Mr. Barr, welcome to the Libertarian Party.

Well, I figured I’d say it. News has already hit that ex-congressman Bob Barr has not only joined our ranks, but become a regional representative within the party itself.

He’s already had to deal with uneasy questions in regards to stances on things he’s still working out, like the drug war and gay marriage. He’s hedging, but it’s not the hedge of a slick politician, at least not to me it doesn’t sound like. It sounds like the hedge of a guy who honestly isn’t sure what he believes, but is thinking that liberty might be the answer.

I’ve had friends join the LP before and they’ve gone through the same process. Where the concepts of supporting an act and supporting the legality of an act begin to separate themselves. Where they see that we’re not all pot-smoking gun-toting crazies who want Objectivist government/anarchy/whatever yesterday. I’ve seen these wheels turn inside peoples’ heads before, and the answer isn’t to keep hammering away and to be an asshole, the answer is to be nice and give responses when asked.

There once was a movement whose people despised a man. With good reason, too-he was the antithesis of everything they stood for, he did everything in his power to drive their ideas from his homeland. But he had a personal crisis, and a change of heart… and wanted to join this new movement. The people there didn’t trust him at first, figured it was a trick, wanted nothing to do with him. But they were persuaded to not only open their hearts to him, but they even made him one of their leaders.

The Apostle Paul went on to write the majority of books in their New Testament.

So in that spirit, welcome to the Libertarian Party, Mr. Barr. We’ve got a lot of good people, and a lot of kooks… and a lot of good people who are also kooks. We’re well-meaning and I apologize in advance if anything here scares you, or if people seem a little too insistent on protecting their favored corner of libertarian philosophy. They’re just worried, and they have some reason for it… but if we succumb to fear and distrust, well, we probably shouldn’t be running a government anyway.

Once again, welcome to liberty Bob Barr.