Same here. I try, and try, and try, but it's amazingly hard to get people to break out of the mindset of "You're either a Republican or a Democrat" that they've been indoctrinated into accepting.
When I talk to Democrats, they assume that Libertarians are just "the Atheist wing of the Republican Party" and when I talk to Republicans they assume that I'm a Jesus-hating infidel who happens to like guns.
Still, there are encouraging signs of progress here and there... I hear more and more about the rise of "liberaltarians" from the Left, and on some of the pro-gun forums I frequent - where you usually mostly encounter dyed-in-the-wool Republicans - I'm seeing more and more libertarian leaning verbiage.
I think, ultimately, as our government grows larger and larger and more corrupt and more authoritarian, it's going to reach a point where everybody will start to notice that the path we're on is wrong, regardless of their present party affiliation. When that starts to happen (maybe it already is), we may see an opening for more libertarians to enter the mainstream and perhaps even get elected to Federal offices. There's already a huge crack in the GOP between the neocon/theocrat type "conservatives" and the Ron/Rand Paul "small 'l' libertarian" types... Rand himself may stand a decent shot at making some noise in 2016 if he runs for President. And while I'd rather have Michael Badnarik or Mary Ruwart than Rand Paul, I'd damn sure take Rand Paul over GW Bush, Barak Obama, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Hilary Clinton, etc., etc.
My fear is that the masses are not going to wake up to the reality they helped create until it is painfully obvious we went off in the wrong direction. Just playng around with our budget and deficit in Excel it is hard to come up with a reasonable scenario that would fix our problem in twenty five years. If we stay on this tack we'll reach a point from which the turn around will take fifty years or more. I don't know where the point of no return might be. The point beyond which recovery will be virtually impossible. I do know that avoiding that state requires decades of making all the right decisions and operating as a united people with a common set of goals and solid determination. That realization is what makes me lean pessimistic. I see no evidence that suggests we are capable of such unity and focus.
When I talk to Democrats, they assume that Libertarians are just "the Atheist wing of the Republican Party" and when I talk to Republicans they assume that I'm a Jesus-hating infidel who happens to like guns.
Still, there are encouraging signs of progress here and there... I hear more and more about the rise of "liberaltarians" from the Left, and on some of the pro-gun forums I frequent - where you usually mostly encounter dyed-in-the-wool Republicans - I'm seeing more and more libertarian leaning verbiage.
I think, ultimately, as our government grows larger and larger and more corrupt and more authoritarian, it's going to reach a point where everybody will start to notice that the path we're on is wrong, regardless of their present party affiliation. When that starts to happen (maybe it already is), we may see an opening for more libertarians to enter the mainstream and perhaps even get elected to Federal offices. There's already a huge crack in the GOP between the neocon/theocrat type "conservatives" and the Ron/Rand Paul "small 'l' libertarian" types... Rand himself may stand a decent shot at making some noise in 2016 if he runs for President. And while I'd rather have Michael Badnarik or Mary Ruwart than Rand Paul, I'd damn sure take Rand Paul over GW Bush, Barak Obama, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Hilary Clinton, etc., etc.