Attending the caucuses here has confirmed what I’ve always suspected: The Libertarian Party is a complete waste of time and energy.
The Libertarian primaries took place the other day apprently. However, given the fact that several other Paul supporters in Colorado have written to tell me that, at the GOP caucuses, they were selected as delegates to the GOP party assemblies, I’m all the more of the opinion that if libertarians had put effort into influencing one of the 2 Parties that matter instead of bickering among themselves within an irrelevent party, much more good would have been done of the the last 20 years.
Now, these Paul delegates who were selected for the party assemblies will have very real influence over who becomes GOP party officials, election judges, and local and state candidates.
This of course is what the Religious Right did in the late 80s and through the 90s. They organized and took over the caucuses, and then the party assemblies, and then basicaly hijacked the GOP altogether.
I’ve never really understood the proposition that the LP serves an “educational” function anyway. If that’s so, they sure do an awfully bad job of it. They’ve had no clear position on the war, and have basically gutted their party platform so much in recent years as to make me wonder even more as to why they exist at all.
The most sucessful libertarian politician ever to hold office in Britain was Richard Cobden. He worked within the confines of the Liberal Party (if memory serves me) and was greatly influential among both Liberals and Tories. Many crossed party lines in Parliament to join him on issues around war, taxes, and liberty in general. This was quite a feat considering that party discipline has traditionally been much stronger in Britain than in the US. Cobden had the opportunity to function from a third party, but realized that was a waste of time, and instead formed various voting blocs on different issues. Ron Paul wisely has taken a similar route, although with more limited success – yet he’s certainly been vastly more successful than any libertarian candidate – especially since libertarians never win Congressional elections.
3:19 pm on February 6, 2008
