Posted on 04/22/2004 6:10:48 PM PDT by optimistically_conservative
The Libertarian Party will nominate a presidential candidate in Atlanta next month with all the hoopla of a national convention.
But no one — including the party faithful — holds any illusion that a third-party candidate can win against President Bush or Democrat John Kerry.
Instead, the presidential run is about getting the Libertarian message out and building interest in the party, which advocates limited government.
"The No. 1 goal is to change public policy by electing candidates, and it's much more likely we'd elect a local candidate," said David Lockhart of Forest Park, the Georgia party's political director. "The grass roots works best for us."
More than 700 delegates are expected at the party's five-day national convention over Memorial Day weekend, May 27-31, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The schedule includes a blues concert featuring guitarist Jimmie Vaughan and a breakfast hosted by Atlanta's best-known Libertarian syndicated radio talk show host, Neal Boortz.
And despite the fact it's only symbolic, there will be a hotly contested fight to nominate a standard-bearer who will carry the party's anti-tax, anti-war and pro-individual freedom banner into the presidential campaign.
The party opposes foreign aid and adventurism, wants the government to get out of regulating marriages and favors gun ownership, drug legalization and open immigration. Libertarians also want to eliminate state and federal income taxes and privatize many government services.
The party has also opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning, national spokesman George Getz said, though what he called a "vocal minority" supports the war.
Divisions over the issue created a dust-up when some members objected to inviting Boortz, who supports the war, to speak at the convention. But the campaign to "Boot Boortz" was beaten back and he's lined up to speak at a Saturday breakfast.
"There's room for dissent," said Getz. "We're delighted to have him."
Candidates for this year's presidential nomination include Hollywood producer Aaron Russo, former syndicated radio talk host Gary Nolan, constitutional law teacher Michael Badnarik of Austin, Texas, and former California congressional candidate Dave Hollist. The convention will also choose a vice presidential candidate.
In 2000, the party's presidential candidate, Harry Browne, received 384,431 votes, or 0.36 percent of the national total. In Georgia, he won 36,332 votes, or 1.4 percent.
Patrick Basham, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based research group that shares many of the Libertarian Party's positions, said a large number of Americans subscribe to Libertarian positions. The party's problem, he said, is "how do you persuade people they are not wasting their votes" by casting them for a third-party nominee.
"It's difficult to be optimistic," he said. "Most people who want less government choose what they view as the lesser of two evils."
The state and local levels are where the party's best hopes lie. About 600 Libertarians hold offices across the country, 350 of them in elective posts that include an alderman in Davenport, Iowa, and a Superior Court judge in Orange County, Calif.
No Libertarians are known to currently hold elective office in Georgia, Lockhart said. But the party is fielding about a dozen candidates this year for offices that include the U.S. Senate.
Ken Parmalee of Morrow, chairman of the Clayton County party, said the party is running five candidates in Clayton and Henry counties and has high hopes for gaining a state legislative seat.
"I'd say our chances are pretty decent," he said. "Our chances are zero if we don't run."
Did they car pool this time? It took two half filled vans last trip.
I don't know, is it like being a black conservative?
If they were, I would still be a member. But they're not. On the abortion issue they deny in total the liberty of an entire class of human being. On the immigration issue they deny the very essence of citizenship. In being anti-war, they deny to the entire nation the essential liberty of self-defense.
They're not libertarian. They are anarchist. There is a huge difference between have a minimalist perspective towards goverment, and having an annihilationist perspective, and the LP is in the latter camp.
What's there to say about him? He's a fruitcake fascist who runs for President as a Democrat to collect federal matching funds. He also hates libertarians, which is something for libertarians to be proud of.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.