Charles L. Cotton wrote:Purplehood wrote:You gets what you votes for.
So very true!
Chas.
Quoting the OP:
Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom: US ranked #17, behind Canada, Australia, and the UK
Anyone who believes that Canadians, Australians, and Brits have more individual liberties than an American citizen has poached his brain. They lack in many respects that most fundamental of all human rights: that of self-defense. The right to access unlimited porn in the internet doesn't mean much if you're dead (or in jail) because you had the audacity to hope that you might protect yourself, and then acted on that hope.
Cedar Park Dad wrote:Purplehood wrote:You gets what you votes for.
Not me. I didn't vote for any of them.
....as discovered the libertarian voters of Virginia, who were duped into supporting a candidate whose libertarian credentials are suspect, and who was well-funded by Obama's biggest campaign contribution bundler. . . . .because they could not bring themselves to vote for the republican candidate.
In that particular election, McAuliffe (the carpetbagger) beat Cuccinelli by 2.5 points (48%/45.5%), while the democrat financed libertarian candidate got 6.6% of the vote (
SOURCE). It goes without saying that if they had thrown their votes behind Cuccinelli, he wins by 52.1% to McAuliffe's 48% . . . . or, a fairly convincing win.
Look, I am a libertarian leaning independent myself, so I am sympathetic to a lot of the libertarian party's platform; but I can't help but recognize that there is a certain naiveté on the part of large numbers of libertarian voters who refuse to accept that their votes actually help to elect democrats. The thing is, there is a growing libertarian movement within the republican party. If libertarians (and libertarian-leaning independents like me) were to get involved in the republican party again, it might accomplish two things: 1) accelerate the shift of the party in that direction, and 2) increase the overall republican vote to the point where they could handily defeat democrat challengers.
That said, I personally feel burned by the republican party, and destructive old dinosaurs like Sen. Mitch McConnell are doing nothing to win me back into the fold. But if I see the libertarian movement within the party keep gaining traction to the point that it can dictate terms to the party leadership, I could rejoin.
For the party to advance, it has to always stand first for human liberty, ahead of all other values. What that looks like, I'm not wise enough to know all the answers. All I know is that the opposite has not served the cause of conservatism very well in the long run. Even Ronaldus Maximus knew what fights to pick, and when to pick them. He wasn't just
lucky, he was really smart. . . . .a trait lacking in the party today, on both sides of the intra-party divide.
Purplehood said "You gets what you votes for." Obama rephrased it when he said, "Elections have consequences."
Vote accordingly.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
