Lets keep ignoring the border
Lets keep the sex scandals coming
That will help the conservative cause..
Posted on 11/08/2006 8:08:12 AM PST by Matchett-PI
Has Our Time Come? http://www.hereticalideas.com/
A **new study from the Cato Institute [see link below] suggests that libertarians might be the new swing vote.
The libertarian vote is in play. At some 13 percent of the electorate, it is sizable enough to swing elections. Pollsters, political strategists, candidates, and the media should take note of it.
After examining the relevant polling data, Cato concludes that libertarians and libertarian sympathizers constitute somewhere between 10 and 20% of the American population. Some explanations are offered as to why libertarians constitute such a bigger constituency than one might expect. First is that libertarians tend not to be as well-organized as other interest groups. Most groups that organize and try to exert political influence want some sort of government action: unions want favorable labor laws passed, the Christian Coalition wants abortion outlawed and anti-homosexual laws passed, environmentalists want pollution restricted and ecosystems protected, businesses want favorable tax and commercial laws. Libertarians generally don’t want government to take action, and are therefore less likely to organize into a pressure group because of that. It also argues that the difficulty people have in breaking out of the left-right liberal-conservative paradigm of politics keeps “populists” (authoritarians) and libertarians underrepresented. While most political scholarship accepts the inadequacy of a simple one-dimensional view of politics, it hasn’t sunk down into popular culture as strongly. Often talk shows and debate programs on television and radio will feature someone “from the left” and someone “from the right”, squeezing libertarians out of the picture.
An unexplored reason that might contribute is the higher prevalence of libertarianism among younger people than older people. The Cato paper notes this statistic but doesn’t explore its relationship to voter turnout. It explains the phenomenon this way. Younger people were more influenced by 2 of the most significant individualist movements of the 20th century: the ’60s counter culture and the ’80s Reagan Revolution. As a result, younger generations have seen both the socially liberal and the economically conservative side of individualism and turn to libertarianism as a way to emulate both ideals. The downside is that since younger people in general are less likely to vote, libertarians wind up underrepresented at the polls.
But don’t libertarian have to swing their votes to become a swing vote? Well, more and more frequently libertarian-minded people are losing the loyalty to the party they usually vote for (mostly the GOP), which puts their vote as a bloc in play.
Many commentators noted the high turnout in the 2004 election. Nationally, voter turnout increased 6.1 percent. That might help explain some of the swing in 2004. According to ANES data, libertarians reported turning out to vote at higher percentages than total respondents in 2000 and even higher in 2004.
This libertarian swing trend is particularly pronounced by age. Libertarians aged 18–29 many of whom were new voters in 2004 voted 71–42 for Kerry. Libertarians aged 30–49 voted almost completely the reverse, 72–21 for Bush.
Going back to the generational argument, I imagine that older individuals who can remember a time when the religious Right wasn’t nearly as omnipresent of a force in the Republican Party and therefore don’t automatically associate it with tirades about the moral dangers of homosexuality and feticide. So I can understand younger libertarians leaning more democratic than older ones who might remember the time of more Goldwater-like or even maybe Reagan-like Republicans.
What does all this mean in practical terms? What will we see coming out of the major political parties Conservatives resist cultural change and personal liberation; liberals resist economic dynamism and globalization. Libertarians embrace both. The political party that comes to terms with that can win the next generation.
It would really be great to see both political parties converge to a libertarian center. But as the article points out, the nature of libertarians makes them much harder to corral than other groups, which makes attracting us to their political parties a far more expensive and riskier proposition than going after churchgoers and soccer moms. Perhaps in time it will happen. But I doubt it will happen very soon.
** http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718392/posts
Most of them aren't small "l" libertarians like America's Founders, in reality they are relativistic, self-focused "big "L" Libertines.
They could only help the Soros-funded, anti-war, hate-America crowd win last night because of one thing -- the blood that has been shed by our brave military men who fought to preserve their freedom to stab them in the back.
As far as I'm concerned, they have blood on their hands. bttt
Unappeasables.
The Republican party would be tactically stupid to even give them a second thought.
After all, they gave us Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I'm sure spending will go down now...
complaining is one thing....voting against them is what counts (at least in very close elections)...of course the same can be same for all voters that are not partisan.
the point being: in 2008, the candidate who wins will be the one who can win in Ohio and Colorado by holding their base, and grabbing those non-partisan voters. libertarians are part of that mix, as are many others who don't vote on a partisan basis.
there are not many candidates who can do that. RR was one of them. Fortunately, Hillary can't do that. But if the D's nominate someone sane and attractive, especially now that there will be Democratic infrastructure in Ohio, it is going to be difficult for the GOP.
Maybe if the GOP actually engaged in fiscal conservatism, people w/ libertarian leanings might be inclined to vote for them.
That's true, too. The drive by media had a clear path, and the Right never took the time to counter their attacks. It was like a media hit job from the dying dinosaurs.
It appears the libertarians wanted the far left to win this time, though. They wanted to "punish" those who wouldn't obey them. To the libertarians, it's their way or no way.
You did that to yourselves by trying to move Left to the center.
Lets keep ignoring the border
Lets keep the sex scandals coming
That will help the conservative cause..
The Libertarian party has yet to elect anybody to anything. All they have is Ron "It's all about ME!" Paul (and I'm betting $100 that a press release from him will be posted here by the end of the day) and his liberty caucus, which wouldn't be a bad idea if it weren't run by Ron "ME ME ME!" Paul.
Libertarians elect Democrats and Democrats...well you can read the tagline.
Libertarians didn't sway the election. The leadership of the Party is to blame for that debacle. Trash your base once too often, and it will at some point come back to bite you in the ass. This is just such an occasion.
That's how Bill Clinton won another 4 years.
You can add... Republicans raise spending to your tagline..
And how GWB won his first four..
Yup, you got that right.
Instead of the "GOP" working *with* the Libertarians (& Constitutionalists etc) since they share MUCH more in common than have differences?
The GOP -- apparently -- simply refuses.
So it only seems just the GOP reap the harvest.
...they sow.
Pure bullshit.
I am glad some of my fellow Libertarians screwed some of the huge defict spending GOP'ers out of office !!!!
You seem to be enjoying lying in the bed you have made.
Good for you. You are the camper who sprays himself with "Off!" as he's getting mauled by the bear.
I despise the Libertarians utterly. They're nothing but anarchists with a thin sheen of respectibility. They're rampant with atheism. They're ardent enemies of any moral codes. They despise the church. They're pro-drug use, pro-abortion, and against a powerful military. If the CATO institute collapsed tomorrow, America would be better off for it.
To be fair, Boortz was on the radio yesterday pleading for everyone to not vote anything but R. I'm not a hugh fan, but he earns kudos for that one. :p
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006//pages/results/states/VA/S/01/index.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.