Fmr. Republican Bob Barr Joins Race for President as Libertarian Party Candidate
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Related subjects: Executive Powers, J.E. Robertson, Vote 2008 Comments Off
Former Republican House-member Bob Barr (L-GA) has been named the Libertarian party’s candidate for US president. Barr told CNN “We are going to launch a very vigorous campaign all across America”, and that he believes he can win more votes than either of the two major-parties’ likely candidates. Polls appear to show his candidacy could bring in as much as 7% of the national vote.
The candidate has some well-documented problems with traditional Libertarians, due to his support of the “USA PATRIOT Act”, which gave federal authorities unprecedented leeway to take actions that would otherwise violate fundamental constitutional liberties, the “Defense of Marriage” Act, which would ban same-sex marriage in the US, and his opposition to the legalization of medical marijuana.
Barr says he has spent the last 5 years working to have the Patriot Act repealed “because of the way it has been used and abused by the Bush administration”. He also co-sponsored an event at which fmr. VP Al Gore spoke to the Liberty Coalition, a sweeping historic narrative and critique of current policy in which Gore noted of Barr:
In spite of our differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented claims of the Administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of executive power.
Barr’s platform also includes withdrawal from Iraq, another issue where he is likely to pull splinter-voters away from McCain, whose policy is to pour more money and time into Iraq until “victory” is achieved. McCain has pulled back from his talk of a “hundred years” war in Iraq, but for Republicans unsure about McCain and unhappy about the war, Barr’s platform is thought to be a potential draw.
One of the ironies of this year’s race is that, should Obama capture the Democratic nomination, the three most prominent candidates for president will all be classed by their supporters as bold reformers: McCain has historically been an independent voice and has been a leader on ethics reform, but is embattled now by talk of ties to lobbyists; Obama is the fresh face, vowing sweeping reform and the ability to change the course of history, with opponents crying inexperience; Barr has left his party in order to take on what he sees as abuses of its ideas and its platform and to push for individual liberties.
Clearly in a field of three self-appointed reformers, the one with the clearest and most viable message of reform will take the title and win the pro-reform votes. But whether McCain has left some of his reformist mettle behind in order to seal up the GOP nomination and win the support of those who backed Bush is a question that could determine the outcome of the November elections, and Bob Barr now seems intent on robbing McCain of that maverick image.
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