^ Seems like you’re saying that everyone who’s not Left must be a different flavor of Republican.
There are differing versions of libertarians just as there are dems and republicans. The extreme libertarian view is anarchy. On the other end, there are moderate libertarians that understand the government does have some role to play (infrastructure is a good example) but should still be very limited in scale and the government should step aside when the job is done.
That’s the one (nearly) universal trait. Government is like scaffolding. You need it to help you build a house, but when the house is done you tear it down.
@BVG - Just like Democrats and Republicans, Libertarians are also allowed to be either extreme or moderate. Ayn Rand would be on the extreme side, while Gary Johnson would be on the moderate side.
(IMO - moderate = good. I don’t want an anarchist in the White House.)
edit - Sweep beat me to it, and talked gooder than I did, anyway.
^No doubt, but as geo alluded, true Libertarians only see black and white. I’ve read those that criticize Johnson for the NM debt increasing during his tenure without any regard to “why” there were increases. So I’m not disagreeing with you, just that there are nutjobs in all political parties. Johnson is a fiscal conservative and social liberal, and there are some current elected officials in the R or D parties with basically the same views. He identified as a Rep until not that long ago. But he’s not on the whacko end of the Rep spectrum.
I think having a third party in office could potentially be the best thing even if it is a pipe dream. Then the polarized Repubs and Dems in the house and senate could agree on something- which is pointing the blame at the president for everything that goes wrong. We need a Ron Swanson type of president who understands how inefficient the government is and vetoes the crap out of all the wasteful spending. Its time to simplify and downsize.
I mean, that’s just not true. I was a registered Libertarian for several years (now registered as an R so I can vote in the primaries) so I would certainly classify myself as a “true” libertarian (anarcho-capitalist to be precise). So is Turd, but he and I don’t necessarily agree on every single detail. It’s a bit naive to say any sufficiently large group of people all believe the exact same thing. Human nature just doesn’t allow for that.
Edited: Any party can point to the other party given the experience of the past 10 years and say that party only sees in black and white.
nope, understanding nuance is only within the domain of the enlightened left. conservative folks are cute in their clinging to traditions and superstitions but ultimately are lesser beings that are holding back true progress of the human race.
Perhaps that was a generalization, my apologies to you and Turd. But for everyone of you, there is a Ron Paul out there that helps justify my earlier comments. By way of example, Paul has said he will never vote for a budget deficit and will also never vote to raise taxes. This is not an uncommon Libertarian principle, but is also very unpractical. Gary Johnson’s record says he is much less stringent, which is a good thing IMO.
I may have misinterpreted your comment. Yes, there are certainly individuals in any faction that are unwilling to compromise. I thought you were saying all libertarians are this way, which is what I would take issue with.
Debate venues prepping for a third podium… Cruz/Romney/Bush endorsements potentially coming… CNN town hall ratings were good enough to prompt Fox to schedule one as well… major publications starting to pick up the story…
Getting interesting. He’s got my vote.
It would be interesting to see how GJ handled a Trump attack during a debate. Sometimes GJ’s a bit too mild mannered I think.
^ I agree. I think Weld would handle a character attack from the Donald better than GJ would. But who knows, maybe GJ has a hard ass side to him.
He’s one awkward dude on camera. Trump would bust him up over libertarian’s open borders policy and free trade. If Gary can articulate his stance correctly he should do fine, but Trump isn’t one to let anyone catch their breath.
Yeah, that worries me. GJ just struggles to get his point out strongly, I’m really feeling the Weld but the hash tags just aren’t as good.
I also hate that they repeat the out of your pocket book and out of your bedroom line so many times. I feel like in some cases they’re struggling to get off of the 101 intro to liberterian stances and into more advanced campaigning.
I agree but then I remember 97% of the voting public probably has no idea what libertarians are. Tough spot to be in, to have to introduce your platform and market yourself at the same time.
If libertarians had any money and a non-retarded director of marketing, they should be running ads simply stating what being libertarian means.
their meme’s on FB are awesome though. that’ll put them over the hump, right?
Libertarians are at an inherent disadvantage because there will never be a charismatic salesman type that rises to leadership. by definition it seems to draw in rational types, not the ‘slick willy’ types who can play jazz with your emotions.
so i was getting drinks with a BSD last night and he brings up that his kids (18 yo) are talking about GJ these days but he has no idea what the guy is all about…so glad i read this thread thanks fellas. we hit it off pretty good
In the same line of thinking…libertarians aren’t really selling fear, which is what adds that ‘excitement factor’ for people on both ends of the spectrum. Johnson is a guy holding a sign that says ‘lets be rational’…which doesn’t work well for short advertisements. ‘They took our jobs’ and ‘free college’ work much better.