3rd party POTUS candidates registering in polls

Libertarian and Green Party Candidates Are Making Surprising Appearances in 2020 Election Polls | Newsweek - Jason Lemon:

July 21, 2020 - "As the 2020 presidential election is now less than four months away, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins and Libertarian Party candidate Jo Jorgensen are registering support in national polls, signaling that their respective messages resonate with a segment of voters frustrated with Democrats and Republicans....

"Polling conducted by CNBC/Change Research from July 10 to 12 showed Hawkins with support from 2 percent of respondents, while Jorgensen was backed by 3 percent. Although that's marginal compared to the 51 percent support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and the 41 percent for Republican incumbent President Donald Trump, even a few percent could sway what ultimately could become a close election. Separate polling this month by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed Hawkins with 1 percent support, while Jorgensen was backed by 2 percent of respondents....

"The Green Party positions itself to the left of the Democratic Party, with Hawkins highlighting his differences with progressives such as former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Meanwhile, Libertarians align with more conservative principles when it comes to the economy, while being liberal socially due to their strong belief in individual freedoms.

"'I don't want the government making choices for you. I want you to have lots of choices provided by a wealth of free market alternatives, and to make those choices for yourself, for your family, and for your business,' Jorgensen explained. She emphasized that she wants to keep taxes and government spending down, end the war on drugs, bring the troops home and 'end cronyism in the energy business' while allowing nuclear-power initiatives to move forward.

"Hawkins pointed out that Greens have some overlap with Libertarians on social issues.... 'But there are some issues we agree on — drug policy reform, staying out of stupid foreign wars, civil liberties, mass surveillance unwarranted by the state, warrantless surveillance,' Hawkins said....

"In 2016, some political analysts pointed to Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson as having shifted the race in Trump's favor. The president narrowly beat former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in several key swing states, where the votes won by Johnson and Stein made up the difference.... Many Republicans and Democrats have warned about the possibility of a similar impact from third-party candidates this upcoming election. But Hawkins and Jorgensen are dismissive of these concerns, pointing out that people should vote for who they actually support the most. Additionally, it's not at all clear that those who voted for third-party candidates would have cast a ballot for Trump or Clinton if the other options were not available.

"'Don't waste your vote on the status quo. Vote for real change for real people,' Jorgensen said."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/libertarian-green-party-candidates-are-making-surprising-appearances-2020-election-polls-1519464

Hornberger's narrative of wins

Hornberger's narrative of wins

by George J. Dance

May 20, 2020 - Things have certainly changed since my last post on the Libertarian Party (LP) presidential contest, back in April, just after Justin Amash had launched his exploratory committee. I concluded that post by writing: "The 2020 race for the LP nomination has not turned into a coronation of Amash. But it is now no longer a coronation of Hornberger, either. For the first time, it has become a real contest worth paying close attention to."

With Amash deciding not to run, the LP POTUS race is still worth paying attention to. However, there is a danger that it is back to being a coronation of Jacob Hornberger. Hornberger is the wrong messenger, with - not exactly the wrong message, but the wrong strategy of campaigning on that message. Despite his differing background and a belief in limited government, his is essentially the Abolitionist strategy of Murray Rothbard: the wrong strategy, out of sync with the public at large, potential libertarian voters, the majority of registered libertarians, and even (I believe) the majority of party members. Hornberger will have no easier a time getting his message across with his strategy than Vermin Supreme would; if the former gets media coverage at all, it will be only as a scary caricature.

At the same time, Hornberger could be the candidate the membership wants. After all, the LP has run three Gradualist campaigns in a row; why shouldn't the Abolitionists get a turn? Also, many vocal members, from Dave Smith to Tom Woods to the Mises Caucus to Hornberger himself, have spent the last 4 years trying to frame Gary Johnson's last campaign - the one that gave the party a record number of both voters and registrants - as a failure and even a betrayal. Finally, a different sort of framing has also been going on, with Hornberger cast as the rank-and-file members' choice opposed only by the party elite, the LP's very own Ron Paul or Bernie Sanders.

That last picture has been built through a constructed narrative that Hornberger overwhelmingly won the LP primaries. He and his supporters can be expected to puff up his record this way; but even non-Abolitionists like those at Reason have gotten in on the act. For instance, the headline of Reason's story on the Super Tuesday primaries (only one of which he won) began: "Libertarian Super Tuesday: Big Night for Jacob Hornberger...," telling those of use who might have missed it that "the trend line is unmistakable — the Libertarian front-runner at this point is longtime libertarian-movement hand and Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger,"  adding for good measure at the end that, "for the moment, Jacob Hornberger is your Libertarian front-runner."

After Amash jumped into the race, Reason ran an article which told us in its second paragraph: "Hornberger, the 70-year-old founder of the Future of Freedom Foundation, has, after all, won a clear majority of the party's presidential primaries and caucuses, nonbinding though they may be."  The next day, when Amash jumped back out, Reason told us: "Jacob Hornberger has won by far the most of the party's nonbinding primaries and caucuses."

To evaluate that narrative requires examining the primary and caucus results in more detail; so let us do so. 

Hornberger won a clear majority vote in only two states, Missouri (in which he was the only person on the primary ballot) and Minnesota (after 7 rounds of instant-runoff caucus voting). He also won 47% in Iowa - a genuinely impressive win which began the narrative. He won 2 primaries - Ohio and Connecticut - with less than a third of the vote, and another - California - with less than 20%. And he won New York with no votes at all: that state's Secretary of State disqualified all the candidates but Hornberger, cancelled the LP primary, and simply declared him the winner.

Against these 7 wins we have to balance Hornberger's 4 losses, winning just under 25% in Nebraska, 9.6% in both North Carolina and Massachusetts, and no votes, again, in Maine.

Even throwing out the New York travesty, that gives the man 6 wins and 4 losses; so he definitely won a majority; possibly even a "clear majority" (of states, not of votes, or even of votes in most of the states he won). But the winner "by far'? That sounds as if the LP, in violation of all social distancing guidelines, has clutched Hornberger and Abolitionism to its bosom; which is not what the vote results look like to me at all.

Which is precisely the misleading picture this narrative of wins seems designed to convey. It sends exactly the wrong message to those who haven't chosen Hornberger: that the rest of the party has. I expect Hornberger to last until the final ballot; as other candidates drop off, and their supporters lose their own preference, they may be tempted to vote for Hornberger in the belief that they will be putting the party's interests first.

They will not. This man has trouble getting even libertarians to vote for him; and I expect him to be a disaster as a candidate. But let that wait for the morrow. 

Sanders to legalize cannabis by executive order

Bernie Sanders Says He Would Legalize Marijuana by Executive Order - Andrew Whalen, Newsweek:

August 7, 2019 - "Legalizing marijuana has long been part of Bernie Sanders' policy platform.... But in a recent interview, Sanders got specific, pledging to legalize marijuana by executive order.

"'When I ran for president for the Democratic nomination in 2016, I talked about a broken criminal justice system, which ends up having in the United States more people in jail than any other country,' Sanders told Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. And what I call for then, and I call for now, is the legalization of marijuana in America'....

"Sanders' approach to marijuana legalization takes aim at the Controlled Substances Act, which puts cannabis in the same Schedule One category as heroin, MDMA and psilocybin.

"'That is insane. Heroin is a killer drug,' he said on the episode. 'You can argue the plusses and minuses of marijuana, but marijuana ain't heroin. So we have to end that and that's what I will do as President of the United States. I believe we can do that through executive order and I will do that.'

"In 2016, Sanders became the first major presidential candidate to endorse marijuana legalization. That position followed The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015, a Senate bill he authored that would have removed marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. The bill received no co-sponsors....

"'I think ultimately we have got to legalize marijuana, and what's good news is some communities, some cities, are expunging the records. So if you were arrested [and] have a criminal record for selling marijuana, that is being expunged. And that is the right thing to do,' Sanders told Rogan....

"Other Democratic candidates have agreed with Sanders, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, all of whom have signaled their intention to legalize pot and expunge criminal records for marijuana convictions."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-legalize-marijuana-executive-order-1453140
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Man beaten for carrying U.S. flag to OR protest

This Liberal Carried an American Flag to Protest Fascism in Portland. Antifa Cracked His Head Open With a Bat. - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Robby Soave:

August 21, 2018: "Paul Welch is ... a liberal who voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary, and for Hillary Clinton in the general election. On August 4, he attended a far-right rally in Portland, Oregon, as a counterdemonstrator intent on signaling his opposition to the 'tacitly fascist event,' he told The Oregonian....

"The right and certainly a lot of smaller groups like Patriot Prayer might rush to things like the flag and try to take it up as, 'This is our symbol exclusively,'" [Welch] said. "Part of my thinking was to take it back."

Aside from a few odd looks, Welch did not encounter any problems when he joined hundreds of other counter-protesters who gathered at City Hall late that morning.

In fact, Welch said, he saw several other people with American flags sprinkled among the group of progressives, union members and social justice activists.

"But then, two members of Antifa confronted him and demanded he hand over the flag, which they characterized as a 'fascist symbol.' When Welch resisted, they attacked him. The concussion landed him in the hospital for two days.

"It was, of course, wrong to attack Welch regardless of his political views. Even if Welch had been a Trump-worshipping alt-right troll, the masked man still had no right to try to take Welch's flag and club him over the head when he resisted. This was an ill-founded and immoral initiation of violence, full stop.

"But it's also a good reminder of why Antifa's resistance strategy, punch Nazis in the streets, wherever and whenever they appear, is deeply misguided. Not everybody who attends a protest is a Nazi. Not everyone who waves an American flag is a fascist.... A broad endorsement of violence as a resistance tactic is certain to result in innocent people getting hurt, and to turn the moderate masses away from whatever it is Antifa supposedly represents. As a general matter, civil resistance works and violent protests backfire."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/08/21/antifa-portland-evan-welch-violence
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Gary Johnson places second in Senate poll

Poll finds Libertarian Senate candidate running ahead of GOP in New Mexico | TheHill - Megan Keller:

August 20, 2018 - "Libertarian Party Senate candidate Gary Johnson is polling at 21 percent in New Mexico, behind Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) but with nearly twice the support shown for GOP candidate Mick Rich in the poll.

"An Emerson College poll released Monday showed Heinrich winning 39 percent on the sample ballot while Rich only took 11 percent. Thirty percent of those polled were undecided.

"Johnson has high name recognition in the state. He's a former governor and won attention for his presidential run in 2016....

"A 21 percent showing would mark the second-highest vote total a Libertarian Senatorial candidate has ever received, Reason reports. Joe Miller garnered 29 percent of the vote in 2016 while running for the Senate in Alaska.

"The Emerson poll also found that New Mexico Republicans slightly favor Johnson above Rich, at 27 percent to 25 percent respectively. However, Johnson's advantage is within the poll's margin of error.

"The numbers are especially difficult for Rich as Johnson only announced his candidacy on Tuesday....

"'What a crazy, wacky world we live in,' Rich told the Santa Fe New Mexican last week, arguing that Johnson is 'more in sync with [Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders] than he is with Republicans.'

"Emerson College's poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points and was conducted ... Aug. 17-18 with a sample of 500 registered voters."

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/402715-poll-gary-johnson-at-21-in-senate-race-nearly-twice-as-much-as-gop-nominee
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U.S. Democrats hopping aboard cannabis train

Potential Democratic 2020 contenders are rushing to back marijuana legalization - CNNPolitics - Dan Merica:

April 20, 2018 - "In a significant political shift, several top Democrats considered to be possible contenders in the 2020 presidential race are backing legislation that would decriminalize marijuana....

"The latest signal came when Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2016 Democratic candidate who is widely considered a top contender for the nomination in 2020, signed onto The Marijuana Justice Act on Thursday. The bill, proposed by Sen. Cory Booker, himself a 2020 contender, would effectively end the federal crackdown on marijuana by removing the drug from the Controlled Substances Act. It was also backed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, another possible 2020 hopeful....

"The shift comes amid recent movement by the Trump administration on the issue. President Donald Trump recently agreed to support protecting states that have legalized marijuana, after being pressured by Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican....

"Both Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, two other potential candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination, have defended the successful efforts to legalize marijuana in their respective states. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said earlier this year that she is planning to introduce legislation that protects states that have legalized marijuana from a possible crackdown. And Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has already started to make trips out to early presidential primary and caucus states, helped implement the plan to legalize marijuana in California, making his city [the] largest in the United States selling legal pot.

"The political shift from Democratic leaders has tracked with polling, too. According to a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this year, 61% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal, more than double the 31% who supported legalization in 2000. The support from Democrats (69%) is even more overwhelming.

"Skyler McKinley, the founding deputy director of Hickenlooper's Office of Marijuana Coordination, said that while the Democratic shift is good policy, it is also good politics.

"'Especially on the Democratic side,' McKinley said, 'I don't think anyone who wants to continue the drug war on marijuana is going to be the nominee.'"

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/20/politics/democrats-marijuana-legalization/index.html
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Record 50 Libertarians running in NC in 2018

In Wake County, the Libertarians Are Coming—and They’re Not Just Old Whites Dudes Looking to Skip Out on Taxes | Wake County | Indy Week - Erica Hellerstein:

March 7, 2018 - "Robyn Pegram ... a twenty-four-year-old Apex [North Carolina] native, had been a Democrat, but the party's handling of Bernie Sanders's candidacy and the HB 2 aftermath left her feeling alienated. Pegram had always been interested in libertarianism — 'I had always kind of prided myself on being a free thinker,' she says — so she switched.

"A few months later, Pegram made another big decision. She filed to run against state representative Nelson Dollar, the seven-term Republican whose district covers parts of suburban Wake County, because she 'wanted to be a voice for the people' and believed his seat was winnable....

"Pegram isn't the only local Libertarian with high hopes for 2018. She's one of a record number of Libertarian candidates running for office in Wake County, a trend party officials chalk up to voters' dissatisfaction with the two-party duopoly and a growing Libertarian presence across North Carolina. Statewide, the party is fielding six congressional candidates, twenty-one state House candidates, fifteen state Senate candidates, four sheriff candidates, and four county commissioner candidates.

"In all, fifty Libertarian candidates are running for office in 2018, including sixteen in Wake County.

"'The people of North Carolina deserve real choices in the voting booth, and we have an amazing group of people who have made the commitment to serve,' wrote Libertarian Party of North Carolina chairwoman Susan Hogarth in an email announcing the party's 'record-setting slate' of candidates. 'In an environment dominated by political expediency, the growing energy in the LPNC tells us people want something more'....

"Any sort of Libertarian movement in North Carolina, in fact, will face an uphill climb. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson received less than 3 percent of the vote in 2016; Sean Haugh, the Libertarian Senate candidate, garnered 3.6 percent."

Read more: https://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/in-wake-county-the-libertarians-are-coming-and-theyre-not-just-old-whites-dudes-looking-to-skip-out-on-taxes/Content?oid=12102419
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60% of Americans see need for a third party

Are Republicans Ready to Join a Third Party? - The New York Times - Juleanna Glover:

January 28, 2018 - "At think-tank conference tables, over coffee at the Senate Chef and at the incessant book parties on the Washington social circuit, disaffected Republicans are wondering whether, if they came up with a truly great candidate, they could jump-start a new party, just as the original Republicans did in the 1850s.

"And if surveys have any truth to them, plenty of Americans are ready to join them. A September Gallup poll found 61 percent of American voters support the idea of a third major political party, the highest level of support Gallup had ever recorded. Young voters seem especially eager to junk the two-party system; NBC reported in November that 71 percent of millennials want another choice."

"In a world in which Alabama voters elected a Democratic senator, all kinds of previously unimaginable possibilities make a new kind of sense. A third-party presidency in 2020 is no less likely today than the prospect of Donald Trump’s election appeared to be two years ago.

"A viable third-party candidate — say, someone with credibility inside one of the parties who bolts from it — would have appeal to voters across the spectrum. There are many Republicans wary of a second term for Mr. Trump, and yet right now they are entirely reliant on the Democrats to deliver a winning centrist candidate out of a primary process that almost made Bernie Sanders their 2016 nominee. A contest between Mr. Trump and a liberal Democratic candidate ... would leave the middle up for grabs. And a big contingent of politically orphaned political strategists, academics and donors would be ready to lend support....

"Abraham Lincoln was the last representative of a new political party to be elected president. He won in 1860 as the nominee of the anti-slavery Republican Party after he gained notice for his debates with Stephen Douglas during his 1858 Senate run. Lincoln lost that Senate race, but he became famous as a voice of moral clarity. Lincoln’s eventual win resulted not from a party affiliation but from the moral authority he commanded as an opponent of slavery....

"A popular, well-known candidate could co-opt a minor party and inherit its ballot access. But with money and expertise, starting a new party isn’t out of reach: The financier Peter Ackerman and the political reformer Kahlil Byrd led a 2012 effort, Americans Elect, that got on the ballot in a majority of states.....

"In the post-Trump world of American politics, there are all kinds of potential candidates who make sudden sense. Those quixotic enough to daydream about a new political party aren’t foolish enough to envision a candidacy driven by policy papers or party platforms. Personality and principles — either adoration or abnegation thereof — will propel the election of the next president."

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/opinion/republicans-third-party-.html
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Dave Smith releases comedy special Sept. 11 (video)

Libertarian Comedian Dave Smith on the Alt-Right, Christopher Cantwell, and How the Left 'Went Off the Rails' - Reason.com - Nick Gillespie & Mark McDaniel:

September 8, 2017 - "New York comedian Dave Smith says he 'became a libertarian through the Ron Paul movement. He challenged all of my preconceived notions about what government was [and]...inspired me to read all of these people, like Rothbard, Mises, and Friedman.'

"When Bernie Sanders became a national figure, what Smith hated most about the Vermont senator was that he was aesthetically like a carbon copy of Paul — 'a kind of disheveled, older guy who's just a truth teller.'

"[The difference was that] 'Bernie would go around to these kids and be like, "Hey, so you're a college kid in 2017, you're among the richest, freest, most privileged people who have ever existed, [so] billionaires should be paying your bills for you" ... It was the difference between a propagandist and a truth teller.'

"Smith, 34, is a regular on the New York City stand up circuit and hosts two popular podcasts on the GaS Digital Network, Legion of Skanks and Part of the Problem. On September 11, he'll release his first comedy special, Libertas, which will be available for download here."

Read more: http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/09/08/dave-smith-ron-paul-libertas-comedy
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Garrett, Amash, Young co-sponsor cannabis bill

A Republican Has Revived Bernie's Bill To End The Federal Weed Ban:

March 13, 2017 - "Last month, Rep. Tom Garrett of Virginia introduced a bill that seeks to remove virtually all traces of pot from the federal Controlled Substances Act so as to let states regulate themselves in our country's ongoing Green Rush. Garrett's office announced last month that the bill, originally put forth by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2015, was re-ignited to '[fulfill] a responsibility to create a level playing field across the country.'

"With help from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), lead original cosponsor for the bill, and from fellow Virginia republican Rep. Scott Taylor, Garrett submitted HR 1227 to the GOP-heavy 115th U.S. Congress on February 27, referring it [to] both the House Energy and Commerce and House Judiciary committees. In the two weeks since, Representatives Jared Polis (D-CO), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Don Young (R-AK), and Justin Amash (R-MI) have also signed on.

"Rep. Garrett commented in a release, 'Statistics indicate that minor narcotics crimes disproportionately hurt areas of lower socio-economic status and what I find most troubling is that we continue to keep laws on the books that we do not enforce." He noted, too, that Virginia is "more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy, as are states such as Colorado or California.'"

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2017/03/13/a-house-republican-has-revived-bernies-bill-to-end-federal-ban-on-weed/#103df34d559e
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Where Johnson and Sanders agree (video)

Where Gary Johnson and Bernie Sanders Agree | I Agree To See - Kaitlyn Goodman:

October 14, 2016 - "Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson stars in a new political ad for the campaign to ... tell supporters where he and Senator Bernie Sanders agree.

"Johnson begins by explaining that Clinton has been spending millions on attacking him, because he's gaining momentum among millennials and independents – a group Bernie Sanders did well with during the Democratic primary.

"'They supported him because he opposed the wars they oppose – just as I do. The same wars Hillary Clinton has supported and helped send us in to,' Johnson explains.

"Johnson then goes into other topics including crony capitalism, the war on drugs and individual freedom. However, he does concede that [he] and Sanders disagree on one thing – higher taxes. 'I see the dangers in high taxes and in big government,' he goes on....

"The Hill reported in August that Johnson is beating Donald Trump among millennials in Colorado.... And in [nationwide polls last month, Johnson was second [in] millennial support."

Read more: http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/10/clayton-hunt-gary-johnson-supporters-the-pragmatists-that-werent/#comment-1453596
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Gary Johnson would pardon Edward Snowden

Gary Johnson: I Would Pardon Edward Snowden | The Texas Tribune - Patrick Svitek:

September 24, 2016 - "Amid a renewed debate about Edward Snowden, Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson said Saturday he would pardon the whistleblower based on his knowledge of the case.

"In an interview at The Texas Tribune Festival, Johnson, the former New Mexico governor, was deeply skeptical of how the United States is using the kind of intelligence capabilities brought to light by Snowden. Snowden, a former government contractor, faces charges under the Espionage Act for leaking classified information about the National Security Agency to reporters in 2013.

"'I would like to see ... these satellites turned away from 110 million Verizon users,' Johnson said. 'I'd like to see the satellites turned away from you and I as U.S. citizens, recognizing that there is due process out there for anyone that's suspected of crime or harm against the rest of us.'

"A new campaign is underway to persuade President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden, the subject of a biographical movie released last week. Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently added his name to the list of those pushing for a pardon.

"Johnson has previously said he would be inclined to pardon Snowden but appeared to go further Saturday.

"'Based on what I know about Edward Snowden, I would pardon Edward Snowden,' Johnson said.

"The Libertarian nominee is considered a long-shot candidate for the White House, especially after missing the cut to make the first debate ... held Monday. Acknowledging the importance of qualifying — 'The only way to have a chance at winning is to be in the presidential debates' — Johnson noted that he has only failed to make the first debate and that there are three in total.

"He also voiced doubt that voters would have their minds made up following Monday night's debate between the two polarizing major-party nominees, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump."

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/09/24/gary-johnson-i-would-pardon-edward-snowden/
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Ron Paul coalition fragments in 2016

Where are all the Ron 'Paulite' libertarians in 2016? - Daniel Libit, CNBC:

April 14, 2016 - "Last month, Walter Block, a libertarian professor of economics and long-time acolyte of Ron Paul, pinched his nose and co-launched a group, Libertarians for Trump.... While he finds much of Trump's domestic agenda odious, Block very much likes Trump's noninterventionist foreign policy positions.

"Still, Block insists his group ... advocates only for Trump as the Republican nominee, and it intends to promptly disband after the primary. Then, Block said, even his vote is up for grabs. 'If it was Bernie [Sanders] versus Donald, I would vote for the Libertarian [Party candidate] for sure," he told CNBC.com. 'If it was Donald versus Hillary [Clinton], I would have a much harder time. I would have trouble deciding.'

"His conundrum is not unique among his kind. Four years after its political awakening, and in the absence of an obvious rallying point, the Ron Paul coalition finds itself in a diffuse, conflicted and confused diaspora. Paul's devotees .. are now erratically strewn across the political spectrum of the 2016 election, ... attaching themselves to Trump's populism, Ted Cruz's conservatism and even Sanders' socialism....

"The current state of the Paul coalition ... suggests ... its support had much more to do with Paul's outsiderism, than his libertarianism. It is this reality that dawned too late on the presidential campaign of his son, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, who thought he could expand on his father's base of support by appealing to establishment Republicans as well as true libertarians ... the campaign's internal polls found that of Iowa voters who said they supported Ron Paul in 2012, only about a third identified generally as having libertarian leanings....

"Paul commits his time to leading the Campaign for Liberty and the Ron Paul Institute, a foreign policy nonprofit.... But perhaps Paul's greatest political legacy is Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian student organization that Paul is not formally affiliated with, but which grew out of his 2008 presidential campaign. It currently counts 600 college chapters and 200,000-plus members....

"Cruz, despite Paul's withering criticisms, has arguably made the most consistent effort to attract his former supporters, even name-checking libertarians in his Iowa Caucus victory speech. Prior to Rand Paul dropping out of the race, Cruz had already snatched the support of Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz, who endorsed Ron Paul in 2012, and Joel Kurtinitis, an activist who served as Paul's regional director. Cruz also won the endorsement of former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr, who has gotten crosswise with Paul in the past....

"But at least one political organization sees a unique opportunity this election — the national Libertarian Party. 'This is a year where things are so uncertain, and where the two parties are split among themselves, that it could be a very big opportunity,' said Wes Benedict, the Libertarian Party's executive director. Past nominee Gary Johnson's 1,275,871 votes in 2012 represented a high-water mark for the party in its 44-year history....

"During the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial race, Libertarian Party candidate Robert Sarvis ended with almost 7 percent of the vote, the most a third-party candidate has netted in the South since 1970.

"Immediately after Rand Paul's exit from this year's nominating contest, the Libertarian Party saw notable spikes in new donors, according to figures provided to CNBC.com. The party is on the ballot in 32 states (and Washington, D.C.) — the most of any third-party — and Benedict says he's confident it will be on all states' ballots for November."

Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/where-are-all-the-ron-paulite-libertarians-in-2016.html
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Where Charles Koch & Bernie Sanders agree

Charles Koch: This is the one issue where Bernie Sanders is right - The Washington Post:

February 18, 2016 - "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) often sounds like he’s running as much against me as he is the other candidates.... I see benefits in searching for common ground and greater civility during this overly negative campaign season. That’s why, in spite of the fact that he often misrepresents where I stand on issues, the senator should know that we do agree on at least one....

"The senator is upset with a political and economic system that is often rigged to help the privileged few at the expense of everyone else, particularly the least advantaged. He believes that we have a two-tiered society that increasingly dooms millions of our fellow citizens to lives of poverty and hopelessness. He thinks many corporations seek and benefit from corporate welfare while ordinary citizens are denied opportunities and a level playing field.

"I agree with him.

"Democrats and Republicans have too often favored policies and regulations that pick winners and losers. This helps perpetuate a cycle of control, dependency, cronyism and poverty in the United States.... Large portions of the business community have actively pushed for these policies.

"Consider the regulations, handouts, mandates, subsidies and other forms of largesse our elected officials dole out to the wealthy and well-connected. The tax code alone contains $1.5 trillion in exemptions and special-interest carve-outs. Anti-competitive regulations cost businesses an additional $1.9 trillion every year. Perversely, this regulatory burden falls hardest on small companies, innovators and the poor, while benefitting many large companies like ours. This unfairly benefits established firms and penalizes new entrants, contributing to a two-tiered society.

"Whenever we allow government to pick winners and losers, we impede progress and move further away from a society of mutual benefit. This pits individuals and groups against each other and corrupts the business community, which inevitably becomes less focused on creating value for customers. That’s why Koch Industries opposes all forms of corporate welfare — even those that benefit us. (The government’s ethanol mandate is a good example. We oppose that mandate, even though we are the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States)....

"I applaud the senator for giving a voice to many Americans struggling to get ahead in a system too often stacked in favor of the haves, but I disagree with his desire to expand the federal government’s control over people’s lives. This is what built so many barriers to opportunity in the first place.

"Consider America’s War on Poverty. Since its launch under President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, we have spent roughly $22 trillion, yet our poverty rate remains at 14.8 percent. Instead of preventing, curing and relieving the causes and symptoms of poverty (the goals of the program when it began), too many communities have been torn apart and remain in peril while even more tax dollars pour into this broken system.

"It is results, not intentions, that matter. History has proven that a bigger, more controlling, more complex and costlier federal government leaves the disadvantaged less likely to improve their lives....

"When it comes to electing our next president, we should reward those candidates, Democrat or Republican, most committed to the principles of a free society. Those principles start with the right to live your life as you see fit as long as you don’t infringe on the ability of others to do the same. They include equality before the law, free speech and free markets and treating people with dignity, respect and tolerance. In a society governed by such principles, people succeed by helping others improve their lives."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-koch-this-is-the-one-issue-where-bernie-sanders-is-right/2016/02/18/cdd2c228-d5c1-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html
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Post-Paul presidential politics

Rand Paul Is Out — But Libertarianism Is Finally Mainstream - Reason.com - Matt Kibbe:

February 10, 2016 -  "As someone who left a perfectly respectable day job last year to help elect Rand Paul president, I need to find the upside. I have finally emerged from my post-Iowa fetal position to offer some observations on what liberty voters, and libertarians generally, should make of it all.

"First off, I endorse the view, ably represented by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, that Rand’s failure to win the Republican nomination in no way signals the end of the 'libertarian moment.' Politics is a lagging indicator of social change, and the measure of a social movement is better taken upstream from voter turnout.

"As for Iowa, let’s at least hat tip the effort. Rand Paul bested four establishment Republican Governors including Jeb Bush, placing a respectable fifth place with 4.5 percent of the vote.... Paul beat them all after being excluded from the Fox Business debate just a few weeks earlier. I’m going to call that a comeback—one small step for mankind, another bigger step for the future of liberty.

"Why? Because Rand has seeded another generation of liberty-minded young people, much like his father did in 2008 and 2012. When I was a kid, there was no broad social movement for liberty like we see today. Rand juiced the build-out of this community simply by being on the presidential stage, by offering a compelling alternative to the establishment’s failed foreign policies, and by speaking about civil liberties and the failures of mass incarceration to new audiences that few Republicans have been willing to engage with....

"I spent time on the ground talking to voters at events across Iowa.... It was clear to me before a single vote was cast that Trump had poached key parts of the broader Ron Paul coalition of 2012. More disconcerting, a number of Rand’s student activists were telling me stories about young people, energized by Rand’s 'libertarianish' message at university campus rallies, ultimately caucusing for Bernie Sanders.

"It’s good to be fundamentally skeptical of Washington insiders, to have a deep distrust of politicians and their motives. Say what you will about it, a self-avowed crony capitalist and a white male septuagenarian career politician have best tapped into this ethos....

"All of this rage against the machine is a healthy awakening against the injustices of 'the system'.... But being anti-establishment isn’t nearly good enough. Trump’s self-absorbed vision of untethered presidential power is not a step up from Barack Obama. And socialism, even of the 'democratic' variety, is still all about concentrating power (and the implied threat of violence) with Washington elites.

"We are in the midst of a fundamental paradigm shift that has broken the singular power of the two-party duopoly.... Libertarians are now mainstream, no longer relegated to basement book club arguments about the moral failings of 'minarchism.' Our values offer a serious alternative to both right wing and left wing statism....

"People, particularly young people, now live in a radically disintermediated world where we curate virtually everything for ourselves; new music, news sources, better ideas, and even spontaneously-emerging communities built on free association and shared values. Top-down political institutions, like almost everything else in our post-internet society, are bleeding power and control. Information, knowledge and power are shifting back to the end user. This disruption is an opportunity, a window to connect with a burgeoning generation of freer people who take self-determination as a given. We no longer accept authority as is—we Google it, using information and facts to challenge the status quo. Empowered consumers have broken the backs of record company moguls, mainstream media monopolists, taxi medallion hoarders, and even the Bush Family dynasty.

"The hearts and minds of young, socially connected Americans are very much up for grabs. Registered independents have become the fastest growing political block, making up a larger plurality than either Democrats or Republicans in 44 out of 50 states. Talk about a libertarian moment. The individuals that comprise this Á La Carte Generation are environmentally programmed from birth to curate their very own reality, one that is more personal, and more free."

Read more: https://reason.com/archives/2016/02/10/rand-raul-mainstream-libertarians-presid
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Trump vs Sanders best scenario for Libertarians says Johnson

Gary Johnson's 2016 presidential plans - Business Insider - Colin Campbell:

February 5, 2016 - "Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson thinks Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump could be his ticket to having a significant effect on the 2016 race.

"'If the Libertarian candidate for president ever — ever! — has a chance of getting elected or getting prominence on the national stage to actually profess what is to be a Libertarian, it would be Bernie Sanders vs. Donald Trump,' Johnson told Business Insider in a recent interview....

"Johnson ran for president as a Republican in 2012 before changing teams and running as the Libertarian Party's nominee. He dropped by Business Insider's office at the end of last month to pitch his second campaign for the White House.

"'I don't want to be tilting at windmills, right? There are better things to do,' Johnson said. 'But in this case, I think that at the end of the day, I will end up being the voice of reason in all of this'....

"Johnson argued that either of the top-two Democratic presidential candidates — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — would contrast well with a Libertarian contender if real-estate mogul Donald Trump were the Republican nominee.

"'None of this may transpire, right. But if Trump is the nominee, and if Hillary is the nominee — and I think there is certainty about Hillary, unless there's an assassination, and I'm not wishing that upon her — I think people are going to look to: "Well, what is the other choice?"' he predicted.

"'Keep in mind, too, that the biggest political affiliation in the United States is independent,' he added. 'Well, who is the third party? Well, the Libertarians are the third party. The Libertarians are going to be on the ballot in all 50 states.'

"Johnson also said he was suing to get into the general-election debates.... He said a prominent constitutional lawyer, Bruce Fein, had already filed a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates based on 'the notion that they are a business and that they collude with one another to exclude everyone else.'

"Johnson added: 'Our contention is that if you're on the ballot on enough states to be mathematically elected, then shouldn't you be included in the presidential debates?'"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/gary-johnson-2016-presidential-plans-2016-2
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Cruz wins Iowa caucus, Rand Paul 5th

Rand Paul Campaign, SuperPAC Speak on Iowa and What's Next - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

February 2, 2016 - "Rand Paul's vote in the Iowa caucus tonight could have been roughly predicted from the most recent polling. It was discouraging for those who hoped for a last-minute surge to third driven by student turnout and over a million voter I.D. and GOTV [get out the vote] calls.

"Paul's campaign issued a statement tonight trying to spin the results positively, which read in part:

Rand Paul had a strong top-five finish by placing ahead of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and the last two Iowa Caucus winners tonight. The voters spoke for the first time, and they showed that they believe everyone in our country should have the liberty to make the most of their lives, not just the well-connected and the political establishment.Whether the issue is constitutional government, a balanced budget, a rational foreign policy, or preserving the entire Bill of Rights for all citizens, Rand Paul is the only one standing up for conservatives and liberty-loving Americans.

Tonight's vote reveals that the race for the White House is wide open. Dr. Rand Paul believes his voice is important to the debate, and calls on ABC and the RNC to make sure he is on the stage next weekend in New Hampshire. The results today demand it.... 

"Matt Kibbe, formerly of Tea Party-identified liberty activist group FreedomWorks and now with the Paul-supporting unaffiliated SuperPAC Concerned American Voters [CAV], ... worked on GOTV for Paul in Iowa.

"While 'we wanted Rand to do better, given where he has been it was a credible showing. I do think that Cruz and Donald Trump and even oddly enough Bernie Sanders were eating away at Rand's potential voting bloc,' Kibbe says. 'It heightens the now obvious divide between the liberty vote and the anti-establishment populist vote'....

"Kibbe is not as viscerally turned off by Cruz as many libertarians are. 'If you look at Ted Cruz' background, his training as a classical liberal is impressive," Kibbe says. 'He's read Mises and Hayek, he's read all the books [libertarians] have read and I believe he deeply understands those ideas'."

"Kibbe admits that 'I'm more ambivalent today because he has flip flopped on criminal justice and he's flip flopped on surveillance and most worrisome is, what is his foreign policy?...'

"Cruz or no, Kibbe says that 'there is still momentum to move forward [with Paul], it was a very credible performance tonight and we [CAV] will be in it as long as Rand is in it.' They are currently involved in social networking efforts in New Hampshire and ground work in Nevada....

"Kibbe says that even voters who are never going to embrace the full vision of movement libertarianism in an intellectual, bookish manner are still capturable by libertarian-leaning politicians."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/02/rand-paul-campaign-superpac-speak-on-iow

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Ethanol mandate fuels Iowa campaign

Presidential Candidates Rushing to Support Ethanol Subsidies Ahead of Iowa Caucus - Reason.com - John Stossel:

January 27, 2016 - "Cars run on fuel. Politicians run on votes, and they'll do almost anything to get them. That includes supporting mandates that force us to use ethanol, a fuel made from corn that Iowa farmers grow.

"They support ethanol because Iowa is the first state to vote on presidential candidates. Candidates want to look strong at the start of the race, so every four years they become enthusiastic ethanol supporters. Even those who claim they believe in markets pander to Iowa's special interests.

"Donald Trump, who doesn't seem to have a consistent political philosophy aside from bashing critics and foreigners, now has joined the ethanol-praising club. In fact, Trump says regulators should force gas stations to increase the amount of ethanol they use. It's a convenient way to attack his Iowa rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who courageously says the mandate should be phased out.

"Cruz is right. Legally mandating that a certain percentage of fuel used be ethanol is a bad idea for several reasons:

"First, mandating ethanol means more land must be plowed to grow corn for fuel. The Department of Energy estimates that if corn ethanol replaced gasoline completely, we'd need to turn all cropland to corn — plus 20 percent more land on top of that.

"Second, requiring ethanol fuel raises the price of corn — bad news for consumers who must pay more for food.

"Third, although ethanol's supporters claim burning corn is "better for the environment," that's not true. Once you add the emissions from growing, shipping and processing the corn, ethanol creates more pollution than oil. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Air Task Force now oppose its use.

"Finally, because corn is grown in America, promoters said ethanol would make us more energy independent. Even if the 'independence' argument were valid, fracking accomplishes much more.

"But in Iowa Trump says, 'Ethanol is terrific'....  Ben Carson didn't go that far but according to the Washington Examiner said that it would be wrong to end the subsidies.... Marco Rubio says he'd support ending the mandate — after another seven years..... At the Iowa Agriculture Summit, Chris Christie sounded annoyed that President Obama hasn't been more supportive of ethanol subsidies, saying, 'Certainly anybody who's a competent president would get that done!'....

"Bernie Sanders, I-Ver., criticized subsidies in the past, but on Iowa public radio he sounded as if he loves the boondoggle.... Hillary Clinton says ethanol 'holds the promise for not only more fuel for automobiles but for aviation ... and for military aircraft; we could be fueling so much air traffic with biofuels'....

"Only Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) have consistently said that the market, not politicians, should choose fuels. Unfortunately, that principled stance hasn't brought them much support....

"Energy expert Jerry Taylor is right to say that running for office in Iowa not only means you must praise Christianity; it means being 'willing to sacrifice children to the corn god.'"

Read more: https://reason.com/archives/2016/01/27/presidential-candidates-rushing-to-suppo
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Presidential candidates ignore rising U.S. debt

National Debt? What’s That? - Michael Tanner, National Review Online:

Jamuary 20, 2016 - "In the last Republican debate, there was precisely one question on the debt — and the candidates answered it by talking about their tax plans. That was far too typical...   But while the candidates have been wrangling over such vital issues as fantasy sports betting or Ted Cruz’s citizenship status, our growing sea of red ink has quietly risen toward $19 trillion. One might think our impending national bankruptcy might be worth a bit more attention.

"In his State of the Union address, President Obama took a bow for reducing our annual budget deficit by two-thirds during his time in office. He’s correct. Since its high of $1.4 trillion in 2009, the deficit had dropped to just $439 billion last year, although the president failed to mention that his policies, including the 2009 stimulus bill, helped drive the deficit to those record levels, and policies that he opposed, such as sequestration, helped bring it down.

"But the respite is just temporary. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s newest estimates, released yesterday, the deficit is already rising again, and will exceed $544 billion this year. By 2022, just six years from now, we will once again be experiencing trillion-dollar deficits every year.

"And even with lower deficits, the national debt is still rising. By 2025, our debt will top $27 trillion. Yet, Congress is not only kicking the can down the road, it is making the problem worse. Just last year, Congress put in place spending that will raise the debt by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called 2015 “a banner year for fiscal irresponsibility.'

"And none of this includes the more than $69 trillion in unfunded liabilities being run up by Medicare and Social Security....

"We know what the Democrats would do about the debt — make it worse. Bernie Sanders has proposed at least $18 trillion in new spending over the next ten years.... Hillary ... has proposed only $1.1 trillion in new spending ... although more proposals to expand government are coming. Both Democrats oppose any reform of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare....

"But what about Republicans?... They have all issued very detailed tax proposals, but with the occasional exception of Chris Christie and Rand Paul, they have generally skipped the more difficult discussion of spending cuts. Some, like Donald Trump, join Democrats in opposing entitlement reform. Others simply duck the question.

"Unfortunately, those tax proposals, even using dynamic scoring to account for increased economic growth, will reduce government revenues....  (Rand Paul’s proposal is the exception, resulting in a $737 billion increase in revenue after taking into account economic growth)....

"The debt matters. Not only is it remarkably unfair to our children and grandchildren, it is imposing costs today. Our economic growth is slower and our wages lower than they would be if it were smaller. Other political and economic priorities are being squeezed out. Interest on the debt was projected to reach $261 billion this year, and exceed $500 billion by 2020 even before factoring in the recent budget-busting deals.

"One might think that was worth talking about. So far in this campaign, one would apparently be wrong."

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430033/national-debt
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Libertarian rapper Eric July has fans in Fox News

Dallas' Viral Libertarian Rapper Eric July Has Fans in Fox News and Glenn Beck | Dallas Observer - Jeff Gage:

September 15, 2015 - "Eric July's life changed forever when his friend was murdered in front of him.... One night at a club called JeRenee, someone opened fire with an AK-47 — and after the terror had ended, July's friend, 15-year-old Juanita Payne, lay dying on the ground....

"Now 25, July has long since come to see the light and taken to the pulpit for the Libertarian gospel. He posts regular web videos in which he rants about the economy, racism and police violence, many of which have gone viral. One recent video in which he accused Bernie Sanders of being an 'economic illiterate' earned him an appearance on Fox News, and Glenn Beck is such a big fan that July has been invited to speak on Beck's The Blaze on multiple occasions....

"'I've never been a guy to set out to convert people to being Libertarian,' he insists. 'I'm trying to get people thinking more critically about things, get your mind going and be able to see right through all of it.' And now, after moving back to Dallas from South Texas earlier this year, he's focused his efforts on spreading the same message through music with his rap-metal hybrid BackWordz."

His conversion to Libertarianism had everything to do with his desire to see the lives of his fellow African Americans get better. He suddenly found that he couldn't place his faith in the government, much less expect it to cure his problems or those of his community. 'As I learned more about [African American] history, I could see the connection with our oppression because the government and extensions of our government had facilitated it from day one,' he says."

Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/music/libertarian-rapper-and-metal-singer-eric-july-has-the-attention-of-fox-news-7588399
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