Libertarian Party D.C. Mayoral Candidate Bruce Majors: Stuck in the Middle
Bruce Majors is running for mayor of Washington D.C. with the Libertarian Party. Majors is gay, and has recently been slammed by both the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance for being insufficiently pro-state to count as pro-gay ("His and his party's ideological distrust of government is at odds with policies and reforms favored by GLAA"), and by the Republican Security Council for being insufficiently pro-war to be a good mayor of the District of Columbia ("He is well to the left of Obama and Pelosi on defense, foreign policy and war on terror issues.")
Majors cheeky response: "I actually pledge, if elected Mayor of D.C., NOT to remove any of the D.C. government military bases from Japan or Germany."
A telling survey of how Libertarians are seen by far-flung elements of the American political spectrum with whom you might imagine they have much in common---a desire to see gays treated as fully civically equal, say, or a desire to shrink government spending and overreach.
Alas, Libertarians' full-blooded dedication to liberty and choice sticks in the craw of nearly everyone, for some reason or another, even when the alleged reason, as with the Republcian Security Council, could not possibly have anything to do with the office the Libertarian is seeking.
Previous blogging from me in November on Bruce Majors' attempts to get the D.C. Libertarian Party moving on up.
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I had no idea there were any libertarians in DC proper, much less a DC LP.
The more you know....
Rob Kampia (MPP Chair)is a Big L in DC...or at least he was.
I thought he was a small-l R? I moved out of DC 14 years ago, so I don't pay too much attention to it.
He was Chair of the DC LP when Bob Barr ran in 2008...that was the last I knew.
I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I knew that guy. I was sure I met him at various parties in the 90's. So I Googled up pictures of him, and there he is, posing with a friend of mine (who was also involved in DC Republican politics before moving to San Fran. Must be some kind of masochist).
He was, and he once ran for office in DC as a Libertarian. He also helped my 2012 campaign. But he is now, like so many people from the east coast, a refugee from statism in Austin.
I was one of 550 people in DC to vote for Ron Paul in the 08 primaries, much less than 1% IIRC. That should give you an idea of what it's like.
Nature of the beast. People move to DC to doooo something! Which either means become busy body leftist, or rent seeking lobbyists (or both in some cases).
Two of our 2014 candidates, Martin Moulton for Shadow Representative, and Pranav Badhwar for Ward 6 City Council, are former Ron Paul delegates and alternates.
Majors lost my vote due to the godawful eyevomit that is his website. Also because I don't live in DC. Also because I'm not registered.
Which website? I have many?
"I actually pledge, if elected Mayor of D.C., NOT to remove any of the D.C. government military bases from Japan or Germany."
Ooh, burn!
What's comical is that they gave MAjors a low rating for not understanding the issues.
Read Majors' returned questionnaire, and laugh at the worthlessness of the GLAA raters.
11. Will you support strengthening Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) reforms by eliminating license protests filed by citizens associations and ad hoc groups, requiring stakeholders to participate in the community process provided by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission?
I would eliminate the ABC and liquor licensing. If McDonald's wants to serve wine as it does abroad, it should be free to sell it and D.C. residents should be free to buy it, just as if they were in Quebec or Paris. Until the ABC is eliminated I would take any step to end
harassment of local businesses by competitors and people who want to interfere with private consensual activity of their neighbors.
"11. Will you support strengthening Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) reforms by eliminating license protests filed by citizens associations and ad hoc groups, requiring stakeholders to participate in the community process provided by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission?"
The only logical answer to this is FIRE EVERYONE AND START OVER
Some of his answers must have broke their brains.
6. Will you budget funds to hire qualified trainers to provide LGBT-inclusive cultural
competency training to all police officers, including in the handling of intimate partner
violence?
I would ensure that the Metropolitan Police Department adequately trained its officers in all aspects of DC's diverse populations and advertised job openings to and hired from all DC population groups. This would include training as needed on LGTB issues.
Beyond that I favor removing barriers to legal gun ownership for LGBT people who do not have criminal records or other issues, especially those who have reasonable concerns about gay bashing in areas where they live or work. I think an LGBT group in D.C. should teach them responsible firearms storage, ownership and use and how to obtain a license and choose a firearm. Barriers to non-governmental groups establishing shooting ranges and clubs inside D.C. for training should be removed.
- and I love the part where he has to show his homo bonofides:
In the late 1990s and early 2000s I became a member of the Human Rights Campaign Fund's Federal Club and donated $25,000 to HRC at a silent auction, winning a spot as an extra on "Will and Grace."
The Pink Pistols do this every day. Sounds like his ideas are great, but he doesn't actually know any of the actors that could help support him and get him exposure during the election.
There is no Pink Pistols group in DC, and it is virtually illegal to own a gun in DC. Despite the Heller decision. A man is being prosecuted currently for having antique shells as a paperweight, and even the IRS is now harassing him.
Yeah I read that, and it seems to me he answered the pointed questions correctly. Of course, I don't the state feeding into identity politics any more than he apparently does. I'm sure the activists were appalled at his answers.
Would this be the same government that once proclaimed sodomy a crime and punished offenders accordingly? How about the same government that once involuntarily committed people because homosexuality was deemed a mental illness?
But I forget, the power is not the problem. The right sort of people just weren't in charge.
Don't forget the same government that barred dudes from military service based on which hole they stick their wingwang in.
Technically, it still does. Anything other than intercourse in the missionary position with a legally married spouse is against the UCMJ.
It's a damn shame they took that verse out of the "Star Spangled Banner."
They didn't, but people only remember Verse One.
Stop trying to turn me on. I'm running for office!
He's such an Uncle Mary!
I think we all know this works:
"If you're not one hundred per cent for something, you're undoubtedly one hundred per cent against it."
also, "Anyone not the avowed mortal enemy of my enemy is his friend, and therefor my enemy."
"Libertarians' full-blooded dedication to liberty and choice sticks in the craw of nearly everyone"
When hasn't it? Thankfully, there was a large enough minority in 1776 that was dedicated, if not fully and perfectly, to these ideals.
I think that minority has been steadily shrinking ever since.
Quit trying to co-opt people dude. The Founders weren't libertarians. They were a bunch of educated mostly white males who spent more time bickering with each other about philosophical minutae than they ever did to fight the government that they all basically agreed was too oppressive.
So...just like H&R?
Except they actually met in person.
"Mr. Majors, How do you feel about gay issues?"
Well, I have sex with other dudes.
"Yes, but what is your position on DC statehood?"
So that's why Bruce doesn't hang out here anymore. Running for mayor is taking up all his free time.
Mayor Major!
He has a latino houseboy, I know it.
True.
True to BakedPenguin. I have a cat Gilmore. I'm a lesbian in a gay man's body.
What is hilarious is I only got as far as the name "Bruce Majors" and I went= GAY.
Then I 'learned' he's gay.
Jesus, really?
WTF. I think his parents must have planned that shit.
I thought the Bruces excluded poofters.
Not if they are tops.
Majors is 53, so The Six Million Dollar Man didn't exist when he was born.
My joke about this is "I'm the love child of Bruce Lee and Lee Majors, but back then in Hollywood they didn't talk about that." It's fun to watch people's faces as they try to figure out what doesn't make sense about the claim.
I'm a step-Majors. I became Bruce Majors in the second grade, and because of the Patriot Act I had to change my name, to my name, in court, so I could renew my passport.
When a candidate survey asks you whether you'd do something they want, and nobody's survey asks you not to do it, just say "yes". I used to answer candidate surveys as at GLAAD's link the way Bruce Majors did until I realized it's just a screener. They have no way of evaluating long answers, and indeed will frequently misinterpret them. The survey is just a barrier to get over before you can really talk to anybody who might be interested. Just pretend you're filling out an employment questionnaire; the object is to get the interview ASAP, not make them scratch their heads.
But if you're not entirely honest in writing then it'll definitely come back to bite you.
Better to be bitten than ignored. Besides, what makes you think they are honest when they interview you? Besides besides, I once had a candidate survey peg me as "anti-abortion" (maybe just because I was co-nominated by the Conservative Party, or maybe because when asked whether I thought Roe v. Wade was correctly decided, I answered "no", even though there were a bunch of other answers that should've made clear I'm not only for legal abortion, but legal infanticide, so why put so much thought into these anyway? Just answer what you think they want, so you can be taken seriously.
Actually one of the 9 people who is GLAA told me they laughed at my answers, especially on sex work and the ABC, because they agreed with them. But they gave me no points for them because they were "too radical" and thus impractical because they could not be implemented in the next 4 years. Which is not what they copped to in public.
I had no idea there were any libertarians in DC proper, much less a DC LP.
That's because you don't know the secret handshake.
They have their own restaurant - The Monocle.
http://www.themonocle.com/
Actually there are four DC bars or restaurants owned or run by libertarians - Mr. Yogato, Handsome Cock, The Codmother and Thomas Foolery.
The gay rights folks, like the feminists, are are as much interested in pushing the progressive big government agenda as they are in advancing their own causes. Libertarians, despite whooping for abortion and same sex marriage are still anti big government and therefore nothing they do will please either group.
Perhaps the movement as a whole, but there are those of us who support gay rights and are, if not actual libertarians, at least fellow travellers.
What does the fucking mayor of Washington have to do with defense and foreign policy shit?
He was trolling them, Beavis.
I think it's also important for gay activist[s] to recognize that traditionally a major source of
discrimination is the state sector...
I urge everyone to read his responses to the GLAA survey. It's a quick read, mostly libertarian boilerplate, but he does a good job of skewering the statist presumptions of GLAA and reminding them that The State has not always been the friend of gay people. Shorter: epic pwnage.
Who pwned whom? They're the one with a voting bloc. You should pwn them by answering what you think they want. Once you're elected, fuck 'em.
What they want is for DC taxpayers to be on the hook for tax funded sex assignment surgery, government jobs for all gay activists, etc etc.
Not surprising. My gay neighbors were ranting on and on about the Tea Party at a BBQ last summer. I suggested that fiscal conservatism does not equal social conservatism. Blank stares ensued.
I asked why love of the same sex meant love of expansive government programs and high taxes and they muttered something about Sarah Palin and walked off.
They didn't call you a racist homophobe? You've got some pretty reasonable neighbors...relatively speaking, of course.
I have spent some time with him and he is a great guy. How is this for a libertarian bona fide? He is the former Mrs. Tom Palmer.
I know a gay dude in DC named Tom Palmer, so your comment freaked me out a bit. Then I realized you were talking about the Tom Palmer. The CATO one.
Mr. Palmer actually was a donor to my 2012 campaign, as were two of my subsequent beaux. They are all welcome to do so again this year, as are you.
Bruce Majors is as Libertarian as Nancy Pelosi is devout Catholic.
Silly and untrue.