Open Letter to Libertarians Regarding the Nomination of Bob Barr

While I don't believe Libertarians are particularly gullible, we do tend to enjoy winning converts.  When a high profile individual, such as a former Representative in Congress converts — or at least claims to have converted — we want to shout it from rooftops.  We want to believe that these high profile (alleged) converts will strengthen the LP.  We want to believe it so badly that it's easy to see them the way we want to see them, rather than the way they actually are.

On Sunday, May 25th 2008, the delegates to the Libertarian Party National Convention made a serious mistake.  They chose a man with a long-standing fascist history to be our presidential candidate.  This is already causing a great deal of turbulence within the Party.

I have read blog posts and comments sent to and shared by other presidential hopefuls offering / threatening / promising to quit the LP over Barr's nomination.  While this may be tempting in the short term, our long term goal of bringing about liberty requires a strong Libertarian Party.

I'm not a mind reader and I don't claim to be, but I have a few hypotheses about Herr Barr's candidacy:

Hypothesis 1: The tiger has completely rewritten his stripes.

Several Libertarians have told me that Barr has really changed; that he has in fact renounced the Patriot Act, the Communications Decency Act, the Drug War, foreign interventionism, the Defense of Marriage Act, discrimination against religious minorities, etc., etc., etc.  All of this in just a few short years.

There's a problem with this hypothesis.  If it's true that a man of his age can change so radically in such a short period of time, then what assurance do we have that he won't change back just as quickly?  If he does go back to acting like a fascist, will there be any true Libertarians left in the party to stop him?

This hypothesis can also be debunked by Barr's own campaign website.  This article has mysteriously disappeared from his site, but not from the Google Cache, the American Conservative Union, or News Bull.

Hypothesis 2: The Libertarian Party helped show him the door in 2002 and he wants revenge.

All members of Congress, in both houses, receive free — I mean taxpayer-funded — health care and six-figure pensions for life — and all they have to do is serve a single term.  Barr is set for life financially.  He has no use for us.

Furthermore, he knew that his nomination would cause a fracture in the LP.  He knew he could severely wound the LP by causing such a fracture and he was right.  If / when Libertarians start mailing their membership cards back to the LNC, the terrorists — I mean Barr — has already won.

Hypothesis 3: Conservatives are disillusioned with the Republican Party and Barr is positioning himself for 2012.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  Conservatives don't like John McCain.  Some have even promised to support a Democrat, just so Republicans in Congress will feel free to challenge the equally liberal policies instead of blindly going along with them out of partisanship.

If Barr receives enough votes from conservatives to flip the election to the Democratic candidate, he will become a huge blip on their radar.  They will drop to one knee and beg him to run as a Republican in '12.

Summary

I will not support Barr, but I will also not quit the LP.  We need a strong LP going forward to continue to fight for liberty and that requires members.  The nomination of Barr is a serious wound, but it will afford me the opportunity to take a break from politics to focus on personal pursuits.

Here's hoping either George Phillies or Christine Smith will return in 2012.  In the mean time, I hereby endorse NOTA.

Best regards,
Max Kessler

"Read much, but not too many books."
— Ben Franklin

Copyright ©2008 by Max Kessler
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.