Barr Campaign: “No Dime of Difference” Between Obama, McCain
Russell Verney, Bob Barr Campaign Manager, continues his attack against Barack Obama and John McCain on Tuesday, saying that there is no real difference between the two.
“With barely three weeks to go in the presidential race, we still know very little about the economic, domestic, social and foreign policy positions of the McCain and Obama campaigns,” Verney, campaign manager for the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate, said.
“All we know is that Obama wants to bring change and he isn’t George Bush. I guess that’s a good thing,” he said.
Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr
“We also know that John McCain is a ‘maverick’ – whatever that means.” But, Verney said, “the reality is that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two on major issues of the day. Neither has a serious plan for ending the middle east war and winning a lasting peace in the region. Neither is prepared to improve our national economic situation. Both are supporters of the Bush Wall Street Bailout.”
He went on to call Barr the only viable candidate who has taken “thorough, thoughtful, sound positions on issues from bailouts to gun control. Only Bob Barr has a clear vision for our nation and is committed to reducing the size of our government, eliminating our federal budget deficit and ending the conflict in Iraq,” he said.
Third party candidates offer face tremendous problems in the United States election system. It is difficult for them to get on the ballots in the individual states, and once they are on the major two parties often try to push them off, fearing their competition may hurt their own chances of winning.
The Libertarian Party is America’s official third largest party, the Democratic Party and Republican Party are the biggest parties. Other third parties that have nominated a candidate for president this year are the progressive Green Party and the highly conservative Constitution Party. Famous political renegate Ralph Nader participates in this year’s election as well, as an independent candidate.
“The biggest challenge we continue to confront is letting people know they actually have a real choice this November. So many people agree that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain are good for the future of America,” Verney said. “Once they know they have a choice, they are flocking to Bob Barr.”
Barr is making some headway in key battleground states, approaching and going over 5% in some polls in those states. He is still lagging far behind both Obama and McCain, however, making it unlikely that he will succeed in repeat Ross Perot’s success in 1992.
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-->4 Responses to “Barr Campaign: “No Dime of Difference” Between Obama, McCain”
Comment from Jay_C
Time October 15, 2008 at 3:41 pm PDT
Hi Mike, thanks for your well thought out analysis. I read your post and I for the most part agree. I don’t want to put words in tour mouth, but you seem to be leaning towards the Barr Plan, but are hesitant because you are not sure of likelihood others “chipping” in. I think the problem is that our current system doesn’t ask us to donate (on the contrary, it tells us what we must pay, or else). However, as you said, Americans are very charitable in general and for the most part, give towards a good cause. If a program were put in place to organize and incentivise this specific action, I think it would really work.
Comment from Mike
Time October 16, 2008 at 1:27 am PDT
Jay_C,
You’re correct that I favor Barr’s plan <i>in an ideal world</i>. And I understand the argument that if government got out of the welfare business, and encouraged people to give, people would give even more (and probably feel much better about it than paying taxes). However, considering that currently people are suffering, even with the government programs that we have know, and private charities don’t seem to able to help everyone who needs it, Barr’s asking me to make a huge leap of faith that suddenly private citizens will step up when they aren’t now. In order for that system to work, people would have to start giving <i>more</i> to charity than they are currently paying in taxes to support those government programs. Maybe it would happen, but it’s that a pretty risky bet to take.
If the Libertarian party wants to convince me it would work, they should do two things:
1) Lead a massive campaign to increase charitable giving in America, to the point where anyone who needs better health-care coverage but don’t qualify for government assistance can get it. I’m talking especially about special funds to help poeple with health programs get insurance. Like I said in my blog post, I love their idea of increase the tax deduction for charitable giving, but even more than that would need to be done. It’s more a matter or changing culture than government policy.
2) Not only do we need to increase charitable giving, but I need to have some confidence that the charities at doing a good job about being fair and using the money well (hopefully better than the government does), and there aren’t abuses of the system by poeple who don’t really need the help.
The libertarian motto should be: “More freedom. More responsibility.” Freedom alone won’t cut it.
If those two things would happen, I would support Barr’s plan whole-heartedly.
Pingback from Ergotism › A Difference
Time April 2, 2009 at 8:09 pm PDT
[...] there’s still a significant difference between a moderate party and a party of wingnuts. When the Libertarian Party says otherwise, it just puts them somewhere on the spectrum between Ignoramus and Troll. This was written by [...]
Comment from Mike
Time October 15, 2008 at 2:14 pm PDT
“With barely three weeks to go in the presidential race, we still know very little about the economic, domestic, social and foreign policy positions of the McCain and Obama campaigns,”
That’s funny. I recently visited Barr’s website and looked at some of his issue stances. They struck me as very vague. The can be summed up basically as “government is bad”. I think, as far as information on positions go, Obama clearly has the most details posted (that’s not to say I like those details).
“The biggest challenge we continue to confront is letting people know they actually have a real choice this November. So many people agree that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain are good for the future of America,” Verney said. “Once they know they have a choice, they are flocking to Bob Barr.”
A little while ago I came to the conclusion that I don’t like either Obama or McCain, and so I checked our Barr’s website. But I was disappointed. I didn’t see much to get excited about. His healthcare plan (if you can call it that) seemed like McCain’s plan on steroids. I think it’s unlikely those who don’t like Obama or McCain will “flock” to Barr, except for the hard-core Libertarians.
I have posted an alalysis of the candidates health care positions (including Bob Barr’s) here: <a href=”http://sovereignmind.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/our-little-pre-existing-condition/”>http://sovereignmind.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/our-little-pre-existing-condition/</a>