LIBERTARIANS AND POLITICS: Interesting discussion over at Hit and Run, and this comment seems dead-on to me:

The fact is, libertarians aren’t generally joiners. Yet to influence people, you have to go to their meetings, bring a snack, raise funds for them, and listen to their ideas before they’ll listen to yours. Politics is about people, after all, and people don’t often think in policy paper terms. If you want to change minds you have to engage others in a positive way.

The evangelical right captured the Republican Party by joining it and working hard for it, eclipsing the paleocons that had enjoyed elder statesmen status. If libertarians really want influence, they’re going to have to work for it instead of taking for granted that “if the Democrats are pro-government, the other party must be anti-government.”

You know how many libertarians it takes to change a lightbulb? Only one, but you have to get him to show up.

Plus this: “It would be nice to see the Grey Lady and other major papers pay more attention to the incredibly shady dealings that keep third parties out of debates all over the country; hell, it would be nice just see them mention that third parties exist as anything other than comic relief.”