Comments on: The GOP isn’t fracturing, it’s transforming into libertarians

By: john galt

john galt — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:40:00 +0000

Can’t really argue that point, but i think there’s change in the wind. There’s a LOT of support for a major LP election push in ’14 and ’16. I hope my 8% becomes a minor footnote as “this is how badly they sucked before, some moron that had no business near a county building got the best percentage of votes in his state, at, GET THIS, *7.97%*, duuuuude, that SUCKED, we get 10% for a monkey now”

By: Former LPer

Former LPer — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:39:00 +0000

The problem with the LP (at least what I have seen) is they are stuck in the mindset being an educational outreach tool, and have not embraced the need for robust political organization to win elections.

They could have ridden many many waves, but it seems the establishment mentality keeps them worried about growing membership and then preaching to the choir, instead of growing membership and encouraging political participation.

At a few state levels (Texas, Georgia, Indiana and Kentucky immediately spring to mind), there is some solid leadership that understands the process of running campaigns and winning them, but overall there is no cohesive political strategy.

By: Cory Shaw

Cory Shaw — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:37:00 +0000

It’s a pendulum, and you’re just being neagative because you’re probably old.

By: Eric Dondero

Eric Dondero — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:25:00 +0000

We won the battle, but alas, we’ve lost the war. Since the beginning days of the Republican Liberty Caucus, when us few brave souls left the Libertarian Party in 1990 and tried our luck in GOP ranks, our goal was to win control of the GOP. We’ve done it. We’ve arrived. Took us 22 years or so. But we won. We now virtually lead the Republican Party.

But we’ve lost America. The takers outnumber the productive working class. There are far too many Americans on the government dole, vast numbers of them moocher immigrants who come here to America not to work, but rather for free health care and an EBT card.

So, I’d like to be happy about our win of the GOP. But the GOP is in a permanent minority status now. We won a party in decline, thanks to open borders and immigrant voting rights, and massive Democrat voter fraud.

By: Raleigh Witten (FB)

Raleigh Witten (FB) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 04:36:00 +0000

Somebody send this to Jack Hunter….

By: Dick

Dick — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:38:00 +0000

The biggest growing party is UNAFFILIATED. Independent for life, baby!

That said, if the social conservatives in the GOP don’t like the libertarians taking over, they can always go to the ill-named Constitution Party.

By: john galt

john galt — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:15:00 +0000

Honestly, though I horribly despise wishing that the small-l libertarians fail, in this case, I really hope to see the GOP pander to the hardcore social conservtive wing with gusto. This will be a (albeit painful) learning experience for the small-l libertarians and maybe get them to wake up and realize that fiscal conservatism isn’t all that there is to the LP, the socially liberal side needs some SERIOUS attention from the LP IMO. For example, still on the front page of HoT is a blurb decrying how liberal CO may get AS THEY LEGALIZED RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA. I mean, if we can’t count that as a victory for big-L Libertarianism, what in hell CAN we? The LP needs to ride this wave of Social Libertarianism for all it’s worth, and if the Fiscal Conservatives don’t like it, that’s just too fucking bad. “Liberty for me and not for thee” doesn’t work, nor should we allow such juvenile posturing to flourish, as it has in the LP for decades. The LP’s best bet is if the GOP implodes on its social conservatives, and the LP takes it as a transformational moment to actually become the REAL “party of principle”. But to quote a libertarian comic “of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong”. Asbestos donned, bring it.