Anyone else object to being called "Libertarian"?

[coffeewithchess]

All Ron Paul supporters are constantly refered to as Libertarians in the media, I consider myself a conservative Republican personally, just not the kind of conservative Republican that most in the party have de-volved into these days with all the war rhetoric, but my hope is to bring Republicans back to their senses, not turn them into Libertarians. I also feel this label has turned alot of potential Rep voters off to us.

Yes, in the primary I do mind it very much, because this is the REPUBLICAN primary. I don't hear the same media calling Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt, and all the other frauds "Liberals like Obama" repeatedly.
Did it have effect and get your general idiot voter to think of RP differently? Absolutely...because they did it so often.

[LibertyEagle]

Nice attempt to slander me. But under no circumstance am I advocating "Mob Rule" as you say. Again the MEGA POSTER must correct us little people. Get some therapy.

Actually, you said this, so it sounded like it.

Letting people with minority opinions walk all over us is what got us to this place to begin with.

If that is not what you meant, well, ok. There is no reason to be a rude jackass.

P.S. Word to the MEGA POSTERS I am not going away until RPF bans me. So get used to it.

Who wants you to leave?

[twomp]

labels are stupid

[livefree2]

I think libertarian is often better received by progressives, while constitutional conservative is better if pitching to traditional republicans.

[The Free Hornet]

I really wish others would understand that supporting a third party is a defeatist attitude promoted by the power elite and those who are unaware of what power is. Having an aversion to a world or an attraction to a word does not a party make or break. In the end it is about infrastructure, resources and members the Republican Party has all of those.

Good point. But a strategy worse than abandoning control of the Republican party is the "go along to get along" types. There will never come a time when loyalty is rewarded. Liberty-loving Republicans ought be prepared to defeat the statists within the party even if a worst statist, Democrate e.g., goes to serve in DC.

[John F Kennedy III]

All Ron Paul supporters are constantly refered to as Libertarians in the media, I consider myself a conservative Republican personally, just not the kind of conservative Republican that most in the party have de-volved into these days with all the war rhetoric, but my hope is to bring Republicans back to their senses, not turn them into Libertarians. I also feel this label has turned alot of potential Rep voters off to us.

I object. I'm a Constitutional Conservative.

[cheapseats]

I think libertarian is often better received by progressives, while constitutional conservative is better if pitching to traditional republicans.

Lower-case libertarian is also better received by Libertarians, Independents, Disillusioned Democrats, Former Republicans and those who equally despise both par-taaays.

People forget that people encouraged (lured?) ANTI REPUBLICAN Freedom Fighters into or BACK into the Republican fold, "JUST" TO ELECT RON PAUL . . . blah blah blah, yada yada yada about why he is better than Obama or the Other R.

Obviously X number of Non Republicans COMPROMISED based on those persuasive arguments. He is doing MUCH better than last time, yes? Yes. That is SURELY not due entirely to increased support among Republicans. Ron Paul ain't exactly a HIT with Republicans.

People NOW tell Libertarians, Independents, Disillusioned Democrats, Former Republicans and those who equally despise both par-taaays that if they were TRUE patriotic lovers of Liberty, they'd get the $#@! on board with the self-serving notion that REPUBLICAN PARTY GAINS are the next best thing to a Paul presidency.

[John F Kennedy III]

I case you have not noticed, and by your post you haven't .... WE ARE TAKING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BACK. Want to help?


P.S. Oh my. I just noticed the number of posts you make. Please reference this thread. Stop The Cannibalism.

In the process and mission accomplished are two different things. The globalists won't back down easily.

[John F Kennedy III]

Way to support the cause. What are you doing in the REAL WORLD to make it happen? I have donated over $1,500.00 of my work product to the campaign and c4L and have pledged an additional $500.00 to Vets For Ron Paul. Of course If I spent my day posting on RPF I would not have the time to earn the money to donate.

Really? You're turning this into an immature pissing contest?

[Carlybee]

Lower-case libertarian is also better received by Libertarians, Independents, Disillusioned Democrats, Former Republicans and those who are equal-opportunity despisers of both par-taaays.

People forget that people encouraged (lured?) ANTI REPUBLICAN Freedom Fighters into or BACK into the Republican fold, "JUST" TO ELECT RON PAUL . . . blah blah blah, yada yada yada about why he is better than Obama or the Other R. Obviously X number of Non Republicans COMPROMISED based on those persuasive arguments.

People NOW tell Libertarians, Independents, Disillusioned Democrats, Former Republicans and those who are equal-opportunity Par-taaay Despisers that if they were REALLY a lover of Liberty, they'd get the $#@! on board with the self-serving notion that REPUBLICAN PARTY GAINS are the next best thing to a Paul presidency.

Yep. Some of us became republicans because we begged ron paul to run for office and didn't expect him to give up his 30 years of tenure as a member of the GOP. It was always for him and with the hope that the GOP could be steered back into a true conservative position. That doesn't mean all of us relate to being a Republican, consider ourselves Republican or even want to be Republican. As far as I am concerned the Republican party comes with a lot of baggage. If I had my druthers...which I don't, I would put a lot of effort into starting a new party with a fresh clean slate but I think that would be a gargantuan task and even then there are no guarantees there wouldn't be splintering within the party just as we are now seeing splintering within this movement.

[Butchie]

IMHO, threads like this (no offense) put out negative energy...a drain. We need energy and we need it to be positive! We dont need negative thought because there is enough negative news ... but even with negative news, we can turn that energy into positive ... like donating to South Dakota or doing something else that is positive to counteract that. This is no time to whine about such things. Again ... not to offend anyone, just trying to inject POSITIVE energy. Come on troops!

Too bad my comment has to bump this ... hopefully all the negative stuff will drop to the bottom and the cream, like the South Dakota Money Bomb, will rise to the TOP.

What exactly is negative about this? I feel, and you can disagree, that with most Republican voters the word Libertarian either makes them say "What the hell is a Libertarian", or it's something they despise or think is strange, I know some on here say that's petty, and it is, but it's also reality and I feel the label costs us votes and legitimacy. I also don't like being labeled one because I do not support abortion, I do not support gay marriage, and I do not support open borders, yet I get lumped in that category by being a Paul supporter.

[airborne373]

By applying your logic you have to be a really sick person too. Someone should call a good psychiatrist.

If I had tens of thousands of posts on this site. I would register at the local mental hospital today.

[airborne373]

In the process and mission accomplished are two different things. The globalists won't back down easily.

Could not agree more. Now is the time to push even harder.

[cheapseats]

What exactly is negative about this? I feel, and you can disagree, that with most Republican voters the word Libertarian either makes them say "What the hell is a Libertarian", or it's something they despise or think is strange, I know some on here say that's petty, and it is, but it's also reality and I feel the label costs us votes and legitimacy. I also don't like being labeled one because I do not support abortion, I do not support gay marriage, and I do not support open borders, yet I get lumped in that category by being a Paul supporter.

It absolutely needs to be discussed . . . or the Ron Paul Wing of the Republican Party (as opposed to the Tea Party Wing or the Neocon Wing or the Yesteryear Wing) will "find itself" with rather less support than it thought. Inviting (compelling?) it to collaborate/compromise with HARDRIGHT & EVANGELICAL Wings, to get anything passed against Wingnut Leftists.

Gridlock favors Big Money. What care, they, if their coffers increase via TRANSFER OF WEALTH rather than by Growth...so long as their share increases, which it is doing under both D's and R's. Sure, they'd RATHER see Growth, but failing that...

How 'bout that Facebook IPO, eh?

It doesn't need to be discussed in Grassroots Central, but it DOES need to be discussed without Moderator Slant.

Outta curiosity, who finds lower-case 'libertarian' more offensive than 'PaulBot' or 'Paultard' or SWARM OF KILLER BEES?

[airborne373]

Really? You're turning this into an immature pissing contest?

No. I am simply sick and tired of being preached to by MEGA POSTERS on this site or any other site for that matter. Simple facts if you have mega thousands of posts online you are not doing much in the real world so I really do not respect the opinions of MEGA POSTERS. I am calling them out. And I can take the heat. For too long MEGA POSTERS have trampled all over this board. They believe they have some kind of ownership stake by their number of posts. What they do is run off and talk over new people and members who post infrequently.

It is similar to radio traffic where one or more user of a channel "steps on the signal." Same $#@!.

[heavenlyboy34]

The constitution is based on libertarian ideals.

The idea of libertarianism was around long before there ever was a written constitution of any sort.

The real problem with all of this is that people are making 'mental shortcuts' with these terms and automatically assume that it's bad based on what they have been told.

No it's not. The Constitution created a much stronger central government than was necessary, and gave statists the tools necessary to expand the regime's power indefinitely. The Articles of Confederation are much closer to 'libertarian ideals'. At any rate, it's a shame that "libertarian" has become a dirty word. Libertarianism is primarily the culmination of classical liberal thought-the most important intellectual/political movement in history. Unfortunately, the "big L" libertarians, Objectivists, Constitutionalists, and others have not learned from the discoveries of the classical liberals.

[heavenlyboy34]

No. I am simply sick and tired of being preached to by MEGA POSTERS on this site or any other site for that matter. Simple facts if you have mega thousands of posts online you are not doing much in the real world so I really do not respect the opinions of MEGA POSTERS. I am calling them out. And I can take the heat. For too long MEGA POSTERS have trampled all over this board. They believe they have some kind of ownership stake by their number of posts. What they do is run off and talk over new people and members who post infrequently.

It is similar to radio traffic where one or more user of a channel "steps on the signal." Same $#@!.

yep.

[LibertyEagle]

People NOW tell Libertarians, Independents, Disillusioned Democrats, Former Republicans and those who equally despise both par-taaays that if they were TRUE patriotic lovers of Liberty, they'd get the $#@! on board with the self-serving notion that REPUBLICAN PARTY GAINS are the next best thing to a Paul presidency.

Reminder for those who do not know, cheapseats does not support Ron Paul.

You are misconstruing the comments and I am pretty sure you already know that. What it seemed to me that they were saying is that we could take over the GOP and infuse it with our principles, much faster, if everyone got on-board to try to do that. Ron Paul is who suggested this strategy, so it shouldn't come as a big shock to anyone. No one is asking for people to join the GOP and become a Republican slug. I know that I don't want that, and I can't imagine anyone else does, either.

Whether we like it or not, only the 2 major political parties get in debates and get media coverage. I have been registered as a Republican for a long time, but I bear no allegiance to them. I'm only registered that way, because of voting in primaries. I always voted for the best person, regardless of party. I only view political parties as tools and it is a political reality that if we want to get liberty candidates into office, we need to pwn as many leadership positions in the GOP as we can. Then, all the cheating that happened during this election, cannot happen again. We will be changing the conversation from the inside-out. The more liberty candidates we get in office, the more people we have with a podium to change hearts and minds, in addition to using the system to reduce the size and scope of government by leaps and bounds.

Third parties do not get in debates and do not get media coverage. Even after all these years, the Libertarian Party is not on a bunch of ballots. I don't like political parties at all, but here we are.

I want to be effective at getting the government out of our lives. To me, using the Republican Party as a tool to achieve that, makes the most sense. We could own this thing, if we just don't let up.

[heavenlyboy34]

It absolutely needs to be discussed . . . or the Ron Paul Wing of the Republican Party (as opposed to the Tea Party Wing or the Neocon Wing or the Yesteryear Wing) will "find itself" with rather less support than it thought. Inviting (compelling?) it to collaborate/compromise with HARDRIGHT & EVANGELICAL Wings, to get anything passed against Wingnut Leftists.

Gridlock favors Big Money. What care, they, if their coffers increase via TRANSFER OF WEALTH rather than by Growth...so long as their share increases, which it is doing under both D's and R's. Sure, they'd RATHER see Growth, but failing that...

How 'bout that Facebook IPO, eh?

It doesn't need to be discussed in Grassroots Central, but it DOES need to be discussed without Moderator Slant.

Outta curiosity, who finds lower-case 'libertarian' more offensive than 'PaulBot' or 'Paultard' or SWARM OF KILLER BEES?

Actually, gridlock (in legislation and so forth) is very good. It's those times when the regime is "efficient" that tyranny runs rampant. The "checks and balances" of Constitutionalism are theoretically there to create a sort of gridlock. (only in theory, of course)

[John F Kennedy III]

lol

I really wish others would understand that supporting a third party is a defeatist attitude promoted by the power elite and those who are unaware of what power is. Having an aversion to a world or an attraction to a word does not a party make or break. In the end it is about infrastructure, resources and members the Republican Party has all of those. As Liberty minded folk take over the apparatus known as the Republican Party and displace the Neo-Conservatives from power requiring them to fold back into the Democrat Party from whence they came or start a Pro-War ... Pro-Tax Party.

Mitt Romney's Daddy successfully displaced Barry Goldwater conservatives in 1964 and sent them into obscurity for nearly half a century. It is only just that the same happen to them.

+rep for the truth about third parties

[LibertyEagle]

No. I am simply sick and tired of being preached to by MEGA POSTERS on this site or any other site for that matter. Simple facts if you have mega thousands of posts online you are not doing much in the real world so I really do not respect the opinions of MEGA POSTERS. I am calling them out. And I can take the heat. For too long MEGA POSTERS have trampled all over this board. They believe they have some kind of ownership stake by their number of posts. What they do is run off and talk over new people and members who post infrequently.

It is similar to radio traffic where one or more user of a channel "steps on the signal." Same $#@!.

You have no idea what you are talking about. But, go ahead and be a rude $#@!.

[mport1]

Yes I object. People like Gary Johnson, Bob Barr, Wayne Allyn Root, Neal Boortz, and Bill Maher call themselves libertarians. I really don't want to be associated with them or the Libertarian Party. However, I often do find myself falling into the trap and using the term.

[porchdog]

If you want to argue with me on this fine, but that is all it will be a "debate." And as we debate our future is destroyed. It's time to take the spirit of libertarianism and merge it with a powerful institution that already exist, the Republican Party and make it ... the party of Liberty For All!

I thought that what the Ron Paul Revolution was about............If you are looking for a moderate democrate you will have to look to the to the right of the republican party.......

[John F Kennedy III]

Personally I considered my self a Libertarian after this election cycle. The way the Republicans have treated Ron Paul and all the new coming (young people) disgust me! The way the election cycle votes and conventions for delegates have turned into a mess. The blatant lies, scams, cheating, and arrogates they have done to us make me never to want to be a republican again.

Third party is where they want you.

[heavenlyboy34]

Yes I object. People like Gary Johnson, Bob Barr, Wayne Allyn Root, Neal Boortz, and Bill Maher call themselves libertarians. I really don't want to be associated with them or the Libertarian Party. However, I often do find myself falling into the trap and using the term.

So what if some people misuse the term? It's generally best not to let others define you. The word "liberal" has been misused and abused for ages too. That doesn't change its real meaning. Just use a qualifier-like "small l libertarian" or something. If you're marketing something, however, you may need to make up something different.

[LibXist]

Oh, you're a libertarian...you just haven't realized it yet. Give it some time.

[Tenbobnote]

Libertarian is OK but I prefer; voluntarist, anarcho-capitalist, Rothbardian, etc.

[heavenlyboy34]

If you want to argue with me on this fine, but that is all it will be a "debate." And as we debate our future is destroyed. It's time to take the spirit of libertarianism and merge it with a powerful institution that already exist, the Republican Party and make it ... the party of Liberty For All!

I thought that what the Ron Paul Revolution was about............If you are looking for a moderate democrate you will have to look to the to the right of the republican party.......

The RP R3volution is and always has been about ideas (RP says this himself)-it's an intellectual revolution. Don't get too hung up on parties, btw. This is only a temporary solution and a vehicle for communicating with Boobus.

[cheapseats]

Third party is where they want you.

TWO-PARTY STRANGLEHOLD is where they want all of us. DUH.

Only Monarchy/Dictatorship would be worse than our Duopoly.

Lemme rephrase: Monarchy or Dictatorship would be IDEOLOGICALLY worse than duopolistic stranglehold, but they might actually be more efficient slash cheaper...depending how much FORCE Autocrats are willing to bring to bear.

[mport1]

So what if some people misuse the term? It's generally best not to let others define you. The word "liberal" has been misused and abused for ages too. That doesn't change its real meaning. Just use a qualifier-like "small l libertarian" or something. If you're marketing something, however, you may need to make up something different.

I'd agree to some extent. However, words have meanings in other people's minds that don't necessarily match dictionary definitions. I don't want them to have preconceived notions about what my positions are based on their understanding of a term.

This is why I typically don't refer to myself as an anarchist. By the true definition of the word, that is what I am. However, people associate the term with violent, bomb throwing, socialists with whom I don't want to be associated. I'll only use the term for shock value to show people that anarchists can be normal, non-violent, and capitalist.