tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post3820687197252443347..comments2024-02-24T00:37:43.087-05:00Comments on The Other McCain: Bob Barr: Special ReportRobert Stacy McCainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03084541621503669804noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-29885619852907613492008-04-14T04:03:00.000-04:002008-04-14T04:03:00.000-04:00Senator Gravel, I thought, was quite personable, d...Senator Gravel, I thought, was quite personable, delivered a good speech, and appeared much younger than his age. He also applauded my notion of building a Libertarian-Constitution-Green Party fushion for the fall election with an eye to breaking the Democratic-Republican monolith, but, as, according to his own bio, he personally pushed through Congress the Alaska oil pipeline, I don't see him getting the Green endorsement. I also thought he committed a gaffe before this crowd in intimating that Iranian Muslims are not our enemies but that the Wahabi Muslims of Saudi Arabia are. I, of course, would much prefer Ron Paul's stance of not making enemies of anyone we don't have to.<BR/><BR/>As you mentioned, Sen. Gravel has given up on our present representative system of lawmaking, but he said I would have to buy his book to learn his prescription, which he says is authorized by the Constitution, for changing it. Personally, I've lost faith in popular democracy. I'd like us to go back to U.S. Senators chosen by state legislatures and Presidents elected by independent electors chosen on their own merits and not their pledge to support particular candidates.William Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07511237526012240319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4223398383609158624.post-89030054927380253762008-04-14T03:51:00.000-04:002008-04-14T03:51:00.000-04:00Hi, Mr. McCain,I was pleased to meet you at this e...Hi, Mr. McCain,<BR/><BR/>I was pleased to meet you at this event, and I hope you felt welcome during your brief visit to our City of Burlington. I am a Reagan Republican and not a libertarian, but as I told my friend, the minority leader in the N.C. State House, the growth of the U.S. government to the size it is today should make most conservatives vote like libertarians, if sometimes for different reasons. I was especially grateful that I could register for this convention and chat with Congressman Barr and Senator Gravel. Mr. Barr, I think, would benefit by preparing some stem-winding speeches, instead of the free-flow extemporizing he did in Burlington, but he made the good points you reported. One weakness, I thought, was his somewhat equivocal commitment to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq (not "precipitously", I think he said), which may place him closer to Barack Obama than Ron Paul. But he is definitely an improvement over John McCain. In my private talk with him, he refused to endorse a return to the gold standard or something similar, viewing it as the kind of issue that has marginalized Ron Paul in the minds of the general public. But he acknowledged that the U.S. monetary system, as it stands, is broken and needs fixing. Can he win the votes of the kinds of people who come to Libertarian conventions? I don't know. The debates I heard Saturday seemed to be characterized by such ideas as entirely eliminating prisons, and Mary Ruwart, the N.C. "favorite daughter", as you described her, decried Bob Barr's sponsorship of the "Save Marriage Act", as she wants Congress to legitimate same sex marriages nationally. This position would not exactly make the Libertarian candidate a threat to John McCain among North Carolina voters. I will say this one thing stands in Bob Barr's favor, however - the biggest issue for N.C. Libertarians is getting their candidates on the ballot. Our state's strict laws require their presidential or gubernatorial candidate to pull 2% of this fall's ballots to assure them a place in the next cycle's elections without having to collect a gargantuan number of names on petitions. Even they recognize their best bet in this effort would be placed on Mr. Barr.William Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07511237526012240319noreply@blogger.com