Okay, so you’re a conservative. John McCain is nominally a Republican, but he opposes virtually everything conservatives stand for. What are you going to do in November? Vote for Obama? Hold your nose and vote for McCain anyway? His best chance is if Hillary supporters get so mad at Obama that they throw their votes to McCain. That’s not an absurd notion, because all three are actually pretty close ideologically.
Along comes Bob Barr, former Republican senator from Georgia, now running as a Libertarian. Would you vote for him?
Conventional wisdom, if there is such a thing, says that he will siphon votes away from McCain. Given that McCain is unelectable, I don’t think it matters. There’s an article on Barr’s website from the Washington Times describing the response of Republican congresscritters — all generally negative:
Former Rep. Bob Barr says a number of Republicans have been trying to persuade him not to run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket, but none has given him a convincing reason.
The former Republican congressman from Georgia formed an exploratory committee last month and told The Washington Times he has since been subjected to the behind-the-scenes pressure from Republicans not to run.
Mr. Barr says even people who have tried to dissuade him understand why he thinks it important to raise issues from what he calls a “genuinely conservative” perspective and to offer alternatives to the positions of the two major-party candidates.
A vote for Barr is effectively a protest vote, and it should tell the Republican party that they need to field genuinely conservative candidates. When they do, good folks get elected and things change.
My real concern is the baggage that comes with the Libertarian party. Libertarians generally hold that self comes above all, and that no local, state or federal government has a right to direct your behavior. They support the ‘right to an abortion,’ homosexual rights, as well as elimination of criminal penalties for drug use and prostitution. That all sounds like standard liberal Democrat theology, but they also support gun ownership and smaller government.
There’s another interesting article on Barr’s site from the Village Voice questioning Barr’s Libertarian cred, given his support for the Defense of Marriage Act and his 100% rating from the Christian Coalition. Barr was also a member of the NRA Board of Directors. Barr’s response? Let the states decide, not the federal government. I can almost buy that, given that the majority of states have passed legislation banning homosexual marriage and opposing decriminalized drug use and prostitution.
My beef with Barr would be that if he has such a high conservative rating, why join forces with Libertarians who oppose your values? He’ll get grief from ‘real’ Libertarians who oppose his conservative views and from conservatives who oppose Libertarian anarchy. I think he would be a more viable candidate if he ran as an Independent.
May 14th, 2008 10:52 am
[...] party is hemorrhaging and is looking desperately for a clue. Bob Barr is looking more appealing by the day. Here are two related articles from Real Clear Politics [...]