Ergotism

Can I just tell you how disappointed eighteen-year-old me is with the Libertarian Party today? You see, eighteen-year-old me voted for Harry Browne for president because he was a card carrying Libertarian (Yes, I still have the card somewhere) and the Libertarians were right even if they were going to lose, and eighteen-year old me wasn’t gonna hear any crap about compromise or throwing his vote away.

The thing is, even if you think the Libertarians have decent principles but are merely misapplying them (as I probably think) at least they had principles. But, is it now all about Bob Barr? Are you kidding me? Is this what the Libertarian Party has come to?

To jog your memory, Bob Barr was the first congressman to call for President Clinton’s resignation over the Monica scandal. He said that Bill Clinton’s behavior “endangered the Constitution.” I can’t honestly think that Bob Barr actually believed that, because it firstly, it makes no fucking sense, and secondly if he’s so concerned about the Constitution how did he vote for the Patriot Act? No, Bob Barr’s Monica-mongering had nothing to do with his unswerving devotion to the Constitution. It was all about making political hay out of Bill’s Wandering Boner.

So now the Libertarian Party, the party that at least used to be called The Party Of Principle, has as its nominee a guy who worked for most of his career to support the War On Drugs, who voted for the Patriot Act, who blocked same-sex marriage, who proposed that the practice of Wicca should be banned, and of course who helped start the Iraq War. Ahem. Those are not exactly Libertarian positions.

But now he’s all changed. He’s seen the light. He’s a real Libertarian now. He kind of was all along but he had to keep it a secret. Yeah right.

And now people are surprised that the Ron Paul supporters aren’t jumping on the Bob Barr Bandwagon. Well, it’s no surprise. The Ron Paul people weren’t a horde of blind and deaf irascibles. Even if you disagree with Ron Paul you can see that he was The Real Deal. He walked the walk. Bob Barr? Not so much.

If a third party who is bound to lose doesn’t even have its principles, then what does it have left? I guess all it has now is four percent of the vote in Georgia. Way to go!