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Libertarian Saturday
Author: TriSec    Date: 03/29/2008 11:57:17

Good Morning!

As the earth moves inexorably along its orbital path, we move another day into tha magic time called "spring". It's lighter, more birds are chirping...but it's still frickin' cold out!

Enough of that now.

Over the past few weeks, both Democratic candidates have been increasingly sniping at each other, to the detriment of the party and the process. As was pointed out in this space yesterday, the tone of the campaign is such that many hardcore democrats are actually thinking about voting for a third term of Bush if "their" candidate doesn't get the nomination.

I'm not here today to tell you all to vote Libertarian. Third parties may not be the answer either, and there's an interesting discussion today, both pro and con, whether the Libertarian Party could or should continue. I'll not post the whole thing..but do go and check the source material if you're interested...

[Ed. Note: Making political change is much debated, yet political action might be characterized as similar to the Canadian ice game of curling, which combines aspects of bowling, bocce and shuffleboard. The curling stone – a kind of oversized hockey puck – is slid on the ice, and the players take brooms and sweep around the stone, but never actually touch it. They merely influence the stone, hoping to help it stop as close to the desired spot as possible.

Even if one agrees on a political destination, or even just a direction, means are just as important as ends in any game, including politics. Two noted strategists in libertarian circles – Carl Milsted and Brian Holtz – offer different takes on the question of whether a libertarian third party is futile and counterproductive.]





PRO: Time to Kill the Libertarian Party?

By Carl Milsted, Jr.

Last month, anarchist Brad Spangler declared that “The Libertarian Party Must Die.” For him, the Libertarian Party is en route to becoming a “sad parody” of the ideals that his branch of the party had in mind.

Even though I am one of the people responsible for the “evisceration the LP platform” I agree with his current diagnosis.

In theory, the Libertarian Party could be an effective umbrella organization for a variety of freedom lovers – libertarians, free liberals, small-government conservatives, etc. – to elect freedom-oriented candidates for partisan public office. I launched the Libertarian Reform Caucus to attempt to move the LP in that direction.

Or, the Libertarian Party could be a Leninist cadre of hardcore libertarians, radical and motivated. Such an organization could get its message out, and infiltrate other organizations applying the transmission-belt theory to magnify its impact.

Unfortunately, the LP attempts to do both, and in the process does neither.

Electoral politics requires putting together big coalitions. It takes a majority to win a two-way race. Even in a three-way race, it takes around 40% of the vote to win in practice. Such coalitions can only be bound by the loosest of ideologies. Tight, coherent ideologies are for the factions that make up such coalitions.

And yes, such broad coalition building involves significant compromise. The founders of the LP feared such compromise and created rules designed to prevent the LP from becoming yet another squishy mainstream party.

And it isn’t. But it still tries to win elections. So it is continuously driven to bring in more members, more donors. The result is a bait and switch, where moderate freedom lovers are told they are libertarians to bring them in, and then told they are not real libertarians once they try to participate in party business. Rancor is the rule. The Libertarian Party is a gigantic time and money waster for those who love liberty...



CON: The LP: Mend It, Don't End It

By Brian Holtz

In any multi-dimensional analysis of Americans' political views, they cluster mostly in the 2-D plane defined by the Nolan chart, and even more so along the left-right diagonal of the Nolan plane. As noted by Duverger's "Law", this in combination with plurality voting laws means that successful third parties cannot arise along that diagonal without being easily co-opted by the two existing major parties already encamped on that line. Too few Americans occupy the totalitarian quadrant of the Nolan plane to support a viable third party there, so the only opportunity for a significant American third party is in the libertarian quadrant. That the Greens do arguably better than the LP despite this situation is a stunning indictment of how badly the LP has botched its opportunity.

Polls show that 16% to 20% of Americans are liberty increasers -- i.e. they agree that America should have both more civil freedom and more economic freedom. The proximate cause for the LP getting nothing like that voting share is of course the wasted-vote syndrome, exhibited by voters who believe that voting is more about tipping the election outcome than about signaling their political beliefs. But underlying that cause is the fundamental problem of the Libertarian Party: its activists tend to care more about exhibiting their ideological purity than about influencing electoral politics in the direction of increased liberty. This hypothesis explains many of the LP's dysfunctional and self-defeating behaviors.

The Bylaws say the LP should "function as a libertarian political entity separate and distinct from all other political parties or movements", should "elect Libertarians to public office", and forbids the endorsement of "any candidate who is a member of another party for public office in any partisan election". The LP acts more interested in using electoral politics to exhibit ideological purity than to "move public policy in a libertarian direction". The Bylaws claims it wants to do the latter, but only "by building a political party that elects Libertarians to public office" -- as if electing Pledge-certified LP members is the only way to move public policy in a libertarian direction...



But no matter what, the MSM is biased against anything that isn't the status-quo. What really needs to be done is to find a way to influence the media and ensure that all the parties and candidates get equal time. Fairness Doctrine and Public Funding, anyone?


And now turning to a campaign issue...you wouldn't know it, but there are candidates for President from the other parties...Libertarian George Phillies offers his vision for healthcare reform this morning.
“First, transfer costs should be eliminated. Right now, anyone who comes to a hospital emergency room gets free care even if they don’t have health insurance. That care is emergency room care, some of the most expensive medical care there is. Who pays for it? It’s a transfer cost, an ‘administrative cost’ charged to your health insurance, which in turn raises your rates. Transfer costs exist because Congress passed an unfunded mandate requiring hospitals to give free care.

“Unfunded mandates should be repealed. If Congress insists on giving away free medical care — not my recommendation — they should pay the costs. Replacing an unfunded mandate and a hidden cost transfer with a funded mandate eliminates a tax–the hidden tax on your health insurance. It makes that cost visible and makes Congress answerable for it. That’s the first step in the right direction.

“Second, drug costs come partly from redundant safety approvals. Medical drugs approved for use in Europe should be accepted for use here without having to go through another approval process. 100,000 American lives could have been saved by bringing beta blockers to the American market as soon as they were approved in Europe.

“Third, tax treatment for medical care costs should be the same for everyone. No matter whether your employer buys your insurance, you buy your insurance, or you pay out of pocket, your spending should have the same tax treatment.

“Fourth, we should allow interstate competition in medical insurance because competition is good. Now in 2008, your insurance costs can change several-fold simply by your moving residence across state lines. Interstate commerce will eliminate inequalities in the market.

“I’m not going to make miraculous promises about preventive medicine. Americans can do some things for themselves to help live a healthier life. See a physician regularly and follow your physician’s advice. Advice like: Avoid tobacco smoke. Achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Exercise vigorously and regularly. Maintain your adult vaccinations. Wear your seat belt. Have the routine screening exams that work. The old adage that an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure is true, especially if that ‘cure’ involves high emergency room costs.

“I’m not going to tell you fairy tales about tort reform greatly reducing costs. We have lawsuits because medical people sometimes make gross blunders. People injured by incompetence or negligence deserve compensation. I encourage individual states to experiment with radically different tort and insurance rules. That helped with no-fault auto insurance.”

“I’m not proposing pie-in-the-sky philosophical purist changes,” Phillies said. “I’m not proposing miracles. I’m proposing changes that Americans will understand and find attractive. I’m proposing solutions that move us in the Libertarian direction and that can be implemented today.”


You can read more about Mr. Phillies at his website.


Lastly this morning....former presidential candidat Mike Gravel has left the party ranks of the democrats and joined the Libertarian Party.
"I'm joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can't be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America," says Gravel. "My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy."

Gravel served in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1981. Most recently, Gravel was a Democratic presidential candidate, though forced out of national debates by Democratic Party leadership and the media. Gravel officially became a member of the Libertarian Party today.

Gravel is the most recent former member of Congress to switch to the Libertarian Party. In 2006, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr joined the Libertarian Party.

"It is a distinct honor to have another former member of Congress within the Libertarian Party," says Barr. "Just as Senator Gravel believes Democrats have lost touch with the American public, I too concluded Republicans had lost their core principles, and could no longer associate myself with the GOP. While coming from opposite sides of the aisle, Senator Gravel and I definitely agree on the fundamental need for systemic change in our political system, and that the only way we have of effecting that change is by supporting and working in the Libertarian Party, which is the only political party in America that consistently works in word and deed to maximize individual liberty and minimize government power."

"We're honored to have a former member of the United States Senate join our ranks," says Libertarian Party Executive Director Shane Cory. “Senator Gravel has a sincere dedication to empowering the American people and eliminating the corrupting influence of the two major parties. His switch from the Democratic Party, as well as former Congressman Barr’s abandonment of the GOP, shows that the Libertarian Party is truly a big tent organization moving firmly in the direction of Liberty.”



So. If the big boys can do it...why not you? Change might be difficult, and there's nothing wrong with changing the status-quo through the party machine....but do we have the luxury of time, or is radical action needed?


 

20 comments (Latest Comment: 03/30/2008 02:23:11 by Mondobubba)
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