Third Party Politics

“just out of curiosity, who here has voted/plans to vote 3rd party? i will throw my hat into the ring, and state that i voted libertarian in the last election, and perot the election before (dont remember the party). and how many naderites are kicking themselves in the ass for helping lil bushie into office?”

“I wrote-in Nader, but Bush was a foregone conclusion in this neighborhood Big Time. Gore had no chance whatsoever (these folks had already spent their Bush Taxcut).

The last time my home state of Georgia went to a Third Party Candidate was... George Wallace! Woooo Hoooo! What a bright shining moment THAT was.”

“We have a friend who's trying to convert us to libertarianism. I'll leave it at that.”

“What does a Libertarian really mean when he says,
"Gimme a shotgun"?

<GRIN>”

“im really of the attitude, eff all politics, the number one person who can effect change in your life is YOU. politicians. theyre all the same guy anyway. its like that bill hicks routine :"well, i think the puppet on the right represents my values." "the puppet on the left is a better choice" <> "wait a minute, both puppets are being controlled by the same guy" "go back to sleep, america, your government is in control"”

“ok so libertarians are gun-lovers. no party is perfect”

“Bill Hicks kicked some Serious Butt, did he not?”

“It was a JOKE... <SHEESH> LOL”

“Hey... that was original material, too... spotaneously created on the spot! You're lucky there's not a three drink minimum.”

“I've voted Republican, Democratic, third party, unaligned write in, etc. I even wrote in "nobody" once years ago. When I was in college I even attended a "nobody for president" with slogans like "Nobody Loves You" "Nobody Cares" and "Nobody has all the answers."”

“Pat Paulson!”

“I'm a libertarian,I own a gun,but I only use it on people that call me liberal.”

“Half the people around here would think you were a librarian and grill you on the Dewey Decimal System.”

“Smothers Brothers show. He was cooolll!!”

“I have voted all over the political map, also. In Kansas, even if you are a democrat, you run for office as a republican in order to get elected. So, you have to see what kind of dem/repub/independent a candidate is before you can mark your ballot. At least that's the way I see it.”

“The Democrats lost their hold on the Georgia Statehouse, then all the crooked Democrats turned into crooked Republicans... seemingly overnight.”

“dan, there's several democrats here in ARK state government that are very conservative.

i vote for whoever has the best chance of defeating the liberals running that time....i used to vote democrat on everything, till i actually tried to figure out why....and all i found was reasons to vote against them.....


libertarians rock.”

“Don't use any public roads or go to any municipal parks if you are a true libertarian.”

“Parks and roads can be funded with local taxes if you're not sending so much to the federal jerks.”

“i'm actually a liberpublican....”

“That's like mixing cheap diet coke with good libertatian whiskey.”

“aww sale, philosophically, there pretty close really. and they both disagree with the left alot....


i'd vote more for them if i thought they could win. but splitting the conservative vote will result in liberals winning. we gotta turn this ship around...”

“The pubs and crats share that desire for bigger and more powerful federal control.Don't be fooled by either that they don't.”

“Should We Re-Legalize Drugs?

Libertarians, like most Americans, demand to be safe at home and on the streets. Libertarians would like all Americans to be healthy and free of drug dependence. But drug laws don't help, they make things worse.

The professional politicians scramble to make names for themselves as tough anti-drug warriors, while the experts agree that the "war on drugs" has been lost, and could never be won. The tragic victims of that war are your personal liberty and its companion, responsibility. It's time to consider the re-legalization of drugs.

The Lessons of Prohibition

In the 1920's, alcohol was made illegal by Prohibition. The result: Organized Crime. Criminals jumped at the chance to supply the demand for liquor. The streets became battlegrounds. The criminals bought off law enforcement and judges. Adulterated booze blinded and killed people. Civil rights were trampled in the hopeless attempt to keep people from drinking.

When the American people saw what Prohibition was doing to them, they supported its repeal. When they succeeded, most states legalized liquor and the criminal gangs were out of the liquor business.

Today's war on drugs is a re-run of Prohibition. Approximately 40 million Americans are occasional, peaceful users of some illegal drug who are no threat to anyone. They are not going to stop. The laws don't, and can't, stop drug use.

Organized Crime Profits

Whenever there is a great demand for a product and government makes it illegal, a black market always appears to supply the demand. The price of the product rises dramatically and the opportunity for huge profits is obvious. The criminal gangs love the situation, making millions. They kill other drug dealers, along with innocent people caught in the crossfire, to protect their territory. They corrupt police and courts. Pushers sell adulterated dope and experimental drugs, causing injury and death. And because drugs are illegal, their victims have no recourse.

Crime Increases

Half the cost of law enforcement and prisons is squandered on drug related crime. Of all drug users, a relative few are addicts who commit crimes daily to supply artificially expensive habits. They are the robbers, car thieves and burglars who make our homes and streets unsafe.

An American Police State

Civil liberties suffer. We are all "suspects", subject to random urine tests, highway check points and spying into our personal finances. Your property can be seized without trial, if the police merely claim you got it with drug profits. Doing business with cash makes you a suspect. America is becoming a police state because of the war on drugs.

America Can Handle Legal Drugs

Today's illegal drugs were legal before 1914. Cocaine was even found in the original Coca-Cola recipe. Americans had few problems with cocaine, opium, heroin or marijuana. Drugs were inexpensive; crime was low. Most users handled their drug of choice and lived normal, productive lives. Addicts out of control were a tiny minority.

The first laws prohibiting drugs were racist in origin -- to prevent Chinese laborers from using opium and to prevent blacks and Hispanics from using cocaine and marijuana. That was unjust and unfair, just as it is unjust and unfair to make criminals of peaceful drug users today.

Some Americans will always use alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or other drugs. Most are not addicts, they are social drinkers or occasional users. Legal drugs would be inexpensive, so even addicts could support their habits with honest work, rather than by crime. Organized crime would be deprived of its profits. The police could return to protecting us from real criminals; and there would be room enough in existing prisons for them.

Try Personal Responsibility

It's time to re-legalize drugs and let people take responsibility for themselves. Drug abuse is a tragedy and a sickness. Criminal laws only drive the problem underground and put money in the pockets of the criminal class. With drugs legal, compassionate people could do more to educate and rehabilitate drug users who seek help. Drugs should be legal. Individuals have the right to decide for themselves what to put in their bodies, so long as they take responsibility for their actions.

From the Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, to conservative writer and TV personality, William F. Buckley, Jr., leading Americans are now calling for repeal of America's repressive and ineffective drug laws. The Libertarian Party urges you to join in this effort to make our streets safer and our liberties more secure.”

“Disband the DEA make free treatment available to anyone who wants it. Quit building a new prison every week and pay down the national debt with the savings.”

“Hear hear!!!!!”

“libertarians are radicals. and if you know a little bit about the etymology of the word radical, you realize that a radical is someone who finds a solution by really analyzing and attacking the root of the problem, rather than someone who is just drastic. the war on drugs is politically correct and one of the few things the dems and pubs agree on, because being pro-drug is political death. even the libs are careful not to be pro-drug, but rather anti-punishment of drug users.”

“i's say were all in agreement on the war on drugs....”

“It's amazing to think about the savings legalization would bring, then add in the taxes the Government could bring in - without changing the amount of money people spend on drugs. Then add to it the effects of taking the money away from organized crime and terrorists.

Legalization would strike a big blow against terrorism.”

“If one twentieth of the interdiction budget was spent on education and treatment....

The current policies seem like such an incredible waste.”

“It is wonderful to read a column of post that are right on the mark.However, legalization would require busting the cartel of prison workers and builders,cops,lawyers,judges,churchs,and the worst; the drug dealers and the politicians that gladly take the easily made drug money.”

“Yes, every issue has its constituency, don't it?

Don't forget the major banks who launder the money... Fortune 100 institutions... and Their political contributions.”

“Would you legalize all illegal drugs or just pot?
What would you do about meth or ecstasy?”

“Fix the drug problem by making simple possession a capital offense.

That would end drug use and eliminate undesirables from our society.”

“for ever seller you bust and put in jail there are 10 more willing to take his place because they figure it is worth the risk, big money and little chance of being caught”

“murder is a capital offense. has it ended?”

“While working in East TN on a summer internship (in 1983), I was doing some research for appraisal purposes and noticed that the tobacco companies had purchased numerous tracks of land. When I looked at the tracks on a flat map, it was ribbon shaped running along the east side of the Sweetwater Valley between Knoxville and Chattanooga. I remarked on this to the property assessor and asked if they knew about a road going through there and if they were buying up right of way.

He laughed, went to the back of his office and came out with a translucent topo overlay. The ribbon was along a defined contour line. Supposed some of the best pot growning ground in the country. Big tobacco was buying it up to go into production if legalization ever happened.

Knowing how they would run supply and demand, the average street dealer would go bust, much the same way the whiskey companies put the bootleggers out of business.”

“Interesting. That reminds me of all the rumors floating around in the 70s about how the tobacco companies were supposedly buying up land in South America for that same purpose.”

“"Interesting. That reminds me of all the rumors floating around in the 70s about how the tobacco companies were supposedly buying up land in South America for that same purpose."
Tilt
02:02:55 PM
05/12/03

LOL -- same as the patents on the '200 mpg carburetors' the auto industry bought up.”

“Hey, aren't you supposed to be out shooting pot smokers?”

“Sheeyat. Capital punishment for anyone who drives a non-commercial vehicle that gets less than 15 mpg.”

“That's OK with me. I average 16mpg 4-wheelin through the alpine meadows.”

“gordon, if you really mean that you have no business calling yourself a backpacker.”

“Make that 20 mpg...”

“gordon, if you really mean that you have no business calling yourself a backpacker."
2scoops
05:37:56 PM

Nobody east of the Mississippi has any business calling themselves a backpacker. The AT is hiking with training wheels.”

“i wasnt talking about difficulty level, i was talking about a mindset.”

“So was I”

“whatever you say, pal. i wasnt talking about east vs west, i just hate being associated with someone with such a bubba point of view, since we both call ourselves backpackers.”

“aw, cmon. I sometimes just lob some inflammatory grenades just to see what flares up.

I occasionally vist the arch-conservative websites and post diatribes from the left. Their responses aren't nearly as animated as here.”

“gotcha. i think i remember you from some thread, playing both sides of the field. very amusing.
: )”