Is Bob Barr just a spoiler?

After seeing the mainstream media constantly refer to Bob Barr as John McCain's spoiler, the obfuscation of the political paradigm became totally transparent.

Conventional (i.e., establishment) wisdom tells us that Republicans--no matter who they are and what they vote for--are conservative. Conservatism is supposedly about being strong on military intervention abroad, a strengthened security-industrial complex at home, coupled with supporting a slightly smaller (platitude) welfare state. Democrats, who are the liberals, supposedly oppose military intervention abroad, support civil liberties, and favor a bigger welfare state than the Republicans.

There are some serious flaws with the establishment's version of the political paradigm. Namely, the positions ascribed to each party are not the real positions of each party, with many positions being mislabeled as conservative and liberal.

I can't think of too many laws, programs, agencies, and departments that Republicans are trying to get rid of. Quick: can anybody name a single gun law Republicans have repealed? We are supposed to believe that Republicans are for smaller government when Republicans are willing participants in a bipartisan spending orgy?

John McCain is the quintessential big-government Republican. Far from being an anomaly within his party, he is the party's presidential candidate. What, exactly, is the similarity between Bob Barr's platform and John McCain's in the area of government spending?

In an effort to keep the fiction of choice intact, Republicans have tried to camouflage non-conservative positions with conservative-sounding rhetoric. As an example, consider the war policy.

It wasn't too many years ago when a conservative would have opposed the same exact war policy if there was a Democrat (e.g., Bill Clinton) running the administration. It should come as no surprise that the most left wing of all Republicans and Democrats (viz., former Democrats like Rudy Giuliani, Joe Lieberman, and Norm Coleman, and present Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) support things like the USA PATRIOT Act, continued war funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warrantless spying on Americans.

Barack Obama voted to re-authorize the USA PATRIOT Act in 2006, has voted in favor of the supplemental war funding bills, and recently voted in favor of warrantless spying. Does this represent a shift by the Democrats to the right? Do we have two conservative parties now? Hardly. Both parties have embraced bigger government at home and intervention abroad. Barack Obama has more in common with John McCain than does Bob Barr.

Because John McCain, as a Republican, is considered to be left wing on economic issues, he is considered to be a "moderate" Republican, pursuant to the establishment's paradigm. Or look at one of McCain's staunch supporters, Joe Lieberman. Lieberman is a Democrat-turned-independent, who has devoutly supported the Bush administration. Because Lieberman, as a non-Republican, supports Bush administration policies, he has been referred to as a "moderate."

You see? By embracing the worst positions of the other party, that earns you the title of "moderate," as though moderation is about acquiescing to the other establishment party. What we now have in Washington is one party that masquerades as two parties. Republicans and Democrats have amalgamated the worst of their platforms to become extremist "moderates."

Since Bob Barr is the true advocate of smaller government, civil liberties, and peace, it makes more sense to call Barr a potential "spoiler" for Obama than for McCain. Perhaps the media wants to pretend Barr is McCain-like in order to conceal Barr's positions, which could find traction amongst the American electorate. Bob Barr is more than a "spoiler" for McCain. Bob Barr represents a real choice from the political crossdressers in Washington.

That Bob Barr would "take" votes from McCain should insult your intelligence. This argument implies that McCain has a natural right to votes, and that Barr's votes will have been "stolen." If the race was between only Barack Obama and John McCain, I wouldn't even bother to vote. McCain isn't even my second, third, or fourth choice. The idea that my vote for Barr will have been somehow "stolen" from McCain is a lie.