No less than 5000 people will be in Philadelphia to hear Ron Paul give a more libertarian speech than Bob Barr or Gary Johnson could hope to deliver in 10,000 lifetimes. That the LPPa gutted its platform last year is one of the most sickening things it could ever have done. Really, what is the LP other than Republican Lite?
Republican speeches do not promote Libertarian principles in public policy but they sure do lure libertarian-leaning voters into voting Republican, as the speeches are engineered to do. If those 5,000 people turned around and joined the LP as a result, then I'd be impressed. But they won't, because Saint Ron keeps them in the Republican fold like obedient sheep.
You rely on the same old Paulite propaganda that as usual fails to refute observations that don't lovingly rub Ron Paul's bunions. Ron Paul does not describe himself as a libertarian, even though anybody can call themselves a libertarian. He is a fiscal conservative, which is the least any elected official can do when spending other people's money, but he is not a Libertarian Party candidate. Ron Paul opposes several important Libertarian Party principles. His version of state “rights” would allow state governments to decide to intrude on the family lives and medical lives of peaceful citizens, rather than support the Libertarian Party platform positions that don’t support government at any level to do that sort of intrusion. States do not have rights, people do. And his immigration positions support government meddling in peaceful people’s private housing and employment arrangements, which isn’t Libertarian. He signed the Personhood Pledge, a blatant promise to use government force to control women. He endorsed for president a religious extremist of a political party that wants to cede government control to religious law. If what appeals to you is Ron Paul saying libertarian things, then when the Republican who talks that way doesn't win the Republican nomination, you may put all that healthy eager zeal into helping to build the third-largest political party in the nation, in which almost EVERY member talks that way. Ron Paul is complicit in a system that he cannot change before his time is up. Ron Paul is not the future of liberty in America. YOU are.
You perpetrate a red herring fallacy by sticking Barr and Johnson into this conversation. See here to learn more about your error:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/red-herring.html Bonus insight: Barr = / = Johnson
If you need specific wording in a bureaucratic document in order to feel motivated to promote Libertarian principles, then you are not ready for government reform activism. The most important platform any Libertarian can adopt is the code of personal conduct that person demonstrates in positions of responsibility. As an organization, we’ll never create a document that can appeal to every LP member. A user-friendly, overview style of platform is best for introducing the LP to voters. We can also create a series of more detailed position papers that are incorporated into the platform by reference can satisfy those who are desperate to tell others exactly what to believe. A party platform is not a purity test. There is no way to ensure any member behaves in accordance with whatever platform we adopt. There is no way to ensure any member believes everything in whatever platform we adopt. We cannot read members’ minds, or keep them under surveillance to guarantee they behave in adequately Libertarian ways at all times. Do those who fear a “big tent” party plan to post guards at the tent flaps? Of course not. Anybody who leaves the LP because of the text of some bureaucratic document wasn’t all that serious about cooperating with the LP to promote citizen liberty and limited government.
