Vote Bob Barr for President. Bob Barr is the 2008 Libertarian nominee for President of the United States. Previously, he represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, serving as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Barr works tirelessly to help preserve our fundamental right to privacy and our other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
That's all nice and good but the fact is that he will not even garner enough votes to even be noticed. The powers that be have decided that Obama and McCain are the two candidates and one will be president. You can vote for him sure, but its pointless, you might as well stay home.
^The people decided. You can bitch about how they decided, or how their decisions were unfairly manipulated, or whatever, but the people decided. Unless you believe in some conspiracies, which is a whole different matter. Vote Barr as long as you don't vote McCain.
If you ask me, you might as well stay home if you are going to be voting for one of the two major parties. The two parties are basically the same, and regardless of which party is in power, things don’t improve. "Strategic voting" or voting against what you view as the most evil is still voting for evil and is really what (trying not to sound cliche here) the two parties want. They have, by picking the right issues, managed to completely polarize the American public into two camps, split almost evenly 50/50. Further, they’ve set the tone of American politics as one of constant argument. Far too much attention is spent criticizing the other camp, and not enough on presenting new, positive ideas. It’s a divide and conquer strategy. It's evident that regardless of who you vote for, we will end up with a bad president for the next four years. And it's true that a 3rd party candidate wont win, but if enough people "throw their vote away" by voting Libertarian, the two major parties will see that this message actually appeals to a decently large percentage of voters (3% is enough to sway an election) and it might possibly be progress towards those rapscallion Republicans getting their shit together. About Bob Barr... If you look at his voting record while he was in the house, he was certainly no libertarian. He was a strong supporter of the War on Drugs, voted for The Patriot Act, Iraq War.. Yes he has done a complete 180 since he left (working with Marijuana Policy Project, ACLU, etc) and in my book I like to see that open mindedness in a president, but he is no where near a perfect candidate. Leagues ahead of Obama and McCain though.. so I'll probably end up voting for him.
Relax, i was generalizing, yes the people picked from the choices given them. Tray Dub is right tho, vote Barr, anyone but Obama.
yeah the people decided.. until McCain wins, then you will blame the voting machines like the last two elections.
Sorry, I didn't mean to argue semantics, I just see the radical opinions of "we have no say" and whatnot, and it sounded like you were saying that. Do you really have any idea of what you're talking about (in regards to Florida '00)? I don't mean to insult your intelligence, it just amazes me that people who have looked into Florida 2000 deeply can pass off the anger about it the way you just did. So I'm inclined to assume you're talking out your ass, because the conclusion you seem to be drawing is either a pretty ignorant one or a pretty shocking one, in my mind.
you brought up conspiracies.. i was just pointing out Florida 2000 is all. People always cry conspiracy when things don't go their way. The people of Florida decided, yet there were some who claimed the election was rigged. If Gore won Florida no democrats would have asked for any recounts.
No I know what you were pointing out, I was just wondering how informed you think you are. I am one of those people who think Florida (and consequently, the national) election was stolen. In fact, in my mind, it's pretty obvious. So, like I said, I was just wondering how you came to your conclusion, if you actually read up on what happened (be honest), or if you just are reciting your party's line. Again, sorry if this comes across as implying you're stupid or whatever, I don't mean to be insulting.
i consider myself fairly well informed. I think it's pretty obvious that the media favors certain candidates which helps swing elections, you think it's pretty obvious that the 2000 election was "stolen". Both have 0 evidence to back the claims up, but we know it to be the case. That's all i'm trying to say man... you mentioned in another post about how the media bias is a conspiracy, i was just trying to point out the 2000 election being one as well. I have read up and voted for Gore in that election, and the claims are valid for sure.. but it's still a conspiracy till someone proves otherwise. Your not being insulting at all.. if i was worried about being insulted, i wouldn't be posting in this section of the boards.
I could give you some evidence on Florida if you'd like. And if I said media bias is a conspiracy, I take it back. I think absolute democratic bias in the media is made up, although not a conspiracy. There's bias everywhere. You just have to sift through it and make your opinions as best you can.
Here's my biggest problem with Bob Barr - regardless of where he stands on the issues, and besides the fact that voting third party will still ultimately be helping to elect a Democrat or Republican.... He has no proven experience whatsoever as a Libertarian. You mentioned that he was a member of congress for 8 years, but you failed to mention that he was a Republican and basically the epitome of neo-con. He completely changed his political ideologies just a few years ago when he decided to leave the party. Until then, his voting record shows that he had the completely opposite opinion about the War on Drugs, the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, same sex-marriage, and the list goes on. There's not a single issue he's been consistent on throughout his political career. He's the ultimate flip-flopper, and I would never trust him with the presidency.
I suppose the question you've got to ask yourself is: What's more likely; a "neo-con" becoming disenchanted with the GOP or the GOP winning the Libertarian nomination with a "neo-con?" Given the times, I'm going with the former. During most of Barr's time in Congress, Clinton was in the White House so it wasn't as obvious that the modern GOP are "liberals in disguise." Sure, he has done some "not-so-libertarian" things while in Congress, but you've got to remember two things: he's human, and a representative. Congressman and Senators can get smoke blown up their asses just like the public can. It's very easy to not know the truth about prohibition and support it, especially when you've got countless government officials telling you it's bad. As a represantative, he has to do what his district elected him for; he was elected by "neo-cons" to be a "neo-con." All the issues he's "flip-flopped" on he had to support while in Congress. Now he has abondoned the GOP and has Libertarian views. He has apologized for his mistakes as a "neo-con," and appears to be a genuine libertarian. If we can't trust him on his word now that he's cut all ties to the GOP, how could we trust any other politician? Besides, Ron Paul says he's good people, so that's good enough for me. And he wants to repeal the 16th Amendment, that's enough to excuse any discrepancies of the past. Atanyrate, he's already been punished enough for his GOP days; he had to eat Borat's wife's breast cheese.
Regardless of the fact that he had to represent his district, he still chose to run as a pretty extreme neo-conservative, and had a reputation as one until the very end of his last term. He could have run and served as a libertarian, independent, or even moved to another state where the conservatives are a lot more moderate... I suppose I can respect the fact that he has realized how screwed up his former beliefs were and renounced them. It's certainly a step above those who are still more or less in line with the policies of the Bush administration. But it doesn't mean he's ready to be president yet. I just can't trust someone with a blank slate, and the only record he has as an elected official is working for the other side. His former policies are what have put our nation in such a decline lately. You can never completely trust a politician, but it's common sense that someone who has had some amount of experience as a relatively consistent member of congress is more likely to stick to his word and do what the people elected him to do. People say Obama has no experience, but in my opinion Barr has even less.
I have been a long time supporter of the Libertarian party. I've donated money to the party, and have even done some volunteer work for them. I vote Libertarian (or with the Marijuana Law Party) whenever there is the option. But... I can. not. vote for Bob Barr. He scares me. Nothing about his voting history in congress tells me that he is a Libertarian. I think he failed at his presidential attempts within his own party, so he went looking for another. The best I can hope for is that his running will have a "Nader effect" and take away votes from McCain.