The man who made me quit the Libertarian Party is dead

I voted for Bill Clinton. Twice. But the presidential vote for which I am most ashamed is my 2000 vote for Libertrian Party candidate Harry Browne.

I had been a Democrat all my life. I was a precinct committeeperson (very briefly) and had put myself up as a delegate for Tom Harkin back in 1992.

It wasn’t long after that period when I started realizing more and more than all I really wanted was to get the government monkey off my back, and that I was increasingly resentful of my own party was wanting to keep it there as much as trhe Republicans were.

The Democrats wanted to keep taking as much money out of my paycheck as possible to “help” people who I saw were not really interesting in helping themselves. The Repbulicans kept wanting to tell me how to conduct myself in my bedroom, and wanted to control what I read and saw on televisison. Even worse, there were “moderates” in both parties who seemed to advocate the worse statist policies of both groups, abandoning what little good remained in their own party platforms.

I found myself searching for an alternative and found the LP. At the same time, I was disgusted by Democrats who were willing to forgive Clinton for lying under oath and to the public, and for those Republicans who simply were upset that he had sex and wanted him impeached on that basis alone.

I stumbled across the World’s Smallest Political quiz and was shocked by the results. I picked the answers that made the most sense and here I was being ranked a libertarian.

Not those weirdos, I thought. These are the sickoes who want hookers to roam the streets freely and think school bus drivers should be allowed to drive while stoned.

I visted some libertarian Web sites and came away thinking that I wanted to live in an America that was more like the one they envisioned, with people being as free as possible to make their own decisisons and control their own destinies.

It was my “aha” moment.

Not long after that, I was sending them dues — I think it was $8 — and after pledging to not initiate force against anyone else, I was a member of the Libertarian Party. I even had a membership card.

As a convert, I was more devout than most. I slapped Harry Browne for President banners on all my Web pages and made libertarianism the focus point of virtually everything I wrote on the Web.

My dad nearly disowned me. Well, not really, but we did have a lot of political arguments.

I was really quite obnoxious about it.

And I was happy in my choice until Sept. 11, 2001. Scratch that. It was several weeks after the Islamofascists killed thousands of my countrymen when I learned what the Libertarian Party’s reaction would be. Harry Browne, the man had voted for less than one year earlier, posted an article saying that the United States caused the terrorist attracks by meddling in the affairs of other nations.

That’s funny. I had been under the impression Libertarians won’t strike the first blow, but once someone else struck you, all bets are off. No one sitting at their desk at the World Trade Center, nor anyone sitting in any of the four airliners had stuck a blow against anyone. Soliders can conceivably be considered legitimate targets. But the people at the Pentagon had gone to their jobs that morning expecting to be keeping the peace, not be victims of a sneak attack.

None of that mattered to the LP. Browne and the people who run the LP were so wrapped up in their hatered of the government — of any government — that they couldn’t see the fact that their nation was at war. I doubt that many hard-core members, the anarcho-capitalists, really see themselves as members of a nation with responsibilities to that nation.

And bear in mind that I had spent the past several weeks in a futile and (on second-though) silly effort to join the military. The attacks left me angry and depressed that I was powerless to stand up in some for the my countrymen.

So I burned my LP membership card. Actually, I tore it up, then dug is out of the garbage and burned it. I only wish I had arranged for someone to photograph me doing it.

I agree that the United States has flaws, but it’s my nation. Our Constitution and our culture still affords me more freedom and prosperity than any other nation on Earth.

The United States is a nation that is worth defending.

I cannot and will not be a member of any organization that advocates that the United States not protect its citizens.

I bring all this up because Harry Browne died yesterday.

As is usally the case so soon after a death, all the obits and news articles are full of fawning commentary.

I just wanted to add a little perspective.

My sympathies to Mr. Browne’s family and friends.

harry browne,libertarian party