Posted on 11/08/2006 2:27:12 PM PST by quidnunc
New York – Glum Republicans might turn their attention to the Libertarian Party to vent their anger. Libertarians are a generally Republican-leaning constituency, but over the last few years, their discontent has grown plain. It isn't just the war, which some libertarians supported, but the corruption and insider dealing, and particularly the massive expansion of spending. Mr Bush's much-vaunted prescription drug benefit for seniors, they fume, has opened up another gaping hole in America's fiscal situation, while the only issue that really seemed to energise congress was passing special laws to keep a brain-damaged woman on life support.
In two of the seats where control looks likely to switch, Missouri and Montana, the Libertarian party pulled more votes than the Democratic margin of victory. Considerably more, in Montana. If the Libertarian party hadn't been on the ballot, and the three percent of voters who pulled the "Libertarian" lever had broken only moderately Republican, Mr Burns would now be in office.
Does this mean that the libertarians are becoming a force in national elections, much as Ralph Nader managed to cost Al Gore a victory in 2000? Hope springs eternal among third-party afficionadoes, but the nature of the American electoral system, which directly elects representatives in a first-past-the-post system, makes it nearly impossible for third parties to gain traction. The last time it happened was in the 1850's, when the Whig party dissolved over internal disputes about slavery, opening the way for the emerging Republican party to put Abraham Lincoln in office. And acting as a spoiler is dubiously effective at achieving one's goals. In theory, it could pull the Repubicans towards the Libertarians, but in practice, it may just elect Democrats, pushing the nation's economic policy leftwards.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
The fact that we're having this little flame war is a clue.
Hey, just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors. You people worked hard for them and you deserve exactly what you're going to get.
You sure they didn't help keep those races close? How can you assume the party that lost a vote to a liberaltarian is the so-called "conservative" one?
We're all getting it bozo, and you're getting your share. The only difference seems to be that you get to chalk it up to your entertainment budget. I guess things look different on the other end of the tax pipeline.
I've never, ever called libertarians anything other than that.
LOL! I've never seen anyone so eager to distance themself from their efforts. You taught the GOP a lesson...enjoy it now...class will be in session again soon enough.
You can't refute the fact that the Bush administration is not fighting a real war, huh. Did it ever occur to you that the war is "dragging" on because Team Bush has allowed the Rats and MSM to get away with bogging down our troops with BS "atrocities," fighting by the Geneva Convention, asinine "torture" allegations, and engaging in other politically-correct nonsense? The war should have been over at the end of 2003, easily. That's why people are "angry" over the Iraq war, not because our troops are SIMPLY THERE, but because, once again our troops are handcuffed by the politicians and bureaucrats in the Pentagon, and you have an administration that's not showing OR telling the good side of Iraq or the WMDs found.
But keep blaming the boogeymen Libertarians because the GOP doesn't have the spine to stand up for what's right (or else the NY Times will give them a mean editorial or they won't get invited to future Washington cocktail parties). Keep deluding yourself.
Not a chance in hell
It's funny, isn't it? You gotta love the logic of the party hacks.
We're irrelevant throughout the campaign, nothing but a bunch of child-porn reading pot-smoking hippies who won't get .00001% of the vote, but after the election and the dust settles and the RINO loses - "WHY DIDN'T YOU VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN YOU LOSERTARIANS?!" screams the party faithful.
Are Libertarians relevant or not? Make up your mind GOPers.
Read the tagline.
Again, make the comparison. This may not be an all-out effort, as you say, but how are the Democrats going to make things better.
Hey, my mutual fund isn't making me 200% every year, but I don't dump it in favor of a Christmas Club.
Really? What will you be teaching, recollective kneecapping?
Yep...buchanan believed that BS also. Come to think about it...I don't see much difference in the two camps.
Not efficient. For the purpose of radiation hormesis (among other things) I use Morton Salt Substitute. Natural potassium chloride. The K40 courses through my whole body, delivering vitamin R straight into my tissues.
You're relevant to the DNC .. they love you guys
LOL! I love how you folks are going all John Kerry."I was for the lesson we taught the GOP before I was against it."
Oh! John Kerry now. Can you work in Teddy or Jane Fonda? Maybe Adolf Hitler? I'd suggest the anti-Christ but that doesn't quite fit you style.
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