 | Burton Barr Announces Presidential Campaign |
Babs Barr, former Republican member of Congress, has just begun a presidential campaign with the Libertarian Party. Barr wants to be the executive leader of government, shaping government policy according to the idea that government should be doing as little as possible. It’s the logical equivalent of holding starting a catalog of anti-consumerist products.
Babs Barr has a long history of ideological extremism and political incoherence, having declared that nothing but right wing Christianity should be recognized by the American government as a “real religion”. Barr also tried to eliminate the National Endowment of the Arts and Head Start preschool education programs, and even the children’s television program Sesame Street. Barr spoke before the pro-segregation, racist Southern Council of Conservative Citizens and the radical John Birch Society.
Wait a minute. I think I got something wrong there. It isn’t Babs Barr who I should be talking about. I got the presidential candidate’s name wrong. I think the right name is Bob Burr. Yes, former Congressman Bob Burr is running for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party.
No, no. That isn’t right. Bugs Barber? Butch Behr? Billy Bohr? Burton Bayh? Barton Bobbington?
Oh, I sure would love to give publicity to this right wing extremist anti-government candidate, but golly, I just can’t remember his real name. Oh, darn it, I guess this Benwick Burns fellow will have to look elsewhere for publicity.
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Um, no. No, it’s not. It is entirely consistent for someone who wants the government to do less to run for an office where they can make that happen. The President’s job is to see that the laws are faithfully executed; but there are laws that can be interpreted (even if not as broadly as Dubya has done), and a President could reasonably set out to interpret them in ways that result in the government doing less. Oh, and he could veto laws that he thinks do too much.
I mean, what is he supposed to do? Sit on the sidelines and say, “Gosh, I wish government were smaller.”?
Comment by John Stracke — 5/13/2008 @ 3:29 pm
No, if he really thinks that government is not the answer, then what ought to do is not sit on the sidelines, but according to his own vision, the government IS the sidelines. If Barr really believed that government was not the solution, then he wouldn’t be running for the top government position. He would, instead, be out in the non-governmental world, proving how irrelevant government is.
Comment by F.G. Fitzer — 5/13/2008 @ 3:44 pm