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Libertarians: Trying to get people to
mind their own business since 1971.
The Freedom Files

Looks like you whacked a hornets nest with that one.
The anarchists are on the war path.

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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! - Frederick Bastiat

Oughta be good for my traffic, though...

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Libertarians: Trying to get people to
mind their own business since 1971.
The Freedom Files

Nice to see that they are using 'pejoratives' against those who they disaree.
I see nothing about a 'purge' or anything to suggest that one would be a 'bigot.'
Yet....these are the terms used by those who are aligned on that side.
Don't you find that interesting?

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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! - Frederick Bastiat

I do. Looks like the Dems and GOP don't have a monopoly on vitriol...

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Libertarians: Trying to get people to
mind their own business since 1971.
The Freedom Files

PM'd you dude....got a call.
Houston there is a problem.

Your 'reach' is further than you believe.

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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! - Frederick Bastiat

Knapp and McLendon have joined in....

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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! - Frederick Bastiat

What good is it to have a political ideology if you're going to cast it aside and prostitute yourself?

Quote:

It's an interesting dilemma within the party. Now that we have nominated Bob Barr, a former anti-gay rights drug warrior and signer of The Patriot Act, the party is in a shambles.

The guy is an interventionist. Regardless of any other areas on which he has supposedly converted to libertarianism, he's still an interventionist with regard to foreign policy.

They're not poor excuses. The playing field is not level and the media doesn't give libertarians the free advertising it gives to Democrats and Republicans through its reporting. The media perpetuates the lie that there are only two political parties, that this is a two-party system.

Quote:

...Now we find ourselves amidst an election for the President of the United States once more. In typical fashion, the caterwauling from the purity police has begun. The candidate "isn't a true libertarian" is their battle cry. I find myself dismayed once more. One candidate who failed to garner the nomination has decided to run an insurgent' campaign in an attempt to deny the rightful nominee his place on the ballot. Let us call the kettle black shall we? This is political cannibalism.

This, of course, raises the question of whether it's appropriate for a political party to prostitute itself by fielding a candidate with questionable libertarian credentials.

Quote:

Instead of setting aside our differences and uniting behind a common cause, this faction of ideologues work in an effort to discredit not only the party's nominee, but the party itself. They demand purity while castigating and denigrating those with which they disagree, no matter how small the degree.

Well, maybe the Party needs to figure out exactly where it does stand on various issues and whether there is room for disagreement. If there is room for disagreement, the Party needs to tell those who won't tolerate disagreement to pack sand.

Quote:

I have to say, he makes a pretty compelling case. I am far from sold on Barr's libertarian bone fides, but we have a unique opportunity here to get some big exposure. Bob Barr is a name. People recognize him. George Phillies is...well, George Who?

There is some truth to this. Barr is clearly an interventionist. Unfortunately, the things for which he is "a name" aren't likely to endear him to very many voters.

Quote:

I'm a realist, and I know that neither man stands a snowball's chance in Hell of winning the presidency - especially when the two monopoly parties are offering a choice between two historical options, one of which gave us the very law (McCain-Feingold) that makes it so hard for us to compete nationally.

Candidates have as much chance as the voters give them. Unfortunately, the voters for the most part believe the Democrat/Republican/media lie that voting for anyone other than a Democrat or Republican is wasting your vote or stealing a vote from a Democrat or Republican (as if to say Democrats and Republicans are somehow entitled to your vote).

Quote:

But a big turnout can really help the exposure of the Libertarian Party. If we can pull enough disaffected Republicans and Hillary supporters, we could really make a mark. We could be laying the groundwork for inclusion in the process, access to debates, universal ballot access.

The Democrats and Republicans will just raise the bar again to keep Libertarians and other parties out of the debates.

Quote:

This is not the time for division.

Agreed; we may have to just hold our noses and vote for Barr.

Quote:

There is a place in this party for pragmatists and purists. The pragmatists are the ones who are going to get us election victories. The purists are the ones that will keep the pragmatists honest. We need to realize and embrace these unique and vital roles, forming a coalition that could secure the future of the Libertarian Party.

Are they pragmatists or prostitutes?

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

What good is having a political party that cannot engage in the political process on a mature level?

Did you listen to his interview on Glenn Beck?

The 'success' of 'the party' at local level is a better litmus test where we are competitive. However, you don't see a flock of voters coming to libertarianism because candidates are often under attack from members of their own organization. Couple that with the fact that too few will get off their twinkie eating a$$ and work a campaign in lieu of being an internet commando armchair general.

Is it appropriate for a party officer to not respect the 'will of the body' while remaining an officer? According to Robert's Rules of Order, it is not as such conduct is 'injurious to the purposes of the organization.'

Agreed. However, I don't think this extends to 'members' in as much to 'officers' of the organization. Descent is, after all, healthy for any given organization. Where it breaks down is when spokespersons for the organization continue their vitriol after the nomination is complete.

No opinion here.

Same cannot be said in more localized races where 'the media' isn't a factor as much as having the infrastructure to get out your message (volunteers). This ends up not happening because everyone is too busy sniping at each other and the condidates.

Perhaps....then again perhaps one fault lies within holding onto ideological positions that have been rejected by the voters. If you take a hit (on an issue), you place it on the backburner and move on (to another issue). Instead, many continue to screech about the same issue that has already been rejected, thus marginalizing the organization. However, this is a topic for another thread.

I'll vote for him. He is much better than the rest of the field.

Are they political neophyts or simply purist ideologues who really don't want the party to succeed, thus insuring a police state so they can say "I told you so"?

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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish! - Frederick Bastiat

So, you equate maturity with prostituting oneself?



It is based on what he said in that interview that led me to conclude he's an interventionist.



And there are places where the party has been successful. However, it's still difficult to succeed when the media doesn't give you the free advertising through its reporting that it gives to Democrats and Republicans and when the debate sponsors don't let you participate in the interparty debates.



While party officers should respect the will of the body, they should not necessarily allow the body to cause itself harm.



Dissent has its limits within the context of a political party. While there can certainly be variation within a Party's ideology, that variation must necessarily be limited or the Party ceases to have a distinct identity.



That depends on the local area. In some areas the media is just as much a factor in local races as they are in national ones. Without media access, it's extremely difficult to get out the message.

So, what you're saying is that the political parties should prostitute themselves to the American sheeple who can't think beyond the 30-second soundbite?



I really dislike the idea of voting for the lesser of the evils. Since I believe that political parties become viable when people actually vote for them, I'm voting for the party and not the candidate.



Some are neophytes and others are purist ideologues. Again, you seem to be saying that a party must prostitute itself in order to succeed.

__________________
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."