The Libertarian Party Mises Caucus, said to control a majority of delegates to the Libertarian Party's May national convention, has issued a statement opposing the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr.’s Libertarian play | Politico | Peder Schaefer:
February 15, 2024 - "[I]n recent weeks, [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] has appeared on CNN to float interest in the [Libertarian] party, and appeared on the podcast of a popular libertarian comedian. He is planning on attending the California Libertarian Party convention at the end of February, where he’ll be on a panel with other possible nominees.... It’s sparked a backlash within the Libertarian Party, as both the electoral-focused 'prags' who have traditionally controlled the party [for example, former Libertarian National Committee chair Nicholas Sarwark - gd] and supported more mainstream presidential candidates ... and more subversive, ideologically rigid members of the Mises Caucus speak out against his name going at the top of the ticket.
"The Mises Caucus — a more radical libertarian faction organized around the work of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises — has been a power center within the party since its endorsed candidate, Angela McArdle, won the national committee chairmanship in a 2022 landslide victory with nearly 70 percent of the vote. It controls the majority of the delegates who will vote on the party’s presidential nominee at the national convention in May.
"While McArdle has suggested that the party may be open to a Kennedy bid, last weekend the Mises Caucus came out formally in opposition to his candidacy, making it unlikely that Kennedy has a real shot at the nomination....
"Michael Heise, the founder of the Mises Caucus, said that while he’s open to Kennedy running for the nomination — he says it would raise the stature of Libertarian Party discourse — nominating the Kennedy family scion would be short-sighted, even if he performed well in the general election."
Read more: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2024/02/15/rfk-jr-s-libertarian-play-00141795
Should the Libertarian Party nominate RFK Jr.? | Mises Caucus blog | Aaron Harris:
February 11, 2024 - "Over the last couple of weeks, there has been considerable speculation about whether Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be seeking our party’s nomination for president—and about the Mises Caucus’ position on the matter. RFK himself raised the possibility first during a Jan. 27 interview.... Then, when discussing the matter on the Feb. 5 Timcast, Josh Smith intimated that the Mises Caucus leadership favored a plan to back an RFK Libertarian bid as a means to gain higher vote totals and thus better ballot access for the LP going forward.
"This is simply false. The Mises Caucus has endorsed Michael Rectenwald for president and Clint Russell for vice president and we are working hard to see that they are nominated by our party at the Libertarian National Convention (May 23–26 in Washington, DC).
"We firmly oppose any strategy that would 'rent out' our party’s place on any state’s ballot to RFK, or indeed any candidate who has so many disqualifying deviations from the essential principles of libertarianism....
"[O]ur goal as Libertarians must be to convince as many of our fellow men as possible of the moral and practical superiority of liberty. We can’t do that if we muddy our message to chase votes. ory supports this analysis: Gary Johnson’s strong electoral showings harmed our brand and left our active membership stagnant, while Harry Browne’s anemic vote totals resulted in the greatest period of sustained growth in the LP’s history.
"Another reason that the RFK gambit is a foolish idea is that it might actually work. If he did occupy the Libertarian ballot line and win five or even ten percent of the popular vote, millions of Americans will forever associate the LP with RFK’s policies. This would empty the LP of a large number of its most committed activists while attracting an influx of those with little or no regard for the Non-Aggression Principle.
"For this election cycle and the foreseeable future, the only sound presidential election strategy for the LP must be to nominate candidates who will present an undiluted decentralist libertarian message in hopes of awakening the remnant who favor liberty over tyranny. Among those presently willing to take up that task, Michael Rectenwald and Clint Russell are clearly the most capable."
Read more: https://lpmisescaucus.com/blog/should-the-libertarian-party-nominate-rfk-jr/
I made this comment on this article on Facebook, but decided to archive it here as well:
ReplyDelete"I played a role in the Canadian LP for 3 decades, and I know exactly what it is. It's a 'purity'" concern, the same concern they don't see with mass immigration; of too many non- or sorta-libertarians, or libertarians-but, coming in and drowning out or overwhelming the party's core membership and core values. i understand the concern, but it can be a problem in itself - it leads to the idea that any Libertarian campaign that's too successful in attracting support is counterproductive by definition. That's what the MC writer means in the article when he declares that Gary Johnson's 2016 campaign, by far the most successful LP POTUS run ever, was in fact harmful."