Libertarian national convention May 27–30 in Orlando (Official thread)

[helmuth_hubener]

[MENTION=8425]helmuth_hubener[/MENTION] I don't have huge disagreement with what you said, other than that GJ's quote about discrimination is misattributed to me.

That was not my intent! I just had to remove it out of its nested quote to quote it, since RPFs quoting only goes one layer deep, I think. Hopefully no one was confused by that. It was of course Gary Johnson's statement I was responding to, not you.

I've seen you post those charts a couple times. Why did you go up to 2010? I can understand looking at a couple years after he left office in 2003, but the sharp upturn in the ensuing years counters your point a little. I think to some extent we're looking at a fiscal conservative doing his damnedest in a very blue state with huge majority progressive legislators 180 degrees opposed to any fiscal restraint.

For context. Can you spot Government Growth Gary's term in office in that chart? It's the period when the growth is much lower.

Can't?

Neither can I.

It is a standard exponential growth curve. The rate of growth was roughly the same before, after, and during Government Growth Gary. You say it increased afterward, but no, percentage-wise it does not. Exponential growth curves are curved, while the rate of growth remains constant.

You could say "but, but, he really wanted to cut and just couldn't with the legislature!" My research shows that turns out to not be the case. He could have easily vetoed spending bills. He didn't. He just didn't. He could have. But he didn't.

Now how is Mr. Johnson going to reduce federal spending as President if he is unwilling to veto all the ridiculous, outrageous, spend-thrift spending bills Congress sends him? You tell me. I'm pretty creative, but I see no way to do it. Other than that: vetoing spending bills. And he has demonstrated -- clear as crystal, for almost a decade -- he is not willing to do that.

What's more, New Mexico has one of the strongest line-item vetoes in the nation. He could have cherry-picked off items from the budget and reduced them *tremendously* and it would have been very difficult for the legislature to do anything about it. But he used that line-item veto very sparingly. He did not make any meaningful cuts with it. Zip. Essentially, zip. Like .0001 of the budget.

That's, like, why the New Mexico government kept growing. Go figure! It's not rocket science.

I can clearly see that cutting the government is not a priority for him. At all. But it's the only priority for me. That's what I want. Cut. The. Government. Thus, Government Growth Gary and I just do not see eye to eye, despite his rhetoric (read: LIES).

Fake.

 

[The Rebel Poet]

Well... "A little libertarian leaning"? Johnson was vetted on this forum four years ago, and he has a solid libertarian record. Ontheissues.org, a non-partisan website, rates Johnson firmly in the Libertarian quadrant.

For context, let's make some comparisons:

They rate Johnson as MORE libertarian than Ron Paul:

I doubt there is a single person who doesn't know that's wrong. This shows that you have to account for a margin of error with OnTheIssues. I'm not denying that he is in the libertarian quadrant, but he clearly isn't so far in it if he thinks government should dictate whom you must bake for.

 

[nickpruitt]

You will not hear this said in any of the major 2 party conventions coming up.

 

[eleganz]

You will not hear this said in any of the major 2 party conventions coming up.

They know they don't win any elections so they are left with pointless circle jerking like the above video.

 

[nickpruitt]

Both political parties don't even get the taxation is theft as a concept because both parties and most people right now believe in a social contract theory. It's a serious matter libertarians and free minded people need to get changed because till then liberals and conservatives will continue to destroy liberties.

 

[opal]

Both political parties don't even get the taxation is theft as a concept because both parties and most people right now believe in a social contract theory. It's a serious matter libertarians and free minded people need to get changed because till then liberals and conservatives will continue to destroy liberties.

Except Gary.. he'd like to continue with the "security net" for disadvantaged citizens

 

[William Tell]

MUH CAKES!!!

I've wanted to say that.

MUH LIBERTEA!!!

Haha, property rights and freedom of conscience is so last century. Only old foggy congressmen care about that shit.