I’m a libertarian. Bob Barr is not. Oh, he may be a Libertarian(tm), but he is not a libertarian. He voted for the Patriot Act, threw his (constitutionally late) vote behind the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and helped pilot the plane of Bill Clinton’s impeachment. He’s interested in constitutionally enshrining the inability of same-sex couples to enjoy the M word.
He is, in other words, a hypocrite. Classical liberals are scornful of all 4 of the involvements I mentioned above. The Libertarian Party’s adoption of Barr as their wan princeling for president is shocking and hugely disappointing.
No true libertarian would equate Barr with an orthodoxy that frees us from those offered by the perfidious 2-party system and its increasingly homogeneous machinery. This is at the heart of the perplexing dilemma of a formal Libertarian party. Libertarians are most effective at the state, regional, and municipal level. Once you try treading the tar pit of federal office, you seem to enter a world where contradiction and antithesis are like pills and alcohol: in great enough doses, who cares, who can see through the ever-increasing power of U.S. government? I can’t. Pass the bong. What was your name, again?