Originally Posted by
centrarchidae
In my heart, I'm a libertarian. I favor MJ legalization, treating the Fourth Amendment as though it were dictated from a burning bush, TABOR and limited government in general, strangling the EPA, removing government from healthcare and education, etc.
I register as a Republican for the same reason that cruise ships register in Panama: a flag of convenience. Declaring a party affiliation allows you to participate in that party's closed caucuses and primaries. That means getting a voice in who that party's candidates are, and the platform that those candidates are expected to support. And from my precinct, there were a whopping THREE LOUSY PEOPLE in attendance! THREE!
Something different might have happened had every libertarian who voted Big-L showed up to their major-party caucus to argue (and vote!) in favor of small-government candidates and small-government principles. There are so few people who show up and participate that each individual voice and each individual vote carries a lot farther than it does in the primaries and the general elections.
Picture it: a bunch of RINOS sputtering on fudd-guns-colorado.com about how the Republican Party keeps putting up those dangerous small-government candidates because those damn libertarian people hijacked the party machinery, when the RINOs got outnumbered and out-shouted at the caucus.
The two-party system isn't going anywhere in my lifetime. That's the terrain we're stuck with. We can either fight on the ground that we have, or we can stamp our feet, yell that it's not fair, and take our bats and balls and go home. You don't win any games by going home in the second inning.