GOP Is Losing Its Libertarian Voters

HUMAN EVENTS ^ | Dec 08, 2006 | David Boaz and David Kirby

[Darkwolf377]

Until people (and not just Libertarians) actually start voting their conscience rather than voting for 'a winner,' Republicrats will continue to run the show.

What is your evidence that Libertarians and others voted for 'a winner' in this past election?

The continual drumbeat of "a vote for the third-party is a vote for the Democrats" actually furthers a system that is purported to be made up of two parties but which is rapidly merging into one.

Can't we retire that old saw?

Anyone with any knowledge of history knows there are always TWO parties in a two-party system--deal with it.

Several people here have already pointed out that Republicans have become so fiscally irresponsible that the Democrats actually look better in that respect. I imagine we will be treated to a Democratic government for a few years. Perhaps that is what is needed to make the Libertarians wake up and actually vote for Libertarians rather than "waste" their votes on RINOs.

Blah blah blah, Libertarian pipe dreams are killing us.

[Mojave]

Libertarianism is the political policy of those who live on paper, not reality.

Issuing reams of position statements and press releases that nobody will ever read.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

There are actually Marxist trolls here on FreeRepublic who cloak themselves in liberal-tarianism and attack anything related to Genesis...

I could give you quite a list of their user names. They can be found a lot on the evolution, drug, genetic engineering threads, and have been bleeding over into the marriage issue threads. Their only purpose is to wage a psychological warfare on conservatives.

Some of the Bozos out there can't get past that word “God,” so they would just piss the entire country away and join the enemies of America; all because they have this polemic need to bash the Christians and do everything in contravention to them. I say screw them and the filthy practices they want to live by. My children are not going to inherit their squalor if I can help it.

Are all cultures equal? Hell no...

Only a cultural Marxist would think so.

[Lurker]

Anyone with any knowledge of history knows there are always TWO parties in a two-party system--deal with it.

Can you point out the Article, Section, and Paragraph of the Constitution which covers the 'two party' system?

Thanks in advance.

L

[Lurker]

There are actually Marxist trolls here on FreeRepublic who cloak themselves in liberal-tarianism and attack anything related to Genesis...

And this relates to my original response to you how?

L

[airborne]

I still haven't figured out what the difference between Hillary and McCain is.

McCain was tortured, while Hillary does the torturing.

[oldfart]

"Anyone with any knowledge of history knows there are always TWO parties in a two-party system--deal with it."

I heartily agree - except that, in the future, those two parties might well be Libertarians and Republicrats. In actuality, the titles would most likely be something like "Conservatives' and "Liberals." There are still too many ill-informed people who believe that Libertarians just sit around smoking weed with a bunch of illegal immigrants.

[FreedomPoster]

I'm not a Libertarian, and Republicans like you, who were willing to excuse all sorts of ridiculousness in Washington, while we were in power, are a large part of the reason we aren't in power now.

[MarkL]

These Libertarian swine deserve a lot of blame. If we'd had three more Senate seats in the last Congress, things could have been quite different. They blame us for problems that they in part create.

Well, talk like this will certainly attract more "libertarian swine" to your party! I know I'd come running to your call of "Suuuuuuiiiiii!

Mark

[B Knotts]

I didn't say they were social conservatives. There are all sorts of libertarians...but as another poster pointed out, I am highly suspect of "libertarians" who object to limitations on government funding of embryonic stem cell research.

[B Knotts]

I don't know how dishonest the authors are, but I would be surprised to find any informed libertarian that wanted to fund with taxes embryonic stem cell research.

Very good point that I overlooked.

[ilgipper]

i would agree to the extent that they have abandoned their fiscal conservatism in the past four years. No small government issues, no reform....just more growth of the Federal government.

[MarkL]

Anyone with any knowledge of history knows there are always TWO parties in a two-party system--deal with it.

Please show me in the Constitution where there's a "two party system" requirement... I'll wait.

Mark

[Swordfished]

Libertarians aren't really a natural part of the GOP constituency, and shouldn't be treated as such or relied upon in any way.

Libertarians have more much more in common with Republicans than Democrats, or at least they used to - back when Republicans were interested in getting the government out of our lives.

While we're comparing I'd bet Libertarians have more in common with the founders than 'Social Conservatives' do.

I'm mostly libertarian but I always vote the lesser of two evils when the race is close, meaning I typically vote Republican. If it's not close, I'll vote Libertarian.

[Sam Cree]

If Republicans care about libertarian voters, which I doubt, then they need to get series about lower taxes and act as if they are really the party of limited government. That's probably all it would take. 'Course, it doesn't look as if Republicans care very much about those two issues either.

"Libertarian" voters who vote Dem are just plain ignorant though...the same as "liberals" who vote Dem.

[Swordfished]

"One more bit from our post-election Zogby poll: We asked voters if they considered themselves “fiscally conservative and socially liberal.” A whopping 59% said they did. When we added to the question “also known as libertarian,” 44% still claimed that description. That’s too many voters for any party to ignore."

Zogby says 59% are effectively Libertarians
Zogby says 44% are self-aware Libertarians bump

sounds like a majority, and growing...

[steve-b]

Small government, fiscal conservatives aren't a "natural part of the GOP"? Exactly what do you think is the natural constituency of the GOP?

HitmanLV calls a meeting of the Natural Constituency of the GOP to order.

[steve-b]

If you want any of those things, you will simply have to suck it up and renounce the theocon big-government agenda if you want to entice those votes back.

If you fail to do so, YOU, no one else, is responsible for the consequences.

[ripley]

don't forget the x factor;

x=how many democrat votes were obtained by hook, crook, coercion or voting
machine "repair"?

[Dead Corpse]

Here's a novel idea, why doesn't the GOP run a real conservative instead of McCain/Romney/Guilliani RINO's?

Nah... just blame it on the 1% of voters who still think having PRINCIPLES still means something...