along with the litany of libertarian labels. There are no libertarian
Republicans, or hard right Libertarians, far-left Libertarians, paleo-
libertarians, or any such silly designation. Either one is a
Libertarian or they are not. There are Libertarians and everyone else.
There is no left/right dichotomy, either you are a Libertarian (and
100% correct and good) or you are not, there is no fuzzy gray area.
There are libertarians on one side, which is the side that is 100%
correct, and on the other side conservatives, liberals, moderates,
etc.- all of them incorrect. Whilst there may be a few amongst this
group that have some libertarian leanings, that doesn't make them
libertarian.
Anyone who switched or calls themselves a Republican, is not a
Libertarian. A true Libertarian upholds our values as sacrosanct, and
will not compromise for sake of convenience, expediency, or in order
to get elected. For once you compromise yourself in one area or
belief, you are able and likely to compromise further for sake of
expediency - betraying the values of Libertarianism, and can't be
trusted to uphold and promote those values.
--- In [email protected], Eric Dondero <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> **************************************************
> Libertarian Republican Political Report
> by Eric Dondero
> Special Editorial
> **************************************************
>
> 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]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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