Eric,
     Yeah, there is the Libertarian party, and they get a lot of electoral votes. In fact, I think that our next president will be Harry Browne. Our work is done. Let's go get a drink.

     Seriously, what we are discussing here is the feasibility of establishing a credible power base for a third party. I don't think (and maybe you disagree with me here) that the Libertarian party has achieved this at all. I don't think that the current Libertarian party CAN establish this kind of voter confidence. The current presidential candidate for the Libertarian party, Harry Browne, has done little to gain voter enthusiasm with such bold and impractical claims as the statement that his first action in office would be granting executive pardon to drug offenders.

     I am familiar with the Libertarian party, to the extent that I was a member for the past several years, and have attended several state and national Libertarian party conventions, and spoken with Congress-people as a representative of Libertarian interests. The fact of the matter is, in a discussion of strong representation of issues within a viable Washington D.C. power movement, you can only be bringing up the Libertarian party as either an example of failure in the third party strategy or a recommendation for a third party to endorse.

     As for the possible assertion that the Libertarian party is an example of a failure to succeed at activism outside of the two-party arena, I think that any failure (perceived or real) may in fact be due to the outrageous demands of the LP (as an activist, I have been embarrassed by them many times), and the complete stubborn demand for overnight change without compromise. These facets of the party may be sexy to guys like you and I, but don't engender the public, or establish a foothold in Washington.

     As to the possible recommendation of the Libertarian party as a viable alternative to the two party system, I just don't see how that answers my question. Sure, the Libertarian party seems to be fairly interested in privacy and personal freedom. That still doesn't tell me whether you think it would be easier to get the Libertarian party enough power to actually protect our interests, or convince existing partisan powers to take up the cause.

     In short, thanks for the info, but you've answered nothing.

ok,
Rush Carskadden

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Murray [mailto:ericm@lne.com]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 12:11 PM
To: Carskadden, Rush
Cc: 'cypherpunks@algebra.com'
Subject: Re: Parties

On Fri, Oct 27, 2000 at 11:09:40AM -0500, Carskadden, Rush wrote:
> Scott and I have been discussing (from a theoretical standpoint) the
> possibility of a third party that focuses on privacy and personal freedom,

There already is one.
It's called the Libertarian party.  www.lp.org.

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  Eric Murray           Consulting Security Architect         SecureDesign LLC
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