It's obvious to the casual observer that John McCain has already lost the 2008 election to Barack Obama, but Libertarian nominee Bob Barr can still 'win' by demolishing all prior Libertarian voting records.
The pundits all agree that John McCain will lose the popular vote and will likely be trounced in the Electoral College. Obama might even win a landslide victory, they say.
Libertarians who have allowed themselves to get caught up in the "NObama" movement should take a moment to think:
McCain is a loser, perhaps a bigger loser than Bob Dole. Voting for McCain will be a wasted vote that will achieve nothing, absolutely nothing... Obama will win and there's nothing you can do to stop it by voting for McCain.
But a turnout of five percent or more for Bob Barr could change historical trends, could revitalize the Libertarian Party, and could show Obama that there is real, principled opposition to his (and McCain's) socialist agenda.
The Libertarian Party got stuck in the history books in 1980 when nominee Ed Clark got just under one million votes and scored a statistically significant one percent of the popular vote.
Even Ron Paul, running in 1988 as a Libertarian, couldn't break Clark's record.
For far too long, the Libertarian Party has been stagnantly trapped at the insignificant level of .5 percent or less of the popular vote. Showing progress and breaking old records is important for a young, growing party like the Libertarians. It is long past time that we can be content with popular vote percentages of less than one percent.
The Republican Party is dying... McCain's nomination shows clearly its lack of principles, its lack of economic wisdom, its desperation to remain relevant in a world that has left social conservatism behind. The Republicans have lost more than 150,000 registered voters this year while Obama has registered 200,000 previously unregistered voters.
Following Nixon, the closest thing to a Republican realignment the GOP could muster was the 12 years of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Now we are faced with a Democratic realignment -- long years of a Democratic presidency combined with a Democratic Congress -- that will remain disastrously in place until the inevitable Libertarian realignment.
In fact, it's the Democrats being in power for a long time that will ultimately convince the American public to finally try the Libertarians.
Is Bob Barr the best candidate the Libertarians have ever fielded? Perhaps not, but he's clearly superior to McCain, who shuffles through the political landscape like an Alzheimer's patient, lost and meandering.
Barr's timing is fortuitous, though -- his nomination came along at the time that the nationalization of the banks and the demise of oligarchic Wall Street have convinced millions of Americans that the Libertarian message is right.
John McCain is already an old white man relegated to one line in the political history books: "Big Republican loser in the 2008 election, last of the viable GOP candidates."
What will the history books say about Bob Barr? "Signified the beginning in 2008 of the upsurge in Libertarian voting, which resulted in a Libertarian victory and realignment in... "
I'm good, but I'm not good enough to tell you what year that will be. But a vote for Bob Barr this year will be the start of good things to come for the Libertarian Party.
However, a vote for McCain will be lost in history like the pointless votes that were wasted on Bob Dole. Who remembers what year Dole ran? Or how few states he won?
Tell your friends not to throw their votes into the trash bin of history... Tell them to vote for Bob Barr!
©2008 Ron Bain, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Ron Bain only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Ron Bain is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: David F. Nolan
Date: 2008-10-21 05:18:42
I concur. The Barr for President campaign has been the worst-run Libertarian Presidential campaign in memory, but nobody will remember that - or care - ten years from now. Barr has a decent shot at one million votes this time, as that will be only about 0.75% of the total vote cast. Sending money to the Barr campagn is like throwing it down a rat hole, but every Libertarian should vote for Bob Barr to boost his vote total!
Posted By: DustoneGT
Date: 2008-10-21 07:17:12
I know the Constitution Party isn't a Libertarian's favorite choice, but it is also a good way to register disaffection without voting for the guy with 20 faces.
Posted By: Patriot
Date: 2008-10-21 08:27:16
I voted for Brown and Badnarik but Barr is a loser for the LP just like McCain is for Republicans. I can't vote for the lesser of 3 evils. LP should have nominated a true libertarian like Mary Ruwart.
IMHO, Barr will receive record lows. Hopefully the LP will learn from this election and put forth a decent candidate next time.
Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2008-10-21 09:21:53
Go ahead and pump Barr up all you want, I wish you luck! Here's why:
I think a true libertarian (lowercase) victory would come with sharply higher third party counts. It would be something to build on.
I am not too worried that LP members will vote for McBama though:)
Posted By: Lojiko
Date: 2008-10-21 09:27:21
Good column, Ron.
Something else to note is that minor parties like the LP desperately depend on getting high vote totals in Presidential and gubernatorial races so they can get ballot access. Even if someone hates Barr's past record, it is still worth voting for him, to get State LPs a chance to skip the hurdles the two major parties place between them and ballot access.
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-10-21 09:32:24
Why would you vote for a conservative like Bob Barr?
To reward the practice to highjacking a clean political name and redefining day after day liberterianism as a breed of conservatism? Bob Barr cannot break with the state. He wants to create a "White House position to defend privacy and civil liberties!!! To fight government? "more government" says Bob Barr! On the Fed, he would welcome a mere audit... what about shutting down the place??? I mean, we are talking libertarian or conservative?
History might remember Bob Barr as the guy who reached its political potential with Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton.
The Libertarian Party must pay the price of its "Bob Barr" right-wing turn so that they don't make the same mistake twice. No bailout!
Don't vote, it only encourages them, including McBama and Bob Barr.
Posted By: Ben Kalafut
Date: 2008-10-21 10:31:17
It's a pity that some minds, like Mr. Roux's, are so closed as to confound a man's past beliefs and his present position, to mix up "less government" and "more", "libertarian and conservative".
Nolan, for his part, has been declaring the campaign to be super-duper awful since right around when it started and I actually put part of the blame for its failure to energize the base on him--recall that silly, demoralizing premature declaration of death, that he gave a speech at the convention wherein he reputedly asked the LRC to go reform the Republican Party, and that he helped to create, via Restore '04's FUD tactics and occasional outright lies, the illusion that victory for the LRC would mean a non-libertarian LP.
Here we have the most visible and most respected LP candidate in recent memory. The campaign is reaching out to voters the "Small Party" libertarians would rather have called names and causing many to take a good look at our policy ideas for the first time. Give a few $$ to support the new round of TV ads.
An afterword: only weenies write in Ron Paul. He's not on the ballot, the vote is counted the same as one for Mickey Mouse and accordingly so, as it's a Mickey Mouse thing to do. Stand and be counted.
Posted By: David K. Meller
Date: 2008-10-21 11:00:15
I agree! We libertarians have three courses of action to take on election day and after. One is to support the LP, and Bob Barr as much as possible. Two, support, where possible, Ron Paul\'s political efforts after the election, and thirdly, support educational and advocacy groups, from the Mises Institute and International Society for Individual Liberty to the Fully Informed Jury Association and the John Birch Society...
The Republican party has already been wrecked by the neocons and eight dreadful years of the Bush Presidency. There is nothing to support even if McCain should win.
Maybe Ron Paul\'s Campaign for Liberty can evolve something better in the next four years while the Democrats and Comrade Obama continue to wreck the economy and the Country. At least it will be difficult to blame this depression on "unregulated laissez faire" the way the 1929 one was.
It is very important that we Libertarians "hit the ground running" after election day. Whatever Mr.Barr\'s vote totals--and the larger the better--we must continue to grow the LP, both in terms of membership and in terms of rigor. We must offer people really sound voluntary, private, and (if possible) sovereign alternatives to the failed government on all levels, local state, and Federal,
The higher the Barr vote totals, the more credible the LP will be in future races. This should be borne in mind by anyone who would still waste their vote supporting the GOP (or the empty shell of whatever is left of it).
If WE don't support the growth of liberty, private property,and peace, nobody else will!!
PEACE AND FREEDOM!!--David K. Meller
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-10-21 15:05:47
It is not that my mind is "closed", it is that I disagree. Thanks for the name calling anyway; it is always helpful. Note that I was kind enough to forget Bob Barr's past... What a concession when you know what the guy was thinking and DOING a few years back.
Any way, I think that the SEC should be abolished right away. Financial markets, like the NYSE, should be free to set the rules that best suit their business models. No government intervention!!! Does that sound libertarian? Not really since Bob Barr took over that poor Libertarian Party. From the bobbarr2008.com website:
"The ill-advised loosening of SEC regulations that had been in place to insure solvency and transparency in the operation of major investment firms, also contributed to the current financial crisis."
Obviously, Bob Barr and I disagree... And he is the Libertarian????
For those who think that Bob Barr is right on the issue: "enjoy the Libertarian Party and brand name; it is all your's!" You will be able to sing liberty to sell statist crap under a brand name more popular than 'neo-consrvative' or 'republican'.
To those who think that a "Bob Barr" vote is fundamentally a way to help the "libertarian party" grow, let me stress that if the political fraud named Bob Barr does well, you can be sure Bob Barr's influence will grow and you will be associated to stuff like:
“The Bush administration deserves credit for having done much to disable al Qaeda as an effective terrorist organization,” Barr says. “However, early on, the administration took its eye off of the ball when it shifted troops from searching for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to use in the unnecessary war in Iraq. Now, the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating badly,” adds Barr.
Yeah right, Libertarians now believe Bush did well on the so-called "war on terror" and are pro-war. Whatever! Bob Barr is conservative. Maybe Libertarian leaning conservative but even that is a stretch.
Don't vote, it only encourages them.
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-10-22 04:16:58
There are certainly differences within the Libertarian movement between the anarchists and the minarchists and those who are willing to compromise with the state in order to gain political clout that could be used to reduce governement... but Bob Barr is way out of the Libertarian main and marginal streams on most if not all issues.
On the other hand, he would be a good regular conservative, had the official conservatives not turned democrats and hard-core socialists. Bob Barr's fight was inside the Republican Party where he belongs much, much, much more than Ron Paul.
For those clinging to the idea that Bob Barr would be libertarian, a great post by Anthony Gregory at:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023602.html
Don't vote, it only encourages them.
Posted By: MoultrieGAConservative
Date: 2008-10-22 09:50:11
I just voted for Bob Barr in Kevin Tracy's on-line straw poll and will definitely be doing so in the general election as well, while voting GOP this time only in SOME of the down-ballot contests. My reasoning? It’s really rather simple.
While there also several things I like about the Constitution Party platform, for the time being I still think the Libertarian Party has a better chance than the Constitution Party of becoming a viable alternative to the two “major” parties. However, this will only be the case IF the LP has truly matured enough as a party to recognize and accept the fact that they simply must embrace the limited government pragmatists and marginalize the laissez-faire purists within their party if they desire to become truly viable.
The Bob Barr and Wayne Root nominations for POTUS and VPOTUS respectively are a good start, but such pragmatic nominations must continue and they must extend down to state, county, and even local elections as well. I will be monitoring LP activities and blogs very closely for any compelling evidence that limited government pragmatists are continuing to gain ground within the LP.
If this fails to materialize and the kooks, druggies, hippies, and pacifists resume holding an inordinate amount of sway within the LP, then the LP will have reverted to a position where they will be forever relegated to little more than a minor footnote in American political history. Ultimately, the LP is going to have to rid its party platform of the “dogs that won’t hunt” if they want to continue to grow by gaining more votes from limited government conservatives and disaffected Republicans such as myself. The LP has to grow by winning more votes if they want to eventually be taken seriously by mainstream America as a viable alternative to the two “major” parties. To do this, they have to abandon the BS.
In essence, the LP has a golden opportunity to fill the major void that was left by the GOP when the national GOP “leadership” made an apparently conscious decision to wantonly squander the legacy left by Goldwater and Reagan, to abandon the Constitution, to turn its back on the principles of limited government. Based on the behavior of the national GOP “leadership” during the past 14 years culminating with the facilitation of a heavily front-loaded primary season to favor a RINO nominee, the GOP apparently no longer places a priority on the values that I hold dear. They have become “Democrat-Lite.” While the two “major” parties are still different in theory, there is now little discernable difference between them in practice. We shall soon see whether or not the LP has the balls to get the job done. If they do, then at some point in the very near future I may well change my party affiliation.
Having said that, for now I am still a registered Republican and have been for 30 years. However, as I’ve said before, I’m a Constitutional Conservative first and a Republican second. The GOP has failed conservatives in recent years. It’s as simple as that.
Over the past 14 years since the GOP won congressional majorities in the 1994 mid-term elections, they have become drunk with power. They have become complacent and assumed that they could essentially do whatever they wanted. They obviously felt that they would always be entitled to the votes of grass-roots conservatives because, in their view, we would have nowhere else to turn. Wrong. We have begun seriously checking out the Libertarian Party and Constitution Party alternatives for signs of viability.
The GOP is going to have to EARN back our trust by a return to putting the principles of limited government into practice. If it fails to do so, then it will continue to lose elections and remain in the minority for many years to come. That will be a shame. I’m sure that James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan would be as disgusted with this outcome as I am.
Mitch Hiers
Constitutional Conservative
Veteran of the U.S. Naval Security Group
Life Member of the VFW, NRA, and NAHC
Moultrie, GA, USA
October 22nd, 2008
Posted By: Jean-Christophe Roux
Date: 2008-10-22 12:06:27
David Nolan, why would you vote for a party on its way to be viable to Mitch Hiers and the likes?
Posted By: Spence
Date: 2008-10-22 19:55:22
Nobody else finds it funny that we're being told to preserve what clearly is a failed party from the get-go? Take a truly libertarian approach to partisan politics and build bases, but don't do so under the big-L brand. The rest of them are a corrupt breed, prone to frequent sellouts and slanderous language.
The party prefers its in-fighting against gaining firm voting blocs and winning elections. And mind you, this was a legitimate failure. The delegates approved Barr fair and square. So if you still have principles, vote them, but let this god awful party die. It's been more harmful to the cause of liberty than it has helped it.