Loss of Senate turned on libertarian votes

[gulogulo1970]

If the Republicans want the Libertarian vote maybe they should push a few Libertarian ideas. If the Libertarian vote did cost the Republicans they would be smart to go after those votes by doing just that.

This could be a good thing in the long run.

 

[GTSteve03]

jfruser: Nearly every person I have met who voted Libertarian or was active in Libertarian Party internal activity was a former Republican...who would have likely voted Republican had not the Libertarian alternative been on the ballot.

And you are basing this on what now?

Makes you wonder why they even bothered leaving the Republican party if they were so in line with the party ideals that they would have voted for them had not a Libertarian been around.

Remember, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data."

 

[RealGun]

who would have likely voted Republican had not the Libertarian alternative been on the ballot.

And you are basing this on what now?

That was covered in the story upon which this thread is based. It expressed the judgment something to the effect that libertarians would be more likely to vote for a Republican than a Democrat. It is interesting to frame that (in MT) as both being pro-gun, virtually removing that issue from the table, except Burns was proven in Washington, and Tester was not.

 

[jlbraun]

"Loss of Senate turned on libertarian votes"

Good. Maybe both parties will listen to us now. If the Dems won because of libertarians, maybe they'll become more libertarian because they want to keep winning. If the Repubs lost, maybe they'll become more libertarian too.

I fail to see how any of this is bad.

(disclaimer - former Democrat, now more of a green-minarchist. .gov should build roads, railroads, and public utilities, provide for nature conservation, and work to increase transparency in business and government.)

 

[stevelyn]

Loss of Senate Turned on Libertarian Votes.

Nope..........Loss of Senate and House turned on Repugnican incompetence and betrayal.

 

[jeff-10]

Excellent. See if either side ignores the Libertarian voters next time.

I don't think the Libertarian point of view will be totally ignored. After all we should get amnesty for all the undocumented workers in this country now. Doesn't get much more libertarian than that...

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I don't think the Libertarian point of view will be totally ignored. After all we should get amnesty for all the undocumented workers in this country now. Doesn't get much more libertarian than that...

This is a wrongheaded interpretation of the libertarian position. They do not propose leaving the welfare state intact, and then opening the borders. What they propose is that once the free ride incentives for living here are eliminated, only productive and capable people would have any reason to want to come here. I happen to disagree with the Libertarian Party on open borders as an ideal for the future, but you have misrepresented their position. I believe that even after we eliminate the welfare state from every facit of our nation, we should still be highly selective, as we were prior to the 1960s, about who comes into our nation and who can become a citizen. But the Libertarian Party is correct, I am convinced, that an elimination of the multitude of free rides this nation provides will cut by 90% the desire of foreign nationals to relocate here.

 

[Oleg Volk]

hipping American jobs overseas because it benefits big business

Consider http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/03/jobs.html

 

[Dull'Hawk]

Thanks Oleg. That was very good.

 

[mrmeval]

Neither side ignores alternate parties.

That's why there are ballot denial laws.

 

[cbsbyte]

In a few cases, such as in Montana, Libertarian votes did hurt the Republican incumbent. Though in most cases the Iraq war, corruption and illegal anti-freedom bills are what caused the Republicans to lose Congress. It will be along time before Americans trust the Republicans again, maybe decades.

 

[dave_pro2a]

A guy's driving 120 mph on a country road, in the rain, at night, with his headlights out, after drinking a 6-pack.

He comes up on a hair-pin turn and proceeds to slam on the breaks locking them up. The result is that he just slides right into, through, and past the guard rail. He dies in a fiery crash.

What caused the accident?

The speed?

The rain?

The dark?

The drinking?

The misuse of his brakes?

The libertarians didn't lose the election for the republicans, they did it all by themselves.

They only had to keep their tool in their pants during the last few years and they'd have remained in power -- despite the Iraq war. Instead we got scandal after scandal, corruption, pedophilia, abandament of core values (increased spending, pork, errosion of Constitutional rights), et cetera.

Hell, if every Libertarian who voted in the last election had cast their votes FOR the republicans, they'd have still lost the 'majority.' You can't blame the consequences of years of screw ups on a few thousand libertarian voters.

 

[Sistema1927]

I am a Republican (of the RLC persuasion).

I voted Republican this past election.

Now that is out of the way, let me say this: THE REPUBLICANS DIDN'T NEED ANY HELP LOSING THIS ELECTION, THEY DID A GOOD ENOUGH JOB ALL ON THEIR OWN.