I Have to Take Issue with the Libertarian Party

Now, full disclosure, I am actually registered as a libertarian in my state. I've been registered as a libertarian since I moved here in 2002, with a brief hiatus from that registration - at which point I was registered independent - because the libertarians were removed from the ballot for a few years. I registered to vote for the first time in 1998, and was registered independent in my home state. Libertarian wasn't an option there, at least at that time. I don't know if it is now. 

I do very much like the platform of the libertarian party. Not all of it, obviously, but with the way I think politics wise, it is the best fit for me. I call myself a conservatarian, as many of you know, because I do lean too far right to be a true libertarian. But I'm too much of a centrist to be considered a true conservative. At least I'm honest about it. However, I have a rocky relationship with the people of the party. And after seeing this, it got me thinking about it again. I think it was the title that did it. 

It seems to me the libertarian party is where you go when the republicans and democrats become too mainstream for you. They're the hipsters of political parties. Why do I say this? Because most of the people I meet who claim to be "hardcore libertarians" are actually either far right or far left. I'm not saying they lean... I'm saying these people are on the extreme wings. Now, don't get me wrong. I've met a lot of good people in the party who truly believe in the platform. But a good portion of the people I meet call themselves libertarians because it's edgier than being a democrat or republican. 

I actually lost a friend over this. She got excited when she discovered I was a libertarian and claimed she was, too. But everything she supported was very far left. She was a big fan of huge government and wanted everything taken care of by the government. We butted heads regularly. I wasn't sure how she got libertarian out of the platform she supported, but she was a socialist, not a libertarian. She didn't agree with a single thing on the libertarian platform. Not a single thing. She voted for Obama twice, even though, according to her, he was way too right wing for her.

Another issue I have with them is that you can't deviate at all. Now, my friend above... she deviated completely. But I have run into too many libertarians who will scream at you like a scene kid that you aren't "really a libertarian" if you disagree with any part of the platform. 

Which brings us to problem number three! What the hell is your platform?! 

I have gotten into more arguments with - and listened to more arguments between - libertarians. They can't seem to agree on where the party stands on things. And God help you if you seek clarification. 

At our state fair, the political parties all have tables set up. You can talk to the republicans, democrats, green party, and libertarians there, and every year I talk to all four. Two fairs ago, I visited all four and presented questions - serious ones - to all four. I chose accordingly. The republicans, democrats, and green party were able to answer my questions intelligently and quickly, and they were confident in their responses. The questions weren't baiting or difficult. I asked about policy, platform, and candidates. 

Then I got to the libertarians. There were two people sitting there at the table. I asked about immigration. I had a few questions on various topics for them, but my pressing question was on illegal aliens, because to this point, their platform was unclear. I was legitimately curious about the party's stance. 

Their response? They both laughed at me like I just peed on myself. I'm not even kidding. No response, they just laughed at me. I went home that afternoon and printed out the paperwork to change my voter registration. I really did. I was done at that very moment. But I didn't fill it out right away. 

I went back a few days later, and there was another guy at the table. Now, this guy is a very active member of the party, I've seen him at party meetings (yes, I've gone to several) and I see him yearly, at least once, at the state fair booth. This guy means business, and I knew that, so I presented him with the same question. 

He was not confident at all in his answer. He seemed to be trying to feel me out to see what he could say that would make me happy. What he ended up doing was giving me an answer that was very confusing. He basically told me they were for open borders - but my eyebrow must have gone up, or my nose flared or something - and he immediately told me the platform was *insert long winded answer here* which was basically current immigration law only a little tougher. So the party platform is to open the borders to everyone but not to everyone and run stronger background checks? What?! 

​I have yet to get a confident or consistent answer to this question. 

And last... their candidates. Yes, yes, we all know Gary Johnson doesn't know what Aleppo is. And his running mate was a far leftist. But dude, those local candidates! We have one right now who has run before that I really like and will vote for. But they've had some real doozies. We had one in our last governor race, I believe, who was shady as heck. This guy graduated from MIT. He delivers pizza for a living. Who graduates from MIT and chooses to deliver pizza?! If I graduated from MIT I'd be doing really cool stuff because I can! Something really felt off about this guy. Well, last local elections, the news ran a story about a dog that was running for mayor of one of our major cities. No, not some tiny little over populated town - a major city in our state. And it was official, all fees paid, the dog was on the ballot. They interviewed the dog's owner and he was a weird little man, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew this guy. The second interview with him is where it clicked. It was MIT pizza guy! He lost, so now he was wasting his money - from delivering pizza - to run his dog for mayor. I have joked about writing my dog in for office - and I did it once - but I never officially ran my dog for political office. 

And really... if you saw the guys running for president in the last election. Woo, buddy. They had more people with their hat in the ring than the republicans did. No, seriously. That debate was interesting. There was one guy who was a great choice, and I voted for him in the primary. He was very Ben Shapiro like in the way he debated and carried himself, although he and Ben Shapiro would not have agreed on everything (some things, yes). This guy was smart and quick witted, and he really knew his stuff. Somehow we still got Gary Johnson, who didn't even take part in the debate. It should have been this guy. This guy could have elevated the party, and 2016 was their first real shot. Gary Johnson blew it. And the guy who should have taken it is now a republican and running for office again. 

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