First, a quibble. "Largely correct?" I don't let Republicans weasel out of their failure to reduce government or -- as is currently happening with the federal government -- increase it (a lot), simply by claiming they are better than Democrats. (Which isn't even true, if you use this definition of "better": decreased government spending. The current administration's increases -- in absolute terms or percentage terms -- are more than the most recent Democrat president's.)
The ultimate test is: does it reduce government? If accomplishing an important political objective -- getting elected to the city council of a large suburb of a large city or a state legislature, in the cases you mention -- doesn't result in decreases in government or at least decreases in the rate of increase, it's not relevant. At least not yet. If it is followed by the candidate's reelection and the election of other Libertarians, which then results in decreases in government or at least government growth, now we're talking. Otherwise, it's as irrelevant as the "Republican Revolution" of 1994. -Eric P.S. Reluctantly, I "top-post" here, on the theory that it's better to be consistent with the message's prior quoting than to use better quoting. I much prefer to follow a block of quoted text with the response to it, and to read messages that follow that convention. Apparently that is not the custom in YG [Libertarian]. Moving blocks of text around to retroactively fix the quoting is unappealing for at least two reasons, so I normally don't in these situations. -ESH Eric Dondero Rittberg wrote: > Yes, you are largely correct. > > But then again, I wouldn't just sneeze at the LP's most recent > accomplishments. > > Not sure if you've heard but an LPer just got elected to a City > Council in a large Denver suburb - guy's name is Doug Anderson. > > The LP has a lot going for it, on the local elected officials > front. In many ways the LP acts as a very effective Minor Leagues > Farm Team for the Republican Liberty Caucus. > > Look at Toby Nixon, 20 year Libertarian Party activist in Georgia. > A few years ago, got himself elected to the Washington State > Legislature as a Republican. > > Countless examples mirroring Toby's success. > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "Eric S. Harris" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Eric Dondero Rittberg wrote: > > > > > Intrguied by your comments on the Constitution Party. > > > > > > But fact is the Libertarian Party is and has been 10 times more > > > successful over the years, when you measure vote totals both in > > > Presidential races and local races, actual elected officials, > > > membership, fundraising, and most especially ballot access. > > > > > > > The LP, hapless as it is, has the CP beat in every category. > > > > As Lloyd Sloan said in a post (in LOP-General): "The LP is > bragging > > about its success over the Constitution Party. This is somewhat > like > > being the world's tallest midget." > > > > Or to put it another way, this is important if you're grading on a > > curve. But getting a 23 on the final is an "F" even if you're in > the > > top 5% of the class, and two days, 9 hours is a lousy time in a > > marathon, even if you do take third place. > > > > Throw in the "over the years" only makes it worse, because the LP > has > > had more years in which to accumulate accomplishments > like "elected a > > state legislator". I wonder (but don't much care) how the > Constitution > > Party compares to the LP at that age. -Eric -- Eric S. Harris If this address ever fails, try visiting http://www.returnpath.net 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/
