Comments on: Red Flag in the LP

By: Wayne Root’s vow to testify at Rev. Manning’s Obama Birther ‘trial’ draws catcalls from Balko, Mataconis, others | Independent Political Report

Mon, 17 May 2010 02:47:33 +0000

[...] Party. Root has also indicated that he plans to run for president in 2012 under the LP banner. I criticized Root last year for boasting about his appearances on Michael Savage’s syndicated radio show. [...]

By: Wayne Allyn Root: Bonkers | The Agitator

Wayne Allyn Root: Bonkers | The Agitator — Sun, 16 May 2010 13:45:40 +0000

By: Bonnie S

Bonnie S — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:42:25 +0000

I care more what W.A.R. is saying than where he's saying it, but no-one's talked about that.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:30:14 +0000

Savage’s schtick is to expose.

He does it quite well. So many squeal when stuck.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:45:47 +0000

Billy Beck got it best of all.

He might have used his favorite term–Endarkenment.

I have no dog in this hunt, since there is no hunt.

By: Morning Links | The Agitator

Morning Links | The Agitator — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:21:50 +0000

[...] Thomas Knapp reviews already declared Libertarian Party 2012 presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root’s new book, and finds it lacking. My dustup with Root here. [...]

By: libertariangirl

libertariangirl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:59:44 +0000

Nevada apologizes to Radley for abhorrent behavior of former Chair , Jim Duensing

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:51:12 +0000

And I read your stuff on FOX NEWS! HA! How ironic Is this article?!?!

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:50:30 +0000

I’m completely floored that anyone who agrees with this article – let alone authored it – considers himself to be a libertarian or open-minded. A libertarian can only spread his word on another libertarian’s radio show? Seriously? Radley I agree with your Reason/FOX NEWS stuff 95% of the time but this is truly unreal. I had to read it a few times to make sure it wasn’t a joke. As a matter of fact, I read the article before I knew who wrote it and my jaw literally dropped when I saw who it was. I was brought here via Sullivan. Wow.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:37:44 +0000

I meant FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION, of course.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:37:18 +0000

Root is a Vegas guy, betting on the odds. The only one who has something to gain from this is Root. More than likely he is on Savage’s show for the big numbers. Secondly, I like listening to Savage for the entertainment value. He’s ridiculously funny in the way Archie bunker was. No radio pundits sway my opinion. I like the fact Savage practices free speech and takes no prisoners.. I like the fact he’s pretty brilliant. I like the fact he’s a reformed liberal.

If YOU have something against free association that is YOUR problem.

By: truthynesslover

truthynesslover — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:12:30 +0000

Libertarians are for the most part trustfund babies angry that their easy money is taxed and loners who resent having to pay for other people kids education {since they themselves can find women to procreate with}.They for the most part are hopelessly selfish fools living in a world of warcraft fantasy land disconnected from and felling of obligation to the community.They live their lives with deep seated resentments and your suprised people like Savage would be a beacon to them?

By: Mara

Mara — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:34:58 +0000

#24 — airforce — May 18th, 2009 at 9:25 pm — Did you see all those tea Parties last month? There are millions of people dissatisfied with both the GOP and the Democrats…If we don’t take advantage of this NOW, we may never have the opportunity again

too bad the tea parties got hijacked by the racists, homophobes, and Republicans. I mean look at who was at the top of the organizational pyramid – Dick Armey’s “Freedom Group”, the Drill-baby-drill organization “Don’tGO” and last (but not least) the so-called “Americans for Prosperity” bunch. They stole the idea from Libertarians and astro-turfed it into a protest by, for, and of Republican conservatives (complete with ubiquitous anti-Obama and anti-liberal protest signs).

Where were the Libertarians? Where were the fiscally conservative, socially liberal Libertarians?! Where were the regular Americans who just wanted to protest the obscene bailouts, and don’t necessarily hate Obama? Nowhere. The face of these protests are Republican faces. For gods sake…FOX NEWS was providing links to site coordinators!

Sure, emulate the Tea Parties (they were originally Libertarian anyway) but I suggest you call them something else, because that designation now belongs to the Republicans.

By: strat

strat — Mon, 25 May 2009 05:54:02 +0000

The most ironic thing about Michael Savage, and one about which I wish I’d called in about during my brief evaluation of his program is that his rants about “borders, language and culture” sound almost exactly like campaign speeches by French politicians.

By: Brandybuck

Brandybuck — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:07:20 +0000

Everytime I wonder if I made the right decision in leaving the LP for the GOP, along comes a story like this to affirm my choice. Hoping the LP can field a winnable candidate like like hoping your Sunday school children’s choir can win Eurovision.

By: Lloyd Flack

Lloyd Flack — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:29:52 +0000

By appearing on Savage’s shows you implicitly say that Savage’s views are worthy of respect not just tolerance. But Savage’s views are not deserving of respect. They are vile and contemptible. In the name of freedom of speech we have to tolerate them. But it is immoral to condone them.

By appearing on his shows you make the implicit statement that the areas where you disagree with him are not of great importance. But they are not unimportant and you discredit yourself by not distancing yourself from someone like him. The price of reaching out to his listeners is too high. You loose more than you gain.

By: airforce

airforce — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:11:40 +0000

Why does it matter who he’s preaching to? I go out and talk to everyone from gun enthusiasts to union members to queer activists to anti-war activists to disgruntled paleo-conservatives to… well, plenty more. My message is clear. My message doesn’t waver. I’m sure that plenty of the people I’ve brought the message to are wholeheartedly unlibertarian and anti-freedom. I don’t care. My role is to educate them, not to give a damn what their opinion is to begin with.

Well said. When I tell folks the government should have no hand in deciding if gay marriages are valid, I also tell them that I, personally, would not. I consider homosexuality to be a sin, and conferring upon this vile sin the sanctity of marriage is outrageous. I would immediately leave any church that performed a gay marriage.

Using force to nullify a gay marriage, however, would be even more of an outrage. I have no right to do so, and neither should the State.

Would anyone consider me a “perfect libertarian?” Probably not. Frankly, I don’t think such a thing even exists.

Mr. Balko is right, Mr. Root looks and sounds too much like a used car salesman to suit me. I was rather disappointed that Bob Barr chose him as his running mate, though I understand why he did. But give him a break. By appearing on Savage’s show, he’s doing what he can to advance our cause.

By: Kevin Dean

Kevin Dean — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:51:19 +0000

Damn… I forgot that the Libertarian Party claimed to care about liberty.

I mean… George W. Bush was elected on a platform of smaller government, I assumed the Libertarian Party’s “freedom” stance was kicked to the side when they started advocating aggression and tyranny.

As such, I’m not surprised.

By: mdh

mdh — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:39:25 +0000

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree here. While I may not agree with everything Wayne Root says or thinks (and he’s moved closer to me over the past two years based on the progression of his policy statements), I think he’s been doing a lot of good stuff.
Why does it matter who he’s preaching to? I go out and talk to everyone from gun enthusiasts to union members to queer activists to anti-war activists to disgruntled paleo-conservatives to… well, plenty more. My message is clear. My message doesn’t waver. I’m sure that plenty of the people I’ve brought the message to are wholeheartedly unlibertarian and anti-freedom. I don’t care. My role is to educate them, not to give a damn what their opinion is to begin with. Sometimes I succeed and often I fail to make an immediate impact. More often, however, I’ve planted a seed. If Wayne Root is planting seeds in just some of the anti-freedom minds he touches (though I’m sure plenty of people listen to Savage just because they love to hate the guy, and are not as anti-freedom as we may suspect), then he’s doing good work, and I support it all the way.
We’re not big enough that we can be so selective of who we’re willing to talk to or which outlets we’re willing to use. Even if we were, I don’t think we should be. As long as our message is a consistently libertarian message, we’re doing good work. Wayne Root may not be a perfect libertarian, ideologically. Of course, for everyone who’ll say he isn’t, there’ll be a person who says he is, and a person who says that anyone who doesn’t advocate immediate anarchy is not libertarian, and the list goes on and on. What Root is doing is helping our party grow by getting some name recognition, at the very least. At best, some of those seeds he’s planting are going to sprout and those people are going to become future activists, future libertarians. I wasn’t an ideologically pure libertarian when I first voted for Badnarik in 2004. It’s a progression and takes time to read, to learn, to understand why the consistency of our ideology works so well. Why freedom works so well. Let’s all help to usher these people along down the road that so many of us once walked, rather than scorn them for their unlibertarian pasts.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:25:08 +0000

Most of us here (I’m guessing) know the progression people take on their way to, thru, and beyond the Libertarian Party. As such, I think the LP has accomplished little more than sometimes catching disgruntled Dems and Repubs, while also serving as a rest area for folks on independent discovery trips. Any discussion of what the LP should do, has done, or is doing now is too much discussion. This doesn’t mean that libertarianism is not worth discussing…just that the LP is not a mechanism by which libertarianism is implemented or advanced.

I believe Radley’s point is that the LP, by virtue of its principles, has enemies and Savage is most definitely an enemy. An LP leader should know this. WAR’s participation with Savage tips his hand at his game of self promotion rather than true leadership. The LP would be better served to look elsewhere.

There really is no such independent ideology as libertarianism. It is simply a variation of existing left-wing and right-wing ideologies.

Or the other way around. There are no independent ideologies such as left and right wing. They exist only as extreme interpretations of libertarianism.

Hey, the Constitution looks mostly libertarian to me…until it got corn-holed by politicians and the New Deal.