The Little Brown Reader

Selzer to Libertarians: Support Your Candidates

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SUPPORT YOUR CANDIDATES
by Mark Selzer

Libertarians sometimes get impatient and support some candidate from another party that sounds a little Libertarian on some issue or another. This is because they do not see Libertarians taking over the political world yet and they feel this person may be a good compromise. Well before you do that remember that if it was not for uncompromising Libertarians being on the ballot those politicians probably would not even be aware of our ideas. Uncompromising Libertarians on the ballot taking up a percentage of the vote have kept those ideas alive and influencing the politicians in the old and the new parties.

Also, why would someone run as a Libertarian taking up their valuable time and money if they can not count on your support and your vote? How will we attract capable and/or wealthy and attractive candidates to carry the Libertarian torch if you are not going to give them your vote and your loyalty?

So next time you are tempted to vote for the lesser of two evils rather than the Libertarian just remember the lesion of the last presidential election. So many people who wanted smaller government decided to vote for GW Bush because he said he wanted to cut taxes. But now just like all the times before Republicans have said that, once he got into office he raised taxes through the roof while saying he is lowering them. Not only has GW doubled and quadrupled social spending in the U.S. he has also put almost everyone in Afghanistan and Iraq on welfare too. Instead of fighting terrorists he has decided to put them all on welfare, food stamps and subsidized medical care as well as giving them a cushy government job. 2 out of every 10 people in Iraq will be getting a well paying government job on the backs of U.S. taxpayers. Thanks to GW and his fellow comrades in the Republican Party Iraq will soon be a worker's paradise. GW has added about $5000 per year per person to the tax bill of every American for the next 10 years. So don't get fooled again, vote Libertarian 110% of the time.

I have seen some Libertarians get impatient on social issues and think that some other party may make more progress on civil rights and point out that more Democrats voted to end the Federal prosecution of medical marijuana cases than Republicans. Or because more Democrats are against the war. Well do you think they would be as strongly with us on those issues or others if we were not keeping it alive and keeping the pressure on them by being on the ballot for 30 years pushing our point of view? I think not.

I have also seen Libertarians join some other flash in the pan third party because they think that they have a better chance than us of bringing about change. Well Libertarians have seen many third parties come and go in the 30 years and we will still be here to bury the next one.

So next time you see a Libertarian candidate at a supper club or a convention thank them for carrying the torch for you and better yet, volunteer to help their campaign or donate to it. All they get for their efforts is your support and appreciation, so lets give it to them.

By voting Libertarian you amplify your vote by a hundred times. Let us say you joined the Democrats to turn them around on the drug war and civil rights or the Republicans to make them really become the small government party. This would be futile because you will never get to the 60 or 70 percent mark it would take to turn those parties around. You will just be de-clawed and de-fanged and help to add your support, numbers and votes to the people who are in control of those parties who are raising taxes and taking away your civil rights. But as a Libertarian you can through a big government politician out of office with only one or two percent of the vote.

The Republican and Democratic parties are like ships sinking in a mire of big government bureaucracy and by getting aboard you are just adding your weight and helping them sink faster, no matter what your intentions are when you decided to join. Your voice, even though it may be the opposite of the people in charge of that party, will just be used to shovel more coal on the fire to help them go faster down the track towards an ever bigger left or right wing big brother. Only outside those parties will you be able to derail that train.

So lets keep our eyes on the prize and understand that we are a minority opinion and we will not get that opinion heard by adding our voice to someone that disagrees with us, in whole or in part, and who is part of the big government machine.

Mark Selzer
Southern Vice Chair
California Libertarian Party