What if Al Gore actually ends up winning?  What if he becomes president?  If Gore loses, many Democrats will point to Ralph Nader taking away votes from Gore.  If George W. Bush loses, some may say Libertarian Harry Browne cost Bush the election, since there were so many Libertarian votes cast in Florida.  Talk-show host Neal Boortz is carried in Florida, and has endorsed Browne heavily on his radio show.

So realistically, if Gore wins, Libertarians may be blamed, for taking votes away from George W. Bush.  Should Libertarians feel guilty?  Should I feel guilty for any person I convinced to not vote for George W. Bush this year?  In my honest opinion, the answer to that question is no. There should be no guilt at all by Libertarians anywhere who voted for Harry Browne, in Florida or anywhere else.

George W. Bush is a nice guy.  George W. Bush is more honest and ethical than Al Gore.  But George W. Bush's policies have too few differences, and far too similarities to those of Al Gore. So, if Bush does lose the election, Republicans don't need to look at who took votes away from Bush.  They need to realize that Bush's policies were what drove people to the Libertarian Party, and to vote for Harry Browne.

George W. Bush believes government should take no more than 1/3 of your income.  Harry Browne wanted to let Americans keep all their income.  George W. Bush wants to privatize two percent of Social Security.  Harry Browne wanted to sell government assets to create accounts for recipients, and get the government out of Social Security.   George W. Bush favors banning so-called assault weapons and certain kinds of ammunition.  Harry Browne believed that the Constitution gave the government no authority to ban any sort of weapon ownership by private citizens.

Both Gore and Bush favor using the government to pay for prescription drugs, while Browne favored getting the government out the drug market.  Both Bush and Gore are in favor of trigger locks.  Both Bush and Gore think 18-year olds don't deserve the right to own a handgun, even though he can be drafted to hold a gun to fight in Kosovo.   Both Bush and Gore would continue to use taxpayer money to support the National Endowment for the Arts.  

In other words, while George W. Bush is a nice guy, he did not offer policies which would reduce the size and scope of the federal government.  Harry Browne did.  Florida voters who voted for Harry Browne were not taking votes away from George W. Bush.  George W. Bush drove those voters away because he believes in big government, just smaller dosages of it than Al Gore.  Two people on the same road, just one going slower than the other.