Bob Barr - Discuss

I live in PA. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion my state will fall to Obama and my vote will be meaningless, much as it was by the time the primary rolled around here. I'm sick of the two parties, and can't much stomach pulling the lever for either of them. Bob Barr claims his Libertarian party is not the Libertarian (read: whacko) of my parents. It's more like Ron Paul without the insanity and isolationism. Listening to him is akin to hearing a normal person with common sense discuss the issues, yet (gasp) he's a politician. I much prefer to vote my conscience rather than to prevent someone from achieving office. I'm liking this guy. No chance? Yeah, probably, but maybe in 4 years after the current choice of two Bozos carries us deeper into despair things could look different. At a minimum, having his sign in my yard may shock the hell out of my neighbors.

The media perpetuates and expands the two party system.

We ( the USA ) is only one party away from complete communisim....(sp )

I have had so many people tell me that I am throwing away my vote when I voye Libertarian. But I've voted that way for the last three national elections.

But then they moan that we need another choice!!!

We HAVE another choice. We NEED to stand up and vote it! And send a REAL message to Washington.

Libertarians insist they're all for drug legalization, gay equality, and keeping the government out of people's sex lives, which makes their having nominated Bob Barr odd since he's tried hard to criminalize medical marijuana and presidential blowjobs, in addition to making sure gays can't get full marriage rights.

I find that my political beleifs generally align with the Libertarian party, but there's enough flaws in the lib platform that i don't feel it's worth it to vote for them.

Finally a candidate that ".gets it". Everything from foreign policy and taxes, to the constitution. It's a sad state of affairs when you can't vote for who you think is the best candidate, instead you vote 'against' one or the other. Libertarians have garnered 3% of the vote historically. Until that number rises to 10% or more, they will not be taken seriously by the mainstream press. Gays comprise less than 2% of the population, yet look at the attention they garner. The "press" doesn't have an agenda? Solo hit the nail on the head, blaming the media, but that's only part of the problem. Lobbyists are another part. Where I come from, that's just a fancy name for bribery-which is supposed to be against the law. I am not a "libertarian", nor do I agree with their platform, but in this election, they have the best candidate by far.

1. He's basically said "Yep - I got that one wrong. Oops." on the Marijuana thing.

2. I don't think he give a E36 M3 about presidential blowjobs, but takes perjury fairly seriously.

3. I've got no real problem with saying that Bill and Bob can't be married. I'm OK with a marriage being defined as man and woman. OTOH, it is BS that partners don't have the same rights in the areas of estate planning, medical access, etc. The problems can be fixed without redefining marriage.

I'm glad ddavidv started the thread so I didn't have to. Anybody see him on Glenn Beck last night? Here's part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmAPRcx_w4k

Last night sealed the deal for me. All my Democrat friends will love me now. So in the tradition of "Don't blame me; I voted for Bush" stickers, I hope to print these out soon:

"Berkeley you all; I voted for Bob Barr."

Yeah, Bob has recanted his drug warriorness of the 90's. I don't think its because he's come to some revelation about the drugs or drug users, so much as he's seen how its been used (along with other nanny state programs) to erode basic freedoms of Americans. On a personal level, he probably still abhors drug use and is still a rather strong social conservative, but he's seen how we all lose if we allow ourselves to be more and more rigidly controlled by our government (government will ban gay marraige, then turn around and ban school prayer). I think Bob sees why the original Reagan socon/libeterian alliance was formed, because both sides saw at the time that government was making their lives worse, not better. UNfortunately, by the time Bush was elected, the social conservatives in power saw that they could abandon the alliance and get everything they want at the expense of some people's liberty. Now, however, we're on the verge of electing one of the most liberal democrats since Mr. Jimmy Carter and all the power that government has acquired will be turned over to the social conservatives worst enemy. Mr. Barr now sees what the social conservatives have wrought and decided he'd rather promote what the alliance started out as than continue down the destructive path of trying to control the government hammer.

The social conservatives have given government the gun to fill their enemies with lead and now government is swiveling back to face them. Bob Barr has given them a chance to choose to unload that gun before it takes them out. We'll see how many people want to take that opportunity. For me, even though it may seem useless, I'm going to vote to restore freedom. We'll see how many people follow.

Wow. Glad I'm not alone. I first saw him on Beck's show several months ago but wasn't quite convinced. Having watched the full hour last night, I am much more comfortable with BB. The whole drug thing is a back-burner issue anyway. Until the makeup of Congress and the Senate changes, there's no chance any kind of permissive drug laws will pass. It's important to focus on the bigger prize than hopeless, itty bitty ones like legalizing marijuana (which I'm mostly opposed to).