Please, this thread is not for arguing politics. It is just for factual reasons to help with my mock campaign. I was wondering if we could stray from biased remarks that could spark a political debate that could result in getting this thread locked. Those are not my intentions at all.
I am having a mock campaign in my political science class. There are four parties involved with this campaign: Democrat, Green, Libertarian, and Republican. I have been chosen as the Libertarian runner. I need to focus on questions that the other parties will ask me and questions I could ask the other parties. Not just normal questions, but really hard ones that can stump them or me. I just need to be prepared for the worst of the questions.
My question to all of you is can you think of a good question from one of the parties that would stump a Libertarian runner, or a good question that a Libertarian could stump one of the other party members there. I already have a few good questions in mind, but I think I need more. If anybody could help come up with some more good questions, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks.
And this is really not to spark political arguments. I am not trying to raise the proctology forum or anything like that. I just know this place is full of intelligent people, and I would really cherish the feedback from anyone willing to give it.
One of the central issues for Libertarians is taxes – specifically eliminating the income tax, pretty much immediately upon entering office. So, one that could stump the Libertarian is, “How can the government survive with no income tax: what programs will you eliminate immediately?”
Harry Browne, who ran twice for the LP, put his campaign this way: he wanted the Federal Government to begin operating within the Constitution. The Constitution is specific about which duties the Feds MUST carry out, which no government (i. e., any state or locality) has, and everything in between is up to the states. So a good question for the Libertarian to ask is, “Where in the Constitution is ____ specified as a duty of the Federal Government?” Or: It says in the Constitution that all spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives (it’s one of very few duties given to the House). Eight days into the new fiscal year, the House has passed zero spending bills, while the Senate has passed (I think) two. What would you do to goad the House into passing spending bills? And why is the Senate writing spending bills, and what would you do to ensure that they do THEIR duty and advise and consent on, for example judicial nominees rather than doing the House’s work?
Most Libertarians would like to eliminate income tax, but few would want to throw the country into chaos – immediately or otherwise. To argue that would be a straw man tactic. I am sure you don’t mean it that way, but some would. Asking what programs would disappear is a good tactic. Sounds like one of the questions Ron Paul would get. If I remember correctly, he would counter with things like government waste, unintended consequences, corruption and local alternatives. But you can probably get that off his website.
Chas, you are right that many libertarians advocate a return to a strict interpretation of the constitution. First, most libertarians would be happy to achieve that much change. As originally written and interpreted, the document was an amazingly libertarian document for its time. Second, most Americans still look favorably on the underlying concepts and would not consider them radical or unworkable. Thus Libertarians can avoid two common attacks against their philosophy.
I will go along with MTGuru and move the rest of my comments to a PM.
I think it SHOULD be easy enough to present the basic philosophy of a party and appropriate questions with which to stump it, without resorting to editorializing or punditry. Just state the question and why it’s appropriate. (like Chas did.)
Good point by Guru, though. If you can’t help yourself, reply by pm.
I am inclined to label myself as a Libertarian Communist a good bit of the time. I want to see less government interference into my personal liberties and more government control of natural and general resources. I have opinions about this current crop of Libertarians but let’s just say I don’t know them. They’ve lost the roots of Libertarianism and all they’re about is not paying taxes but making sure they benefit greatly but said same taxes. So I good question that I have is “How can you get the Libertarian Party back to it’s roots?”
It really should, but I don’t think the major parties (Democratic and Republican) are really tied to a particular philosophy. They do get together and write platform statements, but no one expects all the party candidates to take them seriously. There’s no such thing as a Republican philosophy or a Democratic moral theory. Both these parties do expect loyalty – but to the party and not to a particular set of principles.
I think that is observed fact. We would have to point to the conservative or liberal sides of each party to be able to discern a common philosophy. And it might be hard to find common ground even there.
Anyway, no reason we can’t have a civilized discussion here. Anyone for another cup of tea?
I don’t know. But a good question which would stump me woud be “What’s a Democrat?” or “What’s a Green?” or “What’s a Libertarian?” or “What’s a Republican?” I wouldn’t have a clue on any of those …
Is a Libertarian someone who likes to party a lot and drinks and womanises all the time? Or is that something else?
Thanks.
