Although I have no interest in the presidential race this year I must say that I do hope Gary Johnson gets his coveted five percent of the vote. His campaign has continued to state that five percent of the vote will end the two-party system. The idea is that receiving five percent of the popular vote would qualify the Libertarian Party for federal campaign funding next election. While this sounds good on paper the plan as one flaw; it assumes that the Federal Election Committee (FEC) will continue to play by the same rule book during the next election. Assuming the state will play by any set of rules has cause disappointment in the liberty movement before.
The state’s willingness to change the rules whenever its power is threatened is the reason I want Gary Johnson to receive close to five percent of the public votes. As soon as Johnson gets close enough to that five percent to worry the current establishment the FEC will move to raise the required percentage of votes from five percent to 10, 15, or even 20 percent. They will continue move the required percentage high enough to ensure no third party ever qualifies for federal campaign funds. I think the liberty movement needs to see this just as they needed to see the Republican Party change its own rules to ensure a candidate like Ron Paul never came close to threatening the establishment’s power base again.
We will not achieve liberty through the political system because the political system is controlled by those who oppose liberty. Every time we get close to a political goal they move the goalposts back. At the same time they try to hand us table scraps to keep us interesting because they know that their power requires the support of popular opinion. On the other hand the more the move the goalposts back the less popular opinion they enjoy. After Ron Paul was shutdown during the Republican National Convention a good number of people in the liberty movement swore off politics and I think seeing the FEC change the percentage of votes required to get federal funding will cause some more liberty advocates to swear off politics. Piece by piece the state will destroy its own power base of popular opinion and when enough people no longer recognize the state as legitimate it will fall. Therefore I look forward to every step taken by the state to squash the liberty movement. They’re sowing the seeds of their own destruction and I can’t wait until they get what’s coming to them.
“The idea is that receiving five percent of the popular vote would qualify the Libertarian Party for federal campaign funding next election.”
The big question is why does anyone think this would matter?
“Seeking the ring of power that is the US presidency will only corrupt the libertarian movement. Election after election, the closer we gets to that ring, the more will power-hungry opportunists glom onto the movement. Eventually the movemen
t will become so corrupted that any office holders it elects will be libertarian in name only. Such careerists will not have the principle or the nerve to end the Federal Reserve System, abolish the welfare state, or dismantle the empire. The inevitable failure of such “libertarian” office holders to avert disaster for the country will discredit libertarianism irreparably.”