Pauls, and Baldwins, and Barrs ... Oh, My!

There has been much debate among Libertarian and libertarian leaning voters as to which way to vote in the coming election. I wanted to share the thinking which led me to my decision. Firstly, I should state my minimal criteria for considering a candidate:

1. The candidate must argue for shrinking government significantly.
2. The candidate must not argue for growing government in any area at the level at which he is running (e.g. a candidate who argued for State regulation of abortion would be acceptable as a candidate for Federal office, but not at the State leve.)
3. The candidate must not have any clear mental incapacity, such as bigotry.
4. The party platform must be acceptable.
5. If the election of the leader in question is likely, he must have sufficient credibility to convince me that he is likely govern as he campaigned.

There have been three men suggested as potential candidates for libertarian voters:

1. Ron Paul -- Write-In
2. Chuck Baldwin. -- Constitution Party
3. Bob Barr -- Libertarian Party

Clearly, neither Obama nor McCain deserve a second thought. Each has devoted his life to the growth of government, albeit in slightly different directions. If I'm on a jury considering their fate, I might vote for them -- to hang -- but that's the only way they'll get a vote from me without changing virtually every position they hold.

Paul is not a candidate, and although I would frankly prefer him to either of the others on the list, I will not write-in a candidate. It's cheaper and easier to simply stay home on election day. Write-ins are meaningless — they will not be counted, tabulated, recorded, or announced. Nobody will ever know how many people write in Paul's name, or anybody else's for that matter.

Baldwin fails #2, and #4. His party’s platform welcomes only Christians, which is unacceptable to me, both as a matter of policy and a matter of strategy. He also wants the Federal government to control abortion. This does not mean that I consider him a bad guy. I consider him to be a generally Liberty oriented candidate. None the less, I cannot support him.

Barr meets all my criteria. He is the only candidate who does, and therefore, I can elide the more subjective process of choosing between multiple acceptable candidates.

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There have been some recent criticisms of Barr, which deserve consideration, so I'll address those briefly.

1. Barr is a recent convert to Libertarian who may not be sincere

   This would be a serious issue, if it was likely that Barr would be elected. It is much less important in this election. It will be at least a couple more cycles before we have grown the party enough to have to worry about that. I'm looking forward to it!

2. Barr is a recent convert to Libertarian who may not have the best interests of the party in mind.

   This is an important issue during the primary season. It does not much matter at this point. Barr's what we've got. Votes for Barr will not make him president, but they will make our party credible, if they arrive in sufficient number.

3. Barr is a recent convert to Libertarian who may not have the best interests of the party in mind.

   This is an important issue during the primary season. It does not much matter at this point. Barr's what we've got. Votes for Barr will not make him president, but they will make our party credible, if they arrive in sufficient number.

4. Barr's strategy has been poor when dealing with Ron Paul and/or the Campaign for Liberty.

   This is an important issue during the primary season. It does not much matter at this point. Barr's what we've got. Votes for Barr will not make him president, but they will make our party credible, if they arrive in sufficient number.

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The bottom line, as I see it, is that we who value freedom must rally behind Barr, regardless of whether we supported his nomination, because he is the nominee we have. For this election cycle, he's the only nominee we have. It is what it is.

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Never forget, as you consider your vote in the next election, the words of a wise Libertarian thinker, Ron Paul:

It's not about me, it's about the MESSAGE.

General Curtis claims Bob Barr is a traitor

This commentator claims that Bob Barr is "A Traitor" to the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party, because he is not supporting the McSame canidacy.

The problem is, that Bob Barr left the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party years ago, and was even a member of the Libertarian Party's board before becoming a candidate for the nomination and a candidate for president.

Wouldn't endorsing McBama be the error, given this fact?

As for the claim that Barr is "stealing votes" from the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party, the reality is that they have been defrauding Small Government advocates for decades, stealing their votes and their money, by saying "If only we get Congress, we'll shrink government".

This was a lie. It was so proved when they got congress, and did nothing to shrink government.

So then they cried "If only we get the presidency, we'll shrink government".

That was another lie. It was so proved when the got the presidency, and government grew even faster than it had under the Democratic Wing of the One Big Party.

So now they cry that small government advocates owe them their votes. They are entitled, they say, to the everlasting, unquestioning, unrewarded support of anyone who believes in small government, because they have, when it suited their purpose, spouted a little bit of free market rhetoric.

I say that what small government advocates owe the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party is a class action lawsuit, in order to recover the money out of which they were defrauded over the years. This, a knife in the back, and a kick in the head would put us about even with the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party.

Actually, now, if we want to get even, we'll need to do one more thing:

If -- and it's a big if -- we can find any evidence that the Republican Wing of the Big Government Party ever had any allegience to the Constitution, the Free Market, Limited Government, the Rule of Law, Capitalism, Freedom, or anything other than staying in power, we should call them traitors.

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November

Remember, remember, 
the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot

I know of no reason
the gunpowder treason
should EVER be forgot.

Watch the clip, and then click the link.