Eric Sundwall is a member of the Libertarian Party National Committee. He also has a cable TV show in New York state. This is the Sundwall interview with Mike Gravel, conducted April 1. Gravel has long been intensely interested in changing the U.S. form of government so that ordinary people have more power over law-making. This in-depth interview deals with the interplay between liberty, on the one hand, and power for ordinary people, on the other hand. Gravel makes a case that there can be no liberty without freedom, which he defines as power over the law-making process.
“I was never really a Democrat.” *
So we should believe you’re now really a Libertarian?
“Eclectic: a little bit of everything” *
And a lot of nothing.
“Party labels don’t mean anything” *
I’ll take you at your word.
“The LP hasn’t been very successful with their candidacies in the past.” *
By what standard?
The LP’s platform is “archaic and colonial” *
Speechless.
Gravel does not buy into the non-aggression principle. That dings him right there. He’s just NOT a Libertarian. He’s a collectivist.
This party change is disingenuous.
His message seems to be direct participative (complicated) democracy, not representative democracy. Switzerland is his ideal example. He’s for term limits for all elected and some appointed officials. Very revolutionary and interesting.
FYI the video is about 29 minutes long.
* all quotes are paraphrases.
Capital Outsider is the fresh new show out of LPNY. Absolutely a welcome addition to the world of libertarian journalism.
No Gravel is not a libertarian. But their neither is Bob Barr or Root or most the other candidates that want the LP’s nod. Ruwart and Kubby are but they are pretty much alone in that field.
The most essential part of this interview is when Mike Gravel says that he’ll be the second priority of his presidency, behind the people. His National Initiative idea is the reason he’s running, and if he’s elected he’ll give the power to the people, not to himself. His stances on the issues are not the most important thing about him (even though they are moderately important), because in the end his stances on the issues are the stances of the people.
For his book – http://www.citizen-power.us
For his campaign website – http://www.gravel2008.us
For the National Initiative website – http://www.ni4d.us
For the unofficial Ni4D website – http://www.vote.org
I have yet to hear Libertarians say they really like any of their candidates yet to be honest.
Gravel is just want the libertarians need, and has the vehicle to make true change happen with the NI4D. A lifetime full of change. Before it seems the libertarians have vague dreams about a disneyworld existance with no plan on how to make it happen. Which explains why libertarians sre not taken seriously.
Gravel is just want the libertarians need, and has the vehicle to make true change happen with the NI4D. A lifetime full of change. Before it seems the libertarians have vague dreams about a disneyworld existance with no plan on how to make it happen. Which explains why libertarians are not taken seriously.
Anyone who thinks that libertarians have “no plans on how to make it happen” doesn’t know much about the libertarian movement. I’ve never met so many people who spend so much time intellectualizing down to the nth level about how to accomplish everything. They have plenty of plans for privatizing everything, except nobody outside the tiny world of Ludwig von Mises fanatics is interested in actually doing that.
The problem isn’t a lack of specifics, it’s a lack of a premise that makes any practical sense. Sadly, freedom is not the cure-all for every human condition, and limitless freedom — in a world of finite resources and teenager-level unlimited desires, where, like it or not, we’re all part of one big interlocking community full of social costs — would produce a nightmare world in which I seriously doubt any libertarian would actually want to live.
Although it seems Mike Gravel would be very happy living there.
> and if he’s elected he’ll give the power to the people, not to himself.
BS. He himself says that power corrupts, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely.
So why is he any different? He’s not.
Well, Mr. Donnelly, I’ll risk to be a little tasteless and state the obvious by saying that Gravel might not be corrupted because he might be dead first.
Scott,
You’re a jackass. The LP isa political party, not a radical organization, you scum fuck
Gravel IS ecclectic. Perhaps too much so for either the Dems OR the Libs.
Sundwall, as nice as he is, was really chewed a new one here.
If this whole presidential bid doesn’t pan out, I think Mike should vigorously court CNN to become the new liberal co-anchor of Crossfire.
Despite his denials to the contrary, this man still has fire in the belly!
Joseph Marzullo, the fact you cant articulate your comments without resorting to profanity, just goes to show how childish some of you libertains can be.
If you trust that the majority of Americans are Libertarian at heart; that they want a fiscally conservative but socially liberal society, with small government and great personal freedom, then why not let them vote on those desires directly? That’s exactly what the National Initiative does.
Getting to vote once every 2-6 years in a media controlled and politically gerrymandered election just isn’t cutting it. How many Libertarians hold national office under that system? Why not champion the National Initiative, and let common citizens take back their government and put it in its place?
Yeah, I don’t know. Mike Gravel seems kind of like a chameleon. His “power to the people” platform takes the form of whatever the majority of the citizens believe. This might spell trouble for you don’t share the opinion of the majority of the people.
I guess the Libertarian idea of liberty is not to give the people the power to rule over one another. Rather, it is to free each individual from the rule of all others.
I still like Gravel though. I always told my Democratic friends to vote Gravel. Now I can’t do that anymore 🙁 I live in PA. We vote on April 22….
“The founders created a society of majoritarian rule”. I liked this guy when he was democrat but trying to pass himself off as a Libertarian rubbed me the wrong way. Now this ignorant statement. Send this man to Antarctica I’m tired of listening to his nonsense.
We all forget that these politicians were people but a federal law prohibits elected officials from continuing to earn a private salary. The politicians Gravel is so quick to condemn include himself. The problem is corruption not the number of people that can be corrupted.