Libertarians cautiously sense opportunity under Trump - CNNPolitics.com- Chris Moody:
July 22, 2017 - "If there's one person relishing in Washington's Trump-era dysfunction, it's Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark, who sees the tumult as a prime recruitment opportunity.
'I have to give thanks to Donald Trump and the Republican Party,' said Sarwark, a former defense attorney who has led the Libertarian Party since 2014. 'Their success in getting control of government and then showing that they can't do anything once they have that control has been a better argument for joining the Libertarian Party than anything I could say.'
"As part of his efforts, Sarwark joined more than 1,000 libertarians and conservatives recently here in Las Vegas for a free-wheeling annual gathering called FreedomFest, fertile recruiting grounds where attendees held a robust skepticism of government power and where opinions of President Donald Trump were mixed....
"FreedomFest has been a mainstay of the Las Vegas convention circuit for a decade.... Trump himself made a surprise appearance at this conference in 2015, making it one of his first public appearances after announcing his bid for the presidency.... Jeffrey Tucker, the content director at the libertarian Foundation for Economic Education, assumed the crowd would run Trump out of town.... 'But by the time he ended, he had won over a substantial number of the crowd, which was a shock,' Tucker said....
"Indeed, reactions to Trump at the conference this year were varied.... Others, like former Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Nominee Wayne Allyn Root, can't get enough joy out of Trump's bombast. 'I love that he's driving liberals insane,' said Root, who debated Tucker about Trump at the conference....
"But for many who consider themselves libertarians, the main concern is systematic, and larger than the current president. The real issue, they say, is that the presidency has gained too much authority in the first place, and that Trump is merely taking advantage of an inheritance given to him by Republicans and Democrats alike....
"'"He is incompetent. He has passed no significant piece of legislation in 100 days despite his big promises. He is an embarrassment to the American people and around the globe. [But] What we need to do as libertarians is not talk about people, we need to talk about systems and policies,' said Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of the libertarian magazine website Reason.com. 'If you are a libertarian you should understand that big government is the problem.'"
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/24/politics/being-moody-libertarians-freedomfest/index.html
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July 22, 2017 - "If there's one person relishing in Washington's Trump-era dysfunction, it's Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark, who sees the tumult as a prime recruitment opportunity.
'I have to give thanks to Donald Trump and the Republican Party,' said Sarwark, a former defense attorney who has led the Libertarian Party since 2014. 'Their success in getting control of government and then showing that they can't do anything once they have that control has been a better argument for joining the Libertarian Party than anything I could say.'
"As part of his efforts, Sarwark joined more than 1,000 libertarians and conservatives recently here in Las Vegas for a free-wheeling annual gathering called FreedomFest, fertile recruiting grounds where attendees held a robust skepticism of government power and where opinions of President Donald Trump were mixed....
"FreedomFest has been a mainstay of the Las Vegas convention circuit for a decade.... Trump himself made a surprise appearance at this conference in 2015, making it one of his first public appearances after announcing his bid for the presidency.... Jeffrey Tucker, the content director at the libertarian Foundation for Economic Education, assumed the crowd would run Trump out of town.... 'But by the time he ended, he had won over a substantial number of the crowd, which was a shock,' Tucker said....
"Indeed, reactions to Trump at the conference this year were varied.... Others, like former Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Nominee Wayne Allyn Root, can't get enough joy out of Trump's bombast. 'I love that he's driving liberals insane,' said Root, who debated Tucker about Trump at the conference....
"But for many who consider themselves libertarians, the main concern is systematic, and larger than the current president. The real issue, they say, is that the presidency has gained too much authority in the first place, and that Trump is merely taking advantage of an inheritance given to him by Republicans and Democrats alike....
"'"He is incompetent. He has passed no significant piece of legislation in 100 days despite his big promises. He is an embarrassment to the American people and around the globe. [But] What we need to do as libertarians is not talk about people, we need to talk about systems and policies,' said Nick Gillespie, editor in chief of the libertarian magazine website Reason.com. 'If you are a libertarian you should understand that big government is the problem.'"
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/24/politics/being-moody-libertarians-freedomfest/index.html
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