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| Walter Block |
Did the Libertarian Party throw the election to Joe Biden? Maybe. At this writing nominee Jo Jorgensen’s vote total exceeds Mr. Biden’s margin over President Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, enough to change the outcome...
The national Libertarian Party started in 1971, several state parties earlier. In 1969 I had the honor to run for the New York Assembly. My motto was “Disassemble the Assembly.” I didn’t win; I’m not sure my vote total reached triple digits. But I’ve been a staunch member of the party ever since.
In 2016 physician Donald Miller, historian Ralph Raico and I started a group called Libertarians for Trump. Our advice to libertarian voters was: If you live in Massachusetts or California, strong blue states, vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee. The Republicans will lose big there, and your vote for the porcupine won’t help the donkey beat the elephant. Likewise in Louisiana or Alabama, where Mr. Trump was sure to win. But if you live in a purple state, don’t vote Libertarian. It is crucial that Donald beat Hillary!
I kick myself for not reinstituting this effort in 2019. My thought was that Gary Johnson, a former governor, was well-known and might manage 5% of the vote. He actually registered 3.27%, still more than three times the previous record of 1.06%, set by Ed Clark in 1980. I figured Ms. Jorgenson for 0.25%. She now looks on track to exceed Mr. Clark’s percentage slightly—and hand the presidency to Mr. Biden.
Pardon me while I beat my head against the wall. How could libertarians in purple states be so stupid?
I am not as big a fan of Trump as Dr. Block.
At the time of his 2016 election, I feared that Trump would trigger a socialist wave and that has occurred. In the 2020 campaign, of course, the socialist agenda is part of the Biden-Harris ticket. It is obvious with Harris. She lists "her" pronouns, pronoun listing is popular with the tear down Western Civilization Critical Theory crowd, in her Twitter profile and she has called for a Marxist-type policy of equity over equality of opportunity.
Given that the socialist wave has been created, at this time Trump would be a block (no pun intended) against its advance if he were to win in the courts and gain re-election. So Dr. Block is correct, the libertarian votes for Jorgensen in close states was a disaster. On top of the fact that Jorgensen's message was not impressive in terms of delivering any understanding of libertarianism to the public.
Can you imagine the attention she would have gotten if she told voters not to vote for her in close states because Biden is so much more statist?
That said, the winner of the presidency is now up to the courts. If Biden is declared the winner, it is extremely important that Republicans win the two Senate runoffs in Georgia so that they hold the majority in the US Senate as a logjam against some of the Biden-Harris socialist policy initiatives. I have already pointed out that those who voted libertarian in Georga are responsible for one of the races ending up a runoff. See: The Socialist Disaster That May Result Because of Libertarian Party Members in Georgia.
-RW
RW, libertarians need to drop the open borders stupidity and free trade idiocy. I don't disagree with some of it's stances, but these two are guaranteed to turn away a lot of people. Jacob Hornberger is a typical libertardian when it comes to race and culture.
ReplyDeleteYou are dreaming RW if you think a Hildebeast win would have lead to anything in the LP.
I dont think the libertarian party doing better was the point with Hillary. The point is, with Trump, spending goes up , wars don’t end, the swamp is still running loose, and people say trust the plan.
DeleteIf Hillary did the exact same thing those same conservatives would be trying to hang her from the nearest tree. The State grew and not a peep from conservatives.
As far as Joe, I wouldn’t mind at all I’d people voted for her if she was actually a libertarian. If a Ron Paul was running, I wouldn’t blame people who vote to refuse to vote for a lesser evil. But Joe was a joke.
I dont think the libertarian party doing better was the point with Hillary. The point is, with Trump, spending goes up , wars don’t end, the swamp is still running loose, and people say trust the plan.
DeleteIf Hillary did the exact same thing those same conservatives would be trying to hang her from the nearest tree. The State grew and not a peep from conservatives.
As far as Joe, I wouldn’t mind at all I’d people voted for her if she was actually a libertarian. If a Ron Paul was running, I wouldn’t blame people who vote to refuse to vote for a lesser evil. But Joe was a joke.
I dont think the libertarian party doing better was the point with Hillary. The point is, with Trump, spending goes up , wars don’t end, the swamp is still running loose, and people say trust the plan.
DeleteIf Hillary did the exact same thing those same conservatives would be trying to hang her from the nearest tree. The State grew and not a peep from conservatives.
As far as Joe, I wouldn’t mind at all I’d people voted for her if she was actually a libertarian. If a Ron Paul was running, I wouldn’t blame people who vote to refuse to vote for a lesser evil. But Joe was a joke.
There are complaints the LP is insignificant and complaints the LP has a significant impact on the election. Seems like a contradiction. Michael http://TheREBT.life
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked that principled libertarians like Block and Wenzel are blaming Libertarians for Trump's defeat.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not a fan of the Libertarian party but this close contest does illustrate how a principled and reasonably popular libertarian (like Ron Paul) can force both parties towards somewhat libertarian positions to get the 'deciding' libertarian vote.
The Libertarian Party has to closely examine its national strategy. Johnson / Weld was lousy and Jorgenson's campaign didn't focus on the issue of cenrtrally planed technocratic healthcare and the fact that Demopublicans have been running the show in the emerald city for more than a generation.
ReplyDelete