Libertarian candidate, Steve Kubby, signs a pledge:

1. No Military Commissions Except on the Battlefield. I will not employ military commissions to prosecute offenses against the laws of war except in places where active hostilities are ongoing and a battlefield tribunal is necessary to obtain fresh testimony and to prevent local anarchy or chaos.
2. No Evidence Extracted by Torture or Coercion. I will not permit the use of evidence obtained by torture or coercion to be admissible in a military commission or other tribunal.
3. No Detaining Citizens as Unlawful Enemy Combatants. I will not detain any American citizen as an unlawful enemy combatant. Citizens accused of terrorism-linked crimes will be prosecuted in federal civilian courts.

There are ten points in total. And all of them are exactly what I wish the Dems would stand up for. *sigh*

Most of the rest of his statements on "The Issues" look good, too:

Civil Liberties

• Repeal the Patriot Act
• Repeal the Military Commissions Act
• Enforce the Bill of Rights
• End government discrimination based on sexual orientation

Energy & Environment

• Require government and military fleets to go non-petroleum
• End taxpayer subsidies to the petroleum and agriculture industries

Wait, what? What does he think military vehicles will run on? Is he thinking... nuclear-powered HumVees? Solar-powered F-16s?

Foreign Policy & Iraq

• Immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Iraq
• Return to America's traditional non-interventionist foreign policy

Fine.

Guns

• No new "gun control" legislation
• Repeal of all existing "gun control" legislation
• Forbid and prosecute violations of gun rights by government

Ehh... I dunno. I like a little gun control.

Immigration

• Open immigration for all peaceful people

Fine.

Taxes & Spending

• Veto any and all tax increases, new taxes, and unbalanced budgets -- period.
• Work to cut spending, splitting resulting surpluses between tax cuts and debt service.
• Work to eliminate the federal income tax.
• Until the income tax is eliminated, seek annual across-the-board tax cuts through increases to the personal exemption.

Ah... that's where the Libertarians always lose me. I just don't understand their fear of the income tax.

The War on Drugs

• End it!

Yeah baby.

So, I like 80% of what he says. But until today, I'd never heard of him. The two big parties maintain a pretty tight duopoly on politics. I only found him because of an ad running on Unqualified Offerings, and I wanted to see what the Libertarian position on global warming was, assuming it'd be amusing. It wasn't really as goofy as I thought; his plan is to get rid of government subsidies for oil companies and agriculture (which make gas too cheap and food too expensive) and make biofuels an economically-attractive option. Not bad, in a grand kind of way, I guess. But I suspect it'd be a nightmare in between the time gas prices hit the roof and the time an affordable replacement fuel became available. And I doubt Congress could be coaxed into any of it (or any of his positions).

Oh well. Sometimes it's fun to cruise around the exotic car lot and think about what it'd be like to own one of those impractical little rocket roadsters. A little daydreaming is good for the soul.