The Party of Sisyphus

Every four years the Libertarian Party pushes a presidential candidate up the electoral mountain. At the end of the campaign, exhausted, they watch as their candidate slides to the bottom. Doomed to not learn from the past, they start the whole process over again four years later. Apparently they’ve never heard of the myth of Sisyphus.

Despite all the evidence from past presidential elections, many Libertarians believe that Bob Barr will be elected president. This table* shows the results for past LP presidential candidates:

Presidential Candidate	Year	Vote total	Percent of Total Votes Cast
John Hospers	1972	3,674	0.00%
Roger MacBride	1976	172,553	0.21%
Ed Clark	1980	921,128	1.06%
David Bergland	1984	228,111	0.30%
Ron Paul	1988	431,750	0.47%
Andre Marrou	1992	290,087	0.28%
Harry Browne	1996	485,798	0.50%
Harry Browne	2000	384,516	0.36%
Michael Badnarik	2004	397,265	0.32%

On average, LP presidential candidates receive 368,320 votes or 0.39% - only 49.62% shy of the 50.01% needed for victory.

However, we are being told, this year will be different. Disaffected Republicans, along with Ron Paul supporters and independent voters, will combine to elect Mr. Barr to the presidency.

In reality, the chance that Bob Barr will be elected president is between 0% and 1.06% - the low and high vote percentages for previous Libertarian presidential candidates. A recent Rasmussen Reports telephone survey conducted among Georgia voters showed John McCain with 53% support, Barack Obama with 43% support and Bob Barr with 1% support. Despite having served four terms as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, the voters in his home state are showing Mr. Barr the back of their hand.

There is a simple explanation for our lack of electoral success - the vast majority of Americans are not libertarian. A poll conducted by the LP News found that, at most, 2% of Americans supported the full range of Libertarian ideas as outlined in the Party platform.

The bottom line is you can’t build a national political party with the support of only 2% of the electorate.

Let’s stop using our limited time and money trying to perform an impossible task. Let’s concentrate our efforts on local issues where we can make a difference. Then we can move our country in a more libertarian direction.

* Source: http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/