By Anonymous Reader (Sent to our OB Rag Facebook page)
I’m writing today to let you know of a huge travesty going on in this town of ours.
In just under a month the annual Earth Day Fair will be going on. Thousands will gather in Balboa Park to celebrate life, the planet, tolerance and humanity.
Unfortunately, though, some will be excluded from this event.
One group will be the San Diego Libertarian Party. We have been told that our message of liberty is not welcome at the fair, and we are also accused of not having genuine concern about a clean, healthy environment.
We are very saddened by this, and there could be nothing further from the truth.
Some of the issues that we presented are to me obviously pro-planet.
For instance we believe that hemp cultivation should be totally legal in America. We know that many of the petro-chemical companies are responsible for massive amounts of pollution, which the government allows them to get away with, even helps by giving them subsidies. We feel that if hemp were allowed here it would be used an alternative for fuels, foods, medicines, clothes, etc… Even with this message we were denied.
The second issue we proposed to bring light to was the fact the military industrial complex is the probably the largest polluter of any. They kill huge amounts of people, animals, crops, rivers, you name it they kill it. We stand against all wars of aggression and actively work to candidates who will stand up against this machine put into office. Yet still we are denied a booth.
We have been told we are shills for the Republican Party. HAHAHA. What a joke.
So yes, I’m writing you today to let you know of this travesty, but also asking for you to help us spread this message of peace and liberty. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the matter or would like to discuss it in more detail. Thanks for all your writings and may peace be with you!
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
It doesn’t help the LPs cause that so many are hoodwinked by Rand Paul, who is nothing more than a mole from the GOP pretending to be a Libertarian, riding on the popularity of his daddy’s coattails. Meanwhile, the weak-minded of the LP are unwilling/unable to see past their Ron Paul man-crush long enough to know the difference between a Republican like Rand who cherry-picks and thumps the bible in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator knuckle-dragger and someone who is genuinely a Libertarian.
Amen.
Um, perhaps you are trolling, but I don’t know what you mean by “pretend” boyo… Rand and Ron Paul both ran on the GOP ticket, not for the libertarian party.
Um, no, Sean M, I rarely “troll,” but thanks for your $0.02.
Rand is a mole for the GOP?? Isn’t he already in the GOP?? Methinks you have it backwards…he’s a libertarian mole trying to change the course of the GOP by affiliating with a party that will actually get him in office…and people like you make it that much more difficult. Rand is trying to change things. People like you are trying to keep the status quo.
kulanapan, methinks thou has no clue what it’s talking about.
Good for them. Libertarianism is practically diametrically opposed to environmentalism, and I say that as a pragmatic and relatively moderate voter.
The public and private sectors both have their strengths and weaknesses, but effective environmental regulation can only come from government. Libertarians oppose this at pretty much every turn. What’s to misunderstand about this?
Then you don’t understand libertarianism in the least. Libertarianism is the political manifestation of the Golden Rule…which applies just as well to the earth as it does to your neighbor.
Effective justice against environmental degradation is brought about by the courts…and can only happen if the courts recognize property rights and key natural rights of man, such as the right to breath clean air, the right to cultivate clean earth, the right to consume clean water, etc.
Libertarians oppose governments that prop up unnatural corporate entities and protect corporate interests. Arguing for bigger government is blatantly refusing to acknowledge the real problem…big government and big corporations work together to promote each other’s interests, not yours.
Here! Here!
I understand it perfectly well. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it is dangerously naive gibberish rooted deeply in a nostalgia for a world that never existed, and which certainly doesn’t exist now. I’m open to views from the left, right or center, but that “invisible hand “stuff is just not how the world works. The only endgame of libertarianism is industry doing whatever it wants without consequence. Corporations are simply not interested in adhering to your Golden Rule. Left to its own devices in an unregulated free market, degrading the environment is a highly profitable business where the benefits far exceed the costs for those who engage in it… tragedy of the commons and all that.
To the Libertarians: SD Earthworks’ Earth Day is for sale. I’m sure they’d be happy to have you there if you kicked in some bucks like Walmart and Waste Management, Inc. did. SDEWs over there ideological difference real fat!
im glad to see that your paying attention. Even though some people may argue that Libertarianism is anti-planet, it would seem that The EarthDay people would at least be openminded enough to let us plea our case. Our goal was to get a booth and focus on hemp cultivation and exposing the military industrial complexes participation in the destruction of the environment. Are these not valid issues? Will Walmart be bringing up more important topics then this? The hypocrisy is disgusting. And really all for nothing as we will still be at the fair, looking to reach out to people and give them an alternative, and apparently dangerous point of views.
The Libertarians and GOP may talk about “smaller gov” et al. but ignore the rhetoric and what they deliver is corporate welfare, plain and simple. Unless gov’t is big enough to keep a boot on the neck of big biz, the people will get screwed at every turn. Just compare Bush Sr.’s response to Exxon-Valdiz with Obama’s response to Macundo. Obama got the money up front, Alaska is still waiting for payment 25 years later. Libertarianism is a nice theory but no competition for greedy corporations.
Unlike Republicans and Democrats, Libertarians stand against military adventurism, overseas military bases, drone attacks, drug wars, central banking, big pharma, and torture. If you can’t get along with that then you’re clearly a statist and believer in the all powerful state like Republicrats.
If that were all we got from Libs, I still be one. What we really get is a bunch of evangelical claptrap, wars on women, free ride for the rich, declining standard of living for everyone else. Great theory except for the part that it doesn’t work. Name one country that runs on Lib principles you would want to live in.
Doug – that’s all good, but the Libertarians also want to send women back into the 19th century (see Ron Paul’s recent diatribe against abortion rights). How do you explain that?
who is this writer? I might ask did your kind BS work at home on your mommy? Go parade your hate filled rhetoric elsewhere, try Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill BS O Reilly,. all uneducated low class drop outs much like yourself. If your looking for sympathy its in the dictionary between self-pity and syphilis.
I wrote this rant. Please tell me what was hatefull or BS about my position.