On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 13:14:36 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Travis Pahl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in part: > > >> >> Wrong. If they have any brains, they look at those Libertarian votes > >> >> and > >> >> realize that there isn't a single thing they can do to get them. > > >> >If they put up Ron Paul or someone that voted like him, I would vote > >> >for the republican instead of the Libertarian. > > >> But there are very few yous and mes. > > >The whole point of this subthread is that IF there are more and more > >libertarian votes then it will influence republicans and democrats to > >nominate more libertarian candidates. > > But how are you going to get so many more libertarian votes? That's up to > the voters! The candidate doesn't get to pull the levers.
By working with the LP to convince more people to vote libertarian and not republican, democrat, or conservative. > >You counter the arguement by saying that they feel there is nothing > >they can do to get those votes so they will ignore and not adjust > >their policy/candidates. > > >I point out that there is something that they can do (run candidates > >who are more libertarian). > > Yes, they can do that. But they'd better not be TOO OBVIOUSLY libertarian, > or they'll lose support. So you are admitting that the more people that vote libertarian, the more the republicans will put up candidates that are more libertarian? > No, we need to get involved with determining who the major parties give us, > but to be realistic about the limits on the wiggle room they have in a > democracy. And i beleive it is much more effective to vote libertarian to get the major parties to swing that way than to try and work within the parties. Once you work within the party and promise them your vote, they ignore you to go get more authoritarian voters loyalty thus swinging away from where you are trying to get them to go. > > How will that change who they offer next time? Voting LP in > >signifigant numbers WILL change them. > > You mean, it WOULD change them, if LP candidates got signficant numbers. > But how many demonstrations do you need that that's not something to hold > your breath for? They have got signifigant numbers to win elections, it is possible and has happened hundreds of times. Why you ignore this is beyond me. > >Also what is so special about this area of texas that resulted in a > >libertarian being elected that is not present in the other 220+ > >republican congressional districts in the nation? > > Not MOST of them, but probably in very few. It's obviously a very > conservative voting district. So why would a very conservative disctrict vote for a man opposed to the drug war, opposed to the patriot act, opposed to gambling restrictions, etc...? > He still came close to losing a primary a > few years ago after many terms a Congressman. Mostly, he gets elected > because he's a Republican incumbent with lots of experience. The first > time he got elected to Congress (in the 1970s), he was probably the most > attractive candidate in the GOP for whatever reasons. I doubt that being > specifically libertarian had anything to do with his being nominated, but > being perceived as conservative must've helped. Being an > obstetrician-gynecologist opposed to abortions probably helped him raise > money in the wake of Roe v. Wade. Being a hard money advocate at a time of > high inflation might've helped raise money too. It'd be interesting to see > who his rivals for the nomination were. So you are basically saying it was a combination of a bunch of luck factors that got him elected as a republican. So why then should I vote republican if you are admiting that it is extremely unlikely that we will see another republican like Paul, when he is the only republican in congress i like? > In Your Sly Tribe, > Robert > _______________________________________________ > Libnw mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw > http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw > _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
