Libertarians to Obama: Congrats…sort of
The Libertarian Party, which bills itself as the nation's third largest political party, sent a congratulatory message to President Barack Obama. But Party Chairman William Redpath sort of doubt that the things he and other Libertarians may have liked most in the speech will be something Obama can follow through on:
"I think all Americans ultimately want what libertarians want—peace, prosperity and freedom. If President Obama and the 111th and 112th Congresses succeed in bringing us all that, they will truly be heroes to this nation.
"However...
...because so many people, including libertarians, are skeptical that they will do so with the current and proposed public policies,the Libertarian Party will continue to exist and grow, and propose and diligently work for the policies that we think will bring this nation peace, prosperity and freedom.”
“I hope President Obama is extremely serious about terminating government programs that are found to be ineffective, as he stated in his inaugural address. He’ll have to be to succeed in doing that. If fair judgments are made about all federal government programs, we should see a reduction in the size of the federal government that the Republican Party was never able to achieve.”
“I also was heartened to see President Obama speak of respect for market economies and responsibility to oneself before responsibility to the nation and the world. But, to induce the American people to be more responsible, they will need to be given more freedom from government coercion. Responsibility and freedom are the two sides of the same coin.”
“President Obama has distinguished himself as a great orator, and in that regard, I respectfully ask him to do one thing: not to cheapen the word ‘freedom,’ as so many of his predecessors have done. While I am not suggesting that the United States become something other than a democratic republic, past presidents have suggested that because we have a democracy that we are 'free.' Freedom means living one’s life as one chooses, as long as one does not harm other people or their property, and the simple existence of democracy does not guarantee that. Only proper public policies will."
“If President Obama pursues policies of economic freedom, which is the historical fundamental reason of this world’s prosperity, and personal freedom, we will have a prosperous, harmonious and just society—and he would go down as a great President.”
