Paul King wrote:

> [the idea that Badnarik] would steal votes from Bush
> fizzled when they ran commercials arguing against
> the war as "the anti-war candidate" in New Mexico. [...]
> It would have been far more practical to run
> as "tightwad" fiscal conservatives.
> That is the area where Bush was most
> vulnerable with conservatives.

I agree. The anti-war theme may have been good for mobilizing our
isolationist base, but it had suboptimal potential for expanding the party.

There is one overwhelming structural problem that is going to dominate
American politics over the next two decades, and it's not traffic fatalities
(41K/yr) or terrorism (<=3K/yr) or war (~1K/yr) or the Patriot Act (~0/yr).

It's the entitlements, stupid.

Look:

1. It's by far the biggest problem: $60 trillion (vs. ~$500B for Iraq?
Yawn.)
2. The two major parties are undeniably only making the problem worse.
3. We Cato Libertarians already have what is undeniably the right answer.
4. The other -- the real? -- third party (Green) is incapable of co-opting
us.
5. Monumental intergenerational inequity means this issue offers long-term
rewards for the party that stands up for the Young.
6. No other party, major or minor, can appeal as we can to the Young based
on both this issue and personal freedoms.

Not since slavery has there been an issue with such potential to shake up
the two-party duopoloy. The Depression, civil rights, and Vietnam all had
both sides quickly staked out by the two major parties, but myopic fear of
seniors has left them both (despite privatization lip service) on the same
side of this issue. This issue is so huge that even Perot and his Reform
morons almost accidentally built a third party over a small subset of the
problem (deficit/debt).

This issue should be ours. The Young should be ours. The Future should be
ours.

The Future CAN be ours, if we're just mature enough to take it.

But of course, it's more fun to vent about "fascism" and "imperialism" and
the IRS and the ATF...

Brian Holtz
Libertarian candidate for Congress, CA14 (Silicon Valley)
http://marketliberal.org