I’m proud to be a ‘Losertarian’ again By Dave Duffy
Issue #103 • January/February, 2007

After the recent midterm elections, in which Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from Republicans, I was listening to the Michael Medved national radio talk show as he was blaming “Losertarians” for the Republican defeat. I am, of course, one of the Libertarians to which he was referring and, like most of my fellow Libertarians, I voted for the best candidate I could find, some of whom happened to be Libertarians. Libertarians at the national level lost, as they usually do, but some won at the local level, as they often do.

Medved, whose show this magazine has sponsored in the past because he shares a few Libertarian views, was particularly livid about the fact that Montana Libertarians delivered just enough votes to the Libertarian candidate in that state to deliver the Senate seat to the Democrat candidate, thereby delivering the control of the U.S. Senate to the Democratic Party. Medved presumed that those Libertarian voters would have voted for the Republican candidate had there been no Libertarian candidate on the ballot, and he was probably correct since there are more Republicans than Democrats who stand for limited Government.

But, that’s beside the point. As a Libertarian who forsook his Libertarian leanings and voted Republican the last two Presidential elections, I am delighted Libertarians had a hand in throwing the Republicans back out in the street. They were as worthless as the Democrats they had previously replaced. In fact, they behaved worse than Democrats, spending more money than their predecessors and passing more laws that restricted the freedoms of Americans. Plus they mismanaged the war in Iraq, bungled social security reform, screwed up immigration reform, and forgot all about tax reform. Seldom has there been a party that promised so much but delivered so little.

I had previously voted for Bush because he convinced me that he was for limiting Government, controlling spending, and protecting Constitutional freedoms, things which are important to Libertarians. His actions and the actions of the Republican-controlled Congress showed me he was for none of that, so it’s time for them to take a hike. Forget second chances; they had their chance for 12 long years, and Government today is bigger and more oppressive than it has ever been.

I don’t expect any improvement in Government from Democrats. They sure haven’t delivered in the past. They’ll probably go on a witch hunt and try to indict as many Republicans as they can, even try to impeach Bush. Then, in two years, it will be time to throw them out of office, too. Republicans, then Democrats; Republicans, then Democrats. What’s the point? I’m done with my experiment thinking that somehow the Republicans would embrace the important Libertarian concept of limited Government. I know Democrats won’t.

The main point Medved tried to make on his talk show was that Libertarians, as well as any other voter who votes neither Republican nor Democrat, are throwing away their votes because their candidates never win at the national level. “How does it feel, Losertarians,” he shouted into his radio microphone; “you just delivered the Senate to the Democrats! Are you proud of yourselves?”

Well, Michael, I sure am proud of myself for going back to voting for the best candidate, rather than the lesser of two evils, which most voters do every election. I’d like to congratulate Montana Libertarians for also voting for the best candidate. If your vote got the Democrat elected, rather than the Republican, big deal. If it gave the Senate over to the Democrats, rather than Republicans, so what. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans, anyway, so what difference does it matter who won.

What matters, I think, is that a small number of Libertarians, as well as a small number of other people voting for their third-party candidates, voted for who they thought would do a good job. They acted as individuals, not as members of a flock supporting candidates and political parties who have done nothing election after election but increase the size of Government. Libertarians throwing their votes away? I don’t think so. Libertarians stood up to be counted. We all like to talk about how we want to see Government get out of our lives, but most people vote time and time again for the same political parties who deliver bigger and bigger Government election after election. It’s their votes that didn’t count.