The Libertarian Party Committed Suicide Today

The Libertarian Party Committed Suicide Today

By

James Scott Trimm

It was the perfect storm, a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Libertarian party.  The presumptive nominees of the two major parties are two statists who are two of the most unpopular nominees in American history.  On the left we have the rise of democratic socialism and on the right we have the rise of populist nativist nationalism. 

The stars had aligned and the Libertarians were finally being called up to bat.  Millions of Liberty minded conservative Republicans were looking for a viable option, and saw one in pro-life Constitutionalist Austin Petersen.  Mary Matalin endorsed him and Glenn Beck called him “my guy” and said Austin made his heart skip a beat.  Petersen was on the verge of building a potentially winning coalition, but first he would have to win the Libertarian Party nomination.

Today the Libertarians nominated their candidates for president and vice president and they did not nominate Austin Petersen.  Instead they nominated Gary Johnson for president and Bill Weld for vice President.

Gary Johnson is a moderate Republican Governor who was running for the GOP nomination in 2012 (against Ron Paul).  When his campaign was going nowhere he suddenly and conveniently switched parties, became a “Libertarian” and mesmerized the Libertarians into nominating him.  The Libertarians were delighted to have a two term former Governor as their nominee.  Of course he only got about 1% of the vote.

Gary Johnson is not an acceptable choice for conservative Republicans.  Johnson is pro-abortion and wants to fund Planned Parenthood, which makes him a non option for pro-life conservatives.   

 

 
Moreover Johnson is a radical enemy of the freedom of religion.  Johnson wants to require Christians (or Jews or Muslims) to be forced to bake cakes for gay weddings even if doing so violates their religious beliefs.  When asked if Jews should be forced to bake Nazi cakes, he said “yes” and when it was suggested by Petersen that clergy should not be forced to perform gay weddings, Gary argued against him, saying that freedom of religion had become an excuse to discriminate against homosexuals.  In other words, Johnson wants the LGBT to be a special protected class with special rights that would override the first amendment rights of others!

As for Bill Weld, he is a moderate Republican and former governor of Massachusetts who joined the Libertarian party just in time to run as their VP.  He has a history of supporting gun control.

This means the long term stagnation, if not the death of the Libertarian Party.  It could be decades, if ever, before they have an opportunity like the one they just threw away.  Moreover the Libertarian will get a lot of publicity end exposure during this election, and the face of the LP will be Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, which will do nothing but turn off Constutionalists.  By making Johnson their nominee for most of a decade, they have chosen to define themselves by his anit-Liberty positions.  And the Libertarian Party can not fall back on their local offices, because they repeatedly nominate candidates who are unwilling to do what it takes to actually win, so they hold few lower offices.

So now we have three statists running for president and no real options for Liberty loving, Right to Life Constitutionalists.  No other party is on the ballot in enough states to have the mathematical chance to win.

Here in Texas the Liberty wing of the GOP has been, and continues to be very successful.  Two years ago “Tea Party” candidates swept the statewide elections, and this year Liberty Conservatives gained seats in the Texas Senate and House.  Moreover, this year the Texas GOP has made Texas Sovereignty even over SCOTUS rulings, the party platform.

So even if you are not going to vote at all on the presidential ticket, it is very important that we support our Texas GOP candidates (except for HD 99 and HD 127 where I recently blogged in support of the LP candidates over the Straus allied RINOS). 

It is also important that we fight even harder for the Texas Sovereignty Act, because we will be faced, regardless of who wins the election, with a big government statist in the White House.