Posted on 11/30/2020 9:00:46 PM PST by RandFan
To go by the post-election commentary, we libertarians are a powerful group holding sway over American politics and policy. Yet Team Blue and Team Red still enthusiastically embrace authoritarianism and scorn our insistence on letting people run their own lives.
Despite growing recognition that libertarians matter, Democrats and Republicans show little sign of extending an olive branch to people who oppose efforts to make government more abusive and intrusive. They know we exist, but they keep us in opposition.
How long a shadow do we throw over American politics?
"According to the latest figures, the Libertarian candidate for president, Jo Jorgensen (pronounced Yo Your-gun-sin), has spoiled the election," huffed conservative writer Michael Warren Davis on his way to working himself into a frenzy in The Spectator. "The number of votes Yo-Yo received in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania exceeds Joe Biden's margin over Donald Trump in all those states. In other words, had the libertarians in each of those states voted for Mr Trump, he would have been reelected handily."
It wasn't just the presidential race, either.
"Hide the kids and liquor. Libertarians have been heard from again," the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorialized about Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington's 33.5 percent showing against Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). The piece acknowledged, with regret, that libertarian views on drugs and foreign policy have moved into the mainstream. "If the Libertarian stirred such a response with chewing gum and duct tape, it'd be fascinating to watch what he could do with some serious resources," the paper added.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Rand has had no problems operating within the GOP and has tried to influence policy in a more libertarian direction.
Libertarians should stick with the GOP because its the only realistic chance of winning election! The LP is hopeless!
Rand Paul probably couldn’t get elected as a Republican in most states. Thank God for Kentucky, but that’s the honest truth.
GOPe is for crony capitalism.
The libertarians should throw their lot in with the Democrats. My understanding is that the US Libertarian Party leans far left when it comes to drugs, sexual orientation, transophilia, etc. So if they support the Dems they'll at least get all of the leftist social demands along with open borders, H-1b's, and lowered tariffs on Biden's Most Favorite Nations like China.
The only downside is more bureaucracy, but there's so much already that they might not even notice the difference.
He got real lucky that his primary opponent was hopeless. He was also able to raise money due to his dad.
A lot of things came together that helped Rand in 2010.
Remember the Tea Party?
I met some Libertarians. My impression is they are idealistic bunch. Maybe that is the attraction, an unadulterated ideal. From their point of view, both parties are too dirty and contaminated to be acceptable.
“Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.”
And that’s the bottom line. I bet the vast majority of libertarians who actually vote for the libertarian party agree with this part of the libertarian party platform.
Freegards
I dont think anyone who is fiscally conservative can support the Dems. This is a crazy notion.
The natural home for libertarians should be within the GOP.
Rand has blazed the trail so to speak..
His rationale was that “getting the government out of the issue” is the worst thing you can possibly do when human lives are at stake.
Zero chance of getting it by siding with Dems.
Hardcore libertarians are insufferable.
The country is on the verge of a communist coup and these fools still insist on splitting our forces. It is like a division walking away from a must win battle in the middle of war. THE RAT PARTY IS PURE EVIL! We must stand united to defeat them!
Libertarian’s biggest single failure is their reluctance to stress localism over their stereotyping as only being for “small government”.
They needed to stress they would rather shift the amount of government ( in terms of power ) back to the local level.
Instead they let their opposition paint their them into a corner as being “anti-government anarchists” at worst, wimpy weak government at best.
Libertarians need to stress that it is more desirable to have more control over your lives in a local level than to have all the control over your life in some distant land called D.C.
Back in my twenties, 30 or more years ago, I explored the Libertarian Party.
I don’t recall this being their stance then, but it may have been.
Being one has no rights if one does not have a right to live, I can’t see the logic of this from a Libertarian perspective.
The only way this does make sense is if you take the Leftist Democrat view point that life does not begin until you exit your mother’s birth canal.
One reason I looked at the Libertarian Party was their devotion to reason (Ayn Rand’s favorite word who was a great supporter of abortion rights).
But, how can one logically reason that a baby only comes in to existence at the moment of birth?
Abortion wasn’t my reason for abandoning the Libertarians. I reasoned that they had no chance of ever winning even a statewide race and therefore could never make a meaningful change in the status quo.
I decided it is better to follow the Reaganites to the Republican Party and try to make changes from within that party.
Liberaltarians are just liberals that like guns and don’t like to pay taxes.
The Libertarian party is a dumpster fire of epic proportions.
The LP supports total open borders without exceptions. Anyone should be able to freely cross the border without government interference.
Trump needs to take his 70 million voters and start a workers party...they could join that party...the only way to get less government is drain the swamp
There goes Reason again playing the leftist game of divide an conquer. They’re part of the Deep state I would bet
Libertarian party isn’t the same as libertarians/Classic-liberals. The only thing they have in common today is how to take a dump (IE: nothing)
Crazy. I’m against immigration. I can’t be the only one.
I told you the LP is a joke...
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