I get it: Bob Barr is everybody’s homeboy. The Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee is the first 3rd party candidate from the right to have solid political footing since Ross Perot. He is relatively mainstream and is an outlet for disenchanted Republicans who aren’t Obamaniacs. Fellow blogivist, and baller, Nicky Cheese constantly throws up some love to his homeboy (I have now reached my “link to my blog” quota for the week).

While I personally do not agree with Barr on a host of issues, I do see his allure. Barack Obama is selling us on change, but it’s the wrong kind of change. McCain is offering minimal change. Barr represents the potential for monumental shifts in domestic and foreign policy:

1. non-interventionist foreign policy

2. massive tax cuts, and accompanying slashing of government programs

3. drastically increased individual liberties

Even if you completely support Barr’s platform, it is essential that you NOT vote for him. Without further ado, three reasons why Bob Barr does not and should not receive your help at the ballot box.

1. The Nader Effect

For a group which prides itself on rationality, libertarians still think it’s a good idea to NOT vote for a major party candidate?

In 2000, Bush beat Gore in Florida by 537 votes. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader got 97,488 votes in Florida. Nader also got more votes than the winning margin in New Hampshire. For those leftists who voted for Nader, they certainly wanted Gore more than Bush. They wanted their voice heard and shunned the pragmatic option of voting Gore. If less than 1% of Nader’s Floridian supporters checked their egos at the voting booth, Al Gore would have been elected President…now THAT is An Inconvenient Truth!

A similar situation can be traced back to 1992, when Bill Clinton beat George HW Bush thanks to Ross Perot. Clinton won a large electoral victory despite receiving only 43% of the vote. Though I don’t know what new NCLB requirements demand of our youngsters, most 10 year olds can tell you that in a 2-candidate race, 43% never wins.

For Barr supporters, don’t think that this can’t happen again in 2008. The latest poll from Georgia, Barr’s home state, gives McCain a lead of under 2 percent! Barr is polling at 5.6%, roughly three times the gap between the major candidates. To make this truly scary, the poll shows that of the undecided voters, there are 14 times more registered Democrats than Republicans!!! So if you extrapolate the undecideds to vote along traditional party lines, this poll actually projects an Obama victory. EVEN IF Barr’s support doesn’t prevent McCain from winning a must-win state, he might force McCain to spend money he doesn’t have and time he can’t afford to lose campaigning in Georgia. Whether during the campaign or on election night, Barr has the chance to fatally wound McCain’s electoral chances.

Since voting Barr may put the less-desirable Barack Obama, instead of McCain, in office, libertarians should stay away.

2. The Ralph Nader Effect

Most supporters of Bob Barr aren’t actually supporting Bob Barr. They are supporting his platform. This is an absolutely crucial distinction in tracking public opinion. The Libertarian Party is small enough that a single person can completely embody the party. To illustrate my point, most think of Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader, and even Strom Thurmond before they can name the Independent, Reform, Green, and Dixiecrat Parties.

The point is that if Barr gains a significant portion of the national vote (let’s say 5%), then the electoral credit goes to Bob Barr more than it goes to the Libertarian Party. Barr’s ability to build up a 3rd party would, in the eyes of the public and Barr himself, supersede the Libertarian Party’s ability to reach the mainstream politically. Having an empowered Barr would allow him to control the LP’s message and use it for his own personal gains a la Ralph Nader.

If truly liberty-minded individuals wanted to spread the MESSAGE instead of the MESSENGER, rallying behind a MAN (not an idea) is not a fruitful endeavor.

3. The Jerry Falwell Effect

If Bob Barr directly or indirectly takes the election away from John McCain, then it will create an irrevocable chasm on the political right. GOP loyalists will find it difficult to reach out to a group which shunned them. The party will be further forced to abandon a “big-tent” strategy.

The party will be further driven into the arms of Evangelicals, who are the only demographic big enough and unified enough to deliver elections. Any attempts to convert the Republican Party into a more libertarian group will be completely undermined.

It is crucial for libertarians and Libertarians to accept that we live in a 2-party system. The electoral college’s winner-take-all format means that there are no partial victories. If you can’t get at least 43% of the vote (Clinton’s ‘92 total), don’t bother trying. The best answer for free-marketeers is take the Republican Party back! Join the party, mend fences, and become a more valuable asset than Evangelicals. If the libertarian message resonates with the masses and can paint an electoral map red, then the party will start to nominate, and elect, libertarians.

Since libertarians, and definitely Libertarians, need a larger political infrastructure to truly put one of their own in the White House, Bob Barr CANNOT get your vote this November.

Besides, do you really want to help elect a guy who will be confused with a cartoon character by most Americans?

How fitting that Babar is, of all animals, an ELEPHANT (the physical representation of the Republican Party)! Coincidence? I’d like to think not. Bob Barr and Babar both call on everyone to the political right to elect John McCain.

Remember: discretion is the better part of valor. And pragmatism. Pragmatism, too.