----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Dondero Rittberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Yeah, sooo. What is your point. > > Are you saying that you want to force everyone in the libertarian > movement to sign some silly pledge and worship at the alter or > gravestone of Murray Rothbard? > That would be ironic, to say the least, to "force" somebody to sign a pledge against use of force!! And I knew Murray and considered him to be a friend of mine. But we did not agree on everything. Most notably his counterproductive romance with the republican party. > If the "fiscally conservative/socially tolerant" moniker were so > meaningless, than why is it that the Libertarian Party itself > invented the phrase in the 1980s? I remember LP bumper stickers > saying precisely that. My favorite one of all time: "Vote > Libertarian; We're Pro-Choice on Everything." > That slogan was great when it is applied to the LP and it's candidates, and when voters understand that. It becomes meaningless when Kerry can use it against Bush. As an aside, I ran for Columbus School Board back in '99. I wrote a great libertarian speech that EVERYONE commented on and seemingly agreed with. Indeed, before the end of the campaign, EVERY opponent (there were 16 candidates) was stealing bits and pieces of it! But the best came the following year when the republican candidate for OH School Board used my entire speech, word for word, and got elected. I even voted for him (something about plagiarism being the greatest compliment). The problem was that while my speech was very good from a libertarian perspective, Mr. Cochran turned out to be one of those Christian fundamentalists that wanted to (and did, for a time) force "intelligent design" curricula into Ohio schools. In short, a slogan must be palatable to the voting public without being suseptible to being hijacked. And further, I don't think the "We're Pro-Choice on Everything" is very good outside an LP convention hall. > Didn't say: "Vote Libertarian: We want to Abolish Government." > That slogan shouldn't be used outside a militia meeting. > I was attracted to the LP precisely because the Party was basically > Conservatives who were Pro-Choice, not becuase I wanted to abolish > government. > > I have NEVER referred to myself as "conservative", though friends and detractors have! The LP is a lot more than just "pot smoking republicans". PEACE Steven R. Linnabary, Treasurer Franklin County Libertarian Party (614) 891-8841 P.O.Box#115; Blacklick, OH 43004-0115 "When you make peaceful revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable" John F. Kennedy > > --- In [email protected], "steven linnabary" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Eric Dondero Rittberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > But Steven, that is precisely the point. > > > > What are the principles? > > > > You say allegiance to some pledge hoisted upon the LP in the 1970s > by > > Rothbard, Raimondo and the Radical Caucus. > > > > I say, a basic belief in "fiscaly conservatism and social > tolerance." > > > > Nobody owns the term "libertarian." > > > > ### > > > > You are of course correct that nobody owns the label > of "libertarian". And > > everybody so it seems wants to be associated with libertarian > ideals, such > > as Bill Clinton's claim of being libertarian. There is even a > socialistic > > democrat (I know that is redundant) in California that is running > as a > > "libertarian democrat". Weird. > > > > Likewise, nobody "owns" the democrat or republican moniker. > Afterall, there > > is absolutely nothing democratic about the democrat party. And the > > republicans have to share names and ideals with such groups as > Irish > > Republican Army and the Iraq Republican Guard. > > > > And the "fiscal conservative and social tolerance" belief is > meaningless > > when you consider that Kerry could be argued to be more fiscally > > conservative and socially tolerant than Bush. > > ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
