Politics isn’t easy for libertarians. Libertarianism is not political; it is a philosophy and a way of life. When libertarians approach politics, the result is our party, the Libertarian Party. Founded in 1971, it remained a typical “third party” for decades. Today, it has given new meaning to the term “third party” in that it has become the third largest political party in the United States. The progress is encouraging, but the results remain discouraging: disregard by the media, single-digit electoral results, political insignificance. Popular trends are encouraging: the reported defections of voters from the Republican and Democrat parties compared to a remarkable eleven percent growth in the membership of the Libertarian Party in the last year. But many who call themselves libertarians remain discouraged and seek shortcuts to political significance. People love to win and libertarians are people. Republicans are shrewd politicians. They have had 160 years to develop a knack for politics. Only six years after their party was founded in 1854, they elected their first president. That president was a model Republican and defined politics as we know it today. From Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, explained in his letter to Horace Greely, to Rand Paul, the libertarian who isn’t, Republicans know how to manipulate people and win elections. Clearly, many libertarians believe that they, too, will win with the election of a Republican presidential candidate. And when they cast their votes for a Republican when he is opposed by a candidate of the Libertarian Party, they ensure the victory of manipulation over principle. Such “libertarians” must ask themselves this about their motives. Do they seek “a little liberty”, the gift of the master to the slave? Or do they seek to establish the libertarian milieu in the United States, in which the state is servant to the Sovereign Individual. That is the choice we make between Gary Johnson and Rand Paul. reason/blog/2014/11/04/gary-johnson-ill-run-in-2016-to-provide
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 01:38:44 +0000
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