The RLC hs never gotten a single person elected to office, libertarian or otherwise; not one. Also, the Republican party has no libertarians in it and that includes Ron Paul.
The Libertarian Party on the other hand has gotten over 600 libertarians elected. --- In [email protected], "Eric Dondero Rittberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Outstanding question Matt. And welcome to our Forum. > > Here's my thoughts on the matter. > > I think there was a groundswell of support for libertarian ideals in > the late 1970s and early 1980s. This all culminated in the highly > successful Ed Clark, Libertarian for President Campaign in 1980 (and > to a lesser extent Ron Paul's LP Presidential Campaign in 1988). It > also resulted in 3 Libertarians being elected to the Alaska > Legislature, and scores of Libertarians winning nationwide for local > offices. > > Since then. the Libertarian Party has experienced a serious decline > in electoral victories and Presidential vote totals. > > In 1990, Libertarian Party members started joining the GOP, and > formed the Republican Liberty Caucus. > > Since then, virtually all of the major libertarian electoral > victories have been a result of the RLC, not the LP. > > The LP's decline has seriously hurt the Liberty Movement. I don't > see a "libertarian groundswell" out there any more like there was in > the '80s. > > The RLC has been only partially successful. It has succeeded in > getting libertarians elected to office in a spotty fashion; 1 guy in > Maine, another guy in Alaska, 2 guys down in Texas, 2 guys in > Colorado, and so on. > > The RLC has not succeeded in electing enough libertarians to make a > difference. It's more like "Oh ya, that odd libertarian guy we have > in our GOP Caucus here in the 'Pick-your-State' Legislature..." > > Unless libertarians of all stripes get super-serious about politics > and trade in the on-line blogging and LP supper club monthly > meetings for precinct walking, sign waving, phone banks, and > fundraising for RLC-backed candidates, we are never going to succeed. > > The entire libertarian movement, both LP and RLC, needs to transform > itself into a libertarian version of the Club for Growth. > > I invite you to check out my web site which advocates this approach: > > www.mainstreamlibertarian.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "matthew_reider" > <matthew_reider@> wrote: > > > > Full disclosure: I am neither a libertarian nor a fan of > unregulated > > capitalism. But I am earnest in trying to figure out where > > Libertarians stand - and I am not here to pick a fight. > > > > It seems like the Libertarian argument has gained some strength in > the > > last decade or more. This correlates to the strength of the fiscal > > conservative viewpoint and republican success over Democrats in > > representative government. > > > > It is my belief that these trends have much to do with one another > and > > that Republicans have done a good job of co-opting the Libertarian > > agenda while not following that agenda whatsoever. Reagan was the > > first in a line of contemporary republicans who appealed to the > > public's sense of paranoia about "big government" and started what > > became a twenty-five year republican mission to dismantle many of > the > > federally funded social programs established by Reagan's > predecessors. > > > > My question to the group looks something like this: Do you > generally > > agree that Libertarian ideology has helped to elect people like > George > > W. Bush to the white house and, if so, do you find this troubling? > > > > Thanks for considering my question! > > > > Cheers, > > > > Matt > > > 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/
