Libertarian Party Candidate Bruce Majors vs D.C.'s One-Party System

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Libertarian Party Candidate Bruce Majors vs D.C.'s One-Party System

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"There are a lot of people in D.C. who are Democrats who probably don't really want to be," says D.C's Libertarian Party congressional candidate Bruce Majors, "but if you don't vote in the primaries then your vote in the election doesn't really count… because it is a one-party state."

Majors surprised many this election by receiving 6% of the vote against longtime congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, guaranteeing the Libertarian Party major party status in the nation's capital.

Majors sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to discuss the election, D.C. politics, and why hitting the major party threshold is important for libertarians.

Camera by Meredith Bragg and Josh Swain. Edited by Swain.

About 3.40 minutes.

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Comments

[Res Publica Americana]

Six percent of the vote in the capital of the Republic is a "strong showing"? Jesus Christ, man.

[Bruce Majors]

DC is 72% Democrats, 6% Republicans, 17% independents. Norton raises $400,000 each time she runs. The Greens get 3-4% when they run against her. I think the most the Republicans ever to was 18,000 votes. We got 16,500, more than any Libertarians have received in DC before.

[American]

DC is 75% Black. 6% of the vote would be over 20% of the white vote, which is pretty good for a libertarian.

[Calidissident]

Do you have any proof that not a single black person voted for Majors?

[Bruce Majors]

We actually discovered African American libertarians during the campaign who came to campaign events who we had not met before, people who had been libertarians since they were teens just like me. And you are incorrect "American" - DC was 75% black when I moved here in the 80s, but as Clinton and the Bush family expanded he federal government they depopulated DC with 6 figure lobbyists and regulators who are mainly white, who bid up real estate prices and drove the black population out of DC. It is now 49% black.

[Suki]

So now you are fighting for the Rich White Liberal vote?

[Bruce Majors]

I think in DC that is about the size of it. I think Ann Coulter's dictum that opposing a tax on billionaires and multi-millionaires isn't worth spending all your political capital on, because so many of them are statist bastard crony capitalists in Manhattan and Los Angeles (and Beltway bandits) has a grain of truth.

[Bruce Majors]

Oh Suki I misad you as saying fighting AGAINST, not for.

[Suki]

I would think you already have the Rich/Poor/In-between Not-So-Liberal vote. My meaning of fight was more like "convince," like I hear Ronald Reagan did.

[Sevo]

"in Manhattan and Los Angeles"

You left out Omaha; don't forget Omaha.

[Bruce Majors]

Which billionaire lives in Omaha?

[Sevo]

Hint:
He plays bridge.

[Bruce Majors]

No time for guessing. Charles Koch lives in Wichita. Is Buffett in Omaha?

[Episiarch]

Maybe if they had run Lee Majors instead they would have had a chance.

[Paul.]

I'd vote for any candidate who campaigns in the tracksuit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If voters such as yourself are going to totally discount candidates who worked successfully with Heather Thomas and Markie Post, then the country is truly lost.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Harry Anderson for President?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, I'm not the kind to kiss and tell,
But I've been seen with Farrah.
I'm never seen with anything less than a nine, so fine.

I've been on fire with Sally Field,
Gone fast with a girl named Bo,
But somehow they just don't end up as mine.

It's a death defyin' life I lead,
I take my chances.
I die for a livin' in the movies and TV.
But the hardest thing I ever do
Is watch my leadin' ladies
Kiss some other guy while I'm bandagin' my knee.

I might fall from a tall building,
I might roll a brand new car.
'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that made Redford such a star.

I never spend much time in school
But I taught ladies plenty.
It's true I hire my body out for pay, Hey Hey.

I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
Blown up for Raquel Welch.
But when I end up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey.

I might jump an open drawbridge,
Or Tarzan from a vine.
'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine.

[Ted S.]

I vote for Chet Roosevelt.

[Bruce Majors]

Are you going to make me pull out my joke about being the love child of Bruce Lee and Lee Majors, but back then in Hollywood no one talked about that?

[Turd in the Punchbowl]

Why I am not a libertarian

[Apatheist ?_??]

Cool story bro.

[iggy]

"This ancient algorithm, once known by the cute Latin name of sub specie aeternitatis, is guaranteed to produce extremist results. If our views conformed perfectly to the fashions of 2007, they would strike the fashionable citizens of any of these other timepoints as crazed."

I think he's not a Libertarian because he couldn't pass our written exam.

[WWNGD?]

He probably likes roads... I bet he has one outside his house.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Summary: "I have never heard of consequentialist libertarianism."

Derp.

[Thane Eichenauer]

Da Derp Dee Derp

[dinkster]

They say that brevity is the soul of wit...

[Bruce Majors]

Wish I could read this but the font is tiny.

[General Butt Naked]

I thought you guys raffled off the Reason SexDoll Man in the Adam and Eve thread?

Or do you have two?

[Bruce Majors]

That one is mine. I was just carrying it around that day as we had just been to lunch

[WWNGD?]

You took your sex doll to lunch? Is that considered a business expense?

[Bruce Majors]

He's very demanding, and since he still has that new vinyl smell he has me wrapped around his oral inflation valve. You know how that is.

[General Butt Naked]

Just make sure he votes Libertarian. If you can get the sex doll vote you'll have DeeCee next election for sure.

[waaminn]

Soudns like a pretty solid plan to me dude.

http://www.WebAnon.tk

[nikea]

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[Bruce Majors]

That's exactly why I ran.

[Robert]

But you said in the interview that if you don't vote in the Democrats' primary, you don't count. So why aren't you trying to be an insurgent Democrat instead of further dividing the anti-Democratic vote, which is already ineffective? That is, why are you trying to carve a slice from a piece of the pie that in its entirety is insufficient, rather than cutting into the piece of the pie that is?

[Sevo]

"There are a lot of people in D.C. who are Democrats who probably don't really want to be," says D.C's Libertarian Party congressional candidate Bruce Majors,"

Maybe because of that.

[Bruce Majors]

An excellent question. For one thing 17% of DC voters consciously register as "other," our version of independent, explicitly rejecting the Democrats, Greens, and Republicans, even though it means they cannot vote in the Democratic (or other) primaries, which decides the vote in most elections in DC since the Democrat is always elected. So the purpose of this race was. To get the LP permanent ballot status and then allow us to see how much of that 17% want to be Libertarians.

Challenging Eleanor Holmes Norton as a libertarian Democrat in some future primary is a good idea. An amazingly large number of voters did not know who she was, or that DC had a Congressperson.

[Robert]

So far so good, but you haven't explained why you're going after that 17% instead of the 75% who consciously register as Democrats. If the Democratic primary decides the election, why run anywhere other than the Democratic primary? Or, put another way, suppose you got all of, not only that 17% of "other", but the entire 25% who are anything but Democrats; where would that get you? What is the prize for 2nd place?

[Bruce Majors for Congress]

The purpose of this race was to secure ballot status for the LP so they could run candidates in 2014, perhaps a full slate for all offices, without having to collect 4000 or 5000 signatures for each position, at a cost of $3 per signature for every signature not collected by a volunteer (and beltway libertarians, all with advanced degrees writing policy papers, will not collect signatures as volunteers, unlike the country cousins).

There is nothing to prevent a two pronged strategy, although one will have to have two candidates, one to run in the LP primary and win, and one to challenge the Democrat in that primary. I think we should try to do this, in part to fracture the Democrats in their own primary, so that the minority (?) who vote for the libertarian Demkcrat in the primary then jump ship and vote for the LP in the general election, since the winning incumbent Democrat will have bad positions on term limits, drug amnesty, cro y capitalism, etc.

[Carol Moore DC]

Hmmm, at least Bruce didn't call his an opponent a MOO COW like he did this female critic.

[Robert]

You're not feeling even slightly bovine these days, Carol?

[Sevo]

Whoa!
Just checked your web site; you do know to keep the shiny side in on tin-foil lids, right?

[Bruce Majors]

Carol, Carol, Carol, aren't you going to elaborate on your thesis that we only got any votes because I promised government benefits to my "buddies" I.e. I endorsed gay marriage. Is that the mooing to which you refer?

[alan_s]

Carol's actually right there. Don't endorse any kind of marriage. Leave that to individuals.

[Bruce Majors for Congress]

No she's not. Partly because she is simply a carping nag who never gives any time or money to any libertarian effort, including all the Maryland candidates (she lives blocks from the DC MD border) for whom she could have worked since she doesnt like me, someone who is according to her (homophobic.) jargon "peacocking." But she is also wrong politically in that gays deserve equal treatment NOW, having been taxed for decades while being denied spousal immigration rights and social security survivor benefits.

[alan_s]

Do single people deserve equal treatment now? I'm pretty sure they've been taxed for decades too.

[Bruce Majors]

Do straight singles deserve equal treatment to gay singles? In bringing their non-spouses into the country? And getting their non-children survivor benefits?

[alan_s]

Straight and gay singles, married couples, polygamists, whatever, deserve equal treatment. My only point is there should be no preferential treatment given for a behavioral choice, such as the choice to marry or have children. Government should have nothing to do with it at all. I should be able to bring anybody into the country, spouse or not. And if two people choose to have children, they should be responsible for that choice.

[Bruce Majors]

So if the government decided gay people couldn't work in public schools or hospitals, you'd oppose a state passing a law saying they had equal access to the state monopolized good or service, because the state shouldn't be providing the service anyway?

[alan_s]

I just think that the focus should be on getting the government out of the business of providing that service. There's a lot more that can be done by way of getting the government out of marriage than can be done about the fact the fact that they built the schools, hospitals, and roads. I think by emphasizing solely the gay marriage aspect (the inclusion of one additional group in a discriminatory practice by government), and not on the aspect of getting the government out of the business of providing that service in the first place, it distorts people's view of what libertarianism is about.

I'm more concerned about advocation by libertarians of the federal government stepping in on behalf of the states regarding this matter. I fear that this will lead more to a national standardization of marriage contracts (one size fits all), rather than the intended result. I think we are all better served by focusing on letting individuals decide these things for themselves and getting the government out of the matter entirely. The more rein you give the feds over something, the more control they'll take, and this will include forcing their views on religious institutions. I think that's the path that this issue will end up taking. So while the intention for libertarians is equality under the law, the result will be more government dogma and bureaucracy.

[Bruce Majors for Congress]

Carol is corret that I rather freely cuss people, mainly leftovers and liberaltarians and sometimes conservative bigots, out on the Internet. It's not tourettes; it's old age and contempt. I though Carol deserved it. I can control my dark passenger, and didn't cuss out any voters or press people during the campaign. I also had volunteers like former reason staffer John LaBeaume trying to reign in my flame throwing tendencies. An incomplete list includes: Official thanks to John LaBeaume, Laura Delhomme, Jim Gray, Ryan Sabot, Dave Weigel, Cassandra Jackson, Grover Norquist, Bridget Ulrich, Andrew Panken, Chenelyn Barker, Emmet Resierstoffer, Rob Kampia, Bill Piper, Marc Scribner, Ivan Osario, C. Michael Pickens, Bill Redpath, Carla Howell, John Kartch, Michael Osterlink, Anne Stone, Janet McElligot, Gary Johnson, Austin Texas Gary Johnson, Michael Debonis, Austin Petersen, Paul Blumstein, Margaret Scoby, Jonathan Bydlak, David Barnes, Rob Turner, Tom Palmer, Brian Tosko Bello, Allen E. Brown, Keith Edison, Tom Conway, Pranav Badwhar, Nena B., Steve Hoodjer, Amit Singh, Michelle Lerner, Candace Boyer, Jeanne Welsh, Mike Kane. Some of these people are journalists who gave good coverage, some donors, some are campaign workers.

[Carol Moore DC]

Blinded by the light, eh??

[Kolohe]

http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/.....e-history/

[Bruce Majors]

Leftovers is my sobriquet for state socialists and pro-regressives, since it indicates the archaic and outmoded aspect of their ideology. That the boys at the League, who write and format prettily but are not exactly thinkers, tried to take that as a sexual, and specifically male chauvinist heterosexual comment, just shows a lack of intelligence and honesty.

[joey89924]

as Clinton and the Bush family expanded he federal government they depopulated DC with 6 figure lobbyists and regulators.
PT100

[XM]

What about Latino voters? Did you find any of them warming up to either Republicans or libertarians? What exactly is the LP's outreach effort to the increasing non white voters who are beefing up the dem party?

I'm afraid the LP's surprising performance in this election owed mostly to a committed portion of (largely white, if I had to guess) the voters who were determined not to vote for the lesser evil of the two. But even these people will be eventually dwarfed by the growing ethnic coalition.

It's probably best for you to latch onto either the democrats or the republicans. If the GOP there is more libertarian, you might as well run as republican. If you run as a democrat - hoooo boy, you'll have a tough time convincing their voters of your economic agenda. The immigrant community is the FARTHEST thing to anything libertarian.

[Bruce Majors]

I don't know. We did do one display ad in a local Latino paper owned by the Washington Post, and had a local Latin American libertarian make sure our copy was good. But we have no precinct analysis of this vote.

[Carol Moore DC]

Bruce is good at self-promotion, lots of people are fed up with the demopublicans AND he promoted "Marriage equality" which too many people read as meaning the govt will force private companies to give same sex couples the same benefits it gives straight couples. (I suppose if the government DID it just means a lot of companies would stop offering some such benefits at all... assuming they aren't some mandated benefit or other, and there are so many of those.)

Thanks for admitting you were an ass online, Bruce. However, I do think you comments rate some space at: http://carolmoore.net/articles.....d-of-women Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

And, again, thank you Bruce for not making public comments like your more private email list posts about black male violence and comparing allegedly violent black males to apes, I.e., for not being a total asshole ruining the reputation of the party during the campaign. (I'll publish one of those snippets too just so you don't have to beat your breast about what I liar I am.)

[nikea]

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