Fixed it for you :)

*I will take 20 minutes out of my life to cast a virtually meaningless vote, but that’s simply because I don’t mind making small sacrifices for principle. I don’t kid myself about its effect.

He formally pulled the plug today. He’s not in the race. So it is pointless to vote for him. And it is utter stupidity for the Paulestinians to claim that that voting for Barr is more futile than voting for Paul.

But then you know what I think about the Paulestinians’ grasp on reality…most of them are just a bunch of cultists looking for a master. Sort of like the idiots chasing Graham Chapman in “Life of Brian”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqq3e03EBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krb2OdQksMc&feature=related

My entire point here is that in a democratic political system, the system is working exactly as expected.

I’d like to refer you to a favorite Twain quote of mine.

“The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won’t sit upon a cold stove lid, either.”

Obviously, a two-party constitutional republic doesn’t last for very long. I’m not convinced, yet, that a three-plus-party constitutional republic wouldn’t work.

So you can quit making ridiculous statements about how Barr is more of a longshot than Paul because Paul’s not even in the race.

Oh, i don’t know. I’d say they’re about neck and neck at this point. :-)

If that’s your opinion, write in Ron Paul for President (since he’s not going to be on the ballot). You probably have less of a chance of it ever being counted than a vote for Barr.

But if you consider writing in Ron Paul to be less of a “pathetic protest vote” than voting third party, you might want to up the dose on your meds, man.

Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is over. It’s done. It’s a waste of time to continue discussing it. So you can quit making ridiculous statements about how Barr is more of a longshot than Paul because Paul’s not even in the race.

Such is the degree of corruption we are dealing with.

I work in the computer industry. We see “corruption” as what happens when information gets screwed up because of a breakdown– things working in ways they’re not designed to.

My entire point here is that in a democratic political system, the system is working exactly as expected. Does that mean that we’re seeing what a computer guy would call “garbage-in, garbage out”? Exactly!

We’re not seeing the system fail. We’re seeing the bad results of a flawed system working as expected.

To be fair, I left out the third option, which you espoused. Mainly, that since the LP won’t win, they might at least try to put together a coherent enough platform to attract people to liberty in the general sense, without allowing the crazier elements in the movement to scare people away.

Perhaps a better option would have been his position on the defense of marriage act, which is a very pro-”states rights” position. States rights, as I pointed out here, often is a mealy-mouthed way to suggest “hey, if those crazy Californians want to let the gays get married, so be it, but we god-fearing folks in Georgia won’t have it.” It can be interpreted in wildly different manners in different places, and it allows Barr to pander to gay rights groups while also not forcing him to say that the government shouldn’t be discriminating against gay people. He’s saying, instead, that the federal government shouldn’t be the one doing the discrimination, but that individual states should be free to interfere.

He’s said enough to make people feel warm and fuzzy, but he hasn’t really said much at all.

Personally, I don’t think our democracy can be restored through the political process. Such is the degree of corruption we are dealing with. Revolution, though perhaps many years away, is inevitable.

And it worked! In the comments to my post, I saw different readers interpret his response through their own ideological spectrum.

I didn’t read the other comments, but as for mine, I didn’t interpret his response all.

I think the single best thing libertarians can do these days is spread the message that we have different ideas and they’re not far-fetched. We’re not going to get anywhere until we at least build up that much credibility.

Barr’s statement succeeded on that point, so I was happy. I don’t care one bit whether or not he would actually govern under libertarian principles because he can’t possibly win as a third party candidate.