Thursday, July 27, 2006
Wherein I find a problem -
Let's up front make clear that I'm a one-time Libertarian. I've voted Libertarian in all but two presidential election in my adult life, and that was for Anderson over Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan over Mondale. I'd have voted for just about anyone the GOP ran that year given the improvement over Carter.
The Libertarian Party has an infrastructure and a lack of qualified candidates - well any candidates, really, which is why they end up running so many loons.
Along comes a more than qualified candidate and - Voila! - a match made in heaven, right?
Err, maybe.
In an e-mail exchange, I asked a candidate why he was running as a Libertarian. I received the following in response:
It's hard to take a party seriously that doesn't take itself seriously. A Party pimping candidates who don't even know what the Party stands for is hardly taking itself seriously. If I'm one of the rank and file, I'm sure I'm excited about my guy...
Scoring some name recognition in a highly divisive race with a candidate that may or may not (Who knows? The candidate sure doesn't!) even be able to articulate the Party's agenda smacks of mere media whoring, not that "media whoring" isn't necessary to get the message out but really, what are the Libertarians telling us here?
I can't help but think it's counterproductive in the long run.
The Libertarian Party has an infrastructure and a lack of qualified candidates - well any candidates, really, which is why they end up running so many loons.
Along comes a more than qualified candidate and - Voila! - a match made in heaven, right?
Err, maybe.
In an e-mail exchange, I asked a candidate why he was running as a Libertarian. I received the following in response:
I'm not connected much into the Party politics--for better and probably to some extent, for worse. But it is what it is. With them--and in this election-- I can only do the best I can with what I have. So, we'll see where that leads!Uh, say again?
It's hard to take a party seriously that doesn't take itself seriously. A Party pimping candidates who don't even know what the Party stands for is hardly taking itself seriously. If I'm one of the rank and file, I'm sure I'm excited about my guy...
Scoring some name recognition in a highly divisive race with a candidate that may or may not (Who knows? The candidate sure doesn't!) even be able to articulate the Party's agenda smacks of mere media whoring, not that "media whoring" isn't necessary to get the message out but really, what are the Libertarians telling us here?
I can't help but think it's counterproductive in the long run.
Labels: politics
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