How a Strong Candidate for Governor has Revitalized the NC Libertarian Party.
by Jan MacKay, candidate for state senate in Raleigh and Wake Forest
There are two ways a political party can grow.
First, and most often, the support comes from the bottom up, and there is little to no support from the top down. This is usually a failed approach. The second way a political party can grow is when there is support from the bottom up, and there is equal support from the top down. The NC Libertarian Party, along with Dr. Michael Munger, Libertarian candidate for Governor, is proving that this is the best approach.
Mike Munger understands that for him to be successful goes beyond himself. It requires an organization that is intelligent, motivated, and effective. His campaign manager is former candidate for Governor, Barbara Howe. Many of the top Libertarian candidates are also quite solid and smart. The grassroots supporters for LP are dedicated Americans and North Carolinians, know that change is needed, and are optimistic that the libertarian solutions offer people the brightest future, for it is a future based on the principles of freedom.
As the gubernatorial candidate, Mike has been able to inspire the approximately two dozen Libertarian candidates who listen intently to how he frames an answer to questions posed by journalists and voters, and well they should, since Mike Munger chairs the political sciences department at Duke University, and is an extremely knowledgable and highly accredited economist. During one debate, the other two candidates were dodging questions from the debate moderator, and going back and forth at each other. Mikes’ response, when it was his turn, was very refreshing. “I’ll just answer the question.”
The NC Libertarian Party is decades old but fledgeling as a new “resurrected” party which only recently regained ballot access. As of June 2008, there were no voters registered as Libertarians. When the party lost its’ standing, all voters who had been registered as Libertarians were changed to “unaffiliated” by the NC State Board of Elections. This was the result of strict ballot access laws which serve to monopolize the democrats and republicans whom Mike refers to as the “state sponsored parties”. Perhaps as a result of his teaching skills as a professor at Duke University, Dr. Munger has an ability to articulate, and the result is that those who listen are likely to learn. This is especially true of the other Libertarian candidates who are always eager for answers which are likely to be found in the next lesson.
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Additional Comment from Jan MacKay
These comments are mine and mine alone!
You will not find “the Stepford Candidates” amongst the Libertarians, so although Mike Munger is often the one who teaches all those who listen, we also teach each other, and it is up to each Libertarian candidate to conduct more research, and apply their own thoughts. In the Libertarian Party, we have a set of principles which we believe in, and from that foundation, we come up with our own solutions for the myriad of social-economic and political problems which confront society at every level of government. The frustrations of being in a political party which is “somewhere between the democrats and the republicans” become less and less, as we further define our own political idealogy based upon libertarian principles, and come up with our own answers [issues].
We usually arrive at similar solutions by recognizing that government, itself, is often the problem. Still, we are not anarchists. The need for government is quite clear. In America, government exists in the form of a constitutional republic, in order to ensure our rights and liberties. However, under the dominating rule of other parties, misled government grows out of control, and takes powers unto itself. In so doing, the rights and liberties of people are threatened. Government has become a hungry monster, with such bureaus as the IRS and state, county, and municipal tax departments being the cause of many good people to have nightmares.
At the state level, in North Carolina, the ruling party has been the Stepford Democrats who have an insatiable desire to spend, spend, spend. North Carolina needs better leaders who disagree with the status quo democrats who say more taxes will solve anything. The second largest party, the NC Republicans, offers a more “conservative” approach to spending, but their answer serves the wealthy at the expense of the working class, creating a large income gap between those who have found wealth and those who are working to try and survive.
Even more upsetting are conservative social beliefs such as the “family values” agenda and the “preferred faith-based intiatives” we all hear from right wing conservatives, such as President Bush. Their forced morality intends to blend a homogenous religious doctrine into government, while our government is supposed to have seperation between church and state. We have never had seperation between church and state; all we ever seem to have is divisiveness between people. I blame it on conservative moralists who think they are doing the will of God. Get religion out of government! They believe that their forcing their religion onto others will propel them toward rule by the silent majority, which is the dream of the Pat Robertson and Huckabee kind of folk, but this actually proposes the absolute destruction of religious freedom, by government-backed religious zealots. It threatens to tear down all other freedoms and is the most divisive threat to America. This desire by those who elect leaders who go to the same church as they do, and the goal of forcing religious doctrine upon others, is the reason my ancestors fled the King of England and sailed to America in 1634. Without freedom, you have nothing!
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