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Economics: the study of choices in the use of resources, and the consequences of those choices.

As political parties go, the Libertarian Party surely has many times the number of members informed in economic principles, per capita, than the Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, they can be as bound by traditional thinking as anyone else, and the imminent nominating convention season is having me seeing red thinking of the misallocation of resources surrounding them.

Clearly, "third parties" are not in the same ballpark as the big two when it comes to fundraising; they're hardly in the same sport. So a member of one might wish they would go about things a bit differently. Here I am, faced with the decision as to whether to travel to Atlanta next month for the national convention of the LP. Because of my social nature, I'll really hate being there, even more than I hated being at the state convention in San Jose last month, if only because it'll be many times bigger. But I want to do my part in assuring Aaron Russo the nomination for president, and to cast my vote I must be present.

It seems that Mr. Russo has seized the front runner spot from Gary Nolan, and by a wide margin, though the polling on April 30, 2004 is the only one that counts. But if he takes the nomination in a walk, my vote will have been unneeded, my anguish for nought, and my money spent on airfare, room and board spent much less satisfactorily than if I had just donated it to the campaign.

On the other hand, wouldn't I feel silly if I sent my geld off to his headquarters, only to wake up to a beautiful Pacific coast morning on the thirty-first to hear that he'd lost by one vote.

Decisions, decisions. Hey, any noders in Atlanta?

And another thing. While the national convention in presidential election years is in a different city each time, and I don't know how it's chosen, it occurs to me that something nearer the West Coast might be nice. California gets 226 delegates this year; the next highest is Texas with 76 (or 79). One might wish that was given some weight in choice of venue. Oh, well.