Right Libertarianism Wins The Day
Posted on May 26, 2008 at 12:39 amFormer GOP Congressman Bob Barr has won the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President. From his hometown paper:
It took six ballots and nearly five hours of voting at the Libertarian National Convention before the former four-term congressman defeated Texas business consultant Mary Ruwart for the party’s bid.
Barr, who until 2006 was a Republican, took 54 percent of the vote after Las Vegas odds-maker Wayne Allyn Root dropped out following the fifth ballot and endorsed Barr. Delegates subsequently selected Root to be Barr’s running mate.
“Y’all party today,” Barr told the more than 600 delegates at the Sheraton Hotel. “I hope we celebrate, because I’m sure we’ll all leave here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party.”
Barr’s name recognition and his history as a conventional conservative Republican will put him in a strong position to play spoiler in this year’s election.
Most interesting about Libertarian politics, however, is the parallel political spectrum it holds within its confines. Just as there is a mainstream political spectrum of left, right and center, so too are there similar divides among leftists, centrists and rightists in the Libertarian universe.
The contrasts between the right wing libertarians of Bob Barr and the left wing libertarianism of Steve Kubby and Mike Gravel are just as distinct (if not more so) than those between mainstream politicians.
It seems ironic that a true independent voter with libertarian leanings, leanings many independent voters possess, would find it just as hard placing themselves on the libertarian spectrum as they likely do a more traditional spectrum.
SEE ALSO:
Joe Lance
Barr’s Victory Speech
Brendan Loy
The Libertarian Party Of Tennessee
Jonathan Wright (II)
Bear Creek Ledger
Sadcox
Sharon Cobb
The Other McCain
Jesse Walker
David Weigel (II)
Anthony Gregory
Daniel Larison
Comments
One Responses to “Right Libertarianism Wins The Day”
[...] Martin is skeptical about Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr’s ability to catch fire without the help of Ron Paul: And in my conversation with Paul last month, he showed [...]