Joe Cobb

by Joe Cobb

Some Thoughts about the Election

Some people have heard about a new political party, “Americans Elect,” that is getting on the ballot in several states. It is on the ballot for the 2012 election in Arizona and California, and 11 other states so far. I understand it is trying for a 50-state presence.

According to their web site, AmericansElect.org, you should join “to pick a president, not a party.” Yet, of course, they have no candidate for president – not until later this year. Who will it be? And why should we care?

It has occurred to me this new political party is some kind of front group for some rich person, like George Soros or Michael Bloomberg or Donald Trump. There is also another possibility – that the whole thing might be hijacked by the Ron Paul movement, which is very active on the Internet. The backers of the Americans Elect party might not expect to be hijacked, but the way they describe themselves, they are spreading their legs for it.

Nominate a candidate on the Internet? This sounds so “pie in the sky” like something a child might believe. Can anyone not really think there are some back office people running the show? Smoke filled rooms in the 19th century had nothing different from this. It is a new Internet version of Tammany Hall, in my opinion, but with a cover story that looks like Bob LaFollette. I don’t believe it. I never believed “the Progressive Movement” was any kind of sincere reform – just another example of the charlitans manipulating the fools, which is a pretty good description of popular democracy, as H.L. Mencken wrote about it.

However, what if the Ron Paul supporters who know how to create “money bombs” were able to take over this new political party? Would that be a good thing? I don’t think so.

The Libertarian Party is a Better Vehicle

I wrote this commentary in reply to a question from a friend who is very active in the Ron Paul “R3VOLution” and who sometimes shows up at meetings with a Guy Fawkes mask (from the movie, “V for Vendetta”). He asked why not support Ron Paul regardless of his party?

I think it is important to have some strategic thinking about elections, what messages they send, as well as the actual opportunity to elect people. I wrote an essay some years ago, “The Purpose of a Libertarian Party.” I believe working for the LP is an honorable way to dissent politically and stand for something idealistic. The alternative is just voting negatively for the lesser of two evils. Even though the LP never elects anyone on its ballot line, it does elect dozens if not hundreds of people on other ballot lines, who are libertarians in every sense except “partisan.” Ron Paul is actually a good example of such a person.

One flawed “strategic” view is that electing Libertarians should be a prime objective. I don’t agree with that; it is flawed. It would be wonderful, of course, to get a true libertarian into office, but if doing so means what often needs to be done to get votes from people who don’t understand the principles of non-initiation of force, then I would not recommend “winning” as a higher priority over “standing clearly for liberty.”

I refer you to the video [here] that my friend produced of me in the 2010 campaign. At the debate with Rep. Ed Pastor, at the handicapped center in Phoenix, the moderator asked me what I was going to do for the handicapped if elected?. (Short answer: not mandates nor tax money.)

Even if a true libertarian were elected, how would he govern if he has to make so many compromises with his fellow members of a legislature or be frustrated as an executive? Gary Johnson actually has a pretty good record as a successful veto-wielding governor.

The LP exists as a beacon. It sends out a clear signal about Right vs. Wrong in political principles and government. It is perfectly understandable that excellent GOPers like Ron Paul do some compromising things, like equivocate about human rights under the excuse of “States Rights,” in order not to answer questions about abortion or marriage, but it is not something I want a truly Libertarian Party to do. Ron Paul has a pretty funny way of explaining why he pushes earmarks for Galveston, and then votes against the appropriation bills that give the city the money anyway.

Ideas and Personality Politics

Ron Paul is an example of “personality politics” even as he does speak out for principles, like Anti-war and Anti-Fed and Cutting Spending and Cutting Taxes. It is the combination of his personality and his principles that has made him the phenomenon he has become. This is good, because most people do not think about ideas at all. They think about people. Humans were ruled by tribal chiefs, pharoahs, and kings long before anyone elected a leader – and even then Caesar was elected.

I believe 76-year-old Ron Paul is on his final campaign. I understand this. I worked with him in 1984, in Washington, DC, when he also was on his “final campaign” and looking for a way to quit the House of Representatives without being “a quitter.” I talked with him in the privacy of his office, as his loyal employee, about how he really felt about coming to Washington every week to run around and put up with the nonsense. He was glad to get out of there, and running against Phil Gramm for Senate in Texas in 1984 gave him an opportunity to be defeated (with 20% of the vote) and go out as “a fighter.”

That is what he is doing again this year. And, I say, good for him. Fight the good fight. Make your good arguments and good points in debate. Then take the defeat gracefully and go home – he will leave the battle to his son, Sen. Rand Paul, who will keep on fighting in the Senate and around the country. Ron Paul is leaving both a legacy and an heir.

But you might want to believe that we live in a democracy and not a republic (remember that slogan?). It is not the number of votes that will be important. It is how the American public opinion will shift over the next several years as a consequence of the campaign, and one candidate’s vote totals will not be what matters. The Electoral College also has an interesting way of making popular vote totals ineffective, like in Florida 2000.

Gary Johnson is going to get the Libertarian Party nomination and will be on the ballot in all 50 states. He is a younger man, with some years ahead of him in politics. I think the GOP has delivered a nasty rebuke to him, just as they did to Ron Paul in 2008. But, like Ron Paul, he will come back and keep on fighting. The Libertarian Party nomination will be exactly such a vehicle for keeping on – just as it was when Ron Paul decided to do it in 1988.

Yet, if Ron Paul’s supporters – I don’t think the man himself would want to do it – decided to seize the Americans Elect Party ballot line, and get him nominated on the Internet (assuming the whole thing is not already rigged for Bloomberg or Trump), all those people who have discovered our good ideas because of Ron Paul truly would “waste their vote.” Gary Johnson on the Libertarian ballot line in 50 states, with votes from Ron Paul supporters who won’t vote for Romney, which could really make a difference sending a message about corruption in politics and the hollow shell of the Republican Party that Romney and Santorum represent. Johnson would do a lot better than Ron Paul in 1988.

I would like very much for Ron Paul to choose graceful retirement, after making a strong showing at the GOP convention in August, and then let Gary Johnson earn the votes from all the diehards in the GOP who will refuse to vote for Romney. The way the Electoral College works, it is very unlikely that any State will fall to Obama on a plurality due to supporters of Ron Paul voting for Gary Johnson. But if they chose to vote for Americans Elect instead of the Libertarian Party in November, it could squander an opportunity to send the libertarian message even if they are voting for Ron Paul in the process. What message was sent by Ross Perot’s voters? Personality politics is a wasted vote.

It is the future of the movement for limited government and the original constitution, not the “horse race” of candidates, that we need to think about strategically. One person is not the point of our movement. We have spokesmen but not “leaders.” AmericansElect.org has it exactly backwards: pick a party, not a personality.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 12:01 am and is filed under Editorial Page, Libertarian Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.