So I previously covered why I don't like the Democrats, or the Republicans. Naturally, this means that people will think that I am all in favor of the Libertarian Party, or some other third party. But the reality is that I can't stand Libertarians either.
Think of Libertarians and what two political points stick out the most in your mind? I bet at least one of them has to do with drugs. The other is likely to be gay marriage, or since that was taken care of by the SCOTUS, probably something to do with taxes.
But therein lies the problem: when people mention the Libertarian Party most people think about the party's stance on drug legalization, and label the Libertarians as potheads. And the Libertarians don't do much to dispel this notion.
I technically identify as a Libertarian, being registered as such. But that doesn't mean that I don't see the problems inherent in the LP.
I'm actually for drug legalization, and instead of throwing drug users in an already overpopulated prison system that is filled with "criminals" whose crimes have no victims, put them in treatment for their addictions. Just like with alcoholics, addiction is a disease that needs treatment, not incarceration and the needless making of criminals who can then no longer get good paying jobs after they have served their time.
I'm also for a flat tax, or fair tax, or whatever name you may want to call it. As I showed in my post on why I don't like Democrats, our top percent of earners in this country are paying over 30% or their earnings, while the bottom percent of earners pay about 10% (or less). Ideally, a flat tax would tax people at around 10%, and this would work great for everybody. But many Libertarians are against taxation. I agree that most taxes are a form of theft, but some are necessary.
However, many Libertarians will call each other out as not being true Libertarians for a simple difference in thought. Some Libertarians are for abortions and a woman's right to choose to kill her unborn living baby, while others are against abortion because it kills a defenseless living creature which violates the Non-aggression Principle. Some are for limited taxes, others are for absolutely no taxes. There is no unification in the Party, which leaves it open to a wide range of political beliefs - which can be good, but it makes it hard to pinpoint where Libertarians stand as a whole on certain issues (except drug legalization...).
So with this nonunified party, we get candidates that hold to many different ideals. And often our candidates are laughable (looking at you Gary). Not to mention the deplorable display at the national conference in Orlando.
And when people see that we field candidates like Gary "what's Aleppo" Johnson, that we strip our clothes off at our national conference, and that we can't shut up about drugs it doesn't leave a good impression with these people. It makes it really hard to reach out to these other voters, and makes registered Libertarians vote for other candidates because - while they believe in letting people vote/believe how they want - they have no confidence in their own party.
And how does the Libertarian Party separate themselves from these things? They don't. They just post endless memes about how drugs should be legalized and mocking statists about "muh roads". Libertarians are the first ones to tell you that the Democrats lost this election because of how the Dems kept mocking, name-calling, and outright deriding their opponents - yet that is all they do when presented with arguments from either Republicans or Democrats. If what the Democrats did have alienated voters then why would the LP doing the same thing have different results?
I love Ron and Rand Paul, honestly I can get behind most of what they say. They are very Libertarian in their policies, but I can understand why they would run on the Republican ticket instead of as actual members of the Libertarian Party.
So why am I a registered Libertarian when I can't even stand the party? Truth be told, I see myself as a classical liberal - much like Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith - not to be confused with a modern liberal, or even a progressive. And the only party I consider to be close to classical liberalism is the Libertarian Party, though both the Republicans and Democrats used to be (fun fact, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party come from the older Democratic-Republican Party). Wikipedia tells me that many consider classical liberalism to exist today as American conservatism, and that American conservatism is based in the Republican Party; I used to believe that, but given how the Republican Party is these days I can scarcely see what anyone could call classical liberalism coming from their policies. I do see a lot of classical liberal ideologies in the Libertarian Party, however.
Seriously, we need to take politics slightly more seriously than legalizing drugs and focus more on the classical liberalism inherent in our system that will appeal to a larger voter base and draw in Democrats who are tired of Hillary and Bernie, as well as the Republicans who are tired of Trump and Pence.
Think of Libertarians and what two political points stick out the most in your mind? I bet at least one of them has to do with drugs. The other is likely to be gay marriage, or since that was taken care of by the SCOTUS, probably something to do with taxes.
But therein lies the problem: when people mention the Libertarian Party most people think about the party's stance on drug legalization, and label the Libertarians as potheads. And the Libertarians don't do much to dispel this notion.
I technically identify as a Libertarian, being registered as such. But that doesn't mean that I don't see the problems inherent in the LP.
I'm actually for drug legalization, and instead of throwing drug users in an already overpopulated prison system that is filled with "criminals" whose crimes have no victims, put them in treatment for their addictions. Just like with alcoholics, addiction is a disease that needs treatment, not incarceration and the needless making of criminals who can then no longer get good paying jobs after they have served their time.
I'm also for a flat tax, or fair tax, or whatever name you may want to call it. As I showed in my post on why I don't like Democrats, our top percent of earners in this country are paying over 30% or their earnings, while the bottom percent of earners pay about 10% (or less). Ideally, a flat tax would tax people at around 10%, and this would work great for everybody. But many Libertarians are against taxation. I agree that most taxes are a form of theft, but some are necessary.
However, many Libertarians will call each other out as not being true Libertarians for a simple difference in thought. Some Libertarians are for abortions and a woman's right to choose to kill her unborn living baby, while others are against abortion because it kills a defenseless living creature which violates the Non-aggression Principle. Some are for limited taxes, others are for absolutely no taxes. There is no unification in the Party, which leaves it open to a wide range of political beliefs - which can be good, but it makes it hard to pinpoint where Libertarians stand as a whole on certain issues (except drug legalization...).
So with this nonunified party, we get candidates that hold to many different ideals. And often our candidates are laughable (looking at you Gary). Not to mention the deplorable display at the national conference in Orlando.
And when people see that we field candidates like Gary "what's Aleppo" Johnson, that we strip our clothes off at our national conference, and that we can't shut up about drugs it doesn't leave a good impression with these people. It makes it really hard to reach out to these other voters, and makes registered Libertarians vote for other candidates because - while they believe in letting people vote/believe how they want - they have no confidence in their own party.
And how does the Libertarian Party separate themselves from these things? They don't. They just post endless memes about how drugs should be legalized and mocking statists about "muh roads". Libertarians are the first ones to tell you that the Democrats lost this election because of how the Dems kept mocking, name-calling, and outright deriding their opponents - yet that is all they do when presented with arguments from either Republicans or Democrats. If what the Democrats did have alienated voters then why would the LP doing the same thing have different results?
I love Ron and Rand Paul, honestly I can get behind most of what they say. They are very Libertarian in their policies, but I can understand why they would run on the Republican ticket instead of as actual members of the Libertarian Party.
So why am I a registered Libertarian when I can't even stand the party? Truth be told, I see myself as a classical liberal - much like Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith - not to be confused with a modern liberal, or even a progressive. And the only party I consider to be close to classical liberalism is the Libertarian Party, though both the Republicans and Democrats used to be (fun fact, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party come from the older Democratic-Republican Party). Wikipedia tells me that many consider classical liberalism to exist today as American conservatism, and that American conservatism is based in the Republican Party; I used to believe that, but given how the Republican Party is these days I can scarcely see what anyone could call classical liberalism coming from their policies. I do see a lot of classical liberal ideologies in the Libertarian Party, however.
Seriously, we need to take politics slightly more seriously than legalizing drugs and focus more on the classical liberalism inherent in our system that will appeal to a larger voter base and draw in Democrats who are tired of Hillary and Bernie, as well as the Republicans who are tired of Trump and Pence.
No comments:
Post a Comment