Local Libertarians focus on direction - not destination

by James Simpson
Daily Journal
Thursday, December 11, 2003

I am a member of the Libertarian Party. In fact, I am a "lifetime" member. However, like many Libertarians from days gone by, I am concerned that the party is doomed to endless obscurity in the American political system.

This is not entirely due to the power that the Democrats and Republicans hold, as is believed by a number of pundits. It is, to some extent, unfortunately due to the Libertarian Party's national platform.

There is nothing wrong with espousing a utopian vision of how a free society should function. However, that should be left to the think tanks and institutes - not a political party interested in getting candidates elected.

The socialists finally figured this out. A hundred years ago, they had no possibility of getting their candidates in office. Now they virtually control the Democrats and the Republicans because someone finally understood the old parable about slowly boiling the frog.

All one has to do is look at the number of people who are registered to vote - but don't. These are likely disenfranchised voters who would go to the polls if only they felt there was a worthy individual on the ballot.

The Libertarian Party is made up of a lot of people who got so fed up with how the system is run that they were compelled to become politically active. And since neither of the two major parties have anything to do with the "small government" idea espoused by our founders, they ended up joining the LP.

Another segment of our members is fresh out of college. Their curiosity and idealism lead them to the LP, which they find as an alternative to the ever expanding control that the Democrats and Republicans desire over individuals.

Unfortunately, most of these folks come from the private sector, with little to no experience in the political arena. Without the political savvy built up from years of slithering through a messy combination of mud and crap, they don't have the skills necessary to compete with those who make a career out of politics.

Libertarians tend to believe, and rightly so, that political office shouldn't be a career but a civic duty. Sadly, this is not the reality today.

I have met a number of ex-Libertarians who are now Republicans. After being involved in the party for a few years (at most), many come to the conclusion that it is impossible to effect any change if no one gets elected to real positions of power.

What happens to Libertarian candidates when they run greatly depends on the threat they pose. If they don't present a real challenge, they are pretty much ignored by other campaigns and much of the media.

However, if they happen to be a viable and electable candidate, then the gloves come off. Every nasty trick in the book is used by big party opponents to discredit the Libertarian - even to the point of baseless accusations and fear mongering.

This tends to put such a foul taste in the mouth of many candidates, who would serve their electorate fairly and honestly if elected, that they never run again. So we end up with scum in office - and more disenfranchised voters.

And people still wonder why so few citizens turn out to vote.

Robert McBride, a recent Libertarian candidate for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, has a different belief. He thinks we should focus more on direction than destination. And many of us Libertarians agree.

When an opponent wants to shut down a Libertarian candidate, all they have to do is go to the LP national Web site and look up what "Issues & Positions" are listed, then pick and choose what they want to send out in negative advertisements.

Whether it's the opening of our borders, the complete privatization of Social Security, or the legalization of all drugs, the outcome is still the same.

Voters are scared into believing that once in office, a Libertarian would somehow be able to make all of those scenarios immediately occur.

The fact is, most Libertarian candidates only desire to make subtle changes back in the direction of protecting the smallest minority of all - the individual.

Once in office, many Libertarians would work to reduce increasing budgets by ensuring those who are responsible for harming others were held accountable, and they would fight to expose the back-room deals that are made to ensure everyone gets their fair share of pork to bring back home.

In this light, the Prince William affiliate of the Libertarian Party of Virginia will soon be voting to discontinue association with the platform of the National Libertarian Party in favor of a platform that focuses on more realistic "directions."

We hope to remove the "weapons" that are frequently used to attack our candidates by developing a more sensible, and less utopian, platform.

Paul Miller, the secretary of the Libertarian Party of Prince William County, has floated a simple and inclusive statement that dovetails with basic Libertarian philosophy: "We believe in small government that respects the rights of individual citizens."

This allows for the individual nature of a candidate's platform to be the focus of an election, not the utopian national platform.

Of course, we are also hoping that this sentiment starts to work its way though to other affiliates in Virginia, then throughout the nation. Otherwise, many of us who want to change the course of our nation will have (as others before us) no alternative then to leave the party.

James Simpson, president of The Virginia Committee of Correspondence, Inc., lives in Lake Ridge.