Tag: Libertarians

Libertarians and War: A Bibliographical Essay

This past election showed that the American voter was looking for something new and different…..during that election the Libertarians got a great amount of support from the voter.

I have been reading about more and more people are starting to look to the Libertarian Party for the future….now I cannot say if this will continue or they will be successful…..but the interest is growing.

I also like parts of the Libertarian platform……their concern for war and their stands of individual rights…..they kinda turn me off with some of their economic policies….

This is an essay on the relationship between war and Libertarian thought…..maybe this will help my readers that are looking for an alternative…..

The relationship between war and libertarianism has interested me since 9/11. In the aftermath of those terrorist attacks, I witnessed in grim fascination many libertarians make excuses for government in the realm of national security. The proper libertarian position on war has become a matter of controversy, although I believe it shouldn’t be. “War is the health of the state,” as Randolph Bourne said, as well as being “mass murder,” in the words of Murray Rothbard.

The following essay presents some of the most relevant materials and readings on this controversy. It is unapologetically tilted toward the antiwar position, although it includes some references to pro-interventionist writings. It is idiosyncratic and not comprehensive, and its omissions are not always deliberate. I am always interested in reading suggestions. As for the citations, I include publishing information for books but generally leave it out for articles written for or available on the web, so as to avoid extraneous clutter. Please follow the links to learn more.

Source: Libertarians and War: A Bibliographical Essay – The Libertarian Institute

I would like to help readers look beyond the two party system for it has been screwing the American people for decades……time for a change.

What the Libertarian Party Wants on Foreign Policy

Let me begin by say  that I am not now or ever been a Libertarian…..but that does not preclude me from appreciating some of their issues.

I especially like their stand on American intervention around the world……most of which I can support…..

During my daily search for the news I came across an article in the National Interest website……

Let us not be hostage to how things have been done in the past.

This year, record numbers of Americans voted for Libertarian candidates. The Libertarian presidential nominee, Gov. Gary Johnson, received over four million votes, three times the previous record. For perspective, four million votes is about the voter turnout in a state the size of Virginia. He did this without the tremendous funding and free media attention that Clinton and Trump received.

Notably, Johnson was very popular in multiple polls of active-duty military. One can reasonably theorize that this is because of Gov. Johnson’s stance on the use of military force. Gov. Johnson advocates limiting the use of our military by withdrawing from regional conflicts and focusing purely on defense.

Source: What the Libertarian Party Wants on Foreign Policy | The National Interest

These are issue that I also think important but I do not foresee Mr. Trump really giving a shit about right or wrong…..

2016: Slip Sliding Away

A week away and as usual any third party candidates start taking heat from the press and the idiots that support the 2 major candidates……but not being one that will bow to the constant ribbing from those of lesser minds I will continue to report on the “other” candidates.

This time around it is Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party…..he was up in some areas as much as 10% but has slowly but slowly slid down the charts…..the closer the day comes the less support he seems to have…..

Gary Johnson has been making a valiant go of it, but the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president is starting to see his numbers slip away at the polls—or, as the Boston Globe puts it, “Gary Johnson is no longer a thing.” Politico reports that about half of his supporters have abandoned ship over the last two months, from an almost 10% polling average in September to about 5.6% more recently. And that means that although Johnson could still raise some dust and complicate matters for the two major-party candidates in states where third parties have historically done well, it doesn’t look definite he’s going to have a significant impact on the race, as Ralph Nader did in two states in 2000 (and Nader’s poll numbers were less than half that of Johnson’s in late August of their respective election years, per FiveThirtyEight).

Johnson’s numbers began to drop after he didn’t qualify for the first presidential debate in September. His standing has also been affected by the fact that polls are now looking more closely at likely voters, not just registered ones: A CNN/ORC poll from this weekend, for example, gave Johnson a 5% among registered voters, but only 3% for those likely to show on Election Day (down from 7% three weeks earlier). And the Globe notes Johnson’s flubbedforeign policyremarks likely haven’t helped, either. But Intelligencer says this “crash” is “right on schedule,” as third-party candidates in years with close races tend to start seeing declining numbers as the election nears. If Johnson can hold on to 5%, he could earn federal funding for the Libertarian Party in 2020.

I can understand why he might be more popular this election than in a normal year….he stands where most Repubs stand and the GOP has shown that it will not support Trump….well that is the line but they will come around and like most cowards will bow to conventional pressure and vote straight GOP ticket……

At least Johnson and Stein are talking issues while the other two are focusing on the sideshow situations that have NOTHING to do with this election….

And as usual Americans, most Americans, will vote for the biggest ass-wad and then bitch about it for 4 years……I can hardly wait.

Libertarianism and War

Note:  Please forgive the small amounts of posts but yesterday and today are my doctors and their tests and probes and tickles…….I should be back to form on Monday.

This election as with most in recent history there will be a Libertarian vying for the presidency, Gary Johnson…..normally I am not a fan of the Libertarian economic policies however I do find some of their stands in foreign policy interesting and even some that I could support….like their ideas on interventionism.

Their ideas on war or armed conflicts if war is too strong of a word for you….go back about 60 years to 1956 (and here is that historical perspective that has been missing for a couple of posts)…….

The year was 1956: the icy winds of the cold war were blowing across the political landscape. And it was a presidential election year, pitting the internationalist Republican Dwight Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson, the darling of the Democratic party’s left wing. The “isolationist” faction of the GOP, led by Sen. Robert A. Taft, had been finally defeated by what Phyllis Schlafly later called the Republican “kingmakers” of the Eastern Establishment. And the looming menace of the cold war turning hot was everywhere in the headlines. While Eisenhower was rallying the nation against the alleged Communist “threat,” Stevenson was calling for a nuclear test ban, negotiations with the Soviet Union, and an end to the military draft.

There was no organized libertarian movement at the time, although the people and institutions that would later emerge as the leadership were beginning to coalesce. Prominent among them was Murray Rothbard, then a thirty year old economist and consultant for the Volker Fund, who was also the Washington correspondent for the quasi-libertarian Faith and Freedom magazine. While most if not all conservatives and libertarians favored Eisenhower, Rothbard shocked his readers with a ringing endorsement of the liberal Democrat Stevenson.

Source: Libertarianism and War – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

Foreign policy should be foremost on the voters mind……but instead we have platitudes and campaigns about NOTHING…..I mean these campaigns this time around are more boring than the Seinfeld Show…..

There is still time for the voter to come to grips with the absolute worthlessness of the two major candidates and find an alternative that could lead this country……but will they?

But the Libertarian candidate leaves much to be desired to be considered as a viable candidate…..

Gary Johnson’s had his “Aleppo moment.” He’s had his “forgetting world leaders” moment. And now the Libertarian candidate for president has completed the foot-in-mouth trifecta with his “Are you seriously asking me for the name of North Korea’s leader?” moment. USA Today reports that that latter event happened during a Wednesday interview with the New York Times, in which Johnson was asked if he knew the name of that particular person who happens to run Pyongyang and its environs. “I do,” he replied, before adding, “You want me to name [that person]. … Really.”

Yes, Gary, really—which is why you were asked. But he didn’t ever give the Times that name. (It’s Kim Jong Un, by the way), and the Times speculates he was “conspicuously [seeking] to avoid another misstep” with his non-answer, noting that he spoke “dryly” when he asked if the reporter was serious. Jezebel has the most reasonable speculation on why Johnson may have demurred from speaking the Supreme Leader’s name: He perhaps confused him with Voldemort. (Still, Gary Johnson says don’t forget about Gary Johnson on Election Day.)

Time to get serious and find a candidate that is not an idiot or uninformed……

 

Johnson Flubs Again

First a head;s up…..I will defend Johnson in this post but it by NO means that I endorse of support the Libertarian cause….

Most of us political junkies know of Johnson’s “Aleppo moment” and he had yet another “moment on MSNBC……

Gary Johnson had what he called another “Aleppo moment” Wednesday night when he was flummoxed by the question, “Who’s your favorite foreign leader?” The Libertarian presidential candidate, speaking at a televised town hall event at the University of New Hampshire, didn’t have a ready answer but got more time to think when running mate Bill Weld said his was Shimon Peres, only to be told by MNSBC host Chris Matthews that it had to be somebody living, ABC News reports. “You got to do this. Anywhere. Any continent,” Matthews told Johnson. “Canada, Mexico, Europe, over there. Asia. South America. Africa. Name a foreign leader that you respect.”

“I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment … the former president of Mexico,” said Johnson who wondered, “What is Aleppo?”—or possibly “What is a Leppo?”—when asked about the Syrian city earlier this month. CBS reports that when Matthews asked which former president of Mexico he was talking about, Johnson said he had a “brain freeze” and Weld eventually helped out, saying “Fox,” for Vicente Fox. “Fox! Thank you,” said Johnson. “He was a terrific leader.” After getting Johnson off the hook, Weld went on to name German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the living leader he most admires. (Johnson says the Libertarian ticket is the only one “that offers Americans a chance to find common ground.”)

To be honest if I had been asked that question out of the blue…I would have had a hard time naming a world leader that I respect…..first it would have caught me off guard and second I still cannot think of one that I actually respect even now.

Then There Is Gary Johnson

As the election (or should that be the erection) draws closer……how many disenfranchised GOPers have changed to the Libertarians?  They seem to be afraid of Mr. Trump’s candidacy…..but they may be so with their new best choice.

I have written a wealth on why Trump and Clinton are bad ideas for your vote….I have also written about Dr. Stein of the Green Party….which is NOT a bad choice…….but I have not written much about the Libertarian in the race, Gary Johnson.

Personally I think Johnson is a joke but he is polling higher than Stein….for some reason….maybe because voters do not know that much about him other than he is for legalization of marijuana and his basic ant-interventionism…..both of those stands are commendable but there is more to the candidate than he wants to talk about….

A recent NBC News/Quinnipiac poll reveals that more than a quarter of young voters—many who had supported the presidential bid of Sen. Bernie Sanders—plan to cast their presidential ballots for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Democrats are increasingly nervous that Johnson’s candidacy could pull more voters from Hillary Clinton than from her Republican rival, Donald Trump, especially in key states like Colorado and Wisconsin. While Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein draws mostly progressive voters, Johnson’s support hails from the breadth of the political spectrum, making it more difficult to suss out. However, because he is on the ballot in all 50 states (Stein is not), most pollsters consider his campaign to be a greater threat to Clinton’s chances in some swing states. And because the U.S. uses the electoral college system to determine the outcome of presidential elections, that could matter on November 8, no matter Clinton’s overall support among the general population.

Source: 12 Ways Gary Johnson Is a Hardcore Right-Wing Radical | Alternet

I am a foreign policy wonk so I base a lot of my support on that….but when Johnson was asked about the situation in Aleppo and he did not know what it was…strike one and then when the most recent bombings in NYC/NJ and he said “At least no one was hurt”….maybe those 29 people would like to know that they are nobodys.

But his ignorance is there……so what type of ignorance is it?

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson flubbed a question about the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo but a more pervasive form of ignorance comes in the form of politically slanted “knowledge,”

The vast majority of people “live locally.” Wherever they are residing, that is the arena of their life, and it is that environment that they know best. Even up-and-coming American political leaders are subject to this rule. This became embarrassingly obvious when, on Sept. 8, Gary Johnson made his now famous faux pas.

Source: Simple Ignorance vs. Politically Slanted Ignorance – Consortiumnews

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once commented that “false knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance.”…..love the quote!

However if you are leaning toward the Libertarians then for Christ sake….know your candidate!

Source: The myth of Gary Johnson

I see nothing in his stands that would lead me down the hemlock trail and vote for him…..or any Libertarian……the ideology is just plain….how shall I put it?  Wacky!

I am still thinking GREEN…..and so should you.

MSM: Give Third Parties More Exposure

Believe it or not there are other candidates for the presidency beyond the corrupted 2 parties we hear about every day.

The Mainstream Media could do the right thing and let the American people know they have more choices than tweedle-dee and Tweedle -dum…….as a matter of fact CNN has gained some support from the town halls they held with Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson…..

The Libertarian Party Town Hall event hosted by CNN on Wednesday night was the highest rated show on cable news in the coveted 25-54 demographic for the night.

More than 1.6 million viewers tuned in to the hour-long event featuring Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and vice presidential candidate William Weld.

Perhaps more important than the raw numbers is the massive uptick in viewership for Wednesday’s event compared to a similar Libertarian Town Hall discussion hosted by CNN on June 22. Overall viewership was up 74 percent and viewership in the 25-54 demographic increased by 101 percent—more than doubling the “in demographic” audience for the first town hall with Johnson and Weld, CNN reported Thursday.

Source: Huge Ratings Uptick for CNN’s Second Libertarian Town Hall, As 1.6 Million Tune In – Hit & Run : Reason.com

My hat goes off to them for having the alternative townhall….the American voter needs more exposure to alternative candidates…..maybe then we can get down to repairing this f*cked up process.

Here’s a thought….why not do the same with the Green Party…..that require backbone and I just somehow do not think they can manage it.

After I wrote that thought about CNN…news has come down that they will hold a Green Party townhall on 17 August

As the Green Party convenes in Houston this weekend to formally nominate Dr. Jill Stein for president, the party’s stars appear more aligned than ever. The Greens have a catchy unofficial slogan: “Jill, Not Hill.” There’s a new generation of politically rootless democratic socialists to woo. The Green Party is predicting it will be on the most state ballots in its history. And Stein is getting more media coverage than any Green since 2000 nominee Ralph Nader, having just secured a prime-time CNN town hall for August 17.

The town hall is a critical opportunity, since Stein is the least known of the four top candidates, including Libertarian Party nominee and former Governor Gary Johnson. And while she has certainly been to political candidate school—male pundits won’t have to remind her to smile—she doesn’t have the inspiring cadence of an Obama or the gruff everyman shtick of a Sanders. Her even keel and consistently left-wing outlook goes down easily with the Democracy Now! audience, but she’ll need to raise her game if she’s to connect on CNN.

Source: Can the Green Party Win With ‘Jill, Not Hill’? – POLITICO Magazine

I stand corrected…..and I will be watching…..will you?

Americans yearn for third choice

The Olympics started today so I will not be posting as much as normal…..I want to watch a few great sports like soccer, handball and a few others…..

2016 is a helluva election……..2 candidates that few trust or even fewer like……some say that we Americans are craving a viable third choice…..instead of whining like titty babies about how bad the candidates are then go out and find an alternative…..

Most Americans desire to vote but this election and the terrible candidates gives them an irritable bowel……

Americans’ demand for an alternative to the two main presidential candidates has surged since the last election, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll shows, underscoring the unpopularity of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Based on 2,153 interviews, Friday’s poll results suggest a strong potential for a third-party candidate – like Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party or Jill Stein of the Green Party – to take enough of the vote in the Nov. 8 presidential election to influence its outcome.

Source: Faced with Trump and Clinton, Americans yearn for third choice: Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters

What To Do For The Berniecrats

Now that the silly season has terminated and Clinton seems to be cruising to the nomination….Bernie supporters are soul searching to decide which candidate to throw their support behind.

For many it will NOT be Clinton……some are looking at the Green Party and others are considering the Libertarians….that I do not understand…..the Libertarians would be more loose with their restrictions on Wall Street…..

I then read a post about this decision process……

Disappointed Sanders supporters are searching for a candidate they can stomach. Is that candidate Gary Johnson?

Bernie Sanders has admitted he is not going to be the Democratic nominee for president, but his millions of supporters are still going through a very public and painful soul-searching as they survey the choices before them.

The vast majority are backing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Some are clinging to the extremely unlikely hope that hundreds of Democratic delegates will switch their allegiance to Sanders over the next month. A dwindling number are pledging to vote for Donald Trump, who has been actively courting their votes. And some are looking for a third-party candidate who aligns with their values.

Source: Libertarians Can’t Count On Berniecrats This Fall | ThinkProgress

Personally, I am thinking Green Party and Dr. Jill Stein……

Millennials seem to be drawn to Bernie…and now that he may not be the nominee the question is where do they fit?

Few developments have caused as much recent consternation among advocates of free-market capitalism as various findings that millennials, compared to previous generations, are exceptionally receptive to socialism.

A recent Reason-Rupe survey found that a majority of Americans under 30 have a more favorable view of socialism than of capitalism. Gallup finds that almost 70 percent of young Americans are ready to vote for a “socialist” president. So it has come as no surprise that 70 to 80 percent of young Americans have been voting for Bernie Sanders, the self-declared democratic socialist. Some pundits have been eager to denounce such surveys as momentary aberrations, stemming from the economic crash, or due to lack of knowledge on the part of millennials about the authoritarianism they say is the inevitable result of socialism. They were too young to have been around for Stalin and Mao, they didn’t experience the Cold War, they don’t know to be grateful to capitalism for saving them from global tyranny. The critics dismiss the millennials’ political leanings by repeating Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan’s mantra, “There is no alternative” (TINA), which prompted the extreme form of capitalism we now know as neoliberalism.

Source: The Millennial Generation Is a Perfect Fit for Socialism | Alternet

Now I ask….what will be the ultimate decision for these voters?  Will they fall prey to the same laziness as most other generations and vote for one of the Theft parties?

The Libertarian Party has a cognitive dissonance problem

I have been writing a lot about the two parties and their candidates…..none of which I would hire to wipe my ass….and as I usually do around the election is also offer posts on the alternate candidates that the voter could have as a choice.  As it is today the two major choices are a lying bitch and babbling moron…..we are so F*CKED!

Recently I wrote a piece about the Libertarians and keeping with that line for now……I offer up some more insights into the Libertarian Party….

Who will lead the Party in 2016?

I am so glad you asked!

The Libertarian Party has nominated former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as its presidential candidate, and if his name rings a bell, that’s because he was the party’s nominee in 2012, reports the AP. Delegates to the party’s convention in Orlando on Sunday picked Johnson on the second ballot over Austin Petersen, the founder of the Libertarian Republic magazine, and John McAfee, sometime fugitive and founder of the eponymous anti-virus company. Johnson hit 49.5% of votes in the first round, which CNN notes was just short of the majority needed; he sealed the deal in the second round with 55.8%.

Johnson got about 1% of the popular vote in 2012. But the party is hoping for a strong showing in November because of the deep unpopularity polls show for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. The 63-year-old Johnson was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a Republican.

There are so many thiongs to consider when looking at a third party……

How can you run to be the chief executive of an extremely statist entity from a perch that is diametrically opposed to the modern state?

The Libertarian Party selects its nominee in Orlando this weekend, and for the first time since the mid-1990s, their leading candidate is polling at or around 10 percent nationally. That man — former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson — is a regular on network and cable television, and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, is settling into his own public role quite nicely.

The Libertarian Party certainly faces structural challenges in a nation dominated by two political parties. But their main problem is different — and it’s one they have control over.

Source: The Libertarian Party has a cognitive dissonance problem

Each election has its alternative candidates the problem is….while they have some interesting policies the voter will not give them much notice because they are too busy drooling over the worse possible candidates this country has to offer.

This election is NO different!

I will soon be posting of the Green Party and its candidate, Dr. Jill Stein.