My “beef” with the Republicans has nothing to do with being “socially cool.” Dear God. Have you been to an LP convention lately?

The reason I don’t call myself Republican is because I outright disagree with half of their platform, and even on the stuff where I’m supposed to agree with them, they’re too cowardly and/or corrupt to actually do what they’re supposed to.

I think Humbolt Blue is on to something here. In our two-party system third parties almost exclusively advance the opposite of their own beliefs. That’s why there are no socialist, fascist or progressive parties to speak of — the smart people in these movements have recognized that their best approach for achieving policy goals is to tilt the Democratic Party in their direction.

So why then do otherwise intelligent people advocate and vote for the Libertarian Party?

I’ll offer one major and one minor reason.

Major reason — Republicans aren’t politically cool. Somehow despite the Grand Imperial Wizard KKK leaders, the slick corporatists/fascists and the thuggish labor cartels in the Democrat Party, the label that really sticks to Republicans for young, hip urbanites is “prude”. Sure there are a lot other nasty slurs that roll of the lips of the fashionable left, but prudishness is the key. Sexuality is the one area where Democrats arguably offer greater freedom than Republicans and certain fashionable enclaves — education, media, the easy-money billionaire club — set the trend.

That so many hard-core Republicans insist on pretending to have a third choice shows just how effective the left’s argument by social ostracism actually is.

Minor reason — The right to bitch. The other big advantage of voting for say Bob Barr is that it allows one to bear no responsibility for the bad outcomes inevitable for any electable candidate. I’m not sure why Losertarians think this is morally superior to simply not voting at all, but they clearly do. It’s a statement, a message. Unfortunately, the way I read the message is “I Big Government”.

The solution to this nonsense is simple. To distinguish true libertarians, like myself, with the cojones to admit being a Republican despite the negative fashion connotations, from the Losertarians, I simply refer to all avowed Libertarians as “hard-core Republicans”.

This both accurately describes their position and neatly punctures their aspirations to be politically fashionable or to stay above the fray.

-Mercy

Radley de Bergerac!

chsw

Of all the good comments that ask thoughtful questions of you that go unanswered, and you spend so much time responding to the ad hominem troll? Uhh… guess what Radley – you are never going to convince the likes of this guy that you aren’t what he thinks. Save your time and attention.

I’m not sure what Radley was thinking, but this was by far his most entertaining post. Not a waste of his time or attention.

See, saying you can run your own life is egotistical. Saying I can run your life is just realistic pragmatic fairness.

Oh, that is nice…. LOL

I do think it works better with the emphasis I added, though…

I must defend my ’08 vote for Bob Barr. My state was not going to be a state that mattered in the election. I wanted to show support for a candidate from another (any) party so the powers-and-political-funders-that-be would realize that a lot of Americans want a choice other than R or D. I wrote about it at http://bit.ly/do9gNx when I talked about Electile Dysfunction.

Here I am: Fiscal conservative and mostly but not completely social liberal who has no candidate in any election. I do the best I can.

John C. Randolph | October 28th, 2010 at 3:26 pm

Barr was a terrible mistake by the LP. I guess they needed to learn that taking an allegedly repentant drug warrior who proved to be an arrogant jackass, instead of nominating a man of principal, isn’t a way to increase their support.

Or a woman of principle, like Mary Ruwart, who was “supposed” to be the nominee until Barr and Root showed up. Barr was a “mistake” by barely half of the national LP convention.

You know, you might be on to something there!

The more intelligent you are, the more you realize that intelligence doesn’t matter as much as is assumed.