What is a libertarion

[miko2d]

lazs2 : No libertarian that I know of has ever had a chance at any major office.

 Neither should they aspire to it. The basic principle is the locality of the government, so the libertarians should try to get elected into the local offices.
 But mostly it is not a political movement but a worldview (about acceptability of aggression) - so educating people is what's important, not trying to impose our views on them. If most people in some locality share libertarian views, they will have a libertarian mayor or representative. If they don't - then a libertarian has no business being elected there.

 Most libertarians I know are not political. The "beltway libertarians" often make a wrong impression about the rest. The libertarian political initiatives should be local - like Free State Project.

 miko

[Sikboy]

Duverger's law really keeps the Libertarian party from being a more active player in American politics, even if it wanted to. (here's where Levi talks about subotimum results).  

It would take a pretty catostrophic event to shake up the US Political system to such a degree that one GOP or DEMs would get replaced by the LIBs in the two party system.  

-Sik

[lazs2]

I agree that libertarians should not aspire to political office... I also agree that being a libertarian is simply a way of thinking.

I vote republican in most /allmost all cases because their idea of big government is less distasteful than the democrat/socialist one.

probably even more important than getting the socialist/democrats out of power tho is ending womens suffrage..  We will allways have oppressive government so long as we let our mommies tell us what we can and can't do.    You can move out of moms house but it's hard to move out of the country.

lazs

[Chairboy]

Heh, 'end womens suffrage'.  Beautiful!  I bet if you asked people to sign a petition to end womens suffrage, you'd get a lot of signatures from well meaning but clueless people.

I disagree with the assertion that libertarians shouldn't run for political office.  The rampant growth of government ensures that there are MANY spots that can be filled, national, statewide, and local.  I would encourage those of you who feel our government is too invasive to consider voting for a libertarian candidate on those smaller races where there isn't the clear 2 party system that the presidential races have.  

Plenty of Liberatarians have been elected to office nationwide and have made strides towards redefining the role of government in limited terms.

My personal presidential vote may be for a libertarian candidate anyways, not just as a protest vote, but also as a method for helping the LP reach the minimum percentage needed to get the type of coverage our issues deserve.  You all may not agree with me on everything, but I hope you'll consider the strength of my convictions and those who represent my views.

PS, please don't mix libertarians and greens together.  We may be a small party like they are, but unlike them, we are not 'wacked out on goofballs', to use the technical term.

Best regards,

Chairboy

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Heh, 'end womens suffrage'.  Beautiful!  I bet if you asked people to sign a petition to end womens suffrage, you'd get a lot of signatures from well meaning but clueless people.

actually adam and jimmy on the man show did this on a college campus or somthing and they did get quite a few signatures.  Only a hand full caught the fact that they were trying to take away womans rights!  was funny!:rofl

[miko2d]

Libertarians should run for political office - but not start with "major" ones. We have one consistantly libertarian congressman - Ron Paul. We could use more.

 But mostly we need libertarians on school boards, municipal councils, as mayors. Maybe governors in libertarian-friendly states. Get some local influence, bring some economic sanity, refuse cooperation with federal government on those issues where it is possible - even if it means foregoing grants paid from taxes already collected - get the results and use them as an example.
 Running in a presidential campaign or for a governor fo a major liberal state is just counter-productive and would not do any good if by some miracles succeeded.

 What would a libertarian president do? Veto every single law? Abandon taxes? Nullify all legislation enacted since 1830? That would be ridiculous.
 Doing anything else would be granting legitimacy to the current system.

 miko

[2Slow]

"I do not want to waste my vote in a protest vote... I will leave that to the greenie losers.

No libertarian that I know of has ever had a chance at any major office. If I believed he had a chance I would vote for him... if not... I certainly do not want to aid some socialist democrat. "

Arrrrrgggghhhh!  Why do people concern themselves with whether a candidate can win?  You cannot waste your vote, as long as you vote and vote your conscience.

This aint a game where you want to bet on the winning team!

[Chairboy]

Agreed.  If I had to compare two people, I would respect the one who voted their convictions more then one who just tried to guess who the winner would be so they could be 'part of the team'.

[weaselsan]

Originally posted by lazs2
I lean more toward libertarian than anything.   I am most definitely not an old hippy.   Hippies love government when it is "their" government...  libertarians want less government.

Libertarians are basicaly constitutionalists...  They want the government to have no more power than it was originaly designed to have by OUR constitution.  I have no idea what dowding is talking about because he is talking about libertarians from a british point of view apparently.

las

That is a Conservative

[FUNKED1]

Unfortunately neither of the major parties is conservative.