By Dale Wedel

My conversion to the Libertarian party probably started with Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, back in the early 90’s. There’s some good stuff in there ( http://www.nationalcenter.org/ContractwithAmerica.html ), and the Republican party rode it to a majority position in Congress in the 1994 election cycle, with my vote and my support. I was almost excited about how government could re-invent itself, and I was looking forward to seeing what could be done in the new environment. But somehow, very little happened after the election and the ideas in the Contract with America just died on the vine.

That’s when I became disenchanted with the GOP, and the Democratic party had never spoken to me, or my best interests, at all. Too much “group identity” rhetoric in the leadership of the Dems. I’m not a hyphenated American, I’m an individual, so speak to me, not the background of my ancestors! I dropped out (mentally) from politics in general other than expressing an overall disgust with anything to do with the process. I had been sold a load of promises that floated off into nowhere. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

But I kept running into little facts and figures that made me think. This study showing the growth of government spending over time. That study showing the cost of regulations to the marketplace. Something else about government programs to electrify rural America still being in existence. I grew up in rural America, and we had electricity, for crying out loud. So did the neighbors. Why couldn’t one simple little program be declared a success, and shut down? As I started actively researching, I found that almost no federal government programs had ever “finished” their mission, or even been able to shrink substantially. What is wrong with this picture?

This led me to start asking the meta-questions. What is the role of government? How can the problems I’m seeing now be avoided in the “ideal” government? Given current trends in the growth of government, what will happen in the future? Damn, that last question really scared me, when I started reading about how governments of the past that grew too large for their britches were almost always brought down via bloody revolutions, with all the attendant strife, loss of life, etc. The other part that scares me is how close to the “tipping point” we have come here in America to the point at which other countries (in the past) have had rebellions. That is the last thing that I want to ever see in my life, or in the lives of my descendants. Crud, now, I’ve got to get involved in politics again, in order to avoid having to fight in the future.

So, who’s with me on this? The GOP talks a good game, but every time they’re in a position to deliver, the problem gets worse (most recent example here http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-087es.html ). Same problem with the Democrats. Arrrgh! Wait… what’s this? A political party that wants to return government to only the functions first proposed in the Constitution? Let me read more (http://www.lp.org/ ). Limited government, that’s the ticket.

Is my vote being wasted on a third party candidate with no chance to win the election? Well, yes and no. Yes, I realize that the chances of electing a libertarian candidate to a national office is exceedingly remote right now. No, my vote isn’t wasted, because the more votes that go “off the grid”, the more that the two dominant parties will have to bend their own policies to those third party policies, or their party will wither and die on the vine. Either way, my vote has more influence than it would by voting for one of the entrenched candidates. Along this timeline, a few libertarian candidates will be elected to local offices, and presumably, things will get better, at least locally ( my locale - http://hcright2know.tripod.com/ ).

Whatever you do, don’t take my word on what course of action needs to be taken. Think for yourself, and do a little research. I recommend the Cato Institute as a good starting place for national policies (http://www.cato.org/ ). They do research at Cato, not polls. I’m not a good leader, but I’m at least thinking about what kind of leader I could follow. I do sleep better at night, knowing that I’m pushing in a direction I believe in, and I know why I believe in it.

Dale