Bob Barr for President?!

The following article is collaboration from Roark and Madison. We wanted to explore the positives and negatives about voting for the Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr. Roark wrote the ‘pro’s’, while Madison wrote the ‘cons’. Is Bob Barr a wasted vote, or a good message to send?

Pro

Bob Barr will not win the presidency. There I said it, let's move on.

Now, for this vote-wasting nonsense.

Ron Paul's run for the Republican candidacy has pushed liberty into the mind of the nation, regardless of the fact that it was too stupid to nominate him.

With liberty on the minds of Americans the two most important issues in the coming election seem to be the Economy and Foreign Policy (basically the Iraq 'war').

Since neither McCain nor Obama have correct positions on either of these, many people have complained about the upcoming 'clothespin election.'

Six percent of the nation, however, has chosen to go with the Libertarian party.

Up until now the most votes ever won by a Libertarian candidate is 473,000, by Edward Clark in 1996.

The Barr/Root campaign has almost quadrupled that with 18 million. If they can get that up to 10% in three national polls Barr will have to be included in the national debates.

Watching Barr tear apart Obama's socialist economic policies and McCain's ignorant foreign policy has the potential to be the best thing on TV this fall.

Paul's internet campaign has shown Americans the prospect of a society free from big government. If Barr can attain 10% of the polls and show America what it's missing with these two clowns, there is the potential for the Libertarian party to start to make huge waves.

I doubt a Libertarian Party candidate will win the presidency anytime within the next century, but the more popular the philosophy becomes the more likely Libertarians are to win local and state elections.

Eventually, congressman whose main concern is that of liberty will get elected and each year there will be a libertarian Republican in the primary.

For this to happen freedom-loving Americans must vote for Bob Barr. I am aware of two conflicts with this sentiment, they are:

· Bob Barr isn't exactly the ideal candidate, he's got some negatives

· If people vote for Barr they are theoretically taking away votes from McCain, which will elect the socialist Barack Obama

Here's my take on these two:

· I am aware of the negatives, which are covered in full below, Barr is supposedly behind Hillary's Vast Right-Wing conspiracy and even wrote a book, The Meaning of Is, about Clinton and why he should have been impeached. Finally, looking at the issues Barr shares the same position with most Libertarians on just about everything. Finally, there's no way he's getting elected so I think voters would be better off showing they won't vote for a fool like McCain than worrying about the Global Warming position that McCain shares.

· As for Obama I believe there are a legitimate amount of voters who will vote for him on the fact he is anti-war, alone. Those voters going Libertarian could have the same impact on him as the Free-Marketers would have on McCain. And if he gets elected it would not be the end of the world. It took Jimmy Carter to get Reagan elected and with congress acting as incompetently as it is I don't see him passing anything more extreme than what (Bill) Clinton got in.

Con

For my web partner and me, consideration for Libertarian candidate for president says more about the Republican nominee than the Libertarian nominee. Every four years a lot of liberty-minded Republicans go through three possibilities on what to do on the first Tuesday of November:

1. Stay home and not vote. I’ve never done this. There’s more on the ballot then the Presidential race.

2. Hold your nose and vote for the ‘lesser of two evils’. This, unfortunately everybody’s done more times then they like to admit.

3. Vote for a third-party candidate. This one I’ve done. It was 1996, and no one could possibly convince me to vote for Bob Dole.

The Republican nominee 2008 is John McCain. Another ‘Big Government Conservative’ that makes a lot of limited-government Republicans squeamish. However, as far away from limited government as McCain is, he’s still closer then the alternative, Barack Obama.

So why waste a vote for Libertarian Bob Barr?

He can’t win. The Libertarian candidate has historically had trouble garnering 1% of the national vote. So why waste your vote when the candidate has no chance of winning. And with close national elections in 2000 and 2004, it’s imperative we get the ‘lesser of two evils’ in the White House.

Next, there’s Bob Barr himself. If I’m going to waste a vote on a third party candidate, at least make it someone who I can actually trust. After meeting with Environmental Fascist Al Gore, Barr now apparently believes in man-made ‘Global Warming’. Not more then two months ago, in an interview with Glenn Beck, Barr confidently said, “Global Warming is a myth!”

Now Al Gore doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that would be able to persuade a Libertarian in one meeting. So this can only mean Barr is pandering for votes. And if there’s one thing I know about Libertarians: it’s that they are very ideological and rarely pander, if ever.

Another reason not to vote for Barr: He’s a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Now I know that in itself is not unusual for a Libertarian. However, the ACLU is against an individual’s right to own a gun. This is a God given right, according to the Constitution.

The ACLU is also notoriously bigoted against any Christians and religion in the public square. I wonder what they would say about Thomas Jefferson attending church service in the Capitol building as President! I’m sure they conveniently forgot this, since they want a Godless-Socialist society.

So, answer me this, Bob Barr: From the year 1800 till now, we’ve gone from, a President attending church services in the Capitol building, to Washington lawyers harassing towns like Spooner, Wisconsin and Coon Rapids, Minnesota about a Nativity scene or a Christmas tree!

Does it sound like the ACLU took the phrase, separation of church and state a little bit out of context?

I guess I’d like to know what Bob Barr what thinks of that.

Conclusion

For now we are both abstaining from declaring for whom we will vote in November. If McCain really shows how he will decrease the size of government and Obama continues his insanity we may vote for McCain. On the other hand if Barr manages to stay up in the polls and looks like he can really make a difference in American's standpoint on Liberty then we may vote for him, until then please visit the Home Page of our site and tell us if you are voting for Bob Barr.

Most Influential Books

Before starting with articles TJ and I have written reviews on the five books, which influenced us the most.

TJ's

A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny By Pat Buchanan

I credit Pat with getting me interested in politics. I loved watching him beat down Leftists on the show Crossfire.

Even though at this time in my life, my political beliefs tend to lead to a much smaller government then Mr. Buchanan, I do see eye to eye with him on staying out of foreign entanglements. For those who don’t know, A Republic, Not an Empire, is a well researched book on America’s foreign policy over the last 200 years, and it’s not hard to agree with his conclusions.
I think if we want much smaller government, we must contain our politicians need to intervene in foreign conflicts not directly related to our National Security. In this book, Pat is very persuasive in his attempt to show you how our foreign policy has led astray from what our Founders had intended.

What It Means to Be a Libertarian. By Charles Murray

This Charles Murray book gets the credit with making me aware that I was a libertarian Republican. I knew a wanted smaller government, but after reading his book, I knew then I wanted much smaller government.

It really made me feel comfortable with beliefs of some real ‘radical’ changes in the size and scope of government.

This book will not make a Socialist turn into a Jeffersonian, but it can help a Conservative who’s wondering what happen to “Buckley-Goldwater” Conservatism.

The Fountainhead By Ayn Rand

I haven’t been much of a fiction reader, lately. However, in my early 20’s, when I read this book, I think it helped underscore my beliefs of Individualism.
If you have not read this classic, I guarantee you will end up loving the main character, Howard Roark. The best thing you can learn in the book is that selfishness is a virtue, not some demeaning character flaw.

Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition By Milton Freidman

I saw Milton Friedman on television, when I was younger, and even though he wasn’t an animated guy by any stretch, his greatness was making economics understandable to me.

So I bought Capitalism and Freedom and it didn’t disappoint. He covers Monetary policy to the role of government in education. He is very clear in proving that ‘good’ things come from the free-market system, not the government.

The Roosevelt Myth By John T. Flynn

It has always bothered me that FDR is known as one of our greatest Presidents. If you feel this way, this is a book you should read. Flynn does a great job categorically tearing down FDR’s flawed policies. Which he rightly concludes how the New Deal made the depression worse. It details the administration with only facts that can not be contradicted.

Roark's

Before I start writing this, I'd like to point out that I have been a libertarian for approximately two months and the following books are the ones that have most influenced my thoughts on economics and liberty.

My conservative leanings have been developed from reading political books and listening to countless hours of talk radio for the past eight years.

Also, I originally put 1984 and Anthem on my list; I've decided that they are very similar and I will be replacing 1984 with What it means to be a Libertarian.

The books that have influenced me most and that I will be reviewing are (in order of my reading them):

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

The Myth of the Robber Barons

Somebody's Gotta Say It

Anthem

What it Means to be a Libertarian

__________

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

I believe this is the best book for putting down leftist (it may be more prudent to just start calling them Marxist) myths on the economy. It's very readable (I read it just a few months after getting my driver's license) and systematically states the liberal arguments then breaks them down using facts and common sense, two things which liberals seem to be short on these days.

Up until reading this book I kind of understood why tax cuts work and that there wasn't really a reason for liberals to whine about trade deficits. Including these two subjects the books talks about:

· Why rent control doesn't work

· Why slave labor doesn't make sense

· The Free market kills any discrimination

· Charitable givings were up 50% during the 'Decade of Greed'

· Athletes and CEOs deserve their high salaries

After reading this book I had a foundation for my philosophy, but had not yet cemented in my mind the philosophy of limited government.

The Myth of the Robber Barons

This is possibly my favorite book. I originally bought on the recommendation of the PIG to Capitalism, which spent a chapter on the same subject.

The book sets out to prove that the so called 'Robber Barons' (Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc.), helped the US and were not just ruthless and greedy, well Robber Barons.

It easily accomplishes this, but also proves another extremely important fact, that has become a huge part of my philosophy: Businesses receiving government help generally suck.

The relatively short (170 pages) book goes over 6 barons and shows how they beat the competition, which many times had government help.

Somebody's Gotta Say It

This was the first book I read that explained the libertarian philosophy of limited government.

Boortz is a talk show host in Atlanta who uses humor and a no-nonsense approach to politics in this book.

It goes over why welfare is bad, government subsidies to art, what should be taught in school, why you don't have the right to vote and many more subjects that made it the first book that really put the idea in my head of small government.

Anthem

I had read that Ayn Rand's books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged were two Libertarian stalwarts, so when I needed an extra hundred pages read for English Anthem was the book I chose.

To this point I understood why small government is the best for prosperity and many economic things, but Anthem is very good at showing why collectivism will vastly stunt progress.

What It Means to Be a Libertarian

By the time I had written this book I was a self-proclaimed Libertarian, though I really only though about the Economics part of politics.

This book shows why limited government works and uses trend lines to show that in every single aspect things get worse or improve to a much lower extent after government interference.