Why Wayne Allyn Root Gets Media Attention

I've said the same myself, in other words. So have others. But Tom Blanton says it so well, it needs to be repeated and highlighted.

At Independent Political Report, Blanton explains why Wayne Allyn Root gets so much media attention, why it's not a good thing, and why it's impossible for pro-peace libertarians to get similar media attention.

In Comment #105, Blanton writes:

"[T]he type of media exposure that Wayne Root gets is because of his message.

"His message parrots the message that right-wing media likes to feature. This is why he gets on FOX, all the right-wing radio shows, and is a featured writer on NewsMax.

"Now, you'd like to see other libertarians compete with Root and get some media. Great, but to compete with Root, libertarians will have to Boortz themselves or get Rootified in order to be acceptable to the right-wing media that is willing to promote Root.

"There is another faction of media, primarily on the internet and in print media, that is left-leaning. The problem is that the left media is not so accommodating to libertarians. There are some exceptions, but rather few.

"The possibility remains that if a 'libertarian' were to go to the left-wing media and start talking about raising taxes, increasing government regulations to protect citizens, having government engage in activities that are now handled by private enterprise, etc., perhaps left-wing media would feature more libertarians.

"But then you would have the same problem there is with Root, except instead of a libertarian spewing right-wing rhetoric, you would have a libertarian spewing left-wing rhetoric.

"Libertarians seem to be so myopic about the barriers erected by their political opponents and so narcissistic about themselves, they are unable to come to grips with the outside influences that marginalize libertarianism and keep certain ideas away from public consumption.

"When libertarians control billions of dollars worth of advertising money through their corporate sponsors, and when libertarian legislators are able to exert influence over the media through legislative means, and when corporate America owes libertarians favors for favorable legislation, subsidies, etc. thrown their way, then we will see the media become friendly to libertarianism -- only it won't be libertarianism, it will most likely be corporatism wrapped in a flag and waving a constitution (much like the 'conservatism' we see now).

"LP members in particular crave political power so much that it doesn’t seem to occur to them that to 'do real politics' will require them to abandon libertarianism in all aspects except rhetoric.

"Doing politics is all about redistributing wealth and income, doing favors for groups and classes of people, forming alliances with large corporations and other special interests, and generally becoming corrupt to the core and becoming experts in managing perceptions through propaganda and lies.

"The media will never be a game-changer for standard libertarianism. If it takes becoming a Reagan libertarian to make minor inroads into right-wing media (that so far haven’t produced any tangible results for libertarians over the years), then libertarians would probably be better off just joining the GOP.

"So much for competing with Root for media attention. So, let's quit pretending that what he is selling is standard libertarianism when he himself claims to be selling 'Reagan libertarianism.'

"There's not much use in pretending that media is going to feature proponents on standard libertarianism unless libertarians are willing to be treated like Charlie Sheen."

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Tom Blanton links to the Project for a New American Revolution, so maybe it's his site. I don't know.