LPradicals co-censor Marc Montoni (aka Archimedes aka amcambassador) wrote there:
MM) Just about every one of those "Uses_Of_The_LP_Platform_To_Attack_The_LP" whines contains some grain of a position held -- and freely spoken about -- by Ron Paul. Meanwhile, a lot of the same folks who are so deathly afraid of being criticised by those who don't like us are now gung-ho supporting... Ron Paul. I wonder if any of our reformer spies would like to comment on that particular brand of hypocrisy. (MM Heh. My <http://marketliberal.org/PlatComWiki/Uses_Of_The_LP_Platform_To_Attack_The_ LP> list is an exhaustive catalog that includes school board races and other local audiences, so let's look at just the platform-based attacks that appeared in major media outlets, appended below. The first 12 include attacks on positions that Ron Paul does not defend, the next one is vague, and only the last 4 focus exclusively on positions that Paul advocates. If you go by circulation and prestige of these media outlets, the ratio is even more lop-sided. So no, I'm not being hypocritical by supporting Paul while criticizing the extremism of the pre-Portland Platform. Now let's look at the positions of Ron Paul that conflict with LP radicalism. I offered a list of ten Ron Paul heresies against LP radicalism at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lpradicals/message/1252. I can directly quote LP radicals criticizing either Paul, or the position Paul supports, for at least 8 of the 10 positions on my list -- many of those criticisms having been made on LPradicals itself. By contrast, reformers like me favor the LP Platform making room for 8 of the 10 positions on the list (all except 3 and 7 -- and some reformers even favor silence on 3). So yeah, as a former reformer "spy" on LPradicals I "would like to comment on that particular brand of hypocrisy". I say "former", because I was expelled from the group after Susan censored from LPradicals my offer to donate $100 to the Radical Caucus in exchange for it endorsing the No First Force <http://marketliberal.org/No1stForce.html> Pledge. Marc, you're a moderator at LPradicals, and you called me out there, so let's see if you have the guts to post the entirety of this message there, links and all. No? I didn't think so. Next time you want to lay down a gauntlet for me, man up and do it on a forum where I'm allowed to reply, instead of from behind Hogarth's skirt. (Feel free to join the LRC Y! group if you want to reply there.) _____ * 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. * 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. * 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. * Consider a Libertarian?; Get Serious. - "Police and armies that keep bad people at bay, and roads that make practical the freedom to travel, and education that makes people competent for life in a free society, these are not "opposed to individual liberty." [...] The Libertarians' extremism (they oppose laws setting minimum drinking ages, or banning concealed weapons, or restricting immigration, and so on) makes them unelectable." George Will, Washington Post, 1992-07-09. Also ran as: * * Libertarians? No, US Needs A Legitimate Fourth Choice. Chicago Sun-Times, 1992-07-09. * 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. * From The Prison Of One Idea. Rocky Mountain News, 1992-07-12. * "several citizen panelists agreed that they found the anti-government platform of his Libertarian party too extreme". Philadelphia Daily News, 1997-10-20. [Unlike the LP, Paul does not question the existence of government] * 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. * 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. * He says the request came from a group affiliated with the Libertarian Party, whose platform praises tax credits and charter schools as "interim measures" that will help kill the public schools." Minneapolis Star Tribune 2007-02-17 * ruling that Pappageorge's comments that the Libertarian Party supports legalizing drugs are protected under the First Amendment as political.." Detroit Free Press, 2003-07-31. * Indianapolis plays host to convention of party that shuns gun control, wants drugs legalized - "To mainstream voters, the Libertarian Party platform might seem extreme, even a little bit kooky. Libertarians want to legalize drugs, abolish handgun control and close down the U.S. Department of Education." The Indianapolis Star, 2002-07-06.
