Barr is not for Liberty, he wrote the fucking Defense of Marriage Act, which was thinly veiled as being a states rights issue.

it’s a name tag on a non-entity pretending to be a government with none of
the responsibilities or capabilities of a government.

Kinda like what we got now

Seriously, it doesn’t matter what you call it.  Labels don’t mean a thing and often distract you from what’s important.  It’s okay to cherry-pick from different ideologies, but say what you mean.  I bet if you ask ten different people what communism or socialism or Libertarianism means, they’ll either quote from a dictionary or you’ll get ten different answers.  Labels are a convenient description, but not if the person you’re talking to gets an entirely different idea from the label than you do.  If you see an Obama speech and you say “I like what he said.” then people think you’re a Democrat.  If you look at McCain and say “I like his stance on Gun control” then people say you’re a Republican, or at least a conservative.  I’ve read the Libertarian speel, and a lot of it looks good, but when someone like Bob Barr gets in, I have to wonder what ELSE they stand for, or worse, what they don’t care about, but saying they’re socialist doesn’t really say anything.  Democrats are socialist, and communistic to some degree.  It’s just a question of degrees.  Conversations that start with terms like that end up arguing semantics instead of issues.  I got better things to do.

This is why I hate political parties.  There are too many labels, and we spend far too much time on the Primaries because of it.  Primary elections should be like religion, private and done using your own money.  Stop trying to get me to vote twice for someone, especially when I can’t be sure if even either of my votes actually counts.

Just have however many people want to run for president and are eligible (don’t get me started on what ‘eligible’ should mean) and give each of them five minutes on live television broadcast (then re-broadcast for a week or two) nationally.  Send the audio track to the radio stations and put the transcript in libraries and on the internet.  No one gets left out and no one has an advantage over another.  Then let’s do the vote and get back to running the damn country.  What’s so difficult about that?  I’ll pay my tax money for that, not for this circus they call the general election.  Maybe if we did that, the Democrats and Republicans wouldn’t have control of the government.  We’re trying to elect the right people for the job.  Let’s act like it.

Libertarianism is all well and good until you realize that as a practical political philosophy it’s right up there with communism, anarchism, and utopianism. Everyone wants some of the things listed as valuable to the Libertarian Party, but only the truly naive would desire the full package. Having a full-on Libertarian system would have all the charm of politics in Darfur or Rwanda, right up until a more functional system asserted itself (probably with violence.)

Even Ralph Nader’s got a more savvy handle on political realities than the Libertarians. Governments exist to provide support for communities. A community that cannot and will not support communities isn’t a government, it’s a name tag on a non-entity pretending to be a government with none of the responsibilities or capabilities of a government.

swordsbane:
Good points all. I’m voting for the party, not Barr. I want to throw a turd in the two-party punch bowl.

Only the Dems and Reps have enough power to make their candidate do what they say.  For everyone else, you’re voting for the candidate, not the party.  Of course the Libertarians have as much chance of getting Barr elected President as I have of getting elected, but if you want to send a message or take a stand, you can do better than that.  If the Libertarians would have someone like Barr as a candidate, then I submit to you that they don’t stand for the things you think they do.

swordsbane:
Good points all. I’m voting for the party, not Barr. I want to throw a turd in the two-party punch bowl.

I will be voting Libertarian this year. Not because I think they have a chance in hell of winning and not because I like Barr, but because I like the principles the party espouses: freedom from gov’t intrusion, ending the personal income tax, freedom of speech, action, conscience, religion etc.

Bob Barr?  A libertarian?  Ha!  This is the same idiot who, when he was in congress organized a (failed) boycott of the military because they were allowing Wiccans to meet on base and Wicca isn’t a real religion.  It’s an evil cult of satan worshippers.  I can only imagine what he thinks of Atheists.

Yeah.. Vote for Barr.. I’ll get right on that.  I don’t know who let him run on the Libertarian ticket, but they should be clued in to that morons voting record.  He’s probably running as a Libertarian because no one would have him.  Maybe he subscribes to a lot of the Libertarian values, but freedom of religion and speech are not among them.  If he HAS changed his tune, then he has to admit it in public that he’s been an idiot up till now and explain WHY we should believe him before my vote comes anywhere near him.

Biden vs McCain may make for an interesting race, but playing 2nd fiddle to his own subordinate COULDN’T be a good thing for Obama.

I will be voting Libertarian this year. Not because I think they have a chance in hell of winning and not because I like Barr, but because I like the principles the party espouses: freedom from gov’t intrusion, ending the personal income tax, freedom of speech, action, conscience, religion etc.
I would like to see a viable third party. For too long Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have been dancing the two-man serial gang-rape rhumba with this country. Many of the issues being used by the two main parties to divide and conquer the voters (gay marriage, abortion, drug use, school prayer) are declared outside the govt’s sphere of authority by the Libertarian platform. The Democrats are intent on micromanaging our personal lives and saving us from our bad habits, while the Republicans declare they have a mandate to make our moral choices for us and bring us home to Jesus. A pox on both their houses.

Perhaps a Biden vs McCain race will be a Good Thing for Obama.

I think the choice of Biden will blow up in Obama’s face.
The main criticism of Obama is that he is a neophyte with little experience in Washington. Standing next to Joe Biden only amplifies this perception. Biden looks like a president while Obama looks like his youthful campaign manager. The election from here on will be Biden vs McCain.