Libertarian in Crisis
by Anthony Watson
Vote with your wallet @
I have reached a fork in the road. My Libertarianism is in crisis. I have
supported the party's platform for the most part since the late 1980's. I was
very disappointed by our party's failure to nominate Dick Boddie in the 1992
race. 1992 was a watershed year when 3rd party politics was at its zenith. Our
failure to nominate Boddie left a vacuum filled by Ralph Nader and Ross Perot.
Boddie would have gotten us the press coverage we needed as he so eloquently
pointed out during the convention. He simply pointed at his face and skin color
when asked how he would get more coverage for the party. As cynical as it was, I realized we needed him badly. After the 92
election, I felt the Libs were a party in decline, but I continued to hang in.
Believing that the "party of principle" still was worth supporting. The last
couple of years have made me doubt this support though. In late 2001 and early
2002, I was very upset by our party's silence on the invasion of Afghanistan. I
predicted that Bin Laden would escape and be a straw man for future civil rights
curtailments here. I agreed that the World Trade Center collapse was a tragedy,
but not an act of war by another country. The terrorist act called for police
action, not war. I did not renew my Libertarian membership until I saw Harry
Browne get on the air and support that point of view. Upon seeing it, I
immediately renewed my party membership, which I had let languish unrenewed for
several months. That carried over into 2002, though I felt the party was too
quiet leading up to the invasion of Iraq. I saw many Libertarians writing into
the national & state LP newspapers supporting the war. I wondered how they
could sign the vow against "political" war and support Bush's invasion,
especially given its unilateral nature. Then I get a phone call from the California LP telling me to attend the
convention in Ontario, because Ton McClintock is speaking there. I was livid and
spammed many California party members urging them to boycott the event due to
this Republican's attendance. I just could no longer stomach the party cozying
up with Republicans and helping McClintock push the recall of Davis. Now with
the recall in full force, I see almost no mention of the Libertarians running.
If I go to the Sacramento Bee's recall site they list candidates from the major
parties on their intro page, including the Greens, but no Lib. McClintock is
there with several other Republicans. Many think that the Libertarian Party
supports McClintock, who I abhor based upon his social agenda. I must also
accept the fact the California Libertarian Party has thrown its support to the
Republican. The September issue of the state newspaper could leave no doubt. Sure
taxes are an issue, but there are many other issues that the Libs could
concentrate on. The Feds are coming in to the state and constantly arresting and
harassing medical marijuana distributors and users. Also, the fact that Davis
has to raise taxes seems completely tied to corruption in the Bush
administration allowing Enron and many other Texas-based power companies to
shakedown the California taxpayers as well as generally running the national
economy into the ground. FERC still refuses to give our state back the billions
of dollars stolen from us by these shenanigans. Where are the Libs on this? No
where! They helped the Republicans force this recall in this state. It is likely
to cost the taxpayers upwards of 70-100 million dollars and also likely to land
a very liberal Democrat, Cruz Bustmante in the governorship, who will definitely
raise my taxes significantly. What am I to do? I see that party membership in
the state of California has slipped to something like 1%, while the Greens have
over 6%. The Libs have slipped to the 5th largest by registration in the state
behind even the American Independents and the Natural Law party is catching up.
I am struggling to come up with a reason to continue to pay my dues and
support a party that has become too right-wing and seems to have been taken over
by disgruntled Republicans, Fundamentalist Christians and ferret owners. The
reality is that Ashcroft and Bush have presided over the greatest assault on
individual liberty and freedom that I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. I can
no longer even stomach so-called liberal Republicans due to the fact that they
share the same party as the aforementioned. The Republicans have become the
Fascist Party of America and if it means that I have to hold my nose and vote
Democrat, then I guess that is what I will do in 2004. Because when Aaron Starr
asks "Will you ask one person to join the LP, if your freedom depends on it?". I
have to answer that the Libertarians only "speak" about defending my freedom,
but are behind the scenes partnering with the Republicans, who are without a
doubt attacking my individual liberty and freedom at every turn. So I can only
deliver this question in response, "Will you vote Democrat 2004, if your freedom
depends on it?"
www.Neo-Liberalism.org
Support Liberalism
Get Notified When This Site is Updated.
