Last year Chuck Moulton asked LRC members to document instances in which the LP Platform was used against the LP. Are there any results to be shared from that appeal? This evening I started searching for such instances and documenting them at <http://www.lpedia.org/index.php/Uses_Of_Platform_To_Attack_LP> http://www.lpedia.org/index.php/Uses_Of_Platform_To_Attack_LP , which I snapshot below. Anybody can edit at LPedia, so please pitch in and add to the list. (We also should mine quotes from the top 30 liberty-oriented <http://blog.360.yahoo.com/knowinghumans&p=368> blogs , at least 25 of which ignore or disdain the LP for being too extremist.)
_____ This page documents instances in which the LP Platform was used in front of significantly-sized audiences to attack or embarrass the LP as too extreme. Many of these items were found by searching Google News Archives [1] <http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=> (http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=). * "A few days before the election a local paper did an article on the race, in which I was characterized as being "too radical for the residents of Clarion County". The article did not mention the LP platform, but when I talked to the reporter to ask why he would write that, his response was that he had done some research and looked at the LP website, and the platform was a big factor." Mik Robertson, LP Pennsylvania. 2006-08-05 [2] <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPplatform-discuss/message/1752> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPplatform-discuss/message/1752) * "Non-Libertarian candidates in my county have used quotes from the LP platform against Libertarian candidates and Non-Libertarians candidates who accept contributions from known Libertarians." Jack Tanner, LP Florida. 2006-08-04 [3] <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPplatform-discuss/message/1749> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LPplatform-discuss/message/1749) * "During the past election, Redwood City Councilmember, Jim Hartnett, sent a hit piece opposing Libertarian candidates for school boards, and supporting the College and Sequoia H.S. bond measures." Jack Hickey, LP San Mateo County, California. 2001-11-13. Scan of mailing at archive.org [4] <http://tinyurl.com/2m95vv> (http://tinyurl.com/2m95vv), which quotes the Platform regarding "drugs" and "sexually explicit materials". * Two Political Parties Plenty, Thanks - "The Libertarian platform is a prescription for anarchy." Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2000-07-14. * Libertarians score victory by securing place on 2000 ballot - "Some espouse extreme views Like the cessation of all taxation, public education and government regulation." Dallas Morning News, 1998-11-08. * "several citizen panelists agreed that they found the anti-government platform of his Libertarian party too extreme". Philadelphia Daily News, 1997-10-20. * Is "Libertarian politics" an oxymoron? - "to these mainstream issues the Libertarian Party platform adds such problematic esoterica as jury nullification, a reliance solely on tort law and 'strict liability' to govern pollution, and the right of individual political secession. When libertarianism is presented as an all-or-nothing bargain, interested voters are more likely to leave the whole package on the table." Reason, 1996-07-01. [5] <http://reason.com/news/printer/29963.html> (http://reason.com/news/printer/29963.html) * Libertarian Candidates Wants To Do Away With Much Of Government - "other parts of the Libertarian platform call for eliminating most government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service. ..." St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1994-08-14. * The Other Party In The Presidential Race - "The Libertarian platform calls for the abolition of child labor laws (they inhibit the freedom of children), of income taxes, highway speed ..." Miami Herald, 1992-10-25. * Essay - The Fourth Man. "[...] a little extreme? you ain't heard nothin' yet on civil liberty: decriminalize drugs and prostitution, forget gun control or abortion limitation, eliminate federal agencies, settle environmental clashes in court, permit open immigration [...] if taken literally, the Libertarian platform is so far out of the mainstream as to be high and dry [...]" New York Times, 1992-10-22. * Libertarians are a laugh by Don Fedder - "About mid-September, when we're bored to tears by presidential politics, we can always look to the Libertarian Party for comic relief. [...] the Libertarian Party platform takes liberal-rights mania to its absurdly logical conclusion. Libertarians will brook no interference with what they designate as human rights, regardless of the suffering or chaos resulting therefrom [...] " San Antonio Express-News, 1992-09-22. * Libertarians? No, US Needs A Legitimate Fourth Choice - "Standing against things is the Libertarian Party's specialty. Its platform calls for government to cease and desist from almost everything except the repealing of laws (Social Security, the Post Office, you name it) ..." Chicago Sun-Times, 1992-07-09. Also ran in: * Consider a Libertarian?; Get Serious. Washington Post, 1992-07-09. * Libertarians Stew On Fringe. San Jose Mercury News, 1992-07-09. * "Extreme Views Doom Libertarian Nominees. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1992-07-13.
