Silverwolf had the great pleasure of tuning his ear to the recent debates amongst the candidates for the U.S. Presidency from the Libertarian Party, as he searched for a protest vote should Dr. Paul lose his nomination bid. The array of candidates was less than enthralling.
First and foremost is Steve Kubby, the medical cannabis activist who initiated and passed Prop. 215 in California, the law that legalized medical cannabis. Of course, Bill Clinton soon sent his drug czar (and what a fitting term for a tyrant when we recall the appalling and sadistic rule of the Romanoff dynasty in Russia), General McCaffrey, to quash any compassionate rebellion amongst the Californians, and, as a consequence of Clinton’s actions, many died and suffered in agony. Mr. Kubby himself was jailed for growing and using medical cannabis to treat his own cancer. So Kubby has some organizing credentials. But in listening to him, Silverwolf found someone who, while following Libertarian doctrine far more closely than any other candidate running in the party, lacked that certain something extra that people look for in a presidential candidate. On top of which, someone with no politicial experience has the proverbial snowball’s chance in modern America, unless his is an actor. People know that politicians are actors, and they are looking for their Sir Laurence Olivier. A good performance is all that counts, and that is why we have such pathetic hags running as Romney, Guiliani, Huckster-to-be, $400-a-haircut Edwards, and one of drug-warrior Clinton’s mistresses. Quite a choice. They aren’t even good actors.
And Kubby’s candidacy is a mute point because he has come out and endorsed Dr. Paul for President.
Then there is George Phillies, an extremely soft-spoken and genteel college physics professor, who has about as much chance of winning the Presidency as the Philadelphia Phillies had of winning the ‘59 Pennant. Silverwolf agreed with most of Phillies’ positions, but he was shocked when he heard a caller from the Bronx, who supported Ron Paul, phone in and discuss the Federal Reserve. Phillies, to Silverwolf’s amazement, praised the central bank, said we’d be deep in a depression if not for the Fed, and seemed to think it was one of the greatest inventions of modern capitalism. The caller seemed flabbergasted too. “You’re for a central bank and yet you call yourself a Libertarian?”, he asked incredulously. Right. How could a Libertarian, who believes in free-markets, not believe in a free-market in interest rates? In fact, Dr. Paul and the hard-nosed prophets of hard-money have pointed out, time and time again, that it is a central bank, with the authority to print or retract currency as it sees fit (and 95% of the time on the print side; the retraction side is just for show), which is the very reason we are in our current financial mess. How can Phillies be a Libertarian, and also be for this cornerstone of economic fascism? Beats Silverwolf.
Next on the Libertarian starting roster is Wayne Allyn Root, a Las Vegas talk show host, who is all entrepreneurial hero-gutwind, and gung ho the corporate capitalist. His repeated emphasis on Vegas, and the wonders of Vegas, and the great blessings of gambling (?) give a good indication of where his interests lay. He also emphasized his “moderate” approach to Libertarianism, and talked about how Libertarianism had alienated the American mainstream with a lot of its “extreme” views. He seemed to have forgotten that the Libertarian party calls itself the Party of Principle; and incrementalist compromise is just what the party does not need, since the Libertarian party is the only “pure” party if one is a Jeffersonian Radical Liberal (i.e. a Libertarian) married to a free-market capitalist. Just like the Revolutionary Colonists. Silverwolf liked Root’s view that America should support its allies, including Israel, Canada, Australia and Britain, since it has so few in the world. However, there is nothing in the Constititution to warrant such support, unfortunately. America may be following the ignoble example of those early Colonists who accepted the fervent aid of the French and Lafayette, but weren’t too willing to be too involved when the French Revolutionists needed their support. Perhaps America should start paying for the intelligence it gets from its allies, since Dr. Paul wants to keep everything on such a capitalistic level?
Mike Jingozian sounded young and rather unforceful. He is a growing businessman, with his own company. His platform sounded like it might well include government interventions in the fields of health and education. He seemed like another “moderate”.
Then there is Daniel Imperato, another self-made businessman, who includes his Vatican confirmation and membership document for the Knights of Malta in his credentials. How is that supposed to tie in with Libertarianism, which has usually espoused an atheistic outlook (but not always — consider the dichotomy between the atheistic Ayn Rand and the Theist, Dr. Timothy Leary)? Do we really care if he is a Knight of Malta?
Scraping the unknowns barrel we come across Alden Link, a New York businessman, manufacturer and distributor of a widely-used wheat grass juicer, with whose positions Silverwolf generally agreed, but whose plan to build 900 new nuclear plants in America, while it would leave us completely free from oil dependence, would certainly create a lot of spent fuel rods, and would place most of the country within striking distance of a nuclear reactor. Complete energy independence free of oil and coal would, however, be quite a situation, and something Silverwolf would love to see. But is building 900 plants practical, especially if solar is going to advance dramatically in the next score of years? Compared to Ron Paul’s raising $18.5 million, Link has raised $800. It should be a close race.
Christine Smith seems to be a Janey-come-lately in the Libertarian party. Steve Kubby has criticized her sudden jump to prominence since she has been espousing the Libertarian cause for less than a year, according to Kubby, while he has been advancing the same views for over a decade. Silverwolf read some of Smith’s very long-winded blurbs on her Libertarian views, blurbs that seem to include a lot of dry, one-sentence paragraphs. Is this the depth of her thinking? Again, this is a mute point candidacy, because it seems in the last few weeks, Smith has joined Kubby in endorsing Dr. Paul.
John Finan is another candidate who has so modified the normal Libertarian positions that he sounds like a moderate. He seems to be involved in N.Y business projects. He certainly didn’t sound very radical.
Dave Hollist has perhaps the wholest views on Libertarianism. He seems to be a Randian, through and through. His suggestion that the government raise revenue by being a guarantor of contracts sounds like it has real promise. If two people deeply trust each other and draw up a contract, there would be no need for this government insurance; if they don’t trust each other, they could pay a fee to the government to insure fulfillment of their contract, and if one party reneges on the agreement, the government would have the authority to enforce the contract. A very clever idea indeed, and one that could fund government operations without direct taxation.
Jim Burns also seemed to have a lot of interesting ideas. So far he has raised $40 for his campaign.
The cast rounds out with Bob Jackson, who worked in the nuclear weapons industry, and Robert Milnes, a big-government Democrat running in the Libertarian party. Go figure.
Are these Libertarians about to mount a significant challenge to the rapid ascendency of Dr. Paul’s campaign? About as much chance of that occurring as the Phillies getting out of the Kubby-hole of last place in the National League in the pennant race of ‘59. Not something Silverwolf would bet his Wolf’s Lair on.
Perhaps, with such a dismal slate of candidates, Silverwolf should run for President? Is America ready to elect a Libertarian Wolf?
Silverwolf will howl to that.
Hoooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww. — Silverwolf
Tags: Alden Link, Dave Hollist, George Phillies, Jim Burns, Libertarian Party, Ron Paul, Steve Kubby
