Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr, the former
Republican congressman from Georgia, spoke today at The
American Spectator/Americans for Tax Reform Newsmaker
Breakfast today. Barr emphasized that his candidacy was designed to
bring libertarian principles and the Libertarian Party into the
mainstream by collecting as large a number of votes as possible. He
argued that change will not come from within the two major parties.
Barr said that many of the reform ideas contained in the Contract
with America were influenced by Ross Perot’s 1992 presidential
candidacy, which attracted enough support nationwide to move the
debate and influence Republicans.
Barr hastened to add that he wasn’t necessarily running to help
nudge the Republicans in the right direction, but contended that
the only way our politics will move in a more small-government
direction is if Libertarian candidates receive significant support.
Barr argued that the Libertarian Party needed to be a “real
political party” rather than a “debating society.” On the issues,
Barr discussed his new, detailed plan to privatize Social Security,
his opposition to the Bush administration’s national surveillance
program, and the need for a “Grace Commission on steroids” to
recommend spending cuts. Barr didn’t want the commission to simply
focus on government waste, as it did under President Reagan.
Describing the federal government itself as “wasteful,” Barr said
the commission would identify programs that have no “legitimate
basis” constitutionally, that could be better operated by the
states, and which do not sastisfy cost/benefit analysis so they can
eventually be put on the chopping block.
Barr also criticized John McCain’s “we are all Georgians”
statement as meaningless and simplistic. He cautioned against
becoming involved in the territorial dispute between Russia and
Georgia for reasons that do not touch upon vital American
interests. He subsequently criticized both McCain and Barack Obama
for being too interventionist and “equally bad” on foreign
policy.
CEI’s John Berlau asked Barr about his recent appearance with Al
Gore after calling global warming a “myth” on Glenn Beck’s show.
Barr replied that he did not buy into either Gore’s apocalyptic
view of climate change or his big-government, “tax-driven” policy
solution but does believe that the science points to warming
surface temperatures. He says that there should be further
scientific exploration of the problem to perhaps lead to different
fuel sources, but his willingness to listen to Gore should not be
construed as an endorsement of the former vice president’s policy
views.
Al Regnery asked Barr about whether he had met with Ron Paul and
sought out his supporters. Barr said yes to both questions,
pointing out that he had hired Paul supporters for his IT team, but
respected Paul’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate
at this time. Barr also said that it didn’t matter whether McCain
picked a pro-choice running mate like Tom Ridge because
“libertarian-leaning” Republicans and “real conservatives” wouldn’t
vote for McCain anyway. Barr also acknowledged that some
Libertarian “malcontents” were not reconciled to his candidacy, but
that such people exist in every party and his campaign had moved on
to the general election.
Finally, IBD’s Sean Higgins asked Barr if his lack of
emphasis on Iraq during the breakfast indicated the war was less
salient. Barr responded that he thought the war was very salient
and related to the economic concerns he’d been addressing, as our
military presence in Iraq costs $400 million a day. He argued that
taxpayers would rather spend money on the infrastructure at home
instead of building up infrastructure in Iraq. He called for an end
to the military occupation so that our troops could come home. He
said he would shift toward a national-security posture that was
“defense-oriented with a capital ‘d.’”
UPDATE: Dave Weigel has more.
