Libertarian National Convention thread

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

I'm surprised to see Perry above McAfee in the straw poll.

If he is/was in the Free State Project movement, that would make sense. 

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

I'm not sure how much trouble Weld's really in. Everything I've read says he bombed at the debate, but he then won the poll taken right after it by a pretty significant margin, in what seems to have been a fairly unfriendly crowd.

Also, I recall hearing that Root only got VP in 2008 because a lot of the radicals got disgusted and left when Barr was nominated, not taking part in the voting for VP afterwards. If that happens again if Johnson is nominated, its hard for me to see Weld not being picked.  

And so they should have, Barr was a terrible choice. I voted Baldwin/Constitution Party that year.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

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From what I've read it just seems like a lot of the people there have a huge independent, special-snowflake streak and value that more than putting together a viable ticket.  Poor Bill Weld may be sacrificed to satiate the Libertarian ego.  They can nominate Reddit-debate-thread-robot Austin Peterson and, I don't even know, some guy who owns a Wendys in Harlem and writes posts on internet forums about libertarianism, and go back to fighting with the Green Party and the Constitution Party for third place.

Also, libertarian ideas are stupid, for the record.

All libertarian ideas? Even the ones that mesh with either half of the red/blue sides?  Or do you just mean the extreme ideas like very small government, no taxation, gold standard, etc? 

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

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From what I've read it just seems like a lot of the people there have a huge independent, special-snowflake streak and value that more than putting together a viable ticket.  Poor Bill Weld may be sacrificed to satiate the Libertarian ego.  They can nominate Reddit-debate-thread-robot Austin Peterson and, I don't even know, some guy who owns a Wendys in Harlem and writes posts on internet forums about libertarianism, and go back to fighting with the Green Party and the Constitution Party for third place.

Also, libertarian ideas are stupid, for the record.

All libertarian ideas? Even the ones that mesh with either half of the red/blue sides?  Or do you just mean the extreme ideas like very small government, no taxation, gold standard, etc? 

The extreme ideas.  But also the general underlying philosophy that those extreme ideas are a natural extension of.  A well-functioning central government is key to making a society greater than the sum of its parts.  Whether we have such a government or not can be debated but to say that the ideal is to not have one is ludicrous.

I'm fine with a central government or a confederation if you will, of regional/local governments.  But, I don't think humanity is at the point where we can do without government.  Though I stand as a libertarian in the hope that government shrinks and individual rights are bolstered.

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Austin Petersen is Mr. Soundbite.  I'd like him to see protect gun rights even 100 years in the future (quote was for all time). 

Perry and Feldman gave the only really neutral answers on the abortion question.

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Ok, Judge Nap on the SCOTUS is something I support.  Need another good, solid strict-Constitutionalist on the panel.

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Is it fair to call Johnson the "establishment" Libertarian candidate?

I guess, they didn't like the (driver's) licensing answer but I think there should be some stricter restrictions on driver's licenses or better training (maybe privatized).  It's more of an answer that the public would think makes sense.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

Just got done watching the debate online as I was unable to watch it live.(http://www.c-span.org/video/?409916-1/libertarian-party-holds-presidential-debate) Johnson and Petersen seemed to do the best. Perry and Feldman had good moments but were not the winner. McAfee never really impressed me.

I think Johnson gets this, but after multiple ballots, and he might not get Weld.

If you like sound bite rah-rah answers, Petersen has those in spades.  Only thing keeping McAfee down I think is his respect for others on the stage. 

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Guess I missed all the "fun".  Naked moron should stay home next time.  I figured Johnson was going to win, he was getting all the press from outside and inside the party.  Plus, with the rumors of buying hotel rooms for delegates and Koch bro money, it was pretty much rigged for him.

That said, it probably is the most "viable" to the normal people though that 5% I predicted is probably right where he'll land.  A man like McAfee could've gone viral (heh) at some moment, or maybe not. I rather take the risk then settle for a marginal increase. I'll still vote the ticket however just because there really isn't a better choice now.

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I continue to struggle to understand this party. I thought the purpose of this party was to preserve personal freedoms as long as they don't increase the risk of harm to other people. Yet, the party goes full moron and anarchist and boos driver's licenses even though they probably keep a handful of unqualified drivers off of the road to stop deadly crashes. That's what I would consider a risk of harm to other people. Meanwhile, hurr durr, governments want to issue drivers licenses for control. This was completely disappointing.

It's about the "Right to travel", google it and you'll find a lot of arguments with legal quotes, etc from somewhat rational to delusional.

[Rules for me, but not for thee]

This pre-convention interview of Johnson with Samantha Bee is much better and is the LP to a T:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdkznU2IvfU