Times Editorial Board Whacks Libertarians

The El Paso Liberty peeps have been struggling to find a home now for many years. They are active and savvy. But the Republicans really don't accept them and they aren't quite strong enough to stand on their own.

Libertarians are all generally pretty well informed, except the occasional leanings towards conspiracy theories. Some of them still won't let the birth certificate thing go and a few think 9-11 was an inside job.

They almost all think they are smarter than everyone else. Which is probably why I like them. They are actually pretty good at poking fun at themselves which is something you have to appreciate.

But for a group of people so smart, they have let something devastating to their local credibility happen. They have been defined by the shallow-end of their political gene pool.

The El Paso Times made their endorsements of candidates and they took a moment to whack the two Libertarians that are candidates.

And the worst thing about it for the liberty movement in El Paso is that the Times was 100% right. About Libertarian candidate for District Clerk Manny Hinojosa the Times said he "seems to be running to make points about various issues not connected to the clerk's office."

Which is true. When you engage in conversation with him you will find little substance related to the actual office he is seeking. When he does get in the neighborhood of issues directly related to the office, he doesn't offer details. I'm speaking of budgetary issues. He frequently says things like he will cut the budget in half. Thats a huge and newsworthy position if he could actually articulate just exactly how he is planning on making that happen. But he doesn't. Because its an empty platitude and he doesn't really have a plan to accomplish such a fete. The reality is that the DC office already operates at a significantly lower budget under Norma Favela than it did under Gilbert Sanchez.

The one thing that Hinojosa does get right is the morale. Having been at the County I can honestly say there are morale issues with DC staff. Executive-level leadership don't usually know there are morale issues because well, who wants to tell the boss they don't like working for her?

Libertarian candidate for State Rep Alejandro Lozano was also whacked by the Times' Editorial Board. About Lozano's candidacy they wrote, "Libertarian J. Alejandro Lozano is a perennial candidate who shows little knowledge of issues the Legislature will tackle next year."

That's pretty gacho.

Especially considering that Lozano is a former elected official who should have deep policy knowledge. There was no mention of former Lozano and Cobos staffer, Libertarian for Congress candidate Jaime O. Perez in the piece.

But in fairness to the Times, they might have forgot he was running.

Libertarians, you can be mad about the endorsements but what was said was pretty accurate. And frankly, its your own fault for not rejecting the people that ultimately become the face of the Libertarians in El Paso.