Okay, I'm currently registered Libertarian. I was a member of the party, but my membership lapsed. I might renew.
I am clearly libertarian in the way I think. I like Libertarians. At least the local members are great, very intelligent, mostly non-wacko.
I do have some disagreement with the Libertarians' "blame America first" reaction to Jihadism, which has been around for a millenium longer than the US has. And I think that the notion of trading freely with all nations while ignoring what goes on inside their borders is unrealistic and actually counter to libertarian values. At some point, we can hardly claim to be pro-liberty if we support "letting the free market decide" that cheap goods made by political prisoners who are tortured and forced to work are the best deal. I guess I do believe that Libertarian foreign policy platforms are simplistic at best, and wrong at worst. Though I am in favor of a free market, the realities of nation-states and their rulers sometimes makes it impossible for us to unilaterally create a free market, just like geopolitical realities make unilateral disarmament a stupid way to end war.
Anyway, I'm considering re-registering Republican.
"WHY?!?" you might ask.
Here's why.
1. The GOP has done a LOT for RKBA in the past 10 years. If you don't think so, you don't understand politics. Letting the AWB sunset was a good political move. And a Democrat majority would have passed a permanent renewal; you know it and I know it. Any Libertarian vote that caused a seat to go to a Democrat would have pushed us a bit closer to that. Libertarians get 1-2% of the vote in a good year, as we have for 35 years. There's just no way, right now, that Libertarians are doing ANYTHING for RKBA, since they're not in national office and they're not GOING to be in office any time soon.
2. The GOP has some SERIOUS problems. But putting a lot of effort into a third party isn't solving them. Think about what activists, putting as much effort as they do into, say, the Libertarian and Constitution parties, into grass-roots efforts within the GOP, could accomplish!
3. John Bolton. The best thing G W Bush has ever done. If Kerry were in office, we'd be sucking up to Kofi right now, and losing our freedoms and our resources.
4. The Democrats are genuinely dangerous. Their leadership (e.g. Pelosi) is overtly Marxist, and/or Authoritarian (e.g. Feinstein). The entire party has been seduced by anti-human environmental pseudo-religion, and this poses a serious threat to our modern world, and to the US and all its residents in particular. The Dems have become a dangerous anti-individual, anti-property party that actively opposes nearly all that the Libertarians value, and the Democrats are a major party. This means they can actually get the power to implement their plans whereas the Libertarians don't have the power to oppose them.
5. The GOP, for all its problems, is philosophically focused on rights and responsibilities of individuals rather than collectivist worldviews. This means that it is a lot closer to Libertarian thinking than the Democrats can possibly be right now.
6. We have a 2-party system, as we always have had. New parties can sometimes take the place of one of the two, and new groups can sometimes direct the platforms of existing parties, but there won't be a three-party system in the US in the near future. And I won't live forever, so I want my freedom NOW, not a life under authoritarian rule that might some day lead to a revolution and some pie-in-the-sky free society. Ain't gonna happen, IMO. I don't think we really want it to happen; that's why we have politics rather than violence in this country. We want change, peacefully, and I want that change to move in the libertarian direction as much as possible, even if just one bit at a time.
Thoughts?
(BTW I'm not at all interested in abortion because I support individual women's rights over their own bodies instead of government power, no matter what I think of abortion; I think that threats of theocracy are really overblown; I don't oppose gay marriage, but I think it's a political diversion of almost no real importance, like flag burning -- so please forget these issues. They're being used to divert our attention from the important stuff.)
I am clearly libertarian in the way I think. I like Libertarians. At least the local members are great, very intelligent, mostly non-wacko.
I do have some disagreement with the Libertarians' "blame America first" reaction to Jihadism, which has been around for a millenium longer than the US has. And I think that the notion of trading freely with all nations while ignoring what goes on inside their borders is unrealistic and actually counter to libertarian values. At some point, we can hardly claim to be pro-liberty if we support "letting the free market decide" that cheap goods made by political prisoners who are tortured and forced to work are the best deal. I guess I do believe that Libertarian foreign policy platforms are simplistic at best, and wrong at worst. Though I am in favor of a free market, the realities of nation-states and their rulers sometimes makes it impossible for us to unilaterally create a free market, just like geopolitical realities make unilateral disarmament a stupid way to end war.
Anyway, I'm considering re-registering Republican.
"WHY?!?" you might ask.
Here's why.
1. The GOP has done a LOT for RKBA in the past 10 years. If you don't think so, you don't understand politics. Letting the AWB sunset was a good political move. And a Democrat majority would have passed a permanent renewal; you know it and I know it. Any Libertarian vote that caused a seat to go to a Democrat would have pushed us a bit closer to that. Libertarians get 1-2% of the vote in a good year, as we have for 35 years. There's just no way, right now, that Libertarians are doing ANYTHING for RKBA, since they're not in national office and they're not GOING to be in office any time soon.
2. The GOP has some SERIOUS problems. But putting a lot of effort into a third party isn't solving them. Think about what activists, putting as much effort as they do into, say, the Libertarian and Constitution parties, into grass-roots efforts within the GOP, could accomplish!
3. John Bolton. The best thing G W Bush has ever done. If Kerry were in office, we'd be sucking up to Kofi right now, and losing our freedoms and our resources.
4. The Democrats are genuinely dangerous. Their leadership (e.g. Pelosi) is overtly Marxist, and/or Authoritarian (e.g. Feinstein). The entire party has been seduced by anti-human environmental pseudo-religion, and this poses a serious threat to our modern world, and to the US and all its residents in particular. The Dems have become a dangerous anti-individual, anti-property party that actively opposes nearly all that the Libertarians value, and the Democrats are a major party. This means they can actually get the power to implement their plans whereas the Libertarians don't have the power to oppose them.
5. The GOP, for all its problems, is philosophically focused on rights and responsibilities of individuals rather than collectivist worldviews. This means that it is a lot closer to Libertarian thinking than the Democrats can possibly be right now.
6. We have a 2-party system, as we always have had. New parties can sometimes take the place of one of the two, and new groups can sometimes direct the platforms of existing parties, but there won't be a three-party system in the US in the near future. And I won't live forever, so I want my freedom NOW, not a life under authoritarian rule that might some day lead to a revolution and some pie-in-the-sky free society. Ain't gonna happen, IMO. I don't think we really want it to happen; that's why we have politics rather than violence in this country. We want change, peacefully, and I want that change to move in the libertarian direction as much as possible, even if just one bit at a time.
Thoughts?
(BTW I'm not at all interested in abortion because I support individual women's rights over their own bodies instead of government power, no matter what I think of abortion; I think that threats of theocracy are really overblown; I don't oppose gay marriage, but I think it's a political diversion of almost no real importance, like flag burning -- so please forget these issues. They're being used to divert our attention from the important stuff.)
