Life's Been Good To Me So Far

I saw Penn Juliette on Glenn Beck's show the other day and I have to say the more I hear him talk, the more I like him. He's about as effective a speaker as the Libertarian Party has. I think someone should give him a radio show and make him our Rush Limbaugh. Of course I don't agree with Penn 100% of the time or maybe as high as 80% but that's alright. I also heard Jesse Ventura on Sean Hannity's radio program a few days later. What stood out to me, besides the fact that Libertarians are everywhere these days, is what articulate speakers Libertarians are. Both Glenn Beck and the usually overbearing Hannity were engaging and allowed their guests to talk all the way to the end of his thought. I don't watch either host much but I have watched enough Hannity to know it's a rare interview when someone gets to finish a sentence besides the host.

The joke I've always made is that the Libertarian Party consists mostly of people that believe in little or no government therefore it's a little hard to polarize and excite people about politics that would just as soon see all politicians disappear. Penn Juliette said, "If you could get all the gun nuts and potheads to agree we would be unstoppable" which is also apt.

Part of what I loved about Juliette's talk with Beck was a point he made about global warming. He mentioned that when someone asks him about it his response is usually that he doesn't believe there has been enough discussion about it, is it man made, is it necessarily a bad thing? All of these things we should be discussing and investigating. He said when he talks like that he's treated like a Holocaust denier. I think he's spot on. I know I'm guilty of talking in provocative little sound bites just like everyone does. I've pissed more than one of my liberal friends off by claiming that global warming is a hoax. I don't believe that (well, yeah I do) but it's easier to put it that way than to try and persuade someone otherwise. Another thing I really found interesting was Juliette questioning Beck on his stance against gay marriage. Penn told Beck that many of his liberal friends believed Beck was just a homophobe. It was telling that Beck denied that and made a sincere objection to gay marriage. Although I cringed a little with the line "I have some working on my staff". Like that's the epitome of open- mindedness.

One of the criticisms Beck leveled at Libertarians is we can't take these huge steps back and do away with everything all at once. I think that might be a misconception that a lot of people have. I believe most of us don't want to throw everything out, but we believe that government expansion should be slowed if not stopped completely. Only the most naive of us believe there should not be an impartial regulator (impartial being the key word).

Of course I know this is all a big pipe dream. I hope and pray our country was laid out by our founding fathers to weather the types of power grabs we see increasing with the past few Presidents but history shows that once it's done it's nearly impossible to get it undone. But like all Libertarians, I'm bursting with optimism. After all we Libertarians believe that individuals are smart enough to take care of ourselves for the most part, without anyone looking out for our best interests.

 
Here is a link to an article written by Penn Juliette in which he articulates much better than I'm able to about why he's a Libertarian. Why I'm A Libertarian Nut, Instead Of Just A Nut