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Presidential bid a 'roller coaster' for Libertarian
Houston Chonicle ^ | October 31, 2004 | KRISTEN MACK

Posted on 10/31/2004 12:43:54 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

There's more than one Texan on the ballot for president this year.

Libertarian Michael Badnarik — the only third-party or independent presidential candidate on the Texas ballot — is from Austin.

Badnarik campaigned in Houston on Saturday and will spend the rest of his time on the trail in his home state.

"I'm a legitimate candidate from a legitimate party," he said at a gathering of about 25 people at a Clear Lake-area Fuddruckers.

Badnarik is actually on the ballot in more states than Ralph Nader. Badnarik is on 48 ballots. Nader is on 35.

Election Day could be a watershed year for the party, Badnarik said, if it is able to garner 1 million votes.

He's been traveling the country since January; he packed up his place in Austin, put all of his belongings in storage and hit the road.

Within five months he put 25,000 miles on his car.

He tries to get media attention wherever he goes, often doing six interviews a day with local media.

He has been largely ignored by the national press.

Badnarik was arrested in St. Louis for trying to gain admittance to the presidential debate.

"It's been like living on a roller coaster without getting off," he said of his bid for president.

He's spent about $1 million on his campaign, with $300,000 going toward TV ads in a few states, primarily New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona.

Badnarik is running, he said, because he can't vote for President Bush or Democratic candidate John Kerry and respect himself in the morning.

He cannot support a candidate who will continue the war in Iraq or operate government in a deficit, he said.

Badnarik, a computer consultant, stresses individual rights over government intervention, and limited regulation of business.

He says the war in Iraq is a failure and that there is no exit strategy. He has maintained that Libertarian philosophy supports gay marriages, arguing that government should not decide who can engage in a marriage contract.

The federal government's job is limited to three things, he said — national defense, coining money and operating the post office. He says the government should not have a Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency.

Badnarik says he wants to cost both Bush and Kerry the election, but at the same time he isn't packing his bags for the White House just yet.

"We are just beginning this fight," he said. "We will continue to exist, and we will restore liberty."

kristen.mack@chron.com


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: badnarik; campaign; election; libertarian; politics
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To: sharktrager
You assume people even know who Cobb is.

Pro-Nader people in states where he didn't make the ballot will see the word "Green."
141 posted on 10/31/2004 7:26:13 AM PST by JohnBDay
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To: CWOJackson
When this election is over Conservative America needs to take a good close look at some of the elements within it's own ranks once and for all.

Most analysts are predicting exactly this to happen in the GOP regardless of who wins. Here's hoping that the party moves closer to the mission statement of FR.

142 posted on 10/31/2004 7:56:23 AM PST by jmc813 (J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS)
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To: CWOJackson
It also ignores the fact that we aren't living in the 1700's.

While I agree with you that the LP's foreign policy is flaky as hell, that argument is a dangerous one. Al Gore and the gun-grabbers use it regularly.

143 posted on 10/31/2004 7:58:01 AM PST by jmc813 (J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS)
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To: JohnBDay

Which means, most likely, he is not taking votes from Nader because Nader is essentially not an option.


144 posted on 10/31/2004 8:15:56 AM PST by sharktrager (The masses will trade liberty for a more quiet life.)
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To: bluegill
Really? The fiscal side of Libertarianism is simply going back to conservatism's roots. Adam Smith and the Laisse Faire values that built America. Seemed to have worked for 200 years without anarchy. Rather it is the Keynsian make believe economics of the latter half of the 20th century that has brought anarchy and has weighed down every Western nation in insurmountable debt and obligations that cannot be fulfilled.
145 posted on 10/31/2004 11:48:30 AM PST by Lord Nelson
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To: jmc813
Of course it is a nonsense argument. Our moral values are at least 2000 years old? Does that make them irrelevant? In fact it is a case of modern elitism, as though we are so much smarter than our ancestors that we can forfeit the hard and true laws of economics. This has always been an error of the Marxists. We know more and have more information, but we are certainly not any more intelligent than those who wrote the science of economics 300 years ago.
146 posted on 10/31/2004 11:53:27 AM PST by Lord Nelson
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Comment #147 Removed by Moderator

To: bluegill

Well, now the strong are agents of the Federal Government. Those that get subsidies/protection become big business that end up wiping out the smaller businessmen.

But I gather we are probably not going to agree about government intervention in the economy.


148 posted on 10/31/2004 12:19:13 PM PST by Lord Nelson
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To: jmc813
"Most analysts are predicting exactly this to happen in the GOP regardless of who wins."

Good, lets hope they resolve the issue of the fringe elements once and for all. Running a campaign solely to be a spoiler for John Kerry pretty much sums it up...they're aren't conservative and they aren't on our side.

149 posted on 10/31/2004 1:52:27 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: jmc813
"...that argument is a dangerous one."

Not at all, realizing that we don't live in the era of the founders is far from dangerous. Pretending that the world hasn't changed is dangerous...and very foolish.

150 posted on 10/31/2004 1:56:30 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: MadIvan
It started on the morning of September 11th when the previous LP standard-bearer rushed to claim (even when the 3,000 bodies were still warm) that America was the aggressor and deserved to be attacked.
151 posted on 10/31/2004 1:57:52 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: CWOJackson
If there were Libertarians in the days of the Founders, they would have been known as scoundrels, scalawags, smugglers, swindlers, and swillbowls.
152 posted on 10/31/2004 2:00:37 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: Cultural Jihad
"If there were Libertarians in the days of the Founders, they would have been known as scoundrels, scalawags, smugglers, swindlers, and swillbowls."

Maybe times aren't that different since the era of the founders. Your definition fits Democratic activists trying to win the election for Kerry to a "T". Yes, the pretty much sums up the LP campaign...in their own words.

I shall have to amend my words now. They aren't the willing tools of the left, they are the unsavory willing tools of the left.

153 posted on 10/31/2004 2:04:20 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson

True,true,a rather surprising mental disorder no doubt.


154 posted on 10/31/2004 3:23:11 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Badray
You really do need someone to read threads to you and then explain what each reply Actually says;including your own.

Please go to and read your post #65,on this thread. I specifically mentioned that it was your FIRST POST TO CWOJACKSON,wherein you smarmily implied that he was no better than a Dem and worse.Instead of referring to that reply of yours,you now CCP your post to faithincowboys.

You are the one who continues to post one bizarre reply after another,becoming more hysterical,schizophrenic,and mendacious as you go along. I don't know if any of those problems can be treated successfully;however,you PROJECTION COMPLEX can be treated and you really should seek help for,at the least,that mental disorder.

Oh yes,and your obsessive/compulsion complex,displayed by your spamming the same message in each reply,needs attention as well.

Good luck in finding the medical help you so need. :-)

155 posted on 10/31/2004 3:33:38 PM PST by nopardons
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To: montag813

Interesting info...many thanks for posting it.


156 posted on 10/31/2004 3:35:45 PM PST by nopardons
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To: CWOJackson
Not at all, realizing that we don't live in the era of the founders is far from dangerous. Pretending that the world hasn't changed is dangerous...and very foolish.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Going by that logic, one could make the argument that the founders could not have imagined automatic weapons and therefore we should not be able to bear them. I'm going to stick with the Clarence Thomas absolutionist view of rights.

157 posted on 10/31/2004 7:16:37 PM PST by jmc813 (J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS)
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To: Cultural Jihad
If there were Libertarians in the days of the Founders, they would have been known as scoundrels, scalawags, smugglers, swindlers, and swillbowls.

Do you agree that the Founders held small-l libertarian beliefs, similar, for example to the mission statement of Free Republic?

158 posted on 10/31/2004 7:18:44 PM PST by jmc813 (J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS)
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To: jmc813
"Going by that logic, one could make the argument that the founders could not have imagined automatic weapons and therefore we should not be able to bear them."

The founders had no concept of how a whole nations wealth can be tied to a couple of buildings in New York City...or how those building could be the target of enemies from the other side of the world...or that our enemies could strike at us in a matter of hours by flying tremendous flying machines into buildings taller then many eastern mountains.

No, you folks simply don't seem to grasp the fact that the world is a very different place today but fixate on single issues.

159 posted on 10/31/2004 7:20:50 PM PST by CWOJackson
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To: CWOJackson
No, you folks simply don't seem to grasp the fact that the world is a very different place today but fixate on single issues.

What's this "you folks" crap? I stated earlier in this thread that I think the LP's foreign policy sucks. I also noted that there was enough to criticize them about without taking an Al Gore "living constitution" argument.

As for single issues, I did notice one of your anti-libertarian friends on this thread arguing for gun-grabbing on another thread earlier today.

160 posted on 10/31/2004 7:37:03 PM PST by jmc813 (J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS)
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