Sarah Palin to Take Votes From Bob Barr

I believe Sarah Palin will be Bob Barr's undoing.

In the past, the Libertarian Party ran purist libertarians. But the Barr/Root ticket is designed to appeal to conservatives. That was the Reform faction's Big Plan this year. Conservatives were dissatisfied with McCain, so nominate a sort of conservative ticket that will "get votes" from the GOP.

However, every November, most voters "go home" to the major party of their choice. And now, Sarah Palin provides a big incentive to conservatives to go home. Conservatives love Palin.

Palin will cost Barr/Root votes. Big time. Even as Barr/Root lose radical libertarian votes.

It will be interesting to see just how badly Palin hurts Barr/Root come November, but the pain will be significant.

Come 2012, I hope the LP nominates some real libertarians. No more Barr or Root.

A Fine Line: Requiring vs. Subsidizing English

Among other items in his Washington Times op-ed, Bob Barr has said: "It is not the government’s business what people speak at home. But government business should be transacted English. Congress should scrap bilingual ballots. American citizens should learn enough English to vote."

This part is not unreasonable.

Assimilation helps prevent the U.S. from breaking apart into tribal factions. Learning English should be encouraged, albeit not required.

While not making English "official," neither should the State subsidize other languages. The State should not make it easy to get by without English.

Govt business should be transacted in English. Multi-lingual ballots should go. So too multi-lingual state education.

My position on assimilation.

Open borders will only work if we encourage assimilation. Without assimilation, we become another Balkans, Beirut, or Northern Ireland.

Most humans are tribal. They are not philosopher-anarchists. If you want open borders and liberty, you must support assimilation. Without peaceful assimilation, we degenerate into tribal, socialist Balkanization.

We needn't make English "official," requiring everyone to learn it, but govt business (including ballots) should be in English.

"Libertarians" for English Only

Libertarian Party "National Media Coordinator" Andrew Davis has issued a statement from LP headquarters, in which Davis slams Democratic Senator (and new VP nominee) Joe Biden's voting record.

Among his many critiques, Davis complains that Biden "Voted against making English the official language of the United States."

That's right. Davis has implied to the world that making English the official language of the U.S. is the Libertarian position.

Essentially, Davis has attacked Biden for being too libertarian.

Wayne Allyn Root's Boiler Room

FWIW, here's an excerpt from an anonymous post, dated November 1, 2005, by someone who claims to be a former employee of Wayne Allyn Root:

"I worked for Wayne Root for the football season in 2001. ... His operation is a boiler room. You are given a script. You sell up front then one day after the sale the reloaders work on getting the customer to sign up for Wayne's eight other level's of games. We lied about Wayne's record all the time. ... Wayne was a bigger liar than the salesman. If he had a newspaper guy on the phone he would say stuff that was totally untrue. He once told a guy that we had over 100 salesman at that time. I counted desks and office staff. It was 45 people. ... He wrote and published a book within the last year. I talked to someone at the Gambler's Warehouse last month and asked how many copies were sold nationally. His answer was they had three copies of the book a month ago and still had three copies. I said "could he have sold more than a thousand copies nationally?". His answer was, "probably not". ... He doesn't even bet the games he gives to his clients. Once in an interview he even admitted it. ... Wayne Root is a pathological liar who loved himself. He's not an idiot and can sell a deal and make things happen for a while."

To read the whole post click here.

Swell candidate the Libertarian Party chose for its Vice President this election season.

Is it Biden ... or Hillary?

The news media is reporting that Obama will pick Biden.

I hope so. I hope it will be anyone but Hillary Clinton. But I'm a pessimist. I can't believe Obama would play it so close to the vest, only to have Biden's name leaked. I suspect that in a few hours he'll announce that his VP pick is the Hildebeast.

1. Imagine the huge news story if everyone is reporting it'll be Biden, then it turns out to be Hillary. The pundits will spend the entire weekend asking "How did the media get it wrong?"

2. Imagine the thrill (and poll numbers boost) among the Hildebeast's psycho-fans. First the letdown that it won't be Hillary ... then the elation that it is.

3. Obama will come off as "clever, shrewd, smart." Real "presidential timber" for fooling the media.

4. Plus, the news media is complicit, willing to be "fooled." The news media does not care about accuracy, but about "breaking" "shocking" news stories. Announcing Biden as VP is a ratings bump. Announcing that they got it wrong, and that it's Hillary, are two ratings bumps. Why wait to get it right (and get only one ratings bump), when you can get it wrong, then get it right (and hence, get two ratings bumps).

I hope it's not Hillary. I'd prefer anyone over Hillary. Obama, McCain, Biden, even Bush or Cheney.

Of all the Republicans and Democrats running this year, my top choice was Ron Paul. My second choice was "any of the others who are not Hillary." Gravel or Kucinich were better than Giuliani, but at least none of them were Hillary.

Anyway, we'll see in a few hours if I can breathe a sigh of relief, or if it turns out that Obama "fooled" the news media (with their complicity) and it turns out to be Hillary.

_______


UPDATE: It seems I was wrong (thank God!). Obama chose Biden. I can live with a President Obama, so long as the VP is not Hillary.

I hope I was wrong. There's still the chance of a Hillary coup at the Democratic convention. You see, Hillary is a vampire. Even after you ram the stake in its heart, the Hildebeast can still arise. Much like Christopher Lee kept returning in all those Dracula Hammer film sequels.

Oh no, I'm by no means 100% certain that Hillary won't be president in 2009. Did I mention that I was a pessimist?

Not that I have high hopes for Obama, or McCain, but at least neither is the Hildebeast.

Wayne Allyn Root Calls for Afghan Surge

"Born again non-interventionist" Wayne Allyn Root is now endorsing an Iraqi-style surge in Afghanistan, according to Independent Political Report.

Don't blame me. I campaigned for Karen Kwiatkowski. And then for Ron Paul. Then I campaigned and voted for Mike Gravel. Then I voted for Mary Ruwart.

Then when it came time to nominating a VP candidate, I campaigned and voted for Steve Kubby.

So don't anyone blame me for Barr/WAR.

I Discuss Sonny Landham at L.A. Trade Tech

Last June, I brought the libertarian message to Glendale Community College. On July 29, I brought much the same message to L.A. Trade Tech (located in downtown Los Angeles).


Among other things, I discussed the Libertarian Party's opposition to hate crime laws. I said that hate can best be fought through private means. As an example, I cited how the Kentucky LP dumped their U.S. Senate candidate, Sonny Landman, after Landham's bigoted, anti-Arab remarks.

Yet it now appears that I may have spoken too soon. The Kentucky LP is still considering what to do about Landham.

This is shameful and disturbing behavior on the part of the Kentucky LP. I was proud to tell the college kids at L.A. Trade Tech that the LP cleaned its own house--is that not so?

As far as I could see, there were maybe two white kids in the entire class. The rest of the students were Asian, Latin, Indian, black, etc. Los Angeles is the future face of America. (One student asked about the LP's immigration policy; I said most of us favor open borders.)

Are we telling future Americans that we oppose hate crime laws, and accept bigots into the LP?

On the day I spoke, the Green Party, and Peace and Freedom Party, also sent representatives. If the Libertarian Party does not demonstrate its opposition to racism and religious bigotry, these other third parties will be more appealing to future Americans.

I urge the Kentucky LP to dump Landham, whatever the consequences. If they, or some of their candidates, lose ballot status, so be it.

To paraphrase L.A. Libertarian officer Bob Weber (who posted at Independent Political Report): the Kentucky LP made this shit sandwich, now they must eat it.