Question for THR members...

[LawBot5000]

Sorry, I stand behind my original post completely. I'm a politically active libertarian/republican who has long been frustrated by a lack of political common sense in the libertarian party. The problems with the libertarian party have NOTHING to do with unfairness in the system or voter turnout problems. Fixing these issues wont vault the libertarian party to victory anymore than it will bring the greens or the socialists to power.

The (Big L) Libertarian Party is full of the (small L) libertarians that arent smart enough to work within the 2 major parties. 99 percent of THEM are wasting their energy because they dont realize that compromise gets you forward while ideological rigidity gets you nothing. The US has plenty of (small L) libertarians who adopt maybe 1/3 to 2/3 of the libertarian platform and mix it in with other ideas. But these guys are frightened off by the rigidity of the Libertarian Party, which is surprisingly intolerant of views that diverge from orthodox libertarian/anarchist ideas. Because of this rigidity, most people who could (IMO) be called libertarians are shooed into the two major parties depending on whether they care more about social or economic freedom more.

The other reality bringing down the libertarian party is that most of the voting public IS afraid of freedom and ISN'T ready to vote for anything close to an ideologically pure libertarian politician. This is why most politicians, judges and lawyers with libertarian leanings keep their mouths shut lest it come back to haunt them. Judge Bork was something of a libertarian in his early career and those writings came back to bite him during his confirmation hearings. These arent lessons that a wise politician (yes, judges are politicians too) soon forgets. Ron Paul is a very rare and fortunate politician to have a constituency that understands his message and isnt afraid of it. But he is just as much an oddity as Cynthia McKinney- they can both be far removed from the mainstream because they live in politically unusual districts.

I'm sorry if I ruffled feathers by implying that libertarianism is somehow an unworthy philosophy (it isnt and I personally embrace it) or that all voters are afraid or ignorant of the constitution (many arent, but we are still only a growing minority). We have the long fight still ahead of us, not behind us as some here seem to beleive.

 

[Clipper]

It's been my own observation that conservatives like most of us are more likely to vote no matter what. However, bad weather, long lines at the polls etc. usually result in a lower dem vote. Maybe the libs tend to be younger and are less tenacious about exercising their rights, I don't know, but anything that makes it easier to vote, like giving them all day to do it, seems likely to be an advantage to liberals, and detrimental overall for conservative voters.

 

[plexreticle]

I find it pathetic that more people don't vote in the US, but considering the people that don't vote are the folks we don't want voting it's probably a good thing.

I don't think raising the percentage of voters in the US would help any cause represented on these forums, imho.

 

[Waitone]

Why cater to the lowest common denominator? Voting is a duty of citizens. Let's flip it around. You want a holiday to vote? Fine, just keep away from the voting booth. If your convenience is more important than you civic duty I'd just as soon as not have you voting.