Is BLUE Gal a Libertarian in disguise?

Memo to this guy:
You can hate America.
You can wear your underpants on your head.
You cannot do both.

I got a great email this weekend:

Dear Blue Gal:

I read you almost daily… and I have a question.

Would you consider yourself a libertarian?

I consider myself, more and more, one. Even though I’ve “hung out” in the Democratic party since I obtained my voter ID card – oh geez, 18 years ago.

I heard an article on NPR about why people who consider themselves libertarian are moving more and more to the political Left, as far as who they are electing, because of the current government’s nosing into personal business where they don’t belong.

Just wanted to know where you stand and why, and I didn’t see any particular post that I could comment on to ask.

My response:

Thanks much. Mister Blue Gal is a member of the Libertarian Party, and I voted for the Libertarian candidate for Governor of Alabama, Loretta Nall. So did lots of progressives in this state. Our Democratic candidate, Lucy Baxley, was a total GOP-lite embarrassment.

But even at the state level, Loretta Nall could not get on the ballot. The big parties have so much locked up…

I think voting the issues, particularly in state and local races, is the key.

I consider myself a Democrat and probably will for the rest of my life. It’s definitely in my blood.

Thanks for reading and for the question.

Best,

BG

I think we progressives need to be really concerned about ballot access for third parties. Who knows, there may come a time in the future when we even go so far as to dislike the Democratic candidate for President. (Ya think?) You can read more about Loretta Nall’s struggle over this issue at her blog, particularly her November archives. Some jerks at County Elections even went so far as to suggest that write-in candidates should PAY to have their ballots counted. Don’t get me started. As Loretta pointed out last month:

We should demand that our election process at least be as fair and equitable as the one in Iraq, where there were 75 political parties and 111 candidates on the ballot in the last election.