Are we ready to vote Libertarian? Wayne Root thinks so!

When our intrepid young blogger “El Luchador” told me that he had arranged an exclusive interview with Wayne Allyn Root, the Libertarian Party’s Vice Presidential nominee, I thought he was joking.  But he wasn’t.  Today a veritable caravan of Orange Juice bloggers including yours truly, El Luchador, Sarah Spinosa, and our newest blogger the “Green Queen,” headed out to sunny Rancho Cucamonga to meet with Root and various members of the Libertarian Party, including a number of candidates for local legislative seats.  It turned out to be a memorable excursion.

This is an interesting time for Libertarians and for all Americans who still think freedom matters.  The venerable media institution that is Time Magazine recently took a look at the “freedom movement.”  Here is an excerpt from that article:

Maybe you haven’t heard, but this is the year of freedom. First there was the Ron Paul revolution, in which an avuncular 10-term Representative from Brazoria County, Texas, raised more than $34 million as a pseudo-Republican candidate, garnered more than a million primary votes and outperformed Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, all on the back of a get-government-off-my-back platform. Now there’s the Libertarian Party, which sold a little bit of its hard-line liberty-loving soul in exchange for the most respectable candidate it has ever had: recently converted former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, who’s polling nationally near 6% and could conceivably Naderize John McCain in a few key states and help nudge the presidency to Barack Obama.

Ron Paul is no longer running for President.  But his supporters need a home.  But can the Bob Barr/Wayne Root ticket pick up support from mainstream Americans?  Root thinks so.  He cited reports that 80% of Americans think that this country is moving in the wrong direction.  And over 90% of them hate the Democrat controlled Congress.  So why do they keep voting for members of these parties and expecting something different?  At what point will the voters realize that “change you can believe in” simply cannot come from either the GOP or the Democrats?

It’s all about the message, says the amiable Root.  He says he is the right guy to take that message to the voters.  I agree.  He is simply amazing.  His message is infectious.

If you are a Republican, consider what your choice is.  Voting for John McCain?  That’s no choice – unless you are happy electing a guy who will continue waging wars and who will extend the Bush “legacy” up to another eight miserable years.  Voting for Barack Obama?  Few Republicans can stomach such a choice – not when it is becoming eminently clear that Obama is simply too far left on fiscal matters.

So why not vote for the Libertarian Barr/Root ticket?  Barr, as Root put it in our interview, offers instant credibility.  He took on the corruption that was Bill Clinton.  He worked in Congress for years and was considered a leader of the Republican Party.  And then there’s Root.  A self-made millionaire he brags that he has never had to rely on the government for anything.  And he has, as he put it, four homeschooled children from the same wife.  That lasting marriage would be a rarity in the GOP Congressional ranks.

What I find increasingly attractive about the Libertarian Party’s message is the combination of fiscal conservatism with moderation, if not outright liberalism, on social issues.

Throughout the next week we will be posting parts one, two and three of El Luchador’s exclusive Orange Juice interview with Root.  I also plan to write a post later in the week about the many Libertarian Party candidates I met today.  And on Friday will come an announcement that might surprise a few of you…

In the interim I will close with one more excerpt from Time Magazine:

It would be a mistake, though, to write Root off. The things he cares about–being able to gamble legally via his home computer, continuing to homeschool his kids without much interference, keeping taxes low–speak to a lot of Americans. If the old party was cobbled together from hard-line strains of voluntarianism, propertarianism and paleolibertarianism, the new Libertarian Party is more likely to build off Root’s take, which is essentially suburbanarianism.

Libertarians are getting ready for the mainstream, and mainstream America may finally be ready for them.


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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.