Libertarians come to Malvern party

There's a joke making the rounds that the Libertarian Party would like to dispel.

Question: What is a Libertarian salad?

Answer: Lettuce alone.

Libertarians prize individual rights, say party leaders. But the emphasis on "individual" ends there. They're tired of being alone. They'd love to make more converts.

Libertarians are aggressively pursuing voters in this region, seeking to raise the profile of their party's presidential candidates. (There are at least eight.)

This weekend in Malvern, Libertarians from Pennsylvania and New Jersey will hold a joint convention, scheduled to run three days at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center.

"Everyone's invited," said James C. Babb, a Main Line small businessman and organizer of the gathering, which begins today. "Saturday is the best day for someone who is not already a party member."

The confab will give regional Libertarians an opportunity to size up the eight candidates before the party's May 22 national convention in Denver. About 200 delegates are expected to attend the Malvern event.

Babb said he routinely is asked why the Libertarians even bother to run a presidential candidate.

"People say, 'Gosh, you're never going to win. Isn't it a wasted vote?' But voters are really disappointed with the Democrats and the Republicans right now," Babb said. "This is an opportunity to make a statement."

The Libertarian platform, Babb said, reflects the values of the Founding Fathers.

Babb said the party stands for a humble foreign policy, a sound currency, protection of individual rights, elimination of taxes, an end to the war on drugs, and no torture and no wiretapping.

He said the Republican Party used bait-and-switch tactics to win the White House for the last eight years.

"They promised no nation-building, and invaded Iraq. They promised fiscal conservatism, and they brought us a $3.1 trillion budget. And that's just one year's worth of squandering."

Democrats, he said, have not done much better: "They swept the House of Representatives promising to get us out of Iraq, but they've continued to fund the war and they've failed to protect civil liberties."

Bill Redpath, the national party chairman, will attend the Malvern convention. Among the candidates wooing voters this weekend:

Bob Jackson, 68, born in Woodbury and a 1961 graduate of Lehigh University. An inventor and engineer now based in Michigan, Jackson operates import-export businesses Triax Inc. and Jackson International.

Michael Jingozian, 48, an Oregon entrepreneur and founder of Angelvision Technologies, an Internet marketing firm.

Alden Link, 76, businessman and entrepreneur from White Plains, N.Y. He owns Sundance Industries, the nation's leading manufacturer of wheat-grass juicers.

George Phillies, 61, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained chemist, former Libertarian congressional candidate, ACLU activist, and resident of Worcester, Mass.

Wayne Allyn Root, 47, a Las Vegas-based sports oddsmaker, author, self-made millionaire and television personality.

Daniel Imperato, 50, of West Palm Beach, Fla. Businessman and self-described former semipro hockey player, papal knight and knight of Malta.

Christine Smith, 31, a humanitarian activist from Golden, Colo., and author of

A Mountain in the Wind - An Exploration of the Spirituality of John Denver

.

For more information, see the state party Web sites at

» READ MORE: www.lppa.org

and

» READ MORE: www.njlp.org

or the national party Web site at

» READ MORE: www.lp.org

.