Libertarian Republican Political Report
by Eric Dondero
Special Editorial
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Editor's Note - Readers; I'm in a Northern State working my ass off for 2 ballot initiatives for property rights and less spending. Having great success. Also, learning a great deal about this particular state's politics. I've discovered a libertarian Republican in the state legislature. He's known statewide as the "most prominent libertarian" in the state. And he's one we have not previously known about. Details to come...
Mainstream libertarians in driver's seat for 2008
by Eric Dondero
Candidates are emerging for 2008, both on the Republican side and the Libertarian side. But this election cycle libertarians from the Mainstream wing will have a major advantage. We are better organized today than in previous years. Our core values - Free markets, Individual liberties and Pro-Defense are more cemented in comparison to before.
Most importantly, our communications lines are more solidly established; Relations between Mainstream libertarians on the Republican side, and Mainstream libertarians on the Libertarian Party side have never been better. These days it's hard to tell the difference between Mainstream LPers like Jake Whittmer, Scott Kohlhaas, Bruce Cohen, Dan Shiels, Bill Redpath and Timothy Starr, and libertarian GOPers like Bob Schmidt, Phil Blumel, Sam Finley, Daniel Rego, Mike Griffin, and Jeffrey Blanco. The lines have clearly blurred.
Mainstream libertarians of both stripes have a significant opportunity to greatly influence the direction of the 2008 Presidential election, if the two sides formerly come together and agree to act with cohesion and unanimity.
Last go around - 2004 - the Mainstream libertarian movement was disorganized. We were caught off guard with Michael Badnarik's last minute nomination. Some Mainstreamers held their noses and voted for Badnarik; others including myself quickly formed "Libertarians for Bush." Admittedly, it was a poorly organized effort with little effect on the eventual outcome of the election. But this time, if we organize early, we can have a much greater influence on both the GOP and the LP Nominations. We can all work together to ensure that the Libertarian Party nominates a Winner like Jesse Ventura, John Stossell, Ed Thompson or Neal Boortz, instead of a Losertarian like Badnarik, Carol Moore or George Phillies. We can also work together at the same time to help Nominate a decent GOP candidate like Giuliani, Gary Johnson, George Allen or Mitt Romney.
Fortunately, with most likely scenarios we Win!
Imagine for a moment:
Scenario One: Jesse Ventura (or Gary Johnson, Neal Boortz, Larry Elder, Paul Jacob, Bob Prechter, Mark Skousen, Ed Thompson, CA Judge Gray, Tom McClintock, John Stossell, Leon Drolet or some other prominent Mainstream libertarian) wins the Libertarian Party nomination for President. The Republicans nominate a less than libertarian John McCain, or boring Centrist like Senator Frist. Surely, the natural choice with this scenario is for all Mainstream libertarians to Vote Libertarian Party! Even the loyal Republicans among us, can still vote GOP down ticket and write the Presidential vote off to our Republican friends as their faults; "You nominate un unglamorous, uninspiring and unlibertarian Presidential candidate you will pay the price Mr. & Mrs. Republican."
Scenario Two: The Libertarian Party nominates a low-level Party Hack as they did in 2004; someone like Badnarik again, Paul Ireland, George Phillies, Carol Moore, Dave Hollist, Barry Hess, Ernie Hancock or just about anyone among LP ranks who is not known outside of the Party. The GOP nominates a candidate with some libertarian appeal; Condy Rice, Senator Allen from Virginia, Rudy Giuliani, or Mitt Romney. The choice is clear. It would make all the sense in the world for the "Bruce Cohen/Mike Murphy wing" of the Libertarian Party to bolt the LP for the Presidential race and declare for the Republican Party Nominee. The message to the LP will be crystal clear; "You nominate a No Name/No Resume schmuck Losertarian and you will pay the price bigtime!"
Scenario Three: The best of both worlds; the LP Nominates a Jesse Ventura or John Stossell and the GOP Nominates a Mitt Romney or Giuliani. With this we still Go LP, and tell our GOP friends, while Romney is pretty sharp and Giuliani has some libertarian leanings, they're definitely NOT libertarian enough for us. Hopefully, the LP will poll over a million votes, and the GOPer will still win, but will see a large and influential Libertarian vote which could have a positive impact on his administration.
Scenario Four: This is the Lose/Lose scenario. The LP Nominates George Phillies or some other Dweeb. The GOP goes with McCain. Fortunately, this is the least likely scenario to occur. The LP is not that stupid, particularly coming off their lackluster 2004 performance. And McCain has little shot of winning the GOP nomination, since he's far left of most GOP Primary voters. But still, this nightmare scenario could occur. In this case, the only logical choice for the Mainstream libertarian is to sit home, or just vote in the lower level races on the ballot. Or is it?
Wildcard Scenario: The Constitution Party is getting its act together. They're moving away from their nutty Religious Right - Howard Phillips-based past. Talk is of them nominating Jim Gilchrest, Leader of the Minutemen Project who is quite libertarian, or even Rick Jore, Hard Right libertarian/conservative State Legislator from Montana. Some are even working to recruit Ron Paul. If the nightmare scenario of GOPer McCain and LPer Badnarik or Phillies occurs, Mainstream libertarians could choose to Vote Constitution Party. (There's also some talk on the Reform Party front of nominating Ventura.)
A caveat here. Everyone knows that the Constitution Party's ballot access situation sucks; much worse than the LP. But if top LP Petitioners around the country were to swing to the CP as a result of the LP nominating a Losertarian, we most certainly could get them on the ballot in at least 40 states, maybe even 45? (There are only a handful of top LP Petitioners who consistently get the Party on the ballot each election cycle, and fortunately to a Man they are all Mainstreamers and VERY UNLIKELY to work their asses off to get a George Phillies or a Michael Badnarik II on the ballot for 2008).
Whatever the scenario, the answer for Mainstream libertarians is clear; act early and act as one. Let's get organized, let's discuss and debate our strategy, and let's all agree to act together in 2008.
Those wishing to discuss a Mainstream libertarian stategy for 2008 are encouraged to join Yahoo Groups "Mainstream libertarians" organized from the former "Libertarians for Bush" for 2004.
Libertarian Republicans
Fiscally Conservative, Socially Tolerant & Pro-Defense!
Dondero is a US Navy Veteran, former Libertarian Party National Committeeman, fmr. Senior Aide to US Congressman Ron Paul R-TX, and Founder of the Republican Liberty Caucus. He is Editor of the Libertarian Republican Political Report, which covers insider news on mainstream libertarians running for political office. To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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