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#13
10-12-2006, 12:55 PM
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Re: Where are all the Libertarians?
Iron81,
This is a good question. Here are my thoughts (and I do not claim to know which of several effects is "the" dominant reason, or even whether I have discovered the dominant reason in my little list). A) A lot of people who call themselves libertarians come from groups with traditionally low voter turnout in the first place, like college students. B) Many people who are interested in political economy gravitate towards libertarianism if they are exposed to it, but government licensed media is usually extremely careful to exclude Libertarians from any debate, and goverment education institutions avoid exposing students to libertarian ideas. There is a reason the libertarians are always excluded from debates; their poll numbers would jump immediately by an order of magnitude. C) Still, people do discover libertarianism and gravitate to it often if they take the time to study it. This may leave them voting libertarian, or even running for some local office for some period of time. However, if they continue to study it, they almost always come to the (correct) conclusions that voting is both irrational and immoral and cease to vote. Any would-be libertarian who is not smart enough to eventually figure out that voting is irrational and moral will likely fall victim to the (fallacious) "wasted vote" and "lesser of two evils" arguments and still be voting republicrat anyway. This leaves a relatively small number of libertarians who actually vote libertarian. 
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#15
10-12-2006, 01:23 PM
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Re: Where are all the Libertarians?
[ QUOTE ]
The main problem is that trying to get any 2 people who claim to be "libertarians" to agree to a specific platform is damn near impossible. [/ QUOTE ] I think this statement is completely false. In fact, being a libertarian and identifying with others means that I know we will have a basic agreement with regards to most of the big issues. As others have pointed out, fear of having the worst of the two evils win is the reason the lib numbers are so low. There is some critical mass that must happen before a liberatarian gets some relevant number of votes (see Perot/Ventura)
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#17
10-12-2006, 02:17 PM
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Re: Where are all the Libertarians?
I am philosophically a libertarian, but I usually vote Democrat. I am a realist. I am not voting for a candidate with no chance to win. I realize that means that their numbers will remain depressingly low, but I consider that the lesser of two evils.
When both candidates are repugnant I will vote Libertarian. I am somewhat unusual in that I don't subscribe to the endless bitching about how lousy all of our choices are. I am a Realist and accept that reality will never match my version of utopia. I can even find things I like about Bush. I would rather not spend my life casting meaningless protest votes.
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#18
10-12-2006, 02:41 PM
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Re: Where are all the Libertarians?
[ QUOTE ]
I am philosophically a libertarian, but I usually vote Democrat. I am a realist. I am not voting for a candidate with no chance to win. I realize that means that their numbers will remain depressingly low, but I consider that the lesser of two evils. When both candidates are repugnant I will vote Libertarian. I am somewhat unusual in that I don't subscribe to the endless bitching about how lousy all of our choices are. I am a Realist and accept that reality will never match my version of utopia. I can even find things I like about Bush. I would rather not spend my life casting meaningless protest votes. [/ QUOTE ] You realize that the odds that vote actually matters makes it pretty meaningless anyway?
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#19
10-12-2006, 02:44 PM
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Re: Where are all the Libertarians?
[ QUOTE ]
I am philosophically a libertarian, but I usually vote Democrat. I am a realist. I am not voting for a candidate with no chance to win. I realize that means that their numbers will remain depressingly low, but I consider that the lesser of two evils. When both candidates are repugnant I will vote Libertarian. I am somewhat unusual in that I don't subscribe to the endless bitching about how lousy all of our choices are. I am a Realist and accept that reality will never match my version of utopia. I can even find things I like about Bush. I would rather not spend my life casting meaningless protest votes. [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Any would-be libertarian who is not smart enough to eventually figure out that voting is irrational and [im]moral will likely fall victim to the (fallacious) "wasted vote" and "lesser of two evils" arguments and still be voting republicrat anyway. [/ QUOTE ]
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