This may not sit well…. Actually, what I wrote below I did before stumbling on this: “The Cloward – Pivens of the Right” where the topic is about a Libertarian that will be voting for Johnson and will not even consider a vote against Obama:
The fact that his vote might end up causing Romney to lose and Obama to win is irrelevant to this man. He and others of his ilk, who might be addressed by Bill Whittle’s video [here -Skip] but who close themselves to its message and who look instead to the imminent arrival of an economic apocalypse, have more in common with the far left than they think they do. They are the Cloward-Pivenistas [who willingly almost drove New York City into bankruptcy; more here -Skip] of the right. They believe that, if things get bad enough, the system will break down and enough people will see the light and then the true conservative dawn will break.
Cloward and Piven thought the breakdown would lead people towards the leftist light. People like Susanamantha’s friend think it will be the light on the right. But the idea is similar: endure (or even cause) pain now for future gain….Both sides are idealists, Don Quixotes if you will (although perhaps that’s being unfair to the Don) against the rest of us plodding Sancho Panzas. It’s an old story, isn’t it? A perfectionistic idealism is where the Don Quixotes on the right meet those on the left, in a dangerous no man’s land. The ones on the right could well end up encouraging the triumph of what they most hate.
It seems to me that the full bore / hard core Libertarians (“HCLs”) on this list (which, after all is the REPUBLICAN Liberty Caucus and not the LIBERTARIAN Liberty Caucus – I could not resist) are turning out to be not Libertarians concerning this election but Nihilists.
Given that their more favored candidates absolutely bombed out during the primary and have gotten no traction since, you folks are all deciding to go home and pout. Given that the expected Home Run At Bat (perhaps expected given the tremendous gains that Libertarians had here in NH in 2010) has turned out in THIS election to be the Biggest Whiff since Casey in Mudville in actual candidate attraction to the general electorate (as opposed to other Libertarians), all I am hearing is a massive hissy fit. Instead of treating it as a double or triple in 2010 and knowing that sometimes that only singles or strikeouts happen, if you can’t get that four bagger, then the game is rigged, the umps stink, and the ball has lard on it. So effectively, you all are going to throw your votes away. Period. That is how you all are coming across (and that means you Jane – I saw some of the NHTEAParty tweets and retweets during the debates you sent and utterly cringed).
Look, I want more Liberty in our lives as well as you folks (altho I disagree to the extent in some areas – I own up to the fact that I am more a Conservative than a Libertarian). That said, I STILL sit here in utter dumb amazement as you all (that is, except for Tim and I) are bobbing your noses to spite someone else who could care less that you’ll need massive amounts of Kleenex in the future. Pretty much, to this Conservative, you folks have blinkered yourselves – while neither are Liberty type politicians, I still find it hard that you cannot see other that there is not a DIME or tinker’s dam difference between Obama and Romney. It has really turned into the case of “absolute Liberty or nothing” and are falling into the same trap that befuddles the Libertarian Party: “we want you all to be absolutely free – ALL AT ONCE”. And then wonders what went wrong when they get 1% or 3% (if lucky) of the overall total vote count. Sure, the actual mileage may vary from state to state but the effective result is pretty much the same; other than a spoiler or two, no effect at all. That’s why you folks are here, as most of you know that the American electorate doesn’t work that way (from 20 to 100 to Liberty in one fell swoop).
It seems that more than a few of you have forgotten that.
Look, AND ONCE AGAIN, Romney won the Primary. Period. He got WAY more votes from the general electorate than the folks I backed and the folks you backed. He is NOT as Liberty minded as you demand, or as TEA Party minded as I wanted. Yes, RomneyCare is the worst thing ever for Liberty in MA than anything – except for the Federal version ObamaCare. And yes, he has flipped-flopped which gives us all headaches and tummy aches. But so has Obama flipped on issues. However, while Romney has done things that we all disagree with as MA Gov, Obama’s whole rasion d’etre of being President IS to fundamentally transform the US – and is doing a damn good job at it as well. And when I read about some of the Second Term stuff that may well be coming up if he wins (and that the EPA will continue to try in regulating everything even if he loses), what is your plan to stop him? NOW? As a Progressive, he is doing EXACTLY what his ideology tells him to do – his decisions and actions are features to him not bugs, even as he talks about “the free market that has given us much success”. That last phrase is mere cover and sugar spread over vileness. Face it, Romney is a moderate – but is not a hardcore Progressive or trained by Saul “the end justifies any means” Alinsky. Or is the plan to pick up the pieces in 4 years (like there’d be a chance in Hell as we will have all gone over the tipping point by then with respect to the Founders vision?
I will also put it to you this way; as they say in the stock market, past results are no indication of future returns. In the case of Romney, perhaps that is true. We may see Liberty bombed again. Or we may not. One thing is sure, however, is that Obama WILL bomb the idea of Individual Liberty and Freedom over and over again – he is hellbent on putting in and finishing the Hobbesian Leviathan beast. And in saying that you won’t support the only railroad tie that can be thrown onto the track to stop that oncoming train, then all you’re doing is mumbling to yourselves and thinking you can walk away in delusion.
Pericles (or Cicero) put it thusly: You may not be interested in politics but be assured that politics is interested in you. Bring it up to date: Obama is not the least interested in what you think – he is only interested in making sure that you will never, ever have the chance to self-govern again; not in politics and not in your own lives in any situation of any consequence. His end goal is that you have to ask permission to do anything that is not expressly permitted (which is to say, Govt has already made the big choices for you).
So, my belief is that not voting in a way that throws Obama out will instantly put that upon you and your descendents. I am convinced that is a certainty. Unlike others here who believe otherwise (at which point, why are you bothering with politics after tomorrow?), I do think that a vote for Romney is a vote to fire Obama – and may well give us time to raise up more Liberty minded folks and to further educate the populace as to the danger that Progressives are and the true meaning what Govt should be doing. A vote for Romney is really an Anti-Obama vote in my eyes. A vote for anything else (or just pouting and sitting on your thumbs) is just an abject action of Nihilism – for what will it actually achieve? Neither will certainly will not be a Blow for Freedom – for that to happen, it actually has to do something that has an quantifiable effect – and any thoughts of it being a protest vote that will ring across the land will actually just be an astericked footnote at the bottom of some records page.
Now, allow me a few moments to turn on the rotten tomato repelling force field and the body armor for the more substantial stuff that should be incoming in 3….2…..1
