What Is The Best Libertarian Strategy?
Libertarians are relatively few in number so they have to leverage their strengths carefully
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Apologies for the late send out on this one. I made a mistake when setting the time for the publication.
With 2020 being an election year in the U.S., libertarians are once again arguing about what is the best strategy to advance liberty. Add to that the insanity of what is the Trump era and you have extremely heated discussions.
In the presidential race, you have various options libertarians are discussing amongst themselves. Some libertarians are going to vote for Donald Trump citing various policy achievements. Others plan on voting for Joe Biden because they see Trump as a dictator in the making. Still, others plan on voting for Libertarian Party nominee Jo Jorgensen. While others plan to stay home on Election Day.
The purpose of this piece is not to address the presidential race. All of those options have merits and every option is an imperfect one from a liberty perspective.
This piece will look at what has traditionally worked for libertarians, some options that are being discussed, and what is the best way forward.
Fusionism And Its Demise
The most successful period for libertarian politics was Cold War-era “fusionism.” What is fusionism? I’ll let Jonah Goldberg define it:
Fusionism was an idea championed most forcefully by Frank Meyer, the longtime literary editor of National Review. He argued that libertarianism — then often called “individualism” — and traditionalism are the twin pillars of conservatism and, more broadly, of a just and free society. The chief obligation of the state is to protect individual liberty, but the chief obligation of the individual is to live virtuously. Coerced virtue is tyrannical: Virtue not freely chosen is not virtuous. Or as Meyer himself put it: “Truth withers when freedom dies, however righteous the authority that kills it; and free individualism uninformed by moral value rots at its core and soon brings about conditions that pave the way for surrender to tyranny.”
The “fusionist” coalition first gained prominence in Barry Goldwater’s failed presidential bid in 1964. It achieved its zenith with Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
With the threat of communism eliminated, there was little reason for “fusionism” to continue. The libertarian-conservative alliance is all but dead in the Trump era.
Why did it die? It no longer served the interests of either libertarians or traditionalists. Libertarians did not get their smaller government and traditionalists lost the culture war for the most part.
Ron Paul Put Libertarianism Back On The Map
Libertarianism was very much in decline until the 2008 presidential campaign of Ron Paul. Here’s the clip that began a movement:
While Ron Paul never came close to winning the Republican presidential nomination in either 2008 or 2012, he did spawn a movement. Students for Ron Paul became Young Americans for Liberty (more on them in a bit). Other Ron Paul supporters launched Students For Liberty, which has introduced many young people to the ideas of liberty all around the world.
Ron Paul supporters helped launch the populist Tea Party Movement, which for a while indicated that Republicans might actually govern on their small-government rhetoric. Finally, Ron Paul supporters actually elected libertarian-leaning members to Congress, including Ron’s own son Rand.
The Libertarian Party and Left-libertarianism
Many libertarians were uncomfortable with the populist strains of Ron Paul and his movement. While others became strong opponents of Donald Trump (with good reason).
Many of these people rallied under the banner of the Libertarian Party. They had some success in 2016 with Gary Johnson winning 3% of the vote, which was the best a Libertarian had done in the presidential elections. Going into 2018, the LP was even defending some state legislative seats and in 2020 it gained its first member of Congress.
The target audience for the Libertarian Party and other “DC libertarian” efforts is the fiscally conservative, socially liberal voter. Those voters tend to be highly educated, upper-middle-class whites. Most libertarians are also highly educated compared to the rest of the country.
But the problem is that the Libertarian Party is an electoral failure. All of its legislators, who were ex-Republicans and ex-Democrats who defected, lost their races. The LP’s lone congressman, Justin Amash, is a former Republican who will be leaving Congress this year. Finally, Jo Jorgensen will likely receive much fewer votes than Gary Johnson did.
It is doubtful the Libertarian Party will have a major influence going forward. But that’s not to say it won’t have any influence. The 2016 vote totals had Donald Trump laughably call himself “somewhat libertarian” in a recent interview. The Libertarian Party could force major party candidates to become more libertarian in more closely-fought races.
What Is Working?
If the Libertarian Party is mostly a failure, what is working? The answer is two-fold.
The first answer is that young libertarians are moving up the ranks of activist organizations and policy think tanks, both on the state and national levels. These people will influence policy for decades to come.
The second answer is coming on the state level. Young Americans For Liberty launched Operation Win At The Door in January 2018 with a goal of electing 250 liberty-oriented legislators. They have 56 victories so far.
The idea is to build a liberty-oriented bench that could make their states freer. Eventually, the goal is for some of them to run for the U.S. Congress. All of these new liberty-oriented legislators are Republicans.
Libertarians would be wise to focus on the state level and work within the two major parties to make them more libertarian. This country has a two-party system and that is not going to change anytime soon.
Politics is the art of compromise. Working within the two major parties is a compromise in itself but it is the best way for libertarians to yield results.
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