Despite both national and local attempts to demonize Libertarians, it is apparent that Libertarian (as opposed to Conservative) ideas are breaking through into mainstream society and politics as never before.
Some examples:
1. After decades of technical stagnation, overspending, disasters, and a massive failure of vision that has allowed countries like China and India to challenge America in space exploration, the US is finally relaxing the NASA stranglehold on manned spaceflight and allowing private industry in the door. The new contracts for the "space taxi" build on the successful space station re-supply trip recently conducted by a privately built vehicle.
2. Sacramento airport is joining a growing list of airports that are taking advantage of the opportunity to dump the TSA.
3. Local liberal bloggers admit, "The War on Drugs has been a massive failure that our politicians can’t seem to admit, for fear of looking weak on crime." Now, when reaching this kind of epiphany, one would expect some move to look for political candidates with the courage to say publicly what they admit privately, or--in simple terms--to lead rather than pander. In Delaware, however, as in the national presidential race, only Libertarian candidates are actually doing that.
This deserves a note: although those more interested in ideological purity than functional politics throw hissy fits when this happens, Kilroy's Delaware provides a perfect example of how to handle the situation: Kilroy endorsed Libertarian US House candidate Scott Gesty's position on education rather than endorsing his candidacy. How about it, LG? Candidates like Scott Gesty, Margaret Melson, and Ronnie Fitzgerald have signed the pledge to end the drug wars, and are campaigning publicly on that stand. How about a statement from you endorsing their position if not their candidacy? If nothing else it will put pressure on weak-kneed Democratic candidates to take a real position.
Some examples:
1. After decades of technical stagnation, overspending, disasters, and a massive failure of vision that has allowed countries like China and India to challenge America in space exploration, the US is finally relaxing the NASA stranglehold on manned spaceflight and allowing private industry in the door. The new contracts for the "space taxi" build on the successful space station re-supply trip recently conducted by a privately built vehicle.
2. Sacramento airport is joining a growing list of airports that are taking advantage of the opportunity to dump the TSA.
3. Local liberal bloggers admit, "The War on Drugs has been a massive failure that our politicians can’t seem to admit, for fear of looking weak on crime." Now, when reaching this kind of epiphany, one would expect some move to look for political candidates with the courage to say publicly what they admit privately, or--in simple terms--to lead rather than pander. In Delaware, however, as in the national presidential race, only Libertarian candidates are actually doing that.
This deserves a note: although those more interested in ideological purity than functional politics throw hissy fits when this happens, Kilroy's Delaware provides a perfect example of how to handle the situation: Kilroy endorsed Libertarian US House candidate Scott Gesty's position on education rather than endorsing his candidacy. How about it, LG? Candidates like Scott Gesty, Margaret Melson, and Ronnie Fitzgerald have signed the pledge to end the drug wars, and are campaigning publicly on that stand. How about a statement from you endorsing their position if not their candidacy? If nothing else it will put pressure on weak-kneed Democratic candidates to take a real position.
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