On March 25, former Alaska U.S. Senator Mike Gravel joined the Libertarian Party. He currently lives in Virginia, which does not have registration by party. Gravel joined the party by becoming a dues-paying member. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for this news.
There is nothing Libertarian about Gravel.
Didn’t he just endorse a Green presidential candidate?
Yes, but that Green presidential candidate, Jesse Johnson, is extremely unlikely to be nominated by the Green Party. He didn’t even get his name on most of the Green presidential primary ballots.
He’s a social libertarian, but far from being an economic one. I think he’d be more at home as a Green, but I don’t know him personally…
Stine wrote: “He’s a social libertarian, but far from being an economic one.”
I could not disagree more.
Among his other positions Mike Gravel advocates eliminating a progressive income tax and replacing it a National Sales Tax which is disguised under the euphemism Value Added Tax or VAT Tax.
Here is a basic rule of capitalism.
Rich people don’t get rich by spending their money.
Working Class people remaining working class people by spending what they earn.
As such VAT Taxes are considered regressive because they are paid primarily by working people. To replace income taxes with VAT taxes would shift the tax burden from the Rich on to the Working Classes on a level that would be unprecedented. Not even Ronald Reagan attempted something on the scale Gravel is proposing !
Libertarians are Capitalist with an incomplete understanding of the phenomenon. They talk with phrases like “government that governs least governs best” and back that up with positions like Libertarians will execute policies to reduce the armed forces of the United States to a self defense force. Which from a progressive perspective looks like a great idea. But libertarians fail to recognize the purpose behind the immense size of the War Establishment of this country. And that purpose is to maintain the world economic order. For this reason alone a political party that openly advocates such a position would meet with fierce resistance from the power structure if it ever intended to make good on such a promise.
Getting back to Gravel my hunch is his tax policies alone had the Libertarians licking their chops. That and the fact that Gravel has a high degree public visibilty makes him an excellent prospect for a Presidential Candidate.
Overall I find this as a very encouraging development for progressive politics this year. Why you ask ? For this reason. The power structure within the Democrat Party has become very adept at identifying their disenchanted rank and file memebership and then funneling them into Dead-end Projects. Mike Gravel was going to become one of those projects. Now that Gravel is in with the Libertarians the Democrats will have to reconsider carefully whether to use him for such a purpose as any new adherents could easily be persuaded into reregistering as Libertarian.
Thus for the moment the disaffected within the Democrat will migrate to Ralph Nader’s or Cynthia McKinney’s campaign. But fear not as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow the Democrats will come up with some other useless pursuit to waste the time of their faithful.
Yes this is Machiavellian. That is the way politics is played.
Bob Marston
Bob,
Gravel supports the “Fairtax” national sales tax plan. Last I checked, this includes a monthly “prebate” for standard living expenses. This prebate takes care of the inherent regressiveness of sales taxes/VATs. In fact, those that buy less than the standard end up with a negative tax rate.
Everyone who disagrees with the Fairtax plan necessarily ignores the prebate so they can harp on the standard objections to VATs or sales taxes. I don’t necessarily agree with the plan, but it does help to have all the facts before one makes a decision one way or another.
(1) It would have been a bit more interesting if his party change came while he was actually in Wash D.C.
Their are many Democrats and Republicans, who after leaving public office, seem to go through some sort of ‘over the hill’ fear and instead of buying an expensive car or dating some one much younger, then flirt with non-major parties.
(2) Gravel is probably not perfectly a Libertarian anymore then Ron Paul.
Stine wrote: “Everyone who disagrees with the Fairtax plan necessarily ignores the prebate so they can harp on the standard objections to VATs or sales taxes. I don’t necessarily agree with the plan, but it does help to have all the facts before one makes a decision one way or another.”
The analysis around the “Fairtax” is straight forward. It revolves around wealth polarization. The top one percent of the population controls more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. By focusing on sales taxes the tax burden is shifted to the 90 percent that have a negligible share of the economic resources. The “Prebate” is nothing more than a gimmick. It does nothing to tax wealth accumulation that the “Fairtax” never addresses to begin with. To engage in malprops “They left hand taketh and the right hand giveth back.” The question is under that philosophy what are you going to run the government on ?
Donald Bartlett of Bartlett and Steele fame blasted the fair tax in an August 25, 2007 Wall Street Journal and addressed the Prebate charade.
BTW If you are looking for an intersting read on the US Tax structure I recommend Bartlett and Steele’s “America Who Stole the Dream”
For those who subscribe to the Sirius satellite network, Gravel will appear on the Ron Silver Show (Indie Talk, channel 110) tomorrow, March 27, sometime between 9:00am and 11:00am Eastern time. Perhaps someone will call in to ask him to talk about why the Libertarian Party is a better fit for him than the Green Party.
Bob:
Rich people do not remain rich by hoarding their wealth.
Rich people get rich and remain that way by spending money in such a fashion that they get back more than they spent.
“Here is a basic rule of capitalism.
Rich people don’t get rich by spending their money.”
Rich people get rich by INVESTING their money.
“Libertarians are Capitalist with an incomplete understanding of the phenomenon. They talk with phrases like “government that governs least governs best†and back that up with positions like Libertarians will execute policies to reduce the armed forces of the United States to a self defense force. Which from a progressive perspective looks like a great idea. But libertarians fail to recognize the purpose behind the immense size of the War Establishment of this country. And that purpose is to maintain the world economic order. For this reason alone a political party that openly advocates such a position would meet with fierce resistance from the power structure if it ever intended to make good on such a promise.”
Libertarians are for a FREE MARKET. What you are describing is NOT free market, but rather mercantilism or corporate fascism, that is big government in bed with big corporations (ie-the military-industrial-complex, etc…).
“Getting back to Gravel my hunch is his tax policies alone had the Libertarians licking their chops. That and the fact that Gravel has a high degree public visibilty makes him an excellent prospect for a Presidential Candidate.”
Real Libertarians don’t like the “Fair Tax” or any other plan for a National Sales Tax or VAT.
I favor abolishing the income tax and replacing it with nothing, combined with phasing out the Federal Reserve and fiat currency and making big cuts in government spending.
“(2) Gravel is probably not perfectly a Libertarian anymore then Ron Paul.”
LOL! Ron Paul is FAR more libertarian than Gravel.
This whole thing is completely loony. It smacks of Pat Buchanan taking over the Reform Party without any consideration for its ideological reason for existence, simply to use it as a ballot access vehicle. You can call it “Machiavellian” if you like. I call it disingenuous, and I assume a vast majority of Libertarians (and I haven’t been one for over a decade now) will feel the same. It’s not enough to have name recognition. This is like Jesse Jackson suddenly declaring that he’s a Republican.
Kelly Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
There is nothing Libertarian about Gravel.
Phil Sawyer replies:
Did you mean to write that there “is nothing libertarian about Gravel”? Simply by joining the Libertarian Party, the honorable Mike Gravel became “Libertarian” with a capital “L.” There is no reason why capitalist reactionaries should be in control of the Libertarian Party for all time without end. More power to Mike Gravel!
Bob Marston Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Stine wrote: “He’s a social libertarian, but far from being an economic one.â€
I could not disagree more.
Among his other positions Mike Gravel advocates eliminating a progressive income tax and replacing it a National Sales Tax which is disguised under the euphemism Value Added Tax or VAT Tax.
Phil Sawyer responds:
The income tax is ridiculous and there is nothing progressive about it. It only encourages millions of people to cheat on their income tax returns and leaves those of us who are honest to shoulder the burden of the federal and state governments’ corruptness, inefficiency, and wastefulness.