Bob Barr secured the Libertarian Party nomination at the LP convention in Denver over this past weekend. For those who don’t follow third party politics, the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1988 was Ron Paul. He basically had the same platform then that he did during his current primary run. Bob Barr was probably picked by the delegates specifically because he has similarities with Dr. Paul. Don’t expect me to start evangelizing his name though. Mr. Barr was a short sighted Republican until recently, and even before that was a short sighted Democrat. He has shifted his rhetoric on most of the LP talking points, but in the end find himself on the hilarious side of opposing things he used to chair. He was the anti-drug coordinator for the Department of Justice (libertarians are usually pro drug legalization to some extent). He promoted the idea that the practice of Wicca should be banned in the military (restricting religious rights would be a big libertarian no-no), and he is generally hard on immigration (a position he happens to share with Ron Paul). With this background he doesn’t have the practice to back up the rhetoric he’ll use, but at the same time he’s likely to win most of his votes from lapsed traditional conservatives.

Barr has hired a political strategist who worked on the Ron Paul campaign and another who worked on the Perot campaign. He’ll be stealing votes directly from the traditional conservative Republican base, the same base that is unhappy with McCain’s nomination. I’ll predict right now that he’ll have as much if not more impact than Nader did in 2000. If you want Obama to win in November, send some money to Bob Barr… seriously.

I’ve discussed this issue previously with friends and family but I really think Obama is going to have a tougher time in November than many people believe. Around 15% of democrats over the age of 65 voted for Obama. This November more people will vote. More people over 65 will vote. Democrats traditionally think of themselves as progressive… yet only 15% over 65 voted for Obama in the primaries. Imagine what will happen among the general electorate. If the older Democrat is any indication, Obama’s race will be more of a hindrance this November than it ever was in the primary. Bob Barr’s nomination might help things for Obama if enough votes can be shifted from McCain to Barr.

On that note, I’m voting for Barr in November. A protest vote? Maybe. He might not be a libertarian in action but the man is a small government conservative through and through.

Tags: bob barr 2008,clinton,election 2008,libertarian,obama
Categories: BJ, Philosophy etc
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My Host was having some issues today so I couldn’t update during my lunch break, so I’ll take the time to do so before I leave the office today. Tim has this amazing need to converge all data into a single, easily readable format (note that the definition of easily readable becomes immediately suspect when talking to a fellow software developer). If he could hire an automaton to take down his every activity and thought and plaster it on his site he’d be the first to sign up. Inevitably he’d then invite me and I would be the second. Friend Feed is blocked at work so I couldn’t mess with it today, but I finally decided to start using Google reader as a feed aggregator (actually I set it all up last night). The side benefit being that I can keep track of updates to my list of favored sites.

I’ve added the rss feed to the sidebar, and a link to the little dynamic site that google makes.

This has helped distract me from the weird political pastor/politician insanity that seems to be spreading. As long as we can roll religion, race, politics, and government largess into a single beautiful soundbyte, then we’re still in the US.

Tags: friend feed,google reader,obama,tim
Categories: BJ, Entertainment
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I’m going to reprint the text of the speech in it’s entirety. I believe his methodology to correct the issues he addresses in the speech to be wrong but his sentiment is spot on. Here’s the speech in it’s entirety as found at the huffingtonpost.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
“A More Perfect Union”
Constitution Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

The rest after the jump:


Show me more… »

Tags: election,obama,politics,rhetoric
Categories: BJ, Philosophy etc
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Well, at least he wins the Atchley home phone call record of the Presidential candidates.

• 5 total calls from Obama or supporters
• 3 total calls from Ron Paul or supporters
• 1 call from Clinton

I spoke with a live person from Obama and Ron Paul campaigns, or at least a supporter cold calling.

I’m still holding out for a general election Mormon showdown between Mitt Romney and Harry Reid in 2016.

Tags: clinton,election2008,obama,Ron Paul
Categories: BJ, Philosophy etc
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What a unique experience during the presidential primary cycle. Texas matters. I received two phone calls over the weekend asking me to vote for their candidate, one for Obama and one for Ron Paul. I’ve already “thrown my vote away,” for Ron Paul, but every time I can push the school of thought that many of Ron Paul’s views represent I’ll continue to vote outside of the frontrunners or the major parties.

Obama is going to win the Democratic primary and the election. There’s too much of a groundswell surrounding him for there to be any other outcome. I think he’ll do well to restore the US in the eyes of the rest of the world. His largely globalist view of world politics could push us more to the forefront in the various organizations we participate in, but he’s an unknown quantity in economic matters. He’s pro-consumer in his legislative rhetoric, but not damning enough towards big business to stifle. If he looked like he would cut corporate subsidy, I’d start to support him more heavily, but his rhetoric is too generic for me to know what to think. He has softened on gun control. His energy policy has a good background but his current rhetoric reflects the current chicken little viewpoint on greenhouse gasses. His healthcare viewpoints are sound as they rely on individual subsidy and avoid community rating and mandating coverage limits. I hope he remembers that younger voters are voting him in when it comes time to start pushing healthcare reform. His foreign policy seems to be UN based. I dunno. I can always “Hope” that the huge cavern of possible policy stances his rhetoric could encompass leans towards liberty over socialism.

Here’s a quote from David Boaz of the Cato institute.

The difference between libertarianism and socialism is that libertarians will tolerate the existence of a socialist community, but socialists can’t tolerate a libertarian community.

Tags: election2008,obama,politics,Ron Paul
Categories: BJ, Philosophy etc
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