Who isn’t addressing the issues?
August 27th, 2008 by Jason PyeThe frontpage of Yahoo! earlier this afternoon had this headline, Why have the candidates made no mention of the financial crisis?, which lead to this article. Huh? Did I read that right? It should read, Why have McCain and Obama made no mention of the financial crisis?, because Bob Barr is certainly addressing the issues facing our nation, while McCain and Obama carry on with their coronations.
Wait, it gets better:
The U.S. is facing the worst financial crisis since the Depression. You would never know that from the Democrats’ platform in Denver or its Republican counterpart, or from listening to Barack Obama or John McCain.
While both candidates have bemoaned the ravages of the subprime crisis, they have yet to spell out steps for tackling it, such as using taxpayer money to shore up banks and housing.
[...]
The Democrats’ platform, adopted at their Denver convention this week, labels the crisis a “debacle” and promises to jump-start the economy with a $50 billion stimulus package. It says nothing about helping banks or bailing out the mortgage-finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The draft of the Republicans’ plank, to be adopted next week at their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, supports “timely and carefully targeted aid to those hurt by the housing crisis” and opposes bailouts of private financial institutions. It doesn’t mention Fannie and Freddie.
Bob Barr has talked in-depth about the financial crisis facing our country, and not just the current crisis, but the looming crisis that has presented itself in the form of economy crippling entitlements that have long ignored by Republicans and Democrats.
Unlike Democrats, Bob opposes a bailout of financial institutions and blasted the housing package passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. He wants to privatize Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He is the only candidate addressing regulation as the reason we are losing jobs. In fact, Bob Barr is the only presidential candidates to release a position paper on Social Security that completely takes a tax increase off the table.
A candidate is addressing these issues, which is the reason why it is so important to get Bob Barr in the debates. McCain and Obama will either not address these issues or continue to increase government intervention only to make things worse.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Just sent the author a note saying he did Bob Barr a great disservice with his “both parties” rhetoric.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
This isn’t the only complaining from news sources that “both candidates” aren’t addressing some issue or another.
Fannie and Freddie are albatrosses around the neck of the nation - only by releasing them will they ever see success again, and by keeping them we virtually insure the failure of both, at a cost to everyone.
We need to find position as the Party that talks about the issues the cool kids leave out of their speeches. The party that knows what’s up, and how to fix it, contrasted with the party of “change” and the party of “not liberals”.
The issues will not change when our next candidate may not be as charismatic as Barr, unlike the other parties, who tailor both their positions and candidates for the sole purpose of gaining public confidence. Not because of legality, morality, or even stubbornness, but what they think will “win”.
Selling out your values to win power will leave you disgraced, whether you win or lose.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Never once heard the word “liberty” or “liberties” roll off the lips of any of the speakers at the Democratic convention. Never heard the words “domestic spying”, “torture”, “secret prisons”, or “habeus corpus”, either.
August 28th, 2008 at 6:40 am
The key to successful business is personal responsibility. When a company is structured by the government in a way were the private owners keep all the profits but all the losses get subsidized by the taxpayers then you remove the need for the business to be responsible and manage it’s risk. The company starts taking risks no other company in it’s right mind would take, because “hey, if we fail, we won’t have to pay for it the taxpayers will!” The failure was inevitably built into it from day one by the governments inability to keeps its nose out of the private sector.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:54 am
It’s an interesting thread, “Who isn’t addressing the issues”? I guess that depends on which issue you are talking about.
Once more, simply put, Bob’s nomination was seconded by the Marijuana Policy Project’s Rob Kampia by saying that Bob “has done more than just about anyone that I know to roll back the federal war on drugs”. Watch it on youtube. So, WHO isn’t addressing that issue? Why has Bob not stated what he will to continue in his effort to roll back the federal war on drugs? It can only be an oversight for so long. It’s starting to look like he is avoiding the issue at this point.
Part of the financial crisis that Bob decries has to do with the billions of dollars being spent on the war on drugs. States’ rights has to do with the war on drugs. Health care has to do with the war on drugs. Personal privacy has to do with the war on drugs. He has had pportunities to bring it up, but he just won’t.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
One more proof, if any was needed, that both the Democrats and the Republicans have totally lost the rigfht to govern the United States, and that we Americans MUST, to save what is left of our country, overcome our inertia, and start looking for much better alternatives.
Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party are certainly one such alternative.
A type of politics which seeks to replace government action, which does NOT WORK, with voluntary, contractual and honest exchange which does. A ;type of politics which recognises that taxation is theft, that the power to tax is the power to destroy, and that the sooner that the scourge of coerced taxation (including the fraud of inflation) is removed from our economy, the better off we will all be. A type of politics that recognises the wisdom of our Founding Fathers’ foreign policy, “peace and friendly commerce with all nations of the world, entangling alliance with none” which both Democrats and Republicans have forgotten with such disastrous consequences for both the American people and the human race, and which will work to safeguard liberty and soverignty at HOME, while working for optimizing peaceful exchange, trade, and cultural enrichment abroad.
Democrats and Republicans are hopelessly inadaquate to the tasks of pursuing these goals. Libertarians (with the help of those Americans who agree with us) can and will.
Spread the word!! Help elect Bob Barr. If we don’t nobody else will!
PEACE AND FREEDOM!!
David K. Meller
August 28th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I actually got a response from the author of that article, Richard Miller. It was only two words– “point taken” but at least he bothered to respond. Here is the full text of what I sent. Perhaps a few more folks should beat up on him.
June
Re: Financial Crisis is Absent From the Agendas of Parties, Candidates
There is at least one candidate talking about the issues you bring up here and you did Bob Barr a great disservice with your “both candidates” rhetoric. There are many more than two candidates seeking the presidency but as long as the media plays along with the idea that there are only two we will never see substantive discussion from the Republicrats who are terrified they might alienate someone if they spoke frankly about our country’s problems. I suggest you go to http://www.bobbarr2008.com if you are truly seeking substance on these issues. June GenisI
August 28th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I heard Bob Barr 2nite for the second time. Honestly, I had forgotten about him. No thanks to our fair & unbiased media. I thought highly of Barrs’ straight forward talk. Unfortunately America has relied on big bro so long that very few will vote for whats’ right or is in the long term best interest of the country and it’s posterity. Instead America votes for the candidate who promises the biggest handouts of our tax dollars. Unless America gains some character and unites for the common good, America will cease to exist ” as we know it”. Good luck Mr. Barr.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Speaking as a very recent newcomer to the Libertarian Party, I can say that the single best thing we can do for America is to just spread the word about libertarianism to as many people as we can. I’ve always been libertarian minded, but I just didn’t know there was a name for it. I’ve always hated both the two major parties because of what they keep doing to America, but I just voted for the lesser of two evils because I didn’t know any better. Then one day at work I was venting about how I hate both parties and about high taxes and a co-worker said “Have you heard of the Fair-Tax effort or the Libertarian Party? My brother-in-law’s always talking about it.” and I said “No, what do they believe in?” So I began researching this party I never heard of and low and behold the LP fit my beliefs perfectly, and now I’m a card-carrying member. So just get out there and talk to people. I have a feeling the LP is due for a huge growth spurt.