading the party platform the Republicans sound pretty good too...and he couldn't disagree.

    I've been disappointed with the Republicans all my life. I just missed being able to vote for Reagan so I they have yet to produce a candidate that has earned my vote, and every year I get the "well if you dont vote for our guy it's the same as voting for the other guy".

    There are a lot of things I like about the Libertarian party but unfortunately in my experince they fall far short of the party platform and every libertarian I know is obsessed with legalizing drugs, videotaping cops, and coddling criminals.

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  4. (I) wish (the Libertarian Party) would spend as much energy defending the second amendment as they do trying to legalize pot. I also think they don’t take the Federal government’s role in maintaining a strong military seriously enough.
    Agreed. Those have been two of the biggest stumbling blocks that kept me from joining them... before now.
    Party platforms are great, but ...if you had to choose a party based only on reading the party platform the Republicans sound pretty good too...
    You are correct. But based on what they do, I can't actively support them.
    every year I get the “well if you dont vote for our guy it’s the same as voting for the other guy”.
    This year is no exception. In fact, it's the Poster Child for that.
    every libertarian I know is obsessed with legalizing drugs, videotaping cops, and coddling criminals.
    I'll not take that personally. You see why I call myself a conservative member of the Libertarian Party.

    The Libertarian Party has its share of tin-foil hat wearers. Between them and the most rabid of the Trump supporters, Reynolds Aluminum will be in business for a while.

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  5. My main sticking point with the LP has been the stance on military and foreign affairs. I have to tell myself that they have never had to actually deal with international issues and if there is ever an LP that becomes president the reality of how the rest of the world works will change that stance.

    That being said I agree with Basil that the LP does what the GOP told me for years that they will do but so far has not done. That is why I am switching. I will even throw away my vote for the candidate knowing they will not win. I feel we are screwed if either Hillary or Trump wins and neither one will be worse than the other. Both will be enabled by a feckless congress and a Supreme Court that is more interested in creating law than confining law to the basics of the constitution. Voting for the LP now gives it more clout in the future. Also the LP needs to focus more on state and local politics. Break the back of the two party system on the state level and suddenly you have LP Senators and Congressmen in DC.

    Something I think the LP could do is stop pretending that they are the middle choice between Democrats and Republicans. They are not. They are farther right than Republicans. Sure they like some of the same stuff as Democrats like drugs and gay marriage, but unlike the Democrats the Libertarians think that you should pay for your own wants and the Democrats will never support that. Court more conservatives instead. Why else has the only two Libertarians to get into Congress and had a serious run for president had to do it as Republicans instead of Democrats?

    Anyway, next month after I move and have a new address is to fill out the form and switch to the LP. I can't believe in this day an age I have to print out and form, fill it out with a pen and then mail it to the supervisor of elections. It is like we live in 1916 instead of 2016.

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  6. To say the Libertarian Party has delivered anything is misleading. Thus far the party has failed to win any election of significance so what could it possibly have delived? it could be argued that the Republican Party and even thr Democtrat Part have delivered more of the Libertarian agenda than the Libertarian Party because they've been in the position to do so...even if it was unintentional.

    So far, the only thing third parties have managed to do is pull away enough votes from Republicans to get a Democtrat elected. Due to the way the electoral college works now (after years of tampering by both Rebubplican and Democtrat liberals) a third party candidate can't really spoil an eelection by preventing a mainstream candidate from getting 270 electoral votes...and if by some act if God thry DO manage to, what then? Congress picks Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnel? what a victory!

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  7. preventing a mainstream candidate from getting 270 electoral votes…and if by some act if God thry DO manage to, what then? Congress picks Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnel?
    Your should know the Constitution better than to say something like that.
    "if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President."
    If a Libertarian candidate captures any states, enough to throw the election to the House, the House has to choose between Trump, Hillary, and the Libertarian. They can't choose anyone else.

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  8. you are, of course, assuming that the establishment RINO controlled House of Representatives will for once play by the rules and pick the guy that will diminishbtheir power and influence rather than appealing to the Supreme Court to give them special dispensation from the rules as they have before.

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  9. "If a Libertarian candidate captures any states, enough to throw the election to the House, the House has to choose between Trump, Hillary, and the Libertarian. They can’t choose anyone else."

    If only! What are the odds that a smaller state with more independent minded Americans, like New Hampshire, Montana or Wyoming, could go 3rd party and save us from the Fascist & the Baboon?

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  10. you are, of course, assuming that the establishment RINO controlled House of Representatives will for once play by the rules and pick the guy that will diminishbtheir power and influence rather than appealing to the Supreme Court to give them special dispensation from the rules as they have before.
    There is no exception, assuming all three are living (if you want to go down that road, you're going alone). The Constitution is clear on how to handle selection of the President.

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  11. What are the odds that a smaller state with more independent minded Americans, like New Hampshire, Montana or Wyoming, could go 3rd party and save us from the Fascist & the Baboon?
    Slim. But I do remember when a third-party candidate took five states in 1968. Not enough to throw it to the House, mind you, but a third-party candidate winning states has happened in my lifetime. I'm not hopeful for it happening this year.

    I don't want a third-party candidate causing Clinton to get 270. But, if he kept both Trump and Clinton from getting 270, that'd be awesome. The House would then have to choose between Hillary, Trump, and a Libertarian. And then face the voters for their choice in two years.

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  12. Welcome Basil! I left the GOP for the LP back in the early 90's due to Bush senior's shortcomings. I have always been a right-wing, conservative, Libertarian nut-job at heart, which made IMAO.us feel like home the first time I stopped by.

    @Blarg: I, for one, am not "obsessed with legalizing drugs, videotaping cops, and coddling criminals". I admit to being OK with legalizing drugs, and videotaping cops. Note: I don't use or approve of drugs (unless you count ethanol). However, making drugs illegal gives criminal organizations money and power, so I prefer to have them legal. Shining light on government with video protects the integrity of said government. Coddling is the last thing criminals deserve. Lock the violent ones up, and throw away the key. Execute the murderers and rapist in a timely manner.
    Maybe some Libertarian's don't take the the role of the military seriously enough, but not any that I know. Libertarians believe maintaining a capable military is one of the few moral purposes of government. There are not very many moral purposes of government, but national defense is job #1.
    Cheers.

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  13. "...making drugs illegal gives criminal organizations money and power"

    So does legalizing them and the government has become, by far, the biggest criminal organization in history.

    Look at the drugs that are already legal and "approved" by the FDA through millions in bribes and now it's gotten to the point where you'll see an obnoxious ad for some drug and literally 5 minutes latter a lawyer ad suing over that drug. How is that even possible? If it's dangerous to the point that you can sue them for it then it never should have been approved and if the people who approved it knew it was dangerous, they are the ones who should be sued, personally, not with tax money.
    "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." *
    PS: To say there's no difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is like saying that people who don't work and leech off of ME are equal to...ME. NO, they are not. Donald Trump may be all sorts of things but he earned his money and has employed tens of thousands of people, Hillary Clinton has never worked a day in her worthless life and has never, not once, done anything that benefited anyone but her, THAT is the difference.

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  14. I joined the Toga Party decades ago, and I'll be voting for Sen. John Blutarski for President.

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  15. “…making drugs illegal gives criminal organizations money and power”

    So does legalizing them and the government has become, by far, the biggest criminal organization in history.
    While I personally abhor drugs, I am opposed to federal laws regarding them. This should be a function of the states as to whether or not drugs should be legal in each state.

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  16. Iowa Jim:
    I joined the Toga Party decades ago, and I’ll be voting for Sen. John Blutarski for President.

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  17. Congratulations.

    Have fun stormin' da castle!

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  18. In all seriousness. As a long time Republican, 1978-2012. I had a conversion much like Ronald Reagan had with the Democrats. I found a party that left me. I had always considered myself a bit libertarian in my beliefs but I still have trouble identifying myself as a "party" man. Kind of like how does one create an Anachist Party? The end problem with all of this is that the tactical problems are tremendous. Philosophically it easy enough to vote for people more closely aligned with your own principles but the cost is one of permitting to win a group of people so philosophically opposed to everything you hold dear the best to be hope for is that total world destruction does not occur. That is a tough one to live with but if you are going to commit then you totally commit and damned the consequences. It is hard to live in a world where a lot more people like being able to have other people who enjoy wielding power take what they want from you, whenever they want to, for whatever purpose they deem fit.

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  19. What an odd thing to say, that sounds like something a democrat would whine about.
    Oh well.

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  20. In Louisiana the Libertarian Party was the second party in 3 Congressional District elections in 2012. No Democrats ran.

    4th District was Republican vs. Libertarian (24%)
    5th District was Republican vs. Libertarian (7%)
    6th District was Republican vs. Libertarian (10%)

    In Louisiana if no one gets over 50% there is a runoff between the two top candidates. So even if Libertarians are a small voting block, they could be a courted group in the runoff elections between a Democrat and Republican, or even 2 Republicans.

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  21. Lactose the IntolerantMay 16, 2016 at 1:44 PM

    I'm with you. I recently resigned my delegate position and made the switch myself. Though there is a lot I disagree with (ie foreign policy, abortion), libertarianism is a closer fit for me now than any of the alternatives.

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