LIBERTARIANS CLAIM CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

In his column, "The Other Candidate: Sisyphus Has Got Nothing on This
Redpath Guy," A. Barton Hinkle writes, "Spend much time around Libertarians
and you get the sense some of them are a trifle - well, nuts." After
reading this column I would say that if I spent much time around Hinkle I
would get the sense he is a trifle - well, pompous.

The Libertarian Party is America's largest and most successful third party.
The party fielded candidates for 255 of the 435 seats in the U.S. House as
well as 25 of the 33 Senate seats up for election in 2000 - the first time
since the Socialist Party of the early 20th Century that any third party
has contested a majority of the seats in Congress. David Broder of The
Washington Post has been quoted as saying, "The party to watch in the 21st
Century may well turn out to be the Libertarians." Because they are in
reality one of the two big-government parties, Republicans across the
country are losing votes - and because of that a Senate seat in Washington
state - to Libertarians.

For Hinkle to dismiss the Libertarian Party and its candidates out of hand
is not only shortsighted, but also juvenile. William Redpath and Gary Reams
offer the voters of Virginia a new, refreshing alternative to the tired,
government-will-save-you Republicrats. Redpath offers a viable system to
reinvigorate the electoral process and Reams is the banner holder for the
repeal of marijuana prohibition - a movement that is certain to succeed
within the early part of this century. I would encourage Hinkle to
eliminate the jargon from his writing and wake up to the fact that in
Virginia - and nationally - the Libertarian Party is for real.

Gerhard S. Schoenthal

Charlottesville