I dont want to make this thread an ad or anything, so if you're interested in more dddd, or anyone for that matter, email me and we'll talk.

Isnt that what a fucking democracy is supposed to be?!?!?! People pick who they want to lead, not who was groomed to be led..we dont want polictians, we want LEADERS!!! eject all of these assholes..especially Barr..after reading his comments i have no doubt that he is evil. I wanted to believe he was just misguided and did not know all the facts..now it's apparent that he DOES know the truth and is trying as hard as he can to suppress it..if that isnt evil, then I dont know what is.

The libertarians arent perfect, but until we get to the point where democracy is working again, we will have to change the system anyway we can. This is the best chance we've had in a long time to get people to the polls to help change the system. Even in Barr's perfect neonazi republikan district, i can guarantee there are a lot of budsmokers there..if you show them what barr does to fellow smokers and how libs are 'pro-smoke', we could get enough votes to get rid of him. Look at voter turnout in the last few elections..even a few HUNDRED votes can make a difference in a primary. GO LIBS!

On a more positive note, I went and did it..i got myself ordained so i can honestly tell people about my religious use of cannabis and be able to discuss with them their own beliefs. I despised organized religions for as long as i can remember..but somehow, i still felt there was a god out there, even if our religions were wrong. I went to college and studied philosophy so i could understand what civilizations before us realized millions of years ago. Cannabis is one of the holiest substances on earth and should be treated a such. My 'church' will do just that. I may only be a church of one right now, but as i tell more people about my beliefs, i'm sure that number will change..hopefully i'll be able to build a website in my downtime (which isnt a lot anymore unfortunately)..like i mentioned before, publicity is what will win this war. The internet is the best almost free publicity someone can buy now. Once the 30% voting bloc of american pot smokers is united and shown that no they are NOT alone and YES they can change the system, we will see change coming, as we already have in state elections. Cannabis will be free again one way or another. But to win we all must make our voices heard in our own way. I found mine, hopefully i can help others find theirs.

"Libertarian politics would increase even further the disparity between rich and poor." How? In the past 2 years, I've grossed about 13K/yr. It's tough to live in San Diego close to the water on that, but I manage to do so without taking anything from anyone (by budgeting!). I've never taken a cent from any "public" service, in fact anything that is taken/stolen from anyone else. According to my economic status, shouldn't I be claiming that someone is getting rich and that it's pissing me off? This is something that has always bugged me, this class-warfare; the rich vs. the poor, the have's vs. the have not's. It's usually mentioned by someone who wants the classes to fight each other. The Republicans side with "the rich", the Democrats with "the poor" as if they really have the best interest of either in mind.

The Libertarians do not want "power", they want you to be in control of your own life, for better or worse (if it's worse that's your problem, if it's better, it's still your business). This is the problem with the Republicrats. They are in real "power", and use it against the citizens and also screw everything up. Just let people live their own lives, please, for the love of God! I recall hearing Harry Browne for the first time on NPR. Someone called and said, "Hey, what if someone is dumping oil on my property? Who am I suppose to call (if you are elected President)?" Harry told him to call the police, which is too obvious a move for a person that has been told all his life that there is Big Gov. Agency which handles all his problems for him. All it cost him was control of his life. A good question I've heard Harry ask is, "Would you give up your favorite gov. program if you and you grandchildren never had to pay income tax?"

And since the 2000 presidential election that saw Green Party candidate Ralph Nader strike off enough votes for former Vice President Al Gore to lose Florida, and thus the election, the impact of third parties is apparent The truth, if you care to do a little research, is here:

The Media Cover-up of the Gore Victory http://makethemaccountable.com/coverup/index.htm

The reason I'll stay with the party is simple, I now have a voice. I have spoken with Ron Crickenberger and straighted him out on a couple of issues. He took my criticism well actually. In fact I have spoken with most of the party leadership, and no I'm not a big financial contributor.

I agree though that the Lib's need to come a little closer to center to get serious backing. Their positions on gun control, law enforcement, education, deregulation, environment and social services make them appear ultra right wing, when really they are more constitutionalists.

I attended a couple of local Libertarian gatherings and found the people to be much to my liking. They were well informed, intelligent and extremely cantenkerous. But the meetings would have been a lot more enjoyable and interesting if they had been attended by a greater variety of people than just the friendly, middle-aged white males whom I was pleased to meet there.

Perhaps I'll attend the Libertarians' next meeting - which is not until September! - and see if they've become interested, as a matter of political survival, in attracting a bettter racial variety and a few girls for god's sake.

The people I met support legalization of drugs (all drugs) and prostitution but have reservations about unrestricted immigration. I favor unrestricted immigration and argued in favor of it. Others have petitioned the national headquarters to have this plank removed as a hindrance to the party's popularity; one guy was even passing out selections from David Duke publications which were not technically racist but were offensive to me as a popularly-appointed honorary Jew as well as a popularly-appointed honorary Black and a popularly-appointed honorary mojado.

Despite my seemingly white face, I am registered, by the way, with the US government as Black. One of the first questions on the 2000 census form - which I filled out verbally and in person with the Hispanic lady who came to my door - was what race to you consider yourself to be? I consider myself to be black and my answer was respected. If the US government should ever inquire as to how I consider myself to be black, I'll have a lot of answers - for starters it's not at all clear that my vote was counted.

The drug-war persecutions in this country arose from the bigotries of people who look like the Libertarians I met: white middle-aged males who need to be driven out of office and hanged by their heels like Mussolini. I'd work hard for a local spoiling campaign, especially if the Libertarians could come up with a black, pot-puffing candidate from the sex-workers union to run against a local drug-warring Democrat like any on a long list.

"If everybody tried this trick it would be a country of multi-parties in the worst sense," he said.

I disagree and would offer the multifarious political parties of Italy as an example of what I see as democratic and desirable. The Italians were able to elect a porn star to national office ( although I think she's since become an arch-conservative in the manner of recently deceased Linda Lovelace ) and do not tolerate anything like the level of drug-warring in the US.

One way of ending the drug war quickly is to continue electing ashbowls - he said it first - like George Bush who will drive the country into poverty (ask any of 20,000 former Enron employees) and earn it the opprobrium and eventual economic embargo of the entire world. Al Gore would have followed a more conservative and slower path to national destruction and thereby have prolonged his supremely hypocrital drug war.

Another way of ending the drug war is to open the immigration gates to one and all and to render the uniformity of sexist, racist, Christian, drug-warring culture that is so viciously pursued by American white corporate males who own the govenment a laughable impossibility. I'd like to see a society of forced-to-tolerance minorities, and the power of white males as passe as American magnanimity and B&W TV. If you can get here, then good luck.

And this is what the Plutocracy doesn't like:

"If I were a candidate I wouldn't exactly shudder, but if I were the Libertarians I would give it a go," said Thomas Mann, co-editor of The Permanent Campaign and Its Future, who added that while the third party might not topple the incumbent, it might rattle some cages.

"You should be running to educate the people," said Stephen Hess, a political analyst with the Brookings Institution, who called the spoiler strategy "despicable and beneath the Libertarians.

Oh, the last one was really rich. The two(?) main parties(?) have spent a lot of time and money creating ever more stringent 'ballot access' requirements to prevent 3rd parties from any participation in the political process.

When I first registered to vote, I declared my self as an independant...and the worm at the desk marked it down as Republican. This kind of political autism seems rampant in the DemoPublicans. Since we both spoke English, I can only assume that the 'misunderstanding' was deliberate. In my home State of Maryland, during the 1994 elections, the electoral board sent me a nasty letter saying in effect the Lib Party didn't exist in Maryland and I had to choose between being a Dem or a Rep. A lawsuit changed their minds, and I got a borderline apology from the same board that previously sneeringly said I didn't have a legitimate party.

The two main parties(?) have had the run of the roost for far too long. Even if the Libs and Greens don't do well, they'll kick - and maybe this year, bloody - the complacent hide of a machine that couldn't care less about your welfare. 'Spoilers'? Damn right...and I say more power to them!

BTW, the last comment by Mr. Hess smacks of something that many of you might want to have a look at:

All this "civil society" talk takes us nowhere http://globalresearch.ca/articles/AZI201A.html

From the article: "Civil society" is a construct which allows politically and economically powerful institutions to decide who is in, and who is out, when and if it suits their interests. Furthermore, it has the added value of sounding broad and inclusive enough to add a gloss of legitimacy to any institution, programme, or system which can be shown to the public as somehow engaging with civil society, whoever that is.

further on:

Referring to the use of the phrase in the Philippines, after the recent mass mobilizations to oust President Estrada, Edmundo Santuario III observes "it is now likewise being claimed by civic clubs, groups of rightist military elements, and politico-religious organisations, some legislators and others." Moreover, he argues, "civil society is actively bannered not necessarily as an antidote to poverty, corruption or as a vehicle for democratization, but to steer grassroots organisations away from the radical influence of political organisations calling for radical comprehensive revolutionary reforms." (Emphasis mine -k.)

So, according to Mr. Hess, the Libs and Greens and all other seeking true political and social change...should all go home and play with their toys while the big people get on with the business of governance.

That kind of nonchalant arrogance alone deserves a political kick in the arse.

And since the 2000 presidential election that saw Green Party candidate Ralph Nader strake off enough votes for former Vice President Al Gore to lose Florida, and thus the election, the impact of third parties is apparent.

All Gore had to do to expand his margin over Bush to be foolproof was support medical marijuana.

He was too owned by the law enforcement lobbies to even consider it.