I remember back when I was a freshmen in college (1999-2000), I was introduced to Libertarianism. (actually, I heard of it before, but I didn't pay attention to it).
I was politically homeless because the I didn't side with the Republican Party (with it's ties to the Religious Right) or the Democratic Party (which made Hawaii an over-taxed state with regulations that made it hard on entrepreneurs).
I also felt both parties pursue a misguided drug policy which over-reacted to marijuana use (which has some side effects but has helped others deal with illness).
As for foreign policy, while I admire the heroics of the US troops who defeated Hitler & Tojo, I was also suspicious of US support of fascist dictators during the Cold War just because they claimed to be anti-communists.
So when I learned more about the Libertarian Party, more I felt allied with them.
After 9/11, I felt the US troops should be fighting Al Quaida in Afghanistan. However, too many Libertarians thought America should back down because "it was America's fault". While the US had some foreign policy blunders before, Al Quaida were NOT liberators, they were fascist terrorists who want to kill anyone who didn't submit to their Ultra-Conservative strain of Islam.
At the time, I wrote editorials arguing against the Radical Left and their Blame-America-First ideology. For that, I was called a "right-wing Republican" by radical left-wing lunatic Tobin Jones. Nevermind that I NEVER agreed with the right-wing Republicans on issues like abortion, sex ed, prostitution or other related issues.
Jones said my political views matches what was popular in Mississippi! Actually, my poltical views is a better match with Arizona or Nevada, and I want Hawaii be a tropical version of those 2 states.
so why am I bringing all this up.
There's an editorial by Stephen Green that I could relate to
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/10/i_was_a_cardcarrying_libertari.php
Here's a few excerpts
Being a Libertarian was hard work, but I set right at it. I even went so far as to read the entire party platform. Pro-choice? Right on! Free trade? Hell, yes! Privatize all the schools? Start with mine! Abolish that Social Security Ponzi scheme? I was never going to see a dime, anyway! Bring all our troops home from Europe and Japan and South Korea and everywhere else and close half our embassies and cut defense spending at least in half and forget about enforcing freedom of the seas? Whoa, Nelly! “But,” I rationalized, “they don’t really mean all that stuff. A Libertarian president wouldn’t be that naive.”
But come election day, I held my nose, covered my eyes and pulled the lever for George HW Bush — no easy feat with only two hands. There was still a Cold War to be won. I could be a real Libertarian — we all would be! — once the Soviets caved in.
Almost exactly a year later, that’s exactly what happened. On November 9, 1989, the people of East Berlin took hammers and chisels and even their bare hands to that Wall. Soon, the governments of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and even Romania had fallen — mostly peacefully. The peoples of Eastern Europe had liberated themselves from Communist oppression, and at long last I was free to throw off the last shackles of my Republican heritage.
I changed my party affiliation to Libertarian, smiling all the way back from the voter registrar’s office.
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Then we all woke up one morning to learn that airliners had crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and into the wooded hills of Pennsylvania. “Well, here’s a war even a good Libertarian like me can support.” We’d been attacked, directly, and we knew who the culprits were and where their protectors and sponsors were. We would go after them with such righteous fury that no one would dare strike New York City ever again.
Boy, was I wrong.
The angry folks at Liberty were mad at most everybody but Islamic terrorists. One even went so far as to denounce the Afghan War as “racist.” It was all imperialism this, and blowback that, and without a care in the world for protecting American lives, commerce, or, well, liberty.
---- (skipped paragraphs)
I stopped voting Libertarian for local candidates, leaving lots of blanks on my ballot. Next year, I’m not sure which party I’ll support for President, much less which candidate. From here, it looks as if the Republicans have become wrong and corrupt, the Democrats are stupid and corrupt, and the Libertarians have gone plain crazy.
It was easy tearing up my LP membership card. It’s quite a bit harder to find something to replace it. But I know this much: There’s no going back. Maybe there’s just too little room for principle in such a violent world.
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Actually, there's room for principle in a violent world --- defeating the Islamic Fascists who want to kill everyone who doesn't want to submit to their ultra-conservative version of Islam!
