[610] in libertarians
Re: Harry Browne for President
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Tue Feb 7 21:09:04 1995
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 21:16:46 -0500
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU> (by way of Derek Rose <rosed@world.std.com>)
Vernon sent this to me instead of libertarians. My reply will follow in a bit.
|> Gramm may not be a perfect libertarian on all issues (e.g., I don't think
|> he's ever criticized the drug war), but from the looks of it, neither is
|> Browne. For example, his idea for a flat income tax of 10% isn't all that
|> much different from House Majority Leader Dick Armey's call for a flat
|> income tax of 13%. (or is it 18%? He's been on "This Week with David
|> Brinkely and other places promoting it though). So why not support the
|> candidate with a chance of winning, and of truly changing the debate?
Several reasons. First, a few percent of the vote of any given state
most likely will not change the election, so if Browne does pull in
any such margin it will not matter. Second if Brown in fact pulls in
something huge (ala Perot) then that is far more of a revolutionary
statement than any GOP'er could make. Indeed, it could turn the whole
tide of the future. Unlike Perot, we have a unified and well organized
network of both think tanks, party organization, and plenty of single
issue groups. We've even got allies in the GOP and elsewhere.
Thus, Browne either does so small it won't affect who wins, or he
does well enough for it not to matter who wins. A candidate who wins
because of a split vote is weak. Clinton prooved that. He had nothing
to work with in congress and it showed. Who cares who's in the White
House if the congress is still GOP (or libertarian, or whatever) and
pushing the other way?
Now, if Browne does "only" get a few percent of the vote then that
gives the LP permanent ballot status for the next four years, a
savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars and/or man hours of
ballot access drives. That money and time can then be spent on other
things. The highest any LP candidate has done has been about 1%
(1 million votes out of about 100 million cast, roughly). That's
just below the "worthy of coverage" line. Vote totals at or near
5% usually get coverage.
But again, the most important thing the Clinton election shows is
that it doesn't matter if you win if you don't have the ideological
support of the populace. Clinton won as "not Bush or the nut" but
that wasn't enough to do much of anything, even with a Dem congress.
I think a 2-5% showing for Browne would do more for my liberty
than the difference between a Gramm or Dole presidency. Gramm may
get in office but will have a hard time getting the support since
few will be more extreme than him. Thus, he becomes only slightly
better than a Dole once in office. Thus, it doesn't matter which
of them wins. (In fact, you could argue Gramm could do more as
Senate Majority Leader than as president, an argument I'd certainly
make for Gingrich in the House). A small Browne showing would really say
something to both the GOP and others. It would in fact make Gramm seem
more to the middle on economics if sustained. Combined with the good it
would do the LP and the fact that we'd not have to bargan money for
rights, it seems quite worth it.
I guess I'm still jaded from the Reagan years, but if that's all
a Gramm is going to be, then forget it. That's why I gave up on
the GOP in the first place. I'll eagerly support Browne in the
primary and in the final race.
BTW there will be a libertarian primary election in 1996! So
all you registered libertarians will be able to decide if you
even want Harry Browne as the candidate or not (there are at
least two others running). IMHO Browne is by far the best.
Still primaries do tend to get some coverage, so take part in it.
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| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT, Dept. OE | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
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| MIT LP: http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/libertarians/home.html |
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