There are numerous reasons why Wayne Allyn Root would be a very bad choice to be either the national chair or the 2012 presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party (he claims to be running for both offices) -- his dubious ethical track record in business (see http://knappster.blogspot.com/2008/02/down-and-dirty-on-wayne-root.html), his self-identification as a libertarian-conservative who considers Ronald Reagan a hero, and his ego-driven, used-car-salesman persona to name three of the biggest.
But this video clip from last July contains a dramatic example of another Root attribute that I believe should be of real concern to any Libertarian who might be considering giving him the nod to be the public face of the party either this year or two years from now: http://washingtonindependent.com/71931/the-rise-of-wayne-allyn-root
Black female guest (discussing President Obama having a beer with professor Henry
Gates and the cop who arrested him) -- "When you have children starving, when you
have people losing jobs, when you have people that don't have health care, you're
going to have a beer fest at the White House? For what?"
Wayne Allyn Root -- "I'm a little more worried about people who make money and are
going to lose it all to (Obama's) health care, that's what I'm more worried about." (!)
This was a stunningly insensitive thing to say on national television, although sadly in character for a man whose autobiography "Millionaire Republican" featured a cover photo of himself standing on top of his Hummer in front of his mansion (a book Root has never to my knowledge disavowed since his self-proclaimed libertarian conversion around 2007). But what makes Root's remark above, and other things he's said in a similar vein, all the more stunning is that he seems utterly unaware that he is rhetorically channeling Ebeneezer Scrooge. In Wayne's world, evidently, the wealthy are the main victims of government oppression, and he their righteous and passionate champion. The very notion of rich people being the most oppressed members of a society is practically oxymoronic, but if we are to take the words that come out of Root's mouth at face value, this is how he sees America.
It's hard to say which possible explanation is worse -- that Wayne Allyn Root's grasp of economic reality is so lacking that he completely fails to understand the massive role that government policies play in causing and sustaining poverty, or that he does understand this and yet *still* has less empathy or compassion for the poor than he does for those who are financially comfortable.
On second thought, the latter is probably worse. Simple ignorance of the facts can be corrected through education if one is willing to learn, but deep-rooted callousness may be harder to change. It would be wonderful if between now and the LP national convention in May, Root could undergo the experiential equivalent of being visited by three spirits, emerging as a changed man filled with humility, compassion, and libertarian wisdom. Tragically for our party however (or perhaps thankfully, given the other serious problems with Root noted above), Dickensian redemptions of that sort are rare.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))