RE: WikiLeaks publishes searchable database of almost 20,000 emails from DNC.
July 27, 2016 at 1:12 pm
CapnAwesome Wrote:Tiberius Wrote:Well part of Gary Johnson's 2012 campaign was trying to get to the magic 5% number so they could secure funding. Here's an article discussing one of their adverts: http://ivn.us/2012/11/01/why-5-matters-to-gary-johnson/
Whilst it goes against Libertarian principles, I would expect the Libertarians would accept the money just so they have a fighting chance in an otherwise unfair race.
Meh. 10 million dollars in public funding isn't going to make a difference for the libertarians. They don't have a money shortage anyway, they raise lots of money. Ron Paul raised more money then almost all the other Republican candidates. Their problem is that there ideas are unpopular. Third parties only win in America if they are replacing one of the main parties. That's because of the winner takes all system. It's happened only a small handful of times in American history. Although I'm voting for Gary Johnson (He's anti-war, ceo of a marijuana company, a rock climber and I like the phrase 'Feel the Johnson') Libertarians don't win because their ideas are unpopular and out of the mainstream. If the conservative vote was split between Republicans and Libertarians, it would just mean the Democrats win every election.
Since someone like Gary Johnson knows that, he has to operate under the myth that there is some hidden libertarian majority, or that people are libertarians and just don't know it. Neither of those statements are backed up by anything other then fantasy. Sort of like a lot of Libertarian economic ideas.
He's not completely wrong about a hidden libertarian portion of the electorate. One of the problems the Libertarians have is that Libertarians have staked out some fairly extreme positions that aren't attractive to most libertarians, so they don't become Libertarians. Gary himself is more of a libertarian than a Libertarian.
There's a real untapped portion of the American public that is basically in favor of classic liberalism (socially inclusive, fiscally responsible) that a Libertarian Party should be representing, but the leadership of the LP seems all tied up with Misesian economics and resisting even the least bit of regulation on firearms.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.