The Editor's Desk

Scott Flanders, the CEO of Freedom Communications (the company that owns the Desert Dispatch) arranged a libertarian-focused presidential debate with columnist Tibor Machan (whose columns we run on Tuesdays). Frank Mickadeit over at the OC Register wrote about the event.

Machan supports voting third party Libertarian — even though said candidate is not likely to win — because it would “prepare the culture for some kind of serious reforms, maybe even a revolution.” That’s an argument I think really only matters if either the Democrats or Republicans ever showed any concern about the folks who voted third party beyond how likely they would spoil their candidates’ chances. I don’t really see candidates make any outreach to third-party voters except during the actual campaigns.

Flanders, though, came out in favor of Barack Obama, despite his tax-and-spend platform, because of his stance on other libertarian reforms such as ending the war in Iraq, restoring the separation of church and state, and other issues.

I’ve already explained why I voted for Obama in the primary — my explanation is very similar to Flanders’. As it stands, I can’t vote for McCain. There’s no way I would cast my vote for an authoritarian with possibly even less respect for the limitations of the government than George W. Bush. So my choice as well is either third party formal Libertarian candidate or whomever wins the the Democratic nomination.