Libertarian aims for the mainstream

Bruce Cohen, a candidate for 48th District House seat, thinks he shares the views of most voters.In his second go at the 48th District Congressional seat, Libertarian candidate Bruce Cohen seems to be everyone’s favorite opponent.

He professes respect for his four fellow candidates, and he said he’s helped each of them on some level. American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist even invited Cohen to his Newport Beach fundraiser last week.

“Usually, if you check out most elections, all the candidates tend to like each other and hate the Libertarian,” Cohen said. “In this campaign all the candidates hate each other and like me.”

Cohen and Gilchrist will vie with Republican state Sen. John Campbell, Green Party candidate Béa Tiritilli and Democrat Steve Young in a Dec. 6 election. The 48th Congressional District represents Newport Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach and all or part of nine other coastal and southern Orange County cities.

Cohen ran for the seat in 2004 against then-incumbent Rep. Chris Cox, a Republican who resigned in August to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In this election, Cohen believes the biggest issues for south Orange County voters are national security and illegal immigration. If they were given a matrix of candidates’ positions that didn’t list party affiliation, people in the 48th District would find his views line up best with theirs, Cohen said.

“Libertarians feel that’s one of the few places that the federal government should actually be involved, that’s having a strong military and protecting our borders,” Cohen said.

The government should enforce existing laws against illegal immigration and stop offering benefits to people who aren’t here legally, he said. He added that beefing up border patrols is a good idea and expressed cautious support for a border fence and a ballot measure to create a California border patrol.

As a fiscal conservative who advocates smaller government, Cohen believes his economic positions align fairly well with those of Campbell and Gilchrist. Where they differ is on social issues.

Libertarians generally support letting people run their own lives, Cohen said. He supports medical marijuana and criticizes the federal education department and “forced retirement system” of social security.

When people suggest to Cohen that a vote for him is wasted, he counters that one member of Congress doesn’t necessarily have much clout, but it’s still important to fill the seat.

“Why even bother electing someone to this post then? We’ll leave it empty because one person can’t change it,” he said.

Because the House seat is open -- and the rabble-rousing Gilchrist is running -- this race has drawn much more media attention than the 2004 contest. That’s been good for Cohen, who has more name recognition than he did last year.

Even though Cohen said he realizes “we don’t have a huge crack at winning this time,” he’ll see the election through and may try again in 2006, when the new incumbent will have to run to stay in office.

As the Libertarian party matures, Cohen expects it to be seen less as a fringe group and more as representing mainstream American voters.

Cohen netted 2.9% of the votes cast in November 2004, when he was one of three candidates. He took less than 1% of the votes in this year’s Oct. 4 primary as one of 17 people on the ballot.

“As we start to do better, the other two parties will start changing the way they vote and their positions because they’ll be afraid of losing market share to us, so we win in many ways when we run,” he said.

BRUCE COHEN

Age: 44

Residence: Lake Forest

Party: Libertarian

Education: Studied science at Orange Coast College and economics at Saddleback College

Family: Single

Career: Independent real estate agent; serves on board of directors for California Libertarian Party; ran for 48th District House seat in 2004