What a sad rant. If there were so many libertarian who disagreed with the Mises Caucus, why did they not elect delegates? If the new group, that was activated not so much by Johnson, or even Weld, but by the Jo Jorgenson pronouncement that all Libertarians should actively endorse the fantasies of the "anti-racist" movement and its hucksters, was so odious, why can't Craig produce any heinous quotations from the new national LP chair, Angela McCardle? It's sad that a small number of "professional libertarians" like Craig have become part of the more general problem of the consultant class that populates NYC and DC. I rarely sample TheUnPopulist and so far its intellectual honesty is lacking.
In an era where there's so much to dislike about the major parties, its pretty depressing to watch your protest vote now pivot to now advocating secession and inflaming cultural differences even more, rather than advocating we are all Americans but need to let bygones be bygones more often.
Sometimes they say something that has me think "well, I'll see where it goes I guess," or I see Justin Amash staying the course… and then they tweet and I'm just embarrassed and dismayed they think assholery shitposting is their path to success.
We'll see how it works out for them, but I'm wholly turned off from thinking of enrolling or donating if they're just trying hard to be nothing more than another "least worst option" in the party system the nation suffers under.
Thank you for the excellent and thoughtful piece. Sadly predictable though that the comments are filled with a bunch of mindlessly bleating "Whaddaboutists" modeling the old saying about being so opened minded their brains fall out.
As a formerly active member of the LP who served the LP at both the local and state level, I dropped to an inactive, philosophical supporter. This shift occurred because my experiences as an active member led me to the conclusion that the LP was just another political party whose main purpose was to serve the interest of politicians. Recent developments have not changed but reinforced my earlier conclusion. Thus, I have dropped my membership and my monthly donation to the state party.
Disheartening. I was always hopeful that the Libertarian party would have produced a candidate that reasoned with the public like Milton Friedman did (Bill Weld was the closest it ever got to that).
I guess a casual observer can notice this decay in the incessant bickering about (anti) vaccines and (pro) guns on the Libertarian Party Twitter account.
How dare these paleolibertarian peasants complain that people be able to send their children to school, open their business, go to work, and defend themselves against crime!
Don't they know they are only here to breed new taxpayers and soldiers (and interns)!
Libertarianism is very specific about what it is. If you're confusing Bill Weld for it, you've got a long way to go before you're actually in the same solar system with understanding it.
Come now. Bill Weld bravely defended Hillary Clinton when mean and envious peasants demanded that she by subjected to laws about taking bribes or removing classified information, as if she were a mere commoner. Mr. Craig and the other fops and fauntleroys of the professional libertarians know that what America really needs is a Monarch who will show us by example how to live. If only Michelle Obama will run in 2024, to be followed 8 years later by one of her daughters, so we can finally be a civilized country.
I left the LP years ago, when they decided to drop their long-held support for the free flow of goods and labor across our border. What does the party base its platform now on, if it's not the liberty to move freely?
Basic property rights stemming from full ownership of self.
This has the woke clans angry because that means we recognize that some will do as they will, but that it's not the LP's job to be thought police or enable the game of cultural Marxism.
Bad enough: the time when the LP was in thrall to Harry Browne, the presidential candidate who sought to secure his second nomination in ways and with means that would have made Chicago's Daley Machine or Nassau County's (Long Island) Margiotta Machine envious. Who would have thought this pestilence would make that time, or the time of the colloidal silvery-blue presidential candidate, resemble the good old days?
I have changed my voter registration from the LP to no-party. Unable to get the sound of Ludwig von Mises spinning in his grave out of my head for now, I can only wonder when the so-called Mises Caucus will discover and believe it's Mises himself standing athwart what his namesake institute and LP caucus represent. I can hear the Caucus itself yelling "Stop!" and perhaps renaming itself for someone a little more in genuine tune with its cacophonous, bigoted illiberalism. Someone like Rothbard. Or Gerald L.K. Smith.
I worked very hard in the 80s as a volunteer & activist to get the LP on the ballot in California. I was also a student of John Hospers. Before the takeover, I was thinking that the LP had become a valuable commodity, ripe for takeover because of decades of volunteer activism and infrastructure buildup to get it on the ballot. I haven't changed my registration, but I've also stopped giving any other kind of support. I'm focusing on individual policies, candidates, and Ukraine.
I recognise such development also when I was analysing "libertarian" Facebook groups in Europe. In order to not write an essay here, I am posting this article by one of my favorite libertarians Jeffrey Tucker https://fee.org/articles/against-libertarian-brutalism/
What a sad rant. If there were so many libertarian who disagreed with the Mises Caucus, why did they not elect delegates? If the new group, that was activated not so much by Johnson, or even Weld, but by the Jo Jorgenson pronouncement that all Libertarians should actively endorse the fantasies of the "anti-racist" movement and its hucksters, was so odious, why can't Craig produce any heinous quotations from the new national LP chair, Angela McCardle? It's sad that a small number of "professional libertarians" like Craig have become part of the more general problem of the consultant class that populates NYC and DC. I rarely sample TheUnPopulist and so far its intellectual honesty is lacking.
That is depressing.
In an era where there's so much to dislike about the major parties, its pretty depressing to watch your protest vote now pivot to now advocating secession and inflaming cultural differences even more, rather than advocating we are all Americans but need to let bygones be bygones more often.
Sometimes they say something that has me think "well, I'll see where it goes I guess," or I see Justin Amash staying the course… and then they tweet and I'm just embarrassed and dismayed they think assholery shitposting is their path to success.
We'll see how it works out for them, but I'm wholly turned off from thinking of enrolling or donating if they're just trying hard to be nothing more than another "least worst option" in the party system the nation suffers under.
Thank you for the excellent and thoughtful piece. Sadly predictable though that the comments are filled with a bunch of mindlessly bleating "Whaddaboutists" modeling the old saying about being so opened minded their brains fall out.
As a formerly active member of the LP who served the LP at both the local and state level, I dropped to an inactive, philosophical supporter. This shift occurred because my experiences as an active member led me to the conclusion that the LP was just another political party whose main purpose was to serve the interest of politicians. Recent developments have not changed but reinforced my earlier conclusion. Thus, I have dropped my membership and my monthly donation to the state party.
The LP was doing so well when you were supporting it...
LIbertarianism, like being a woman is more of a "vibe".
Only a bigot like Andy Craig would go about telling people who identify as libertarians that they are not libertarians.
Sounds like CNN wrote this piece
Didn’t you rage quit the party?
Doesn’t matter how shit the libertarian party is or will become it will be always 1000 times better then The two main parties in power.
Fun with libertarians! (Like shooting Trumpers in a barrel.)
https://www.youtube.com/user/KizoneKaprow
Thank you for an enlightening account of how US libertarianism turned right and went wrong.
Disheartening. I was always hopeful that the Libertarian party would have produced a candidate that reasoned with the public like Milton Friedman did (Bill Weld was the closest it ever got to that).
I guess a casual observer can notice this decay in the incessant bickering about (anti) vaccines and (pro) guns on the Libertarian Party Twitter account.
How dare these paleolibertarian peasants complain that people be able to send their children to school, open their business, go to work, and defend themselves against crime!
Don't they know they are only here to breed new taxpayers and soldiers (and interns)!
Compromiser Republican Bill Weld. Got it.
Libertarianism is very specific about what it is. If you're confusing Bill Weld for it, you've got a long way to go before you're actually in the same solar system with understanding it.
Come now. Bill Weld bravely defended Hillary Clinton when mean and envious peasants demanded that she by subjected to laws about taking bribes or removing classified information, as if she were a mere commoner. Mr. Craig and the other fops and fauntleroys of the professional libertarians know that what America really needs is a Monarch who will show us by example how to live. If only Michelle Obama will run in 2024, to be followed 8 years later by one of her daughters, so we can finally be a civilized country.
I left the LP years ago, when they decided to drop their long-held support for the free flow of goods and labor across our border. What does the party base its platform now on, if it's not the liberty to move freely?
Basic property rights stemming from full ownership of self.
This has the woke clans angry because that means we recognize that some will do as they will, but that it's not the LP's job to be thought police or enable the game of cultural Marxism.
Bad enough: the time when the LP was in thrall to Harry Browne, the presidential candidate who sought to secure his second nomination in ways and with means that would have made Chicago's Daley Machine or Nassau County's (Long Island) Margiotta Machine envious. Who would have thought this pestilence would make that time, or the time of the colloidal silvery-blue presidential candidate, resemble the good old days?
I have changed my voter registration from the LP to no-party. Unable to get the sound of Ludwig von Mises spinning in his grave out of my head for now, I can only wonder when the so-called Mises Caucus will discover and believe it's Mises himself standing athwart what his namesake institute and LP caucus represent. I can hear the Caucus itself yelling "Stop!" and perhaps renaming itself for someone a little more in genuine tune with its cacophonous, bigoted illiberalism. Someone like Rothbard. Or Gerald L.K. Smith.
To be fair, the blue guy (Stan Jones) was never a presidential candidate; he ran for the U.S. Senate and governorship of Montana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Jones_(Libertarian_politician)
I sit corrected. But that's still better than what's swarmed in.
I worked very hard in the 80s as a volunteer & activist to get the LP on the ballot in California. I was also a student of John Hospers. Before the takeover, I was thinking that the LP had become a valuable commodity, ripe for takeover because of decades of volunteer activism and infrastructure buildup to get it on the ballot. I haven't changed my registration, but I've also stopped giving any other kind of support. I'm focusing on individual policies, candidates, and Ukraine.
I recognise such development also when I was analysing "libertarian" Facebook groups in Europe. In order to not write an essay here, I am posting this article by one of my favorite libertarians Jeffrey Tucker https://fee.org/articles/against-libertarian-brutalism/
Jeffery Tucker is rather two faced so I would be super wary of him if I were you: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/jeffrey-tucker-monticello-fox-news
Oh I see :/, thanks. I was also disappointed in his endorsement of Jordan Peterson x)