Bob Barr lies about libertarians while funding Republicans.

Right-wing bigot Bob Barr continues his campaign of lying to the public as to what it means to be a libertarian. This time the Village Voice questioned Barr’s bigoted anti-gay legislation and asked him how he justifies his statist legislation with seeking the Libertarian nomination. Barr answers by lying about what libertarianism is about.

He says that the positions he took in Congress, to strip gay couple of any rights at the federal level, “was based on the principle of federalism.” There are two aspects to his disgusting legislation. One said that no state need have to recognize the rights of gay couples to marry. The other mandated that no federal agency is allowed to grant any rights to gay couples that it grants to straight couples.

He continually downplays the aspect of his legislation that actually had an impact -- stripping gay couples of any rights in regards to anything federal -- including the right to have their life partners immigrate to live with them. Barr’s law demands that gay couples be treated as second class citizens in their own country. That is bigotry, raw and plain. And it is not even federalism, it was the imposition of bigotry into the federal legal code. It was an open attack on gay couples and it is not forgiveable since Barr himself sees nothing wrong with being a bigot.

Next Barr twists libertarianism by saying that his bigoted law is “a fundamentally sound, libertarian-oriented position on federalism.” Barr might be excused for being wrong simply because he has no idea what libertarianism is about. After all he is not now a libertarian and never has been.

Libertarianism has position about the rights of individuals in relationship to one another. It also have positions about rights of individuals in relation to the government or the state. But libertarianism per se says nothing, absolutely nothing, about the relationship of one government agency toward another.

A libertarian might be a federalist or might not be. But what a libertarian does say is that no government has the right to violate the rights of individuals. That includes the fifty states. Barr’s position is that the states do have that right. That is conservative, power-politics. That is statism. That is another form of the “divine right” theory of political entities--be they the king or the legislature--to regulate the lives of people.

Barr’s position is merely that he prefers to have a different level of government violating rights. The Libertarian view is that no level of government ought to violate rights. Barr’s view is not a variant of the libertarian view -- it is the polar opposite of the libertarian view.

Libertarians might argue over whether or not the state should exist at all. And they might argue over what form government should take if it did exist. But you can’t be a libertarian and say that government has the right to violate individual liberty and rights. Barr is not defending individual rights. He is defending the power of specific government entities to violate rights. He is an advocate of state power, just as Hillary or Bush or Obama is. His difference is merely over which state entity weilds that power. Libertarians argue that no state agency, at any level, is morally permitted to violate the rights of individuals. Barr does not share that view.

Barr gives a little spiel about how since 9/11 he has reconsidered his position on “government control in certain areas”. What he has basically said, however, is that he wants that control transferred to the states. He is not against the war on drugs. He has made that clear. He wants states enforcing drug laws and has actually argued that this will be more efficient.

What is a more efficient war on drugs? Or more precisely what is a more efficient war on drug users? Would it be more arrests? More no-knock dawn raids? More people in prison? This alone makes it clear that Bob Barr is a fraud.

At the same time Barr is pretending to be a big Libertarian he is channeling funds to Republican candidates around the country. How many libertarians know that? Barr is actually helping fund Republican candidates running against Libertarian candidates.

While Libertarians in states like Montana, Florida, Colorado, Alabama, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvannia, New Hampshire, Maryland, Georgia, Minnesota, Idaho, Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina, Nebreska, North Carolina, Texas and Ohio have been working to try and build a Libertarian Party there, Bob Barr has been sending cash to their opponents. He has been donating money to campaigns aimed to influence voters to NOT vote Libertarian but Republican instead.

And many of the recipients of Barr’s cash are the most Right-wing, anti-individual liberty type of Theopublicans you can imagine. Many of them are Southern Christianists associated with the Religious Right. This includes people who repeatedly take anti-libertarian views on the major issues. Barr continues to fund Big Government Republican candidates while asking Libertarians to fund him.

Barr says he is a Libertarian and a libertarian. His views show he is not a libertarian. And his continual support of Big Government Republican candidates in 19 states shows he is not a Libertarian either.

Photo: As a reminder of Barr's ugly politics I illustrate this article with the photo of him speaking to a conference of white supremacists and anti-semites. What a lovely campaign photo for the Libertarian Party to use if they nominate him. Should I wear my sheets to the party convention?