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John Wingspread Howell  ___________________________________________________________ We Say Republicrats for a Reason
Reflections on the Last Election:
Not a Dime's Worth of Difference
The Opportunity is There
Barack had me in tears. Goosebumps too. It was a historic moment. It made me proud to be an American. No sarcasm. I agreed with a lot of what he said about foreign policy and John McCain. Most of what he said was so last-century Nanny State I would have normally needed to regurgitate, but he pulled it off. Hit it out of the park. It's history. I'm glad I'm alive to see it. And I thought that would be it for this kind of excitement for a while. Then McCain played his own card. I found myself falling in love with Sarah Palin. Any Libertarian has to love a woman who said no to pork she was being spoonfed, who took on the Good Old Alaska Boys and won, who is a lifetime NRA member, and who gave back extra state revenue. And I found myself-- not crying this time, but at least getting goosebumps. History again. More cracks in the glass ceiling. You have to love it. my related article at Nolan Chart Ok, but the truth hasn't changed. It's great to witness history being made in demographic terms but what about history in policy. What about reversing the trend of recent history and the rush to abandon the Constitution? The bottom line is, when you get beyond the spectacle, Republicrats hold their conventions (one down, one to go) look for common themes. There is a difference in tone, degree, and detail in their platforms, but generally both are the same:
- Big Government is the solution to all problems (Republicans don't want it quite as big).
- Taxation is necessary to fund government (they disagree on who should pay more taxes and who should get the breaks, but that's the only real difference).
- Regulation is necessary to protect us from ourselves (Aside from gun rights, Republicans want to regulate your personal life, the Dems want to regulate everything but).
- Military might is essential for national security. (The Dems would keep us in Afghanistan while the Republicans would stay in Iraq and move into Iran.)
- Both essentially agree on just about everything else from the "War" on Drugs to government monopolies on infrastructure, punishing criminals at taxpayers expense rather than restitution for victims of crime, and..., and..., and....
...which is why this weblication calls them Republicrats. There's not more than a dime's worth of difference between them. Meanwhile, we Libertarians are missing out on a golden opportunity to distinguish ourselves as the alternative.
We continue to think and act as a tiny third party. There wasn't a single delegate in Denver who believed that the Libertarian candidate for President had a chance of winning, regardless of who we nominated. It could be argued that this is simply being realistic, but the problem is, we don't seem to be able to imagine ourselves ever being more than that, and our results bear that out.
It's too late for this election, but could we please get serious right now, lets not even wait until the election is over. For us, it's already over. Lets hope we get the five percent. But it's over. It's time those who choose to claim leadership in the Libertarian Party start working on a victory strategy from the top of the ticket to the bottom of the ticket. Because we can win! Yes, I've been taking my medication on schedule. And Yes We Can--- Win! Look at the alternataives, the competition. Political parties are like baseball parks, you know. If we build it, they will come.
So why haven't we done a better job of publicizing who we are and what we stand for and trying to win before now? I have a few ideas about that. Check out my column at The Nolan Chart.
-jwh-
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