Dan,
You say you aren’t upset that Donald Trump and RFK have been invited to
speak at the Libertarian national convention, because “it doesn’t hurt to
hear what they say, and in fact they will very likely tailor their remarks
to appeal to libertarians.” But the same could be said for Jill Stein and
Cornel West, or indeed just about any candidate looking for an audience.
With Stein or West, and maybe to some degree with RFK, giving them a
platform at our events can arguably help build alternative party solidarity
in opposition to the 2-party establishment cartel, but this is not true of
Trump or Biden.
I don’t think the “punching up” analogy works, because the real harm being
done is to those excluded, not to those invited. When Trump attacks Biden
while refusing to debate his other challengers, as he has done all primary
season, he is not “punching up”, but “punching down” – harming the
alternative parties and lesser-known candidates he refuses to debate by
contributing to their marginalization.
This is of course the same thing the Republicans and Democrats have been
doing to Libertarians and other alternative parties and candidates for
years. Not only is it anti-democratic and intellectually cowardly behavior,
but it is behavior that will make us look like hypocrites if we engage in
it ourselves while simultaneously complaining about similarly exclusionary
tactics employed against us by the 2-party cartel. As another Libertarian
candidate slighted by Trump and Biden, Jacob Hornberger did in this
excellent op-ed piece on ballot access published yesterday in the Orange
County Register:
The ballot-access protection racket – Orange County Register
https://www.ocregister.com/2024/05/12/the-ballot-access-protection-racket/
Libertarianism has a messaging problem. For years, the party and the
movement have tended, on the whole, to frame our ideas in a manner that
appeals more to people on the political right than to people on the
political left. Anyone who understands the Nolan Chart (see graphic
below) understands that libertarianism is neither left-wing nor right-wing,
but pro-freedom and anti-authoritarian. But when we allow ourselves to get
embroiled in the left-vs-right feuding of conventional politics
and “culture wars”, this truth can easily be lost – especially if we’re
seen as favoring one side over the other.
Many members of the general public, not to mention folks on the left,
already see ours as a right-wing movement. Some of this can be attributed
to biased media reporting, such as the numerous misleading articles
labeling the world’s first self-identified libertarian head of state,
Javier Milei, as “far right” or “ultra-conservative”, but some of it is
also his fault, and ours, for not presenting the freedom message in a more
even-handed and non-partisan manner.
If the perception of libertarianism as right-wing solidifies, and we lose
our ability to appeal to people on the left as well as the right, we will
lose something of immense political value, far more important than the mere
ability to hob-nob with establishment party candidates. We will risk
becoming marginalized the way that the Occupy movement on the left, and the
Tea Party movement on the right, were respectively.
I’m proud to have spoken as a Libertarian at both Occupy and Tea Party
events, clearly making our unique voice heard. If people see us as truly
different, and not just part of one conventional political faction or the
other, more of them will be willing to listen. Those on the left won’t
immediately write us off as antagonists, and those on the right who
perceive the problems with conservatism will have a reason to consider us
as something other than just a politically weaker version of what they
already have. There are also tons of non-political people who are alarmed
by, or simply tired of, the intensifying left-right bickering and
polarization, and looking for a real alternative.
Cozying up to someone like Donald Trump not only makes presenting
ourselves as this third way more difficult, but also makes us increasingly
vulnerable to being overwhelmed by a real takeover from the right, as
we begin to more and more attract only people with right-wing leanings, and
alienate more and more folks without such leanings. I’m not talking about
the “phantom menace” of the Mises Caucus, but a wholesale abandonment of
libertarian principles in favor of conservative ones. I don’t think that’s
what folks like you and Jeff Chan want; it certainly isn’t what I want. I
plan to fight to keep it from happening.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
On May 13, 2024, at 5:34 PM, Daniel Wiener wiener@alum.mit.edu wrote:
I am not upset that Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy, Jr. will be speaking
at the Libertarian National Convention. I would not even have been upset
if Joe Biden had also accepted the speaking invitation. It doesn’t hurt to
hear what they say, and in fact they will very likely tailor their remarks
to appeal to libertarians. That’s a good thing, since they are seeking our
support rather than vice versa. Their speeches will attract a lot of media
attention. Let’s try to move them and their supporters in a libertarian
direction.
Nor am I upset that Jill Stein and Cornel West were not invited. In
politics you punch up, not down. The Libertarian Party wants to be seen in
the same league as the major candidates, not the little fringe candidates
and parties that are below us. The fact that Trump and Kennedy are coming
to us supports that narrative. (Everyone understands that Biden will try
to hide in his basement again.) Whereas it would have been
counter-productive if the LP had invited Stein and West and they had
refused.
From a libertarian perspective, Donald Trump is a very mixed bag, with
lots to disagree with but also lots to agree with. Certainly he is far
superior to Joe Biden. Here are a few areas that Trump has in common with
libertarians:
- Cut tax rates and extend the previous cuts that he helped enact.
- Stop targeting the firearms industry, and stop the federal
government from trying to circumvent the 2nd Amendment and the recent
Supreme Court decisions (due to his appointees) protecting it.
- Shut down the Department of Education (or at least devolve education
to states and parents).
- Appoint judges who promise to hew to Constitutional limitations on
government.
- Avoid foreign wars, try to settle the war in Ukraine, and not let
Ukraine join NATO.
- End the constraints on domestic oil and gas production and
distribution, and roll back the rules which require transitioning to the
production of electric vehicles.
- Eliminate government DEI regulations which create discriminatory,
racist, and segregationist policies.
- Stop promoting (and hopefully outlaw) gender-transitioning surgeries
and related chemical interventions of non-adults.
- End government censorship of social media.
I won’t be at the National Convention, but I’ll try to catch the speeches
and other stuff which I expect to be live-streamed on X.
Daniel Wiener
On Sun, May 12, 2024 at 11:12 PM Starchild sfdreamer@earthlink.net > wrote:
Dear fellow Libertarians,
Many of you may have blindsided, as we were, by media reports about
Donald Trump being invited to speak at the Libertarian Party’s upcoming
national convention happening May 23-26 in Washington D.C.
A Washington Post story, among many others, describes some of the strife
this has caused in our party –* https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/07/trump-libertarian-national-convention/?_pml=1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/07/trump-libertarian-national-convention/?_pml=1*.
I actually read through the hundreds of comments posted in response to this
story, and their overwhelmingly negative takes reflect how much of a black
eye this boneheaded move has been for the LP. Reaction was roughly divided
between those saying libertarians have always been conservatives or
Republicans in sheep’s clothing, and this just proves it, and those
dismayed by how a figure as un-libertarian as Trump would be featured at a
Libertarian convention.
At our meeting yesterday, the Libertarian Party of San Francisco adopted
the following resolution on the matter:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On May 1, the national Libertarian Party issued a press release
announcing that Donald Trump would be speaking at the 2024 national
Libertarian Party convention, happening May 23-25 in Washington
D.C. (https://www.lp.org/president-trump-to-address-libertarian-party-concerns-at-national-
https://www.lp.org/president-trump-to-address-libertarian-party-concerns-at-national-convention-may-25th/)The Libertarian
Party of San Francisco hereby condemns this invitation, and adds our voice
those calling for it to be rescinded.While we would welcome Trump or any
other candidate of the 2-party cartel coming to an LP convention to
participate in a debate with Libertarian candidates seeking the office for
which they are running, that is not what is scheduled in Washington
D.C.Donald Trump refused to debate Gary Johnson in 2016 or Jo Jorgensen in
2020, and he is not coming to our D.C. convention to debate
the Libertarians seeking the nomination this cycle, but is simply
being given carte blanche to address our delegates in the manner of
his choosing.Furthermore, although Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have
also been invited to speak at the convention, this may have been done as
an afterthought to justify inviting Trump. Other presidential candidates,
including Jill Stein of the Green Party and independent candidate Cornel
West, have not been invited.The Libertarian Party is increasingly at risk
of being associated with the Republican Party and right-wing politics, and
we believe this is not only at odds with our mission of promoting freedom
and the Non-Aggression Principle, but will harm our ability to appeal
to people across the political spectrum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to publicize this, or borrow any of the language for
resolutions or statements of your own. I look forward to seeing those of
you in D.C. who can make it. Hopefully we’ll be able to make some lemonade
out of this big orange lemon that’s been dumped on us.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Chair, Libertarian Party of San Francisco
(415) 573-7997
