A Guy Walks Into a Barr...

It seems that Bob Barr has finally outed himself as a libertarian -- or at least enough of one to try for the Libertarian Party nomination for president. And of course, the libertarian world has already been debating his authenticity -- his libertarian purity -- for months. For my money, Bob Barr deserves a serious look because -- if for no other reason -- he had one of the coldest, loneliest jobs in town a few years back, namely that of spearheading the impeachment of one Bill Clinton. With most of the media arrayed against him, and with liberals of every affiliation tut-tutting that it was "just about sex", and no more than a witch hunt, yadda yadda, and that anyone who wanted to actually throw our shining, silver-haired boy president out of office was terminally mean-spirited, Bob Barr fought on, along with Henry Hyde and a handful of other heroes, in Congress and the media. Think "Nixon vs. Alger Hiss", or "Joe McCarthy vs. almost everyone", and you see what these guys were up against. But they were driven by a firmly-held belief, i.e. that the country would be better off not being led by a degenerate sex addict -- who also happened to be guilty -- if unindicted -- of numerous high crimes and misdemeanors. And it was their persistence that led to what was, IMHO, one of the most memorable moments in 20th-Century politics, namely Bill Clinton's taped deposition. That event should be enshrined forevermore in the archives of... what? Politics? No -- psychopathology. But in any case, murmurings are already starting as to the "impact" of a Barr candidacy on the Republicans. That party heaved a great sigh of relief when Ron Paul showed no sign of bolting and forming a third-party candidacy. But their relief was short-lived. Now along comes Barr, and all bets are off again. The folks who would have walked, or crawled, a mile to vote for Ron Paul might just be willing to vote for Bob Barr. Or they might not; it depends, to some extent, on their degree of doctrinal purity, vis-a-vis libertarianism, paleoconservatism, and the somewhat uneasy but nonetheless growing nexus between the two. I suspect that most Ron Paul supporters would not feel more than a slight bump if they segued into the Barr camp. And where, after all, are the "purists" supposed to go in that case? I guess the Constitution Party offers an option. But if they were smart they would join forces -- at least this time around -- with the Libertarians. I don't think that's going to happen, but when you look at the platforms you'll wonder why not. In any case, the Libertarians might, this year, perform the same function as the Greens have performed in the past, which is to "sabotage" one of the major parties -- to which I say, richly deserved, and march on!