Hearing all the voices

I’m probably going to drive my Republican friends nuts here, but I think this guy has a point.

Last night I saw this among the posts on my Facebook feed:

What do you think you will hear Saturday from Brown and Hogan?

Brown will tell you about his folks and the one year he served. He will replay everything that O’Malley has done has if he had something to do with it.

Hogan will simply bash Brown for every problem in the state.

If Quinn had been allowed to speak you would hear about term limits, lower taxes, better schools, reformed tax codes and regulations, restored rights and power being given back to the people. Do you see why they can not let Quinn to be heard? November you decide, a self serving governor or an open, honest and people caring governor. They can’t stop you from voting for the best possible governor.

Of course, the author of this piece was Libertarian candidate for governor Shawn Quinn, who wasn’t invited to the MACO forum to speak and will lead a small protest to that fact Saturday morning.

Come out on Saturday in Ocean City and help me protest this apparent anti-citizen group. We will get pictures of who is supporting this government-controlled Association and let you see who is abusing their office.

Obviously I come from a Republican perspective, but I have given the Libertarians a little ink in the past (like this when the 2010 campaign began.) So it’s nothing necessarily new, even though I do believe they take more votes away from Republicans than Democrats. (Conversely, the Green Party takes mainly from the Democrats, which may be why they haven’t put up a 2014 candidate.)

I can understand that there are candidates who will be on the ballot but get a tiny percentage of the vote, but it’s interesting how they’re treated by the media. Until he was tossed off the ballot, Brian Vaeth and his likely 1-2 percent of the vote was often included in Republican debates; on the other hand, only the three main Democratic candidates got the spotlight while the other three (Ralph Jaffe, Charles Smith, and Cindy Walsh) were ignored. It begs the question of whether their combined 2.8% was a factor of not having popular viewpoints or being ignored by most media. (Jaffe and Smith, however, fall into the perennial candidate category. On the other hand, Walsh ran to the left of Heather Mizeur, who she called “a nice person (who) will serve as an establishment neo-liberal.” I think Walsh would have been great in the debates, and she got half that 2.8%.)

There’s no question that Quinn will fall far short of being the next governor. Susan Gaztanaga got 0.8% of the vote in 2010, which set the high-water mark for the Libertarians in Maryland. They didn’t field a 2006 candidate, and Spear Lancaster scored 0.68% of the electorate in 2002. Getting to 1% would be enough of an achievement.

But even though there’s little chance Quinn will win, I think he should be included in debates. I think it would be educational for the others to respond to some of the points the Libertarian brings up on his issue page, like this one:

The largest percentage of welfare tax dollars goes to pay the salaries of welfare workers and government overhead expenses, only a fraction of these monies actually make it into the hands of the needy. Throughout history private charities and groups do a better and more efficient job of helping the truly needy get back on their feet. A priority for our administration will be working to transfer these much needed services to the private sector and assist them in creating programs to put people back in the work force instead of continuing to perpetuate the meager handouts which force the needy into government dependency.

In turn, there needs to be some questioning of Quinn as to how he would perform some of these policy changes with a General Assembly practically (if not physically) devoid of his party.

But that’s the great thing about a debate of ideas – too bad we won’t get one anytime soon.

4 thoughts on “Hearing all the voices”

  1. I have to disagree with only one point; “Libertarians take away more votes from Republicans”. Political affiliation only means something to those who want Republicans to vote (R) and the same for Democrats. You assume Republicans would only vote for the Republican candidate. The Republican party in Red States spend more time keeping Libertarians off the ballot than they do fighting the democrats. How many times did Mitt Romney fight to keep Gary Johnson out of the debates? I get so sick of hearing republicans complain about Libertarians. about “stealing votes”. The Republican party will always have the same M.O, it’s you get in line and if you fall out of line, dare to support someone other than the Republican you get pushed out. The voter base is shifting; time to hop aboard the ship.
    Keep doing the good work I always read…

  2. Of course I make the assumption that Republicans would vote for the GOP candidate – otherwise, why would they register Republican?

    I understand that Republicans spend too much time worrying about the Libertarians on the ballot rather than obviating the need for the third party by adopting more of a limited-government mindset, and that’s why I would like to see the debate.

    Look, whenever I take the world’s smallest government quiz I end up on the line between libertarian and conservative so I understand what you mean. But I think there are more right-leaning libertarians than left-leaning ones.

  3. Thank you for this blog. I am only asking for equal time and you did a great job pointing that out. Keep up the good writing. Has for lost Republican votes. Maybe your party should find better candidates. Hogan is so out of touch and refuses to even talk to citizens unless they are giving him money. That is why your party is spit. They have failed the people and people are tired of it. thanks again for hearing me out and please join us Saturday if your in Ocean City.

  4. Great Post!!! Thanks for pointing out the wrong doing of your own party and the democratic party, It takes guts and integrity.

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