7.05.00
Harry Browne

6.30.00
Nebraska Attorney General Donald Stenberg

6.29.00
Grover Joseph Rees Says...

6.28.00
Pro-Life Activist Clark Forsythe

6.22.00
Condoleezza Rice

6.21.00
Rep. Richard Baker

6.20.00
Pat Choate on the Reform Party

6.20.00
Law Professor Richard Epstein

6.19.00
Sekulow on the Supremes & Prayer

6.19.00
Nicholas Eberstadt on Koreas Summit

7/05/00 4:10 p.m.
Libertarian Presidential Candidate Harry Browne
“I really believe that it is possible — not assured, but possible — that we can elect a Libertarian president by the end of the decade.”

By Kathryn Jean Lopez, NR associate editor--------------lopezk@ix.netcom.com

arry Browne is the Libertarian party's candidate for president of the United States. He previously ran as the party's candidate in 1996.

Lopez: Why run for president when the odds are completely against your winning?

Harry Browne: Well, we're going to have to start sometime. As long as there are Republicans and Democrats in the White House, government is going to continue to get bigger and bigger and more expensive, more intrusive, and more oppressive. So, we've got to start sometime — and if I can break the million-vote barrier and get 2, 3, 5 percent of the vote this time, it's going to pave the way to elect Libertarians to Congress in 2002 and perhaps give somebody the chance to run a competitive Libertarian race for the presidency in 2004. I really believe that it is possible — not assured, but possible — that we can elect a Libertarian president by the end of the decade. But you have to start someplace.

Lopez: Is that your goal this year, to break the million-vote barrier? Or do you have some policy goals that are just as important?

Browne: Well, that's one of them. Another goal is to make sure that everybody voting knows what a Libertarian is, so that when they see a bunch of names running for Congress or state representative, or whatever it may be, and are unfamiliar with the names, they will look to the Libertarian label as the guide to the candidate who really does want smaller government. And another goal is, by the end of the campaign, I would like every adult American to know that the Libertarian is the one who wants you to be free, free to live your life as you want to live it, not as the politicians think best. And, if we can establish that kind of name recognition for the Libertarian label, we will be well on our way.

Lopez: Are you encouraged in any way about the future of third parties in the U.S., given the popularity of the Reform party?

Browne: The Reform party was made known by the celebrity and the money of Ross Perot, and now that he's bowed out, its only value is the $12.5 million that the government is giving it. And if the candidate, Pat Buchanan, doesn't get 5 percent this time, I don't see how the party can remain even another year or two, because it doesn't stand for anything in particular, just better government. That means you wind up with a bunch of people of all different kinds of ideological stripes and that's why you have so much infighting and differences over strategy and everything else.

The Green party probably will survive, but without Ralph Nader at the helm, it's hard to say in what form, how strong it will be, how long it will last. The Libertarian party has not grown in celebrity or a billionaire's money, it has grown because it is made up of people who share the same ideological viewpoint, who want to get government out of their lives. And, as a result, it can continue in spite of me or any other single individual. So, I'm very optimistic about the growth of the Libertarian party. It's well over twice the size of what it was four years ago. It's bigger, stronger, better financed. In every way we are going to be far more visible this year, and we didn't have to bring in a celebrity to do it.

Lopez: Are you ever concerned that the Libertarian party takes votes away from the Republican party? Isn't George W. Bush better for America — in terms of reducing taxes and the overall size of government — than Al Gore?

Browne: No, I don't believe that. George Bush did nothing to reduce government in Texas. Revenues in Texas are higher now than they were when he took office. The only reason that anyone ever gives for saying that Bush is better than Gore is because he is supposedly the candidate of smaller government. But the only specific proposals he's made so far are ones to make government bigger — to expand the Department of Education, to expand the government's control of health care. And, if the Republicans really were for smaller government, and really did something about the size of government, they'd never worry about the Libertarians, they'd never worry about the people who stay home, because they'd earn those votes. But what they do is make a bunch of vague statements and then they get elected and do absolutely nothing. And then they whine when people say they don't want to vote Republican anymore. Now doesn't that make sense?

Lopez: There are a lot of ideological libertarians — self-described libertarians, who hang out at the likes of the Cato Institute in Washington — who are not members of your party. What accounts for that? Do you expect to someday include them in your party?

Browne: There are undoubtedly millions of people who already think of themselves as libertarians, in addition to others who probably are but have never applied the name to it. But for those who think of themselves as libertarians but who don't want to join the party, I think the main reason is they don't think that the party will ever be big enough or strong enough to make a difference and we have to prove to people that we can, just as the Republican party has to prove to people that they are for smaller government if they expect to earn those votes.

Lopez: So you think that those self-described libertarians will vote Libertarian once they are convinced that voting Libertarian isn't a wasted vote?

Browne: Yes. For example, if I were to get 2 or 3 percent of the vote this year, I think many of those people would join the party. Probably, in the meantime, they are voting Libertarian anyway, in a lot of cases. But when they can say that we are really in a position to make a breakthrough, then they will have every reason to join us.

But, there is an even more important group than that, and that is the people who don't vote at all. Over 100 million people are eligible to vote and don't vote because they don't see any point in it. Whatever they do, government is going to get bigger, and more expensive, and more oppressive. So, what difference does it make whether they vote Republican or Democrat? And for them, they probably don't even know that there is an alternative, because they may never even have heard of the Libertarian party. And even if they have, once again, you run into the irrelevancy factor. If we can build name recognition for the Libertarian party during this campaign, then I would hope that millions of those people will come off the sidelines and support us — and then, you better watch out, the Republicans' days will be numbered if they continue to try to fool people that they are for smaller government.

What I find is that we are not getting votes necessarily from Republicans. I'm on talk shows every single day with people calling in, many of them saying, 'You know, I was a lifelong Democrat, but this year I'm going to vote Libertarian.' Many others say 'I'm 26, 28 years old, I never voted before because I didn't see any point in it. But this year, I've registered to vote and I'm going to vote Libertarian because now I can see there's a candidate, a party, a program that actually thinks the way I do.' And, of course, I also get calls from people who say 'I've been a Republican because I didn't want Bill Clinton to be reelected last time, but you've convinced me, I'm going to vote Libertarian.' So the votes are really coming from all over the map. I really don't think that Republicans should compliment themselves on being the ideological home of smaller government; we're taking votes away from them.

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