Stephen Green's thoughts on the matter of libertarians mirror my own:
Some worried that Libertarians might again prove the spoilers in a race or three, throwing tight races to the Democrats. But let me tell you something about (small-l) libertarians.My only quibble would be that while I support a strong military, I'd like to see us less involved in a lot of locations around the world. Don't misunderstand this position. If we are attacked or in danger, then I'm all in favor of bringing overwhelming force in to solve the problem. I just don't think we need to have troops stationed in 140 countries during peace time (forgive me if I got the number wrong, I'm working from memory on this one).We come in two flavors. First, are the nutcases who want nothing less than to re-wire human nature as thoroughly as Stalin's plan for a New Soviet Man. More practical are those like myself, who see no (or little) contradiction between a strong state to wage war abroad, and healthy civil liberties at home.
The former were far more likely to keep voting (big-L) Libertarian in today's election. The latter were much more likely to hold their noses (literally, in the case of Arthur Silber) and vote Republican. All this explains, at least to a small degree, Sununu's win in New Hampshire.
So don't think your vote doesn't matter.
For me, it's been a long and winding journey from left-wing liberal Democrat to Republican to libertarian. There are many things I don't like about the Republican party, but in yesterday's elections I tended to vote for a Republican if the race was close or in doubt. If I thought that the race was likely to go to the Republican, then I voted for the Libertarian candidate to keep the Republicans honest and to remind them that my support is not unconditional.
Given the positions of the core of the Democratic party, I will not vote for one of them anytime in the forseeable future. A lot of Republicans know this, which is why I vote as I do.
Posted by Aubrey at November 6, 2002 09:26 AM