Another LP candidate descends into madness.

Now and then I reconsider my positions. For instance, I keep asking myself, because of 30 years of loyalty, whether my criticism of the Libertarian Party and it’s current slate of candidates is a tad bit too much. But it seems that anytime I think that the LP goes out of its way to produce another bigoted moron as a candidate to cement my opinion.

According to news reports the Libertarian Party candidate for governor of Utha, Dell Schanze, was using an automatic dialing service to send taped messages to a few thousand voters per day. He was attacking the incumbent governor for being an “anti-Christ”. Last I checked the LP platform said nothing about Christ, for or against. The idea of a Libertarian candidate attacking someone because they are not putting enough religion into their political office is astounding since Libertarians historically have held to the absolute and total separation of church and state.

When questioned about his name-calling Schanze argued what must be a new libertarian principle: "It's not name-calling. It's just a fact. Those who do not follow Christ's principles are anti-Christ...." Here I thought the LP candidates followed libertarian principles. Well, not anymore apparently.

Of course, these days Libertarians don’t have to be libertarians. They can be Republicans, conservatives, theorcrats, bigots, racists and whatever. The new Libertarian Party is “flexible”. There are now only “differences of opinion” between the varienty of libertarianisms. So why not endorse John McCain’s libertarianism or Obama’s libertarianism? With the new flexible, freedom-is-optional position of so many Libertarians why bother with a party at all?

Schanze is promising to push such pro-freedom ideas as making abortion legal. He also claims he can cut fuel costs by 90% in the state. Apparently the man thinks he can control world oil markets and the supply and demand of billions of people.

One former LP leader in Utah describes Schanze as “an anti-libertarian. He’s a bully, a bigot and a homophobe who has fired employees because they were gay or non-LDS...” While I would support his right to fire people because of his own bigotries I would also say that sort mentality ought to disqualify him as an LP candidate. Not these days! Hell, being a bigot probably helped him since it seems so fashionable in Libertarian Party circles.

In one incident Schanze was alleged to be driving through a residential area at a high rate of speech, something many of the people who lived there found dangerous. Some of them followed him to confront him about his speed only to have him pull a gun on them. He claimed he only held the gun at his side to show it to the people. He gave one report of the incident to police but in a television interview he was more candid and gave a very different version. He was then charged with, and convicted of, falsifying a police report.

Willy Starr Marshall, the Libertarian former mayor of Big Water, Utah, said that Schanze was unfit for the LP nomination because of his attitudes against gays, non-Mormons and other minority groups. One report says Marshall referred to an unaired radio commercial that Dell cut for his computer store in which he called gays “faggots” and “tinkerbells” and promised $100 off purchases to customers who are “rude and abuse to homosexuals”. Marshall said: “You have a constitutional right to be a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you can be a jerk and run for office” as a Libertarian. Apparently the LP of Utah thought being a bigoted jerk was was now within acceptable behavior for Libertarians.

Andrew McCullough, the LP candidate for attorney general, said he was happy because having a Schanze on the ticket means they will get publicity. Apparently McCullough doesn’t care what kind of reputation the LP gets. Raping a Girl Scout, killling a couple of nuns, and urinating over the Communion wafer at the Catholic Church will also get one front page coverage in the local newspaper. Thankfully I haven’t heard any LP official, so desparate for any coverage at all, suggesting any of those activities just for the media value.

There is only one reason we should want an LP candidate to get coverage and that is to promote liberty. Coverage of Libertarian Party candidates making demented statements about their opponents be “anti-Christ”, or fag-baiting gays is not just worthless but counter productive. Apparently the Utah LP doesn’t understand that, or they don’t care.

Yes, I considered my position about the Libertarian Party, and once again it has proven itself unworty to continue to exist. Incidents like this with LP candidates has again shown the LP to be a liability and detrimental to the furthering of liberty in the United States. It is a worthless entity. Its leadership is clearly either unlibertarian, unable to control their own party, or merely political whores wanting attention for any message that generates publicity. It is not the “Party of Principle” as it used to claim to be. It is the party of bigots, morons, lunatics and loosers. I pity the real libertarians who still cling to the hope that it can turn around.

Photo: Yes, the photo I have attached is one that the LP candidate is distributing himself. It is not a fake photo. He may be a fake libertarian but the photo is real.