Libertarians Emerge as a Force (Losertarians deep-six the GOP)

The Economist ^ | November 8, 2006 | Unattributed

[traviskicks]

thanks for posting that, it's a great reminder.

[jetson]

Never met a libertarian that I didn't think was four beers short of a six pack!

[Dane]

Colorado and Nevada.

[traviskicks]

http://www.neoperspectives.com/optimism_nov8th.htm

[Rameumptom]

South Dakota was one

[RightWhale]

most of them came from the Democrat party in the first place

Not in Alaska. A lot of Rs went Libertarian for a while then gave up on that. The Greens, though, would all be Ds if there were no Green Party.

[BenLurkin]

Ronald Reagan -- America needs another like him.

[Sir Gawain]

You're a fan of the Economist now? LOL

[villagerjoel]

Phoey. I don't buy it. This is like blaming someone else in the race for being faster. Maybe if the Republicans were what they say they are, it wouldn't have been a problem.

[Logical me]

This next 2 years will be living he!!.

[quidnunc]

dcam wrote: REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS POSITION STATEMENT posted by Jim Robinson

Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/721810/posts

Libertarians running as third-party candidates have no chance of being elected to any national office.

The only thing can they can do is act as spoilers for the GOP.

[dogbyte12]

The Greens though almost gave Allen a win in Virginia. I think the Green candidate pulled about 26,000 votes. It works both ways. The Greens had to live with helping Bush beat Gore in Florida in 2000. The Libertarians have to live with helping the Dems capture the Senate.

[Vicomte13]

So what are we seeking to do now?
Blame others for engineering our loss, like the Democrats mewled and puked about Ralph Nader?

NEWSFLASH!: People who are not Republicans, like, say, registered Liberatarians, or Independents (registered or unregistered) don't owe us Republicans ONE DAMNED THING.

They have not joined us. They do not belong to us. We have no right to expect their vote. We have, in fact, no right to expect anything other than that, as members of opposing parties (or individual opponents) they will try to undermine and defeat us. That is their RIGHT.

If we want to win, we have to PERSUADE them that we're the better option. We failed to do that last night, completely. That's why we lost. If we don't persuade them next time, we'll lose again. And we'll keep repeating the lesson of getting ourselves "Thumped" (to use a Bushism) until we DO learn it.

Conservatives are the Republican core, but they are by no means enough to win Congress or the White House. The margin of victory lies in persuading others - people who are NOT registered Republicans - people who are suspicious of us, our party and our agenda - to come out and vote for us anyway, perhaps as the lesser of two evils, perhaps because we actually manage to inspire them to trust us.

Either way, it is pathetic of us to spend one moment whining, crying, mewling and puking about people who are A DIFFERENT PARTY "stabbing us in the back". they didn't stab us in the back; they stabbed us in the chest, in a sword fight, which they had the RIGHT to fight, because they're NOT Republicans and they owe us NOTHING.

To win, we have to persuade them not to fight us.
Just like the Dems had to persuade the Greens to come home.

[RedStateRocker]

Can't see any flaws in you post as it does not even slightly resemble 'logic'.

1- Montana. If the are insignificant then why is Burns on the way out?

2-The Republican party and small 'l' libertarians used to have a lot in common, the Republican party has become more a creature of the evangelical Christians at the same time as the 'L' ibertartin party has, unfortunately, been taken over by those for whom marijuana is as important an issue as abortion is for Christians

3. Use of the word 'stole' is stupid. Prove that those votes'belonged' to the Republican party. The GOP is not 'owed' anything and making it sound like it is 'entitled' to any votes makes you sound just like all the other 'entitlement' people.

[kenn5]

Another whiner thread about Libertarians. The GOP created their own destruction.

[quidnunc]

traviskicks wrote: http://www.neoperspectives.com/optimism_nov8th.htm

If you think I'm going to wade through that turgid screed you're nuts.

[Xenalyte]

If these "L" candidates weren't on ballots in every state, maybe Libertarians wouldn't vote at all,

Or maybe we'd vote Republican, like this Libertarian did.

Quit blaming Libertarians for the loss. Try blaming American stupidity, gullibility, and intellectual laziness.

[L98Fiero]

I have a new tagline. ;)

[Sir Gawain]

as their sacrament(marijuana) went down to big defeats in two state referendums.

Colorado Amendment 44: Legalize Marijuana

Yes 557,758
No 819,579

Nevada Question 7: Legalize Marijuana

Yes 252,776
No 320,854

South Dakota Initiative 4: Allow Medical Marijuana

Yes 157,945
No 173,184

Wow, those are some massive defeats. ROTFL Dane is such a dork. The real analysis is that the initiatives are gaining ground and a few more years will see these votes flipped.