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Contenders Statesmen, Stalwarts, and Old Pols
by Bruce Ramsey
In Washington state's run-up to the Libertarian Party convention, the candidates made their cases. The LP will pick a nominee from these.
On April 19, at its convention in Tacoma, the Libertarian Party of Washington State hosted five candidates for the presidential nomination: Mike Gravel, Michael Jingozian, George Phillies, Wayne Allyn Root, and Mary Ruwart. There was a stand-in for Bob Barr. What ensued was something like the "debates" in the major parties: a kind of panel show in which the candidates could distinguish themselves.
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Bruce Ramsey is a journalist in Seattle.
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And they did. One might divide them into three groups: the Stalwarts, the Salesmen, and the Old Pols.
The Stalwarts are longtime LPers active in selling the party's ideological message. Several such candidates were not at Tacoma; one of these was Steve Kubby, whose web page states, "I believe in 80-proof, straight up, gut-burning freedom."
Christine Smith
was represented only by a statement, which was down-the-line libertarian. In Tacoma, the closest breathing person to that position was Mary Ruwart,
author of "Healing Our World" (1992). Ruwart is a soft-spoken advocate of the hard core: she had the faintest voice and, in some ways, the hardest positions of any of the six on the dais. She said, "I would have trouble with someone who would soft-sell our message."
When asked about air pollution, she said the answer is restitution for its victims. On immigration she would "do away with the welfare system, then open the borders."
Ruwart, who lives in Detroit and sells her books and DVDs on the internet, was a research scientist for Upjohn Pharmaceuticals for 19 years. She particularly opposes the regime of pharmaceutical regulation and state-mandated universal medical coverage.
She said she knows Rep. Ron Paul and that he told her on the phone that he plans to continue running for the Republican nomination (not the Libertarian one).
Ruwart has been an LP activist for more than 25 years, having tried for its presidential nod in 1984. She ran for U.S. Senate from Texas in 2000, when she polled 1% of the vote. Concerning the 2008 campaign, she said, "I'm pretty good at the sound bites. If you don't know how the news media will handle you as a Libertarian, you can be in for some surprises."
George Phillies
is professor of physics at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. He was an LP candidate for Congress in 1998 and got 1.5% of the vote. He is state chairman of Mass. LP and head of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Appearing in a dark suit, vest, and red tie, the white-haired professor looked the most like an old-time candidate and spoke in a stentorian voice.
"I am a middle-of-the-road libertarian," he said. "I'm not a Republican lite, and I'm not an anarchist. I'm a realistic libertarian."
On Social Security and Medicare, Phillies suggested giving workers an option to leave the system at age 30, when they were old enough to make such a decision and be held to it. He is for allowing interstate competition in health insurance and allowing the sale of drugs approved by the European Union. On immigration, he would end limitations on H1-B work visas but would not open the border as long as there was a welfare system.
"I have $100,000 in the bank ready to go if I get the nomination," Phillies said. "Make me the nominee and I'll give you the campaign of your dreams." He admitted that he was not going to be elected, and said the purpose of the campaign was "to build a strong Libertarian Party for the future."
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According to Ruwart: "If you don't know
how the media will handle you as a Libertarian,
you can be in for some surprises."
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Next, the Salesmen: younger, verbally aggressive men from the world of business, first-time candidates, one leaning left and the other leaning right.
Michael Jingozian is founder and president of
AngelVision Technologies, a Portland, Oregon, company that produces internet "impact movies" to sell products. He says he offers "a national multimedia campaign to attract the youth of the Ron Paul Revolution."
Jingozian's stump speech had a populist edge. He attacked the oil companies and the military-industrial complex; and he bemoaned the decline of the middle class. He denounced the occupation of Iraq, subsidies to business, and a national ID card. He said he was for an end to birthright citizenship.
In a different forum, he has said, "The two parties I support are the Libertarians and the Greens." In Tacoma, he said that for vice president he would like to run with "someone from the liberated Left."
Jingozian affirmed the concept of human-caused global warming, a stand he shares with rival Mike Gravel. Like Phillies, he admitted that he was not going to win the presidency but said he would aim for 5 to 7% of the vote.
The best showing for the LP was 1% in 1980.
The other Salesman was Wayne Allyn Root,
a short and intense-eyed blond who calls himself a Jewish libertarian. Root likes to repeat his slogan "my friends call me WAR."
A resident of Las Vegas, Root is founder and chairman of Winning Edge, a sports gambling site. He has also produced a TV show called "King of Vegas" on Spike, the cable channel aimed at young men.
Like many libertarians, Root is an author of books — and what books: "Betting to Win on Sports," "The Joy of Failure: How to Turn Failure, Rejection, and Pain into Extraordinary Success," "Millionaire Republican," and "The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling."
Root wore a dark suit with brilliant purple tie. "I am Ron Paul on steroids," he roared. "How many of you think I have energy?" he said. "How many think I have passion?"
On immigration, Root said, "We have to seal the border." He did not say he opposed the Iraq occupation, as all the others did, though his web page shows he wants to get out gradually while "supporting the troops." His issue in Tacoma was economic freedom and self-reliance. In his stump speech, he asks people to take out their wallets and look into them. Then he says, "Vote for me and I promise to stay the hell out of there."
Root said that his father, a butcher, had been a founder of the Conservative Party of New York and that Barry Goldwater had long been his hero. He said that what the Libertarian Party needs is a good communicator, like Ronald Reagan.
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Root asks people to take out their wallets and
look into them. Then he says, "Vote for me and
I promise to stay the hell out of there."
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"You need a great messenger," he said. "I get media on the national level like no other libertarian."
Then came the Old Pols. Bob Barr,
who represented suburban Atlanta in the House of Representatives from 1995–2003, was not in Tacoma. His stand-in, Bob Jackson, had the task of explaining Barr's political pilgrimage. Barr had voted for the Patriot Act, he said, in order to get a sunset clause on some of its provisions.
Jackson didn't know Barr's position on all the issues that came up. Two responses that stick in the mind: he said that Barr would have Ron Paul in a "cabinet-level position in constitutional review" and that he favors the development of fusion power.
He also said Barr is looking to get 4 to 6% of the national vote.
Mike Gravel
represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969–1981. During that time, he opposed the draft and leaked the Pentagon Papers. In Tacoma he said he had been "a classic liberal" long before there were libertarians (which he pronounced "libbatarians").
Gravel, who lives in Virginia now, was sometimes quiet and seemingly bored with the talkfest about him — then suddenly seemed engaged with a splash of radicalism. It was a reminder that in his Senate days he was too un-PC for his own party and eventually lost its nomination.
He has a new cause, the National Initiative for Democracy. The idea is to establish the voter initiative at the national level, which would require a constitutional amendment. "I want to do away with the entire system we have," he said.
Gravel was for freedom, which he defined — echoing the great Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero — as the people being "participants in power."
He had tried to interest the Democratic Party in this idea but hadn't succeeded. Campaigning for president among the Democrats, he never broke out of the pack of such no-hopers as Tom Vilsack and Chris Dodd.
A former LP candidate for Senate told me he pegged Gravel at "65% libertarian." Gravel was for "open borders — one world," and for an end to the Iraq occupation and drastic shrinkage of the military. He was also for universal health insurance — a stand he downplayed, telling the crowd that his version (government vouchers for private doctors) was "not socialistic." They could read about it in his book, "Citizen Power," which was on sale for $20.
Afterward, when an LPer questioned him, Gravel said, "You want freedom for all Americans. Is there something wrong with wanting health for all Americans?"
Gravel appeared to be a fresh and opportunistic party member who had not seen fit to change his lefty positions in the way Barr had changed his righty ones.
Gravel's pitch was pragmatic: as a former senator, he had credibility the others — except for Barr — lacked, and he, Gravel, had more of it than Barr did. Gravel undertook to pretend he could actually win but stressed the urgency of the moment. "At my age, I've got a minimum shelf life. If you want to capitalize on what I have to offer, you've got to make me your standard bearer."
Such were the six: Stalwarts, Salesmen, and Old Pols. Each would put a distinctive face on America's longest-running third party, which is due to select its nominee in Denver at the end of May. That choice will determine whether the party has a chance to be a player in 2008 or merely an asterisk.
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