Texas Liberal

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Libertarians—Not Wanted By The Electorate

We’ve heard a lot about Libertarian Presidential candidates in 2008, but the facts are that the voting public does not want these people.

Congressman Ron Paul’s Republican primary campaign was a flop. Despite raising a lot of money from a core of true believers, Rep. Paul did not have nearly the success of outsider primary candidates Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988 or Pat Robertson in 1988. 

Wedded to his government job, Dr. Paul did not run for President on a third party ticket in 2008. Instead, he is running for reelection to Congress in Texas.

Libertarians have nominated former Congressman Bob Barr ( photo above) of Georgia as their 2008 nominee. Losing a 2002 Republican primary to keep his seat in the House, alleged Libertarian Barr is now looking for another government job at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

No Libertarian nominee has ever won more than 1.1% of the total vote in a Presidential election. And that was way back in 1980. Ed Clark was the Libertarian who delivered the 1.1% for the faithful.

Libertarianism is a philosophy that says, when all is said and done, that no person has any obligation to assist any other person. Even in individualist America, this view has been soundly rejected at the pools. Mr. Barr in 2008 will be yet another in a long line of Libertarian electoral non-entities.

July 21, 2008 Posted by | Campaign 2008, Politics | , , , , , , | 12 Comments

McDonald’s Lovin’ It When China Wins

The New York Times reports McDonald’s has an Olympic ad campaign in China that says they are “Lovin’ it when China wins.”

We know McDonald’s will say anything that works to sell more of their rotten food. They don’t care about any dictatorship–They care about new markets. 

(Please click here for a review of the book Fast Food Nation which discusses at length the ecological and economic harm done by American fast food outlets.)

Along with large corporations that by definition will look the other way at the brutality of the Chinese dictatorship, much of the fault here also lies with American consumers who don’t care where and how the stuff they buy and consume is manufactured and produced.

And who don’t care that the people of China lack political freedom.

My own buying habits would not stand up to review on this question. I’m willing to pay more for things that are ecologically sound, or not produced in a dictatorship or a sweatshop, but I make little or no effort to find such items.

I’m going to look at questions of more responsible consumption more carefully in upcoming posts. While it is right and needed to criticize  corporations who enable dictatorships around the world, in the end it will be our own actions that will make the difference.

July 21, 2008 Posted by | Politics, Uncategorized | , , , , , | 3 Comments