"The No Big Government Third Party"

A fiery former GOP congressman who gained national prominence for doggedly pursuing impeachment of President Clinton has some Republicans worried he'll play spoiler in a tight presidential contest.

Bob Barr's Libertarian Party bid for the White House is the longest of long shots, but political experts say he may be able to exploit the unease some die-hard conservatives still feel about Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting. Combined with the surge in turnout among Democrats during the primaries and a difficult political climate for Republicans, they see what could be a recipe for trouble for the GOP.

"Bob could be the Ralph Nader of 2008," said Dan Schnur, a GOP consultant in California who worked on McCain's 2000 campaign but is not involved in this year's contest. Consumer advocate Nader is
the third-party candidate many Democrats blame for helping George W. Bush narrowly win in 2000.

Barr, a former federal prosecutor, was swept into Congress with more than 70 other House GOP freshmen in 1994. An articulate, sometimes outspoken orator, he gained attention as the first
lawmaker to call for Clinton's resignation over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and was one of the House prosecutors who pressed the impeachment case in the Senate.

Barr also was known during his four terms in the House for his opposition to softening drug laws, including the medical use of marijuana, and his support for gun rights. He tried unsuccessfully to bar military bases from according witchcraft adherents the same accommodations as other religious worshippers.

The Libertarian Party hasn't cracked 1 percent of the national popular vote in a presidential race. But it bills itself as the third-largest political party and is already on the ballot in 30 states, with petition drives this summer aiming at 20 others.

In recent years, Barr has earned a reputation as an iconoclast.

A National Rifle Association board member, Barr has joined with the liberal American Civil Liberties Union against the Bush administration-backed Patriot Act and reversed himself on medical marijuana use, now lobbying in favor of it.

He said it is the unchecked growth of government that led him to abandon the GOP two years ago.

Barr also hopes to tap into the zealous grass-roots network of Rep. Ron Paul, who recently dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination and pledged to support "Libertarian-leaning Republicans." Paul, a Texas Republican who ran for president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1988, drew
hefty campaign contributions online, but did not win any primaries.

Statement of Principles

We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.

We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.

Governments throughout history have regularly operated on the opposite principle, that the State has the right to dispose of the lives of individuals and the fruits of their labor. Even within the United States, all political parties other than our own grant to government the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of their labor without their consent.

We, on the contrary, deny the right of any government to do these things, and hold that where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual: namely, (1) the right to life -- accordingly we support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others; (2) the right to liberty of speech and action -- accordingly we oppose all attempts by government to abridge the freedom of speech and press, as well as government censorship in any form; and (3) the right to property -- accordingly we oppose all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain, and support the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation.

Since governments, when instituted, must not violate individual rights, we oppose all interference by government in the areas of voluntary and contractual relations among individuals. People should not be forced to sacrifice their lives and property for the benefit of others. They should be left free by government to deal with one another as free traders; and the resultant economic system, the only one compatible with the protection of individual rights, is the free market.

      When the Federal government of the United States Of America is  operating with a nine trillion dollar deficit, no can argue the fact and reality of "Big Government". Traditionally Democrats have been for "Big Government" and Republicans for small or limited government but the neoconservative influenced Bush Administration has drastically abandoned GOP small or limited government principles, leading America to the precipice of bankruptcy. Republican party Presidential candidate John McCain gives no indication he will depart from much of the Bush Administration policies. Democratic party Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, is promising to withdraw from Iraq but as all far left liberal Democrats do, Obama will be about "Big Government" deficit spending in areas other than the War in Iraq. The Libertarian party offers a third party platform of small or limited government, in harmony with Constitutional principles. For American citizens and businesses accustomed to being taken care of by the government, the Libertarian platform policies of doing away with social security, medicare, the IRS and The Federal Reserve Banks is scary. The Libertarian party platform principle of withdrawing all American armed forces from foreign soil certainly scares the pants off the war profiteering neocons that influence the current Bush Administration. True liberty  or "standing on our own two feet" can be scary at first. Ultimately, if America is ever going to rise again to Her former glory as a world superpower and moral authority, a return must be made to the principles of the Constitution and much of the Libertarian party platform, in my opinion. There is no chance of Bob Barr becoming President in '08 but America desperately needs a "No Big Government" third party, in my opinion.

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