Barr: Two-party system has left U.S. in ‘constitutional wilderness’

The current two-party political system has left Americans “wandering in a constitutional wilderness,” presidential candidate Bob Barr said Saturday night at fund-raiser in Dunwoody for the Libertarian Party of Georgia.

In his keynote address at an event to also raise money for Senate candidate Alan Buckley and Georgia Public Service Commission candidates Brandon Givens and John Monds, Barr referred to the nation’s mounting budget deficit and recent acts by the Bush administration to allow the wiretapping of U.S. citizens.

“The government now wants to subject us to full-body X-rays just to board a plane,” said the former Republican congressman from Cobb County. “The only way you have to prevent that is by voting for the Libertarian Party.”

Bar said that despite a tremendous gap between his campaign’s fund-raising and those of the Democratic and Republican parties’ presumed presidential nominees, the Libertarians were doing well.

“Our message is resonating with the mainstream,” he said.

Latest campaign finance reports show Barr raised $6,866 in the month of July and $33,056 to date, as of July 30, in Georgia. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), by way of comparison, raised $382,407 in July and $2.3 million to date through July 30 in this state, and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), $341,046 and $4.17 million, respectively.

Nationally, Barr had raised $628,456 as of July 30, compared with $159.7 million by McCain and $390.6 million by Obama, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Barr’s Web site, bobbarr2008.com, reported that as of Saturday evening, the candidate had raised more than $138,000 nationwide in August to date.

The Barr campaign wants to boost its candidate’s standing in national polls to at least 15 percent by mid-September. This way, Barr could qualify to participate in national debates by the presidential candidates.

Polls earlier this summer showed him at or near 10 percent in several states, including New Hampshire, Nevada and Arizona. Money would help that effort by allowing Barr to purchase advertising, do direct mail and other staples of national campaigns.

“We have got to get into those debates to go toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye with Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain,” Barr said Saturday. “I think we can beat those guys.”

Of the Libertarian party, Barr said, “We understand the Constitution, we believe in the Constitution, and we know that if we don’t get a handle on it very, very quickly, it will be too late … unless we start electing Libertarians to the House of Representatives and the Senate.”

– Reporter Aaron Gould Sheinin contributed to this story.