Received via email from the LP:
John Monds to seek Libertarian Nomination For Governor
Atlanta, GA: John Monds will be announcing his intention to seek the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s nomination for Governor with a press conference at the Capitol in Atlanta with family, close friends and supporters by his side Wednesday, March 25th at 4:00pm.
During his campaign for Public Service Commission (District 1) in 2008, Monds became the first Libertarian to break one million votes in the United States.
Monds and the Libertarian Party believe Georgians are ready for something new and different. “It’s difficult to tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats; both want to raise your taxes, waste your money and increase the size and scope of state government,” said Monds.
“We must be competitive in the 21st Century. We must have meaningful tax reform that allows businesses and individuals to thrive, a transportation system that eases congestion without raising taxes, an education system that gives more choices and returns control to the local level, and we need to stop wasting the taxpayers’ money with mandated long term incarceration of individuals for non-violent victimless infractions of the law”
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OPPOSE!
Oppose? Which part of lower taxes, smaller government, less spending, etc., etc., do you oppose? Oh, I know, it’s just his rejection of status quo two party, actually one party, two wings, system that most Rs and Ds will oppose.
I learned from Batman that at the end of the day, there are only two positions that are possible, SUPPORT! or OPPOSE!.
Since he hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of winning, I’ll put my SUPPORT! elsewhere.
Is Mond’s a Ron Paul/Rothbard/Rockwell style paleolibertarian or more of a Reason Magazine style cosmotarian? Or something in between?
Hmmm…. I suppose I should feel honored that one of our illustrious leaders here is imitating me and learning from me!
(Yes, I know he is actually mocking me, but I’m going to choose to believe he is imitating/learning from me!)
During his campaign for Public Service Commission (District 1) in 2008, Monds became the first Libertarian to break one million votes in the United States.
That was in a high turnout year where there was no Democrat running. Ox has this in the bag. Monds will siphon votes from the Democratic nominee, whether it be DuBose Porter, Pierre Howard, or Wyche Fowler.
Does he have a college degree?
Does Wyche still have that great haircut??
Indy – Ox has this in the bag? The same Ox who vehemently opposes Sunday alcohol sales? I don’t think so.
fishtail – yes, from Morehouse. Check out http://www.VoteMonds.com – and there’s a link on there to Wikipedia with more info. The website will probably be updated a bit more after he actually announces tomorrow.
Pierre Howard? Wyche Fowler? What is this a time warp? I just checked and Carl Sanders is still alive. Perhaps he can be the Democratic nominee for Governor.
Crazier things have happened in GA politics…
I for one think we Republicans need to get our act together before we step onto the field for 2010.
David beat me to it.
And his degree is in Banking and Finance to boot… something that would prove VERY useful for a Governor now.
That, contrasted to my own Computer Science degree. While tech is always good, it isn’t quite so critical and banking and finance right now!
The Spirit of Eugene Talmadge has a better shot.
HELL YES!!! he is over-qualified when compared with Casey Cagle and Karen Handel, both wearers of the NO COLLEGE DEGREE dunce hat.
Bit of an aside: It’s interesting to see how much overlap there is between Libertarians and those with a Computer Science degree.
AubieTurtle:
That is because those with a Computer Science degree are trained to be experts in Logic, and are typically more logical than the ‘normal’ person to begin with.
The Libertarian positions on the issues are the most logical, and therefore you find experts in logic congregating within the Party.
AubieTurtle,
Its also because we (Libertarians and Computer Geeks) are anti-social freaks who tend to dwell underground and shun other people.
He ran last year and there was no Democrat in the race. He’s running next year and there are no Democrats in the race…
“What is this a time warp?”
Say what you will, but I’d bet almost everything that most of the major office holders in the GOP were once Democrats.
Sonny and Oxendine are two that come to mind.
Well, he’s got my anti-social vote then, Chris.
“The Libertarian positions on the issues are the most logical, and therefore you find experts in logic congregating within the Party.”
Spoken like a true trekkie. Vote Spock in ’10!
Not a Trekkie, though the new one DOES look REALLY cool. (Only previous seasons I’ve paid attention to were TNG and Voyager, never really paid attention to the movies.)
That said, I’ll give you that I like sci fi, and even the military techno-thrillers I like typically involve weapons that are at least 10-15 yrs off, if they could EVER be produced in real life. (Example: Dale Brown debuted his ‘Wolverine’ cruise missile in 1999′s Battle Born. 5 yrs later, the Air Force dropped the first Sensor Fuzed Weapon in the opening days of Iraq II that was almost the exact missile described by Brown, with incredibly similar performance between real life and the books. BTW: Reading his latest now, and is really interesting. The weapons platform here is an enemy – Russian – system that is essentially a mobile version of the main enemy weapon – Soviet – from his first book 20 yrs ago.)
Hrmm, I’m a card carrying MENSA member, computer science geek, and Libertarian. But I know very little of Star Trek / Wars / etc. I’m not big on sci-fi. But I’m also one of those geeks that leaves the office and goes to play on the farm / lake and works on my own cars. I don’t waste my time with American Idol or much other TV for that matter, unless it’s House, the Travel channel, Planet Green, History, or one of the other educational type deals. I like to go outdoors to have fun, but also enjoy the logic of PHP/ColdFusion/Perl/SQL/Linux/Unix.
This is hilarious. Some guy in a PSC race gets a million votes because there is no Democrat on the ticket and you decide he’s your best shot for Governor. Garret Hayes and Allen Buckley are sharp guys, that made great spokesmen for the libertarian party, Monds will not be as convincing.
It’s funny that the media (usually somewhat left leaning) sees John as a “Black” man first, instead of judging him on his character as Dr. King had asked. But the AJC’s Jim Galloway argues that Monds – who not only is black, but a Morehouse graduate and president of the Grady County NAACP – could pull votes away from the Democrat.
They also want to try to make their readers believe that the Libertarian Party is a fringe of the right, which is also not true.
It is true that the Conservative party usually gets votes from the right and the Green party gets votes from the left (I’ve reviewed the polling crosstabs and this is what they show). But libertarians come from as diverse a background as the people they represent. It is the only party that is consistent with the freedom message, both individual and economic. We are the true Big Tent Party. And if one takes the time to research for themselves, they’ll see that we are the only party that upholds the original ideal of Liberty for all, which, for the most part is what our founders envisioned.
So if the people of Georgia want everything to stay the same, then keep electing Dems and Reps. But if they really want change and a move towards more individual freedom, limited government and Liberty and Justice for all… they need to start paying closer attention, quit being accomplices to the status quo and vote Libertarian.
We are the true Big Tent Party.
So long as you believe in complete anarchy. No other party requires you to sign an oath upon membership:
“I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals.”
Since all taxes are taken by force, the LP requires its members to believe in zero taxes. Since the enforcement of laws (for example, Murder One) requires the initiation of force (how many murderers voluntarily go to jail), the LP requires members to believe in zero law-enforcement.
LOL,
You’re funny Chris… I can always count on you to try to deceive (for the perceived benefit of the RLC)… even though I know you know what you are saying is not true and is a misrepresentation. It might be more beneficial to keep your efforts going towards foe, instead of friend.
At least it shows you care… thanks.
ps. Our tax system should be a voluntary system, like excise or use taxes (originally it was… then came the 16th amendment). As for murder, it is the ultimate infringement on life, therefore a legitimate role of government to enforce the laws against it and hold people accountable that commit it. But you already know this.
pps. You are right in that we exclude offensive tyrants and those that wish to become one.
monds seems like a sharp guy–from a purley political standpoint i thought the psc race was good for him and the LP in general–not having a major party player in a statewide race–evan a low profile one was a good execise for them–and getting a million votes and winning at least one county even under those circumstances is not bad–in fact if i were a LP member i would think that would be the route to go in general–i don’t know how many of them there are and i realize ga has quirky access laws–but the LP should try to field candidates in every “unopposed” race they can find from low profile county and municipal offices up to a race like the psc race last year-yes have your guv and senate candidates or whatever that you have a slot for but in my county for instance last year the coroner, clerk of court, surveyor, and several county commission and school board members were unopposed (r and d’s)–and in my county school board is “non partisan” anyway so access is not an issue there–same w/ most municipal races in the state…more later–just thinking out loud for now–i actually enjoy talking 3rd party politics from time to time
How do you propose to enforce the collection of excise taxes if you prohibit the use for force for political or social goals?
dj,
I don’t disagree. It is up to the local affiliates to find those races and find the candidates to run in them. At the state level, we are putting in place the organizational assistance to help them be successful in their endeavor. And eventually we’ll need people with skills that exceed my own and others currently in the party to complete this effort.
As for the “quirky” ballot access laws, our candidate for governor plays the major role. If he is able to garner 20%, the Libertarian Party of Georgia gets full ballot access. This has to be one of our goals and John is the guy that a lot of people think could make some headway towards it if not accomplish it.
BTW, if GA had the same laws as Alabama, John Monds’ accomplishment in the PSC race would have given us full ballot access. Their law states that any statewide candidate receiving 20% or more votes grants ballot access to the party he represents… in GA it is only the presidential and gubernatorial races that are considered. The Dem and Rep leadership knows and supports these exclusionary laws… they hate and are scared of competition.
signing off for the day… you all have fun and a great day.
Chris,
Let’s concentrate on giving people back more of their freedom, lowering taxes and reducing the size of government first. If we can at least do that in my lifetime, we will have accomplished a great deal.
(not talk about it, like the elected Dems and Reps,… but do it)
drjay:
Honestly, I plan to push John Monds heavily here in SWGA as part of my own efforts to organize and develop a local affiliate in the area. When John is successful in generating at least 20% of the vote in the Governor’s race, hopefully I will have developed the local affiliate enough that we will begin to field candidates in the very next election.
Even on the off chance that he DOESN’T hit 20% in November 2010, if I’ve got the local affiliate strong enough, I’ll start the petition drives and begin running local candidates anyway.
Largely, I think like you. Put SOMEONE in to oppose, in every race I can convince someone to run in. Give voters another option, even if that means we lose 99% of the time. Because every time I DO win, I strengthen the LP that much more and further our cause that much more.
If the Libertarian party wants to be a serious party…there should be a competitive primary.
Lets face it people…this is GA. No other place in the country falls for crap like this one.
Unfortunately, there is no money behind libertarianism (or should I say free speech). Nobody running as a libertarian can raise significant sums of cash merely because ascribing to that wing automatically get you labeled as a nut job.
That being said…I support the candidacy of any and all libertarians. Anybody who complains that their taxes are too high in GA is crazy. I am all for more freedom…especially if it means buying booze on Sunday while smoking a joint with with a hooker.
Ahh..another runoff in 2010. That’s all this means because he will get the same 2-5 percent libertarians always get in statewide races. Until they really build a party that elects legislators, city council members, school boards and sheriffs they are not a factor in Georgia politics. You need to win races at the bottom of the ticket before you can win the top of the ticket.
Coastal:
Thanks to the Ds and Rs in this state, running a local L takes a SIGNIFICANT effort just to get on the ballot that the local Ds and Rs don’t have to do.
Thanks to that, we HAVE to go for Governor first, hit at least 20%, then build like crazy at the lower levels.
GC – “If the Libertarian party wants to be a serious party…there should be a competitive primary.”
To have a Primary, a very expensive proposition, you need to demonstrate you have the support of more than a few internet freaks living in their mom’s basement.
Someday I hope the LP managed to rise above that, for now they are relegated to running nobodies for offices they are supremely unqualified for.
The LP is old news. The real third party is the Constitution Party. If McBerry does not get the GOP nomination, we should all try to get him to run in the Constitution Party Ticket. Is that not right Red Phillips.
again back to my thoughts from earlier–most municipal races in ga are nonpartisan and many school boards and a few county races are as well–it’s a little “sneaky” i suppose but a libertarians could run for mayor and city council from atlanta down to to tybee island this november by simply meeting residency requirements paying a qualifying fee …
drjay:
I could be wrong, but I believe most races are actually partisan. I know for a fact that the elected official I work for (local level) ran in the Democratic Primary, rather than the General Election. Similarly, much of the positions in the county I actually live in were filled via the Republican Primary, rather than the General Election.
i am almost 100% certain that the municipal (meaning towns and cities for mayor and council) races in ga w/ the lone exception of macon are nonpartisan–and some of the consolidated city/county gov’ts like augusta are also nonpartisan–and like i said the sav’h chatham county school board is nonpartisan–but that does vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction
drjay:
It is something I’m def going to look into. I’ve got to get the local affiliate official first, but if this is the case I may very well wind up trying to line up some candidates long before I had originally thought.
I think drjay is right. DKB, you’re probably thinking more along the lines of county races which are normally partisan (sherriff, county commissioner, tax commissioner, coroner, etc). On the other hand, municipal races (city council, mayor) are almost always non-partisan.
The Libertarian Party has to run statewide candidates in order to maintain ballot access.
The LP is old news. The real third party is the Constitution Party.
The CP doesn’t have ballot access. No one wants a theocracy anyway.
i get the need to run statewide candidates for the ballot access–it just seems like city councils would be a fertile breeding ground for the LP to actually do some governing and those races have the bonus of being easy to get on those ballots–i guess the other way would be to find current mayors and councils that would be little l libertarian in their philosophy and recruit them to the LP for future state races–i know little about your party so i don’t know if you really have the resources to do either of those things…but it seems like an obvious place to turn to grow your party
all those new cities in north fulton seem like they’d be rather open to someone w/ a libertarian philosophy for instance
“No one wants a theocracy anyway.”
Other than the theocrats, of which there are a lot in GA.
drjay – City Council races are non-partisan most places and are an excellent place to get involved with local politics. (If Duluth ever swallows my property they will regret it as I will become active in city politics)
Awesome. Now we have 2 people talking sense on the limited government ticket: McBerry and Manns, and 4 idiots from the Establishment that are not only oxygen thieves, but thieves of the people’s life and liberty.
Everytime a viable candidate surfaces, you people who whine and complain about the establishment, line up to throw spitballs at the freedom lovers.
We have idiots in government because idiot voters cast their ballot for the great illusion of going with the winner rather than going with the most qualified.
We have found the enemy and he is us.
jenny:
Who is Manns?
And as far as limited government goes, clearly there are 3…
Granted, our guy isn’t for a limited theocratic government, but he IS for limited government!
Everytime a viable candidate surfaces…..
There are really only four viable candidates in the race: Handel, Cagle, Barnes and Ox (listed in my order of preference).
I’m not sure you can totally count out Austin Scott as of yet Chris. IF he were to get support from House leadership (I’ve yet to see signs of them tipping their hand to any candidate), you would then have to factor in his Non-metro residence and his willingness to race-bait, and you’ve got some potential.
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