Libertarian Party - The Thread

Libertarian Party on track for record year!

Dear Libertarian,

This past weekend, more than 650 Libertarian delegates from across the country came together in Denver, CO to select our ticket for the 2008 presidential race. Through much debate, both on the stage and on the floor, our delegates selected one of the strongest tickets in the 37-year history of the Libertarian Party. Former Congressman Bob Barr, and small businessman Wayne Allyn Root will be leading the Party into what could possibly be the biggest year for Libertarians since Ed Clark ran in 1980!

However, our candidates are only as strong as the Libertarians who support them, and with your help, we can make this year one for the record books!

As you well know, the Libertarian Party always starts off a few paces back from the main two parties because of our battles with ballot access and funding. It takes an incredibly large sum of money to put the party on an even playing field in each state, and after that is all said and done, we still have the campaign to fund!

In the post-nomination excitement, as Libertarians united behind our candidate and began to turn towards the real enemy of the establishment, more than $64,000 was donated at the 2008 National Convention Presidential Banquet. Our gracious donors recognized that this was going to be a banner-year for the Libertarian Party, and wanted to make sure the tracks were laid for the Barr/Root train to roll loudly into Washington.

- www.lp.org/media/article_592.shtml

 

"The Barr campaign and the Libertarian Party is about providing an honorable place where people concerned about limited government, the Constitution and privacy issues can turn. Obviously, these good folks are no longer welcome in the Republican Party."

- www.freeliberal.com/blog/archives/003361.php

 

Huckabee is right: Libertarianism is a threat to Republican hypocrisy

Huckabee is right: Libertarianism is a threat to Republican hypocrisy

Party responds to former GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's comments about the "threat" of libertarianism

Washington, D.C. - In a recent interview with Huffington Post contributor Will Mari, former GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee called libertarianism "not an American message," stating libertarianism was a "soulless type of economic conservatism" and a threat to Republicanism. In response, Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis issued the following statement:

"Huckabee is right that Libertarianism is a threat to Republicanism. The Republican Party, with the help of people like Sen. John McCain, has done nothing but increase the scope and power of government while throwing fiscal responsibility to the wind. It's the 'compassionate conservatism' touted by people like Huckabee, McCain and President Bush that has caused a soaring national debt and a society where prisons are overflowing because of Republican 'compassion.' Libertarianism is unquestionably the American message because libertarianism is the only political message that empowers the American people by giving them more control over their lives and their wallets. Huckabee proves once again that there is very little difference in the messages of Republicans and Democrats, and shows that McCain and Obama might as well be running in the same political party."

The Libertarian Party's presidential nominee for 2008 is former Congressman Bob Barr.

The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

For more information, or to arrange a media interview, please call Andrew Davis at (202) 333-0008 during normal business hours, or at (202) 731-0002 during any other time. For an interview with the Barr campaign, please contact Audrey Mullen at (703) 548-1160.

- www.lp.org/media/article_593.shtml

 

State ballot slot sought for Libertarian

State ballot slot sought for Libertarian

By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau

The Oklahoma Libertarian Party will launch a petition drive today to get former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr on the Oklahoma election ballot as an independent candidate for president.

Barr will need at least 43,913 valid signatures of Oklahoma registered voters to get on the state election ballot, said Angelia O'Dell, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma.

The signatures must be submitted to the state Election Board by July 15, she said.

During Sunday's national Libertarian Party convention in Denver, Barr was nominated as the party's presidential candidate.

The Libertarian Party is not recognized in Oklahoma so Barr would need to run as an independent candidate.

- rest at http://newsok.com/state-ballot-slot-sought-for-libertarian/article/3250468/?tm=1212117393

 

Did you hear about the Democratic woman and the Republican man who got married. After a while the woman became pregnant.

She was so happy and she said to him, "This is wonderful! The baby will be the very best of both of us!"

The man thought about it for a minute, realized the truth of what she said, and replied, "If the baby will be the very best of both of us, then it will be a Libertarian!"


:laugh:

 

The True Spoilers Have Sold Out Our Liberties And Our Property

The True Spoilers Have Sold Out Our Liberties And Our Property
By Marc Guttman
Published on 6/1/2008

The mainstream media often professes that a “third” party or independent candidate spoiled some election for one of the adorned parties' candidate.

They'll claim Ralph Nader lost the 2000 presidential election for Al Gore or Ross Perot lost the 1992 presidential election for George H.W. Bush. The truth, however, is that Gore and Bush were no more entitled to our votes than Nader or Perot. In fact, Nader and Perot no more spoiled the elections for their opponents than their opponents spoiled the election for them.

Pundits often argue whether Libertarian candidates “take more votes away from” the Democrats, as Libertarians are stronger on personal liberties, or the Republicans, as Libertarians are stronger on fiscal responsibility. Libertarians also outshine both on peace, promoting nonintervention overseas, preserving rights to privacy and due process, ending corporate subsidies and favoritism, and protecting property rights. And despite recent polls that demonstrate that there are just as many libertarian-minded Americans as there are neoconservatives and neoliberals, the mainstream media continues to tell us which candidates are viable from either of the two establishment parties, side-lining the rest of us.

Interviewers often ask Congressman Ron Paul who he will endorse of the “three” candidates for U.S. president. He answers that he will not vote for any of them as all three support our overseas interventions and do not respect individuals' rights. For example, John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq War Resolution and have along with Barack Obama voted for every appropriations bill to continue the war. McCain and Clinton voted for the USA Patriot Act in 2001 and Obama joined them in renewing it in 2006.

This is my point. The Democrats and Republicans are the spoilers in the most important way. We have let them spoil the principles and benefits of self-government that had allowed us to create the most free, prosperous and peaceful society on earth.

Year after year these two parties bring us further down the road away from individual rights, personal responsibility and constitutional law towards mob rule and tyranny. They have sold out our liberties and property to cronies, high bidders and appetizing, special-interest voting blocks. And despite some disagreement on some marginal issues, the two parties are more similar than different, essentially promoting government and authoritarianism.

- rest at www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=132cdc1a-838a-42f2-9507-a818e876e7a9

 

Libertarian Party Opposes Title III of the Farm Bill

An Open Letter to Congress

Taxpayers Oppose Title III of the Farm Bill

The Libertarian Party is one of 28 taxpayer groups to sign on to a National Taxpayers Union (NTU) letter to congress in opposition to Title III of the Farm Bill, which will cost Americans millions of dollars in wasteful spending.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

- www.lp.org/media/article_595.shtml

 

Can the feds really micromanage the environment?

Can the feds really micromanage the environment?

Lieberman-Warner bill assumes the federal government can control the weather

Washington, D.C. - Joining the debate surrounding the Lieberman-Warner Climate Securities Act of 2007, the Libertarian Party issued the following statement from party spokesperson Andrew Davis:

"The idea that the federal government can micromanage the global environment is about as absurd as it can get. Congress might as well pass legislation calling for the regulation of eclipses and the earth's rotation--as it would be in the same spirit as the Lieberman-Warner Act. This act, supposedly done in the best interest of society, will cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars for results impossible to measure or predict. If our elected officials want to gamble with the weather, the Libertarian Party asks that they do so on their own dime, and not that of the taxpayer."

The Libertarian Party supports a clean and healthy environment and sensible use of our natural resources, but believes that environmental stewardship is best left to individuals, not the government.

"The government has no right to restrict or impede American corporations from doing business with costly legislation based upon impossible-to-prove assumptions. The future of the environmental movement should rest in the hands of consumers and their choices made in the free market rather than in burdensome legislation that is destined to yield no results at an astronomical cost to an already struggling U.S. economy."

The Libertarian Party recently issued an "Earth Day" press release calling for a reduction in the size of government as a way to "go green." That release can be found here.

The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

- www.lp.org/media/article_596.shtml

 

'Year of the Libertarian?'

'Year of the Libertarian?'

County commissioners face third-party challengers

By Laura Snider
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

This fall, all three Boulder County commissioners will be defending their seats against a tenacious opposition party. And it's not the Republicans.

The incumbents -- all Democrats -- are facing a roster of steadfast Libertarian challengers who are taking advantage of a lull in Republican enthusiasm to offer Boulder County voters another option.

"We like to think of this as the year of the Libertarian," said Bo Shaffer, who is challenging Ben Pearlman in the District 2 race. "We have one of the strongest slates of candidates at the national and local level.

- rest at www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jun/03/year-of-the-libertarian/

 

Laughing Last

Laughing Last
By Robert Stacy McCain
Published 6/5/2008 12:07:59 AM

NEW YORK -- When Stephen Colbert introduced the Libertarian Party presidential candidate last night, the audience for "The Colbert Report" cracked up when the studio monitors showed a picture of Babar, the elephant protagonist of children's storybooks.

The host of the popular Comedy Central mock-news program told his audience, "Full disclosure, folks: I myself am a Libertarian. I don't want big government to infringe on my right to tell other people how to think."

Jokes aside, Colbert's interview with the Libertarian nominee, former Rep. Bob Barr (not Babar), was surprisingly respectful. He gave Barr plenty of softball questions and allowed the candidate to answer at length.

Libertarians "are a big swing vote this time because Americans are finally realizing, at long last, that the current two-party system, the Democrats and the Republicans, have failed and failed miserably, and will simply give them more of the same," Barr said.

"A lot of people, particularly a lot of younger people, are completely fed up with the system, they've seen the corruption of the system that has given us bigger government no matter which party's in charge, they see the future as fairly bleak under the current system, and they're ready to vote Libertarian for the first time," said Barr, the four-term Georgia congressman who left the Republicans for the Libertarian Party in 2006.

- more at www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13325