From: PA146008@utkvm1.utk.edu  (David Veal)
Subject: Re: No Difference Between the Parties?
Organization: The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 18:33:54 GMT

In article <1992Sep4.213611.20859@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
clc5q@hemlock.cs.Virginia.EDU (Clark L. Coleman) writes:

>
>In article <1992Sep4.170646.11037@mcs.anl.gov> shaffer@achilles.ctd.anl.gov (Mihael A. Shaffer) writes:
>>
>>A thought WRT this discussion. Things have deteriorated so far and the
>>Good Citizens of the USA (tm) have lost so much ground that we need to
>>retake the high ground not just defend the little swamp that we have left.
>>As far as I can tell The Libertarian party is the ONLY political party
>>interested in actually rolling back the tides of tyranny.
>
>If you have problems with the Republican party outside of gun control
>issues, fine. If you have problems with George Bush but not the rest
>of the Republican party in general, join the club.
>
>The above included text is what I have come to expect of the Libertarians.
>They post vague, emotive generalities and cannot back it up with any
>substance.  I have seen numerous postings over the years on this newsgroup
>along the lines of: "If you support the RKBA, the Demopublicans are of
>no use to you! Vote Libertarian!!"  When I ask why we shouldn't just replace
>Bush with Kemp (or Marrou, for that matter) and replace Democrats in
>Congress with Republicans, the answer always turns to the War on Drugs or
>whatever.

     The Republicans have, as a rule, been far more friendly to gun rights
than Democrats.

>I say, if the RKBA is your primary concern, a far more realistic and achievable
>goal is to replace as many Democrats as possible in Congress with Republicans.
>If the Republicans got a majority and controlled the committees, this garbage
>from the antigun crowd would never make it out of committee.

     Maybe, maybe not.  There are wide variations among inside both parties.
However, much has some may bitch, some of us *do* consider other problems,
as well.
     I would, though, consider helping the Republicans get a majority in
the Congress in the absence of other reasonable alternative.  (There is
not, to the best of my knowledge a Libertarian running for the local
Congressional seat.)

>If someone has evidence to the contrary, please post the recorded votes from
>Congress in the last 20 years or so that support your case, as I previously
>requested.

     As I mentioned before, gun rights are important, but they are on
a fairly long list of important items.  They are on a list of important
items (such as freedom of speech and protection for search and seizure)
that I don't generally compromise on.  Those issues, as well, need to
be considered.

>Having known Libertarians and read their literature and postings over the
>years, it is obvious that they think they must maintain the facade of being
>equally opposed to the Republicans and the Democrats.  They are afraid to
>say, "We disagree with the Republicans about foreign policy and the War on
>Drugs, and with the Democrats on almost everything."  It would harm their
>quest for a distinct identity.

     The Libertarians disagree with the general violation of rights which
has gone on in the war on crime, as well as the war on drugs.  And they
agree with the Democrats on some things.

>The fact that Republicans who were not
>happy with the Nixon crowd were the primary founders of the Libertarian
>Party, not discontented Democrats, underscores my point.  Libertarians
>desperately want to distance themselves from Republicans, and hence the
>chic cynicism about the lack of difference between the parties, which they
>cannot quantitatively demonstrate through recorded Congressional votes.

     I've never even gotten a call back from the party (or their information
packet) and I don't particularly care how much they did or did not like
Nixon.
     The two major parties are different in approaches.  They are similar
in goals:  to get elected.  Toward this end the appeal generally to
different groups, and then try and convince the middle swing voters they
are most like them.

========================================================================
| David Veal  PA146008@utkvm1.utk.edu                                  |
|             University of Tennessee Division of Continuing Education |
========================================================================
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,talk.abortion