Dan Kilo

The libertarian party made a major departure from its core values by selecting Bob Barr as its presidential candidate yesterday (May, 25th, 2008). Barr is a former US attorney and republican congressman that was a very strong social conservative supporting policies such as the war on drugs and heterosexual-only marriage. Barr was the Anti-Drug Coordinator for the Department of Justice and he was a member of the Speaker’s Task Force for a Drug-Free America that sought to “win the War on Drugs by 2002″ with World War II like tactics.

It seems that throughout his 50s, Barr still can’t decide what he wants to be when he grows up. When he was 50, Barr got his anti-marijuana Barr Amendment passed. At age 51, the ACLU sued to overturn the Barr Amendment but he just tacked another Barr Amendment on to another bill that same year. This amendment preemptively blocked future attempts by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) to reform marijuana laws in DC using the initiative process—a 1st amendment right. At age 53, a federal judge struck down this portion of the Barr Amendment and Barr responded: “Clearly, the court today has ignored the constitutional right and responsibility of Congress to pass laws protecting citizens from dangerous and addictive narcotics, and the right of Congress to exert legislative control over the District of Columbia as the nation’s capital.” Still, at the age of 53, Barr makes the statement: “There is no legitimate use whatsoever for marijuana. This is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place in medicine, no place in pain relief. . . .” At age 55, Barr quits the Republican Party and endorses the presidential ticket of the Libertarian Party. At the age of 58, he began lobbying on behalf of MPP and then, at 59, he becomes a regional representative on the Libertarian National Committee, representing the Party’s Southeast Region and then takes the party’s presidential nomination at 59.

I know that the libertarian party is anxious to gain more notoriety and popularity but this guy’s recent history depicts a man that is not acting on principals but, rather, trying to jam some of his principals into some kind of a fucked up agenda that will allow him to maintain some kind of political power and possibly settle some kind of vendetta he may hold against the republican party.

I talked to several of the libertarian party delegates at the convention and it is apparent to me that there are a growing number of party members that believe that the party should cater to a more main-stream audience. I think this is a result of the fact that the libertarian party has never enjoyed widespread recognition or appeal. I believe these members are champing at the bit for any idea or act that will give the party more attention and, ultimately, more power. That is why I believe the party members chose this ex-CIA, Christian-fuck core social conservative republican as their presidential candidate. Big mistake.

There are many millions of pissed-off and alienated people in this country that have no place to turn for help. The libertarian party needs to cultivate those people as voters and not soccer moms and pissed-off republicans.

So now, what do we tell the 18 year-old, “daddy’s little girl,” whose father has been rotting in jail because of some fucked up policy that put him there for some non-violent, victimless “crime?” Until yesterday, we could all say “vote libertarian” and the libertarians would have had a life-long follower. No longer.

All I can say now is vote libertarian except for president and write-in Doug Stanhope for President (. . .more about why Stanhope didn’t run for President and why he would be good for the LP in a later article).

Republicans would never choose a convicted rapist run for president why would the libertarians choose republican that has been raping the criminal justice system for decades?

Let me put it this way, if a guy went on raping women for most of his life and then, claims to have reformed in the last five years, would you hire him to protect women’s rights? For the vast majority of his life Barr has been raping America and causing pain, poverty, and even death to Americans and their families. The guy should be jailed and not running for president.

Want to hear it another way still? This is like asking Hitler to be in charge of freeing the Jews after the war just because he can bring more German support to the cause.

The libertarian party needs to pull their heads—and Barr—out of their ass and get back to the hard work of converting members based on Jeffersonian ideals or they will quickly loose what small amount of power and influence they have.
5/31/08 Update

OK, after talking to a few people after I posted this, I guess that maybe I can understand the node for Barr. Slap me upside my face . . . this is really starting to make sense to me now. This guy, who has held powerful positions in the government in the past, comes along and says that he can bring tens of millions of voters to the party and we libertarians are supposed to believe that that this will strengthen the party. Yea! I’m getting it now. The libertarian party will be much stronger now than ever before. A much larger sector of the American public will now wake up to the message of libertarian philosophy than ever. Sign me up. I am now so sorry for my irreverent comments above now because I now see the light. I am enlightened! Thank you to all the 324 libertarian delegates that put Barr on the ticket. Nice job! Now we’ll be liked and people will care about us. Yea, I’m getting this.

NOT! Big fucking mainstream brain fart that last paragraph was.

Last time I checked, if a person relinquishes on their core values and beliefs to gain power and/or fame and/or recognition that is considered selling-out.
What did you 324 libertarian delegates get in the sale? Well, I can now tell all my republican friends—whom I have been trying to shift to the LP—that they now have an excellent presidential candidate to vote for now. They can get everything they have ever been looking for, a social conservative who will keep all of us dumb-fucks inline and a fiscal conservative that will let all of us dumb-fucks—that aren’t locked in a broom closet for stepping out of line—spend our money anyway we please—as long as it is not spent on weed, titty bars, or—god forbid—gay marriages. That’s a very nice package for all my conservative republican friends that I have been trying to recruit over to the LP for the last umpteen years.

What did you 324 so-called libertarian delegate-fucks pay for all this notoriety? Well, now all of my liberal, democrat friends get to say ‘I told you the LP was a radical, right wing, anti-social freedom party.” Now I have egg all over my face splattered there by you 324 sell-outs.

Until you 324 fucks sold out, the libertarian party was the common ground between the republicans and the democrats. It was easy real estate to sell. There was an easy argument to be made to the two majors (the Ds and the Rs) that the LP was the best option because it offered both fiscal conservatism and social liberalism—fiscal freedom along with social freedom—I keep the money I earn and I can by weed with it.

I saw all of you so-called Libertarian delegates on the floor last Saturday. You were all dressed up in our suits and ties, looking like the main-stream. Yearning for recognition you could not wait for the opportunity to demonstrate to the main-stream that the LP was a force. Nice job. You forced possible democrat switch-overs to reject the LP in whole.

You so called libertarians have stolen the word libertarian from the lexicon of people that consider—or might consider—themselves libertarian. My baseball cap that has LIBERTARIAN stamped on it has been shelved with my American flag. I want the word “libertarian” back. I demand it back. Either give-up the name by changing the party name to something like “the Mini-republican Social Conservative Party” or, all you 324 power hungry fucks, leave the party. You’re not welcome with we who call ourselves libertarian. And, just to be fair here while we are talking about lexicons, all you republican fucks—who really do not believe in a republic but, rather, a democracy—get the fuck out of the Republican Party. Join with the democrats who think policy should be made by sticking a finger in the air of public opinion. Oh, and now that we have gone this far, all you fucking so called democrats—who really don’t believe in democracy but think socialism is the guiding light—well. . . never mind. . . you are EXACTLY where you should be because democracy is socialism because 51% of the vote fucks the other 49% of the people and another vote of 51% on a specific issue, plus another vote of 51% on another specific issue, plus another vote of 51% on another specific issue, plus another vote of 51% on another specific issue, and so on, and so on, until very soon—after you have perfectly refined democracy—you have a TRUE DEMOCRACY where the PEOPLE make ALL the decisions. So I shall be so fucking bold as to call that SOCIALISM.

LP=Mini-Me (see: http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0002430/ )

BELOW: Anti-Barr Ballons at the Libertarian National Convention

BELOW: Mary Ruwart Supporter Ed Vallejo at the Libertarian National Convention

BELOW: Comedians Andy Andrist (left) and Doug Stanhope (middle) at the Libertarian National Convention

BELOW: Bob Barr at the Libertarian National Convention before Winning the Nomination

Check out more photos of the 2008 Libertarian National Convention here: www.Photo-Storm.com

See this entry on MySpace here: MySpace.com/DanKilo12

Note: The majority of the references to Barr in this article came from the Wikipedia article about him. Portions of this article are direct copies of that Wikipedia article. Please see the Wikipedia article on Bob Barr here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr