There's a story on the Fox News web site about former Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia, who ditched the Republican Party to join the Libertarian Party. You may remember Barr as the firebrand who led the House of Representatives during the infamous Clinton impeachment hearings, but it appears he's had a change of heart on several key issues, such as civil liberties and the drug war. I believe Barr's renewed sense of liberty is representative of a larger movement in both parties away from big government mentality, be it of an economic or theocratic nature.

I just hope for his sake Barr doesn't make the same mistake I did a few years ago: run for public office on a third-party ticket.

I've been involved in politics in some fashion since I was 16. I've also always had a healthy libertarian streak. In those heady days of post-adolescent idealism, I dove headfirst into the process, first becoming president of the Young Democrats at Idaho State University, and then ultimately president of Young Democrats for the state of Idaho and a voting member on the state party executive committee. I was a true believer.

But as the 1990s progressed, I became disillusioned with American politics, how it became hopelessly focused on the trite and immaterial (such as the Clinton impeachment), and its brain-dead repetition of "talking points" on both sides. By 2000 I was living in Center City Philadelphia and pretty much done with the whole process. My voter registration had been messed up, but I never got around to fixing it. What would have been a reluctant vote for Gore was actually no vote at all. I spoke with some LP members while I was there and expressed an interest, but I never really saw a real desire on their part to become more than a debating society.

Late in 2000 I moved to Las Vegas. I became involved with the Green Party there. The Greens were just coming off a pretty good run with Ralph Nader and seemed to be more in tune with what a political party should do (i.e. elect candidates), and I figured there would be room for a relatively libertarian candidate. The local group was fairly receptive and I was nominated the US House candidate for the Nevada 1st District in 2002.

In November 2001 I issued a news release reluctantly supporting military action in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11, but opposing military operations elsewhere, such as in Iraq. Judging by the reaction of the Green community in general you'd think I just filleted a puppy. I was called a "warmonger," told I needed to be "educated" in Green Party doctrine. The most strident Bush loyalist or Religious Right iconoclast had nothing on these people when it came to fundamentalist indoctrination. I came in to bring a diverse voice to a party that seemed to be on the upswing, not to become another automoton. Clearly, the Green Party was no place for a serious candidate, and certainly not one with libertarian leanings.

Needless to say, I withdrew from the process again, took my token one percent of the vote and went on with my life. As soon as that debacle was over I became a Democrat again, this time for good. I feel much better now.

I still believe a third party could work in America if they weren't all so bloody fanatical, be they on the left or right. We all know that the LP has their fair share of intolerants, and woe unto any candidate that may dare to cross them. If Barr can pull it off, then he may do something that no one has done since Lincoln: truly legitimize a previously marginal American political party. I'm not holding my breath, though.