A Major Shift in the Direction of Principle in the Libertarian Party!
I am a libertarian candidate for the Libertarian Party’s 2024 presidential nomination. My campaign website is jacobforliberty.com.
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A major shift in the direction of principle in the Libertarian Party has just occurred, one that I firmly believe can serve to inspire all of the members of the Party to reject Republican-Lite reform measures and restore the Libertarian Party’s brand of principled libertarianism and, equally important, restore the Libertarian Party to its role as the Party of Principle in the political arena.
I wish to share this major shift with you. First, however, the backstory:
Last August, I published a series of articles on Substack in which I argued that if the “Reno Reset,” where the Mises Caucus took control over the Libertarian National Committee in 2022, produced nothing more than a change in management, it would all for for naught. It was imperative, I argued, that the Party hierarchy make it a top priority to abandon the philosophy of Republican-Lite that has come to dominate the Libertarian Party and commit itself instead to the restoration of the Libertarian brand of principled libertarianism and of the Party’s role in the political arena as the Party of Principle.
That not only would be the right thing to do, I argued, it would also be a sound political strategy for garnering votes. Republican-Lite, I wrote, is a losing political strategy and will inevitably consign Republican-Lite presidential candidates to receiving the standard 1-3 percent (or less) of the vote total in the presidential race. Restoring the Libertarian brand of principled libertarianism and running a Libertarian Party presidential campaign based on pure libertarian principles is the only way, I maintained, to achieve a breakthrough to 7-10 percent or higher in the presidential race.
A presidential campaign of principle
Last February, I announced my candidacy for the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential nomination. At the state conventions I attended in the spring, I pointed out that if anyone were to go to my campaign website (www.jacobforliberty.com), they would see a presidential campaign the likes of which they have never seen in their lifetimes. They would see a dynamic presidential campaign that adheres 100 percent to pure libertarian principles on all the important issues facing our country — and one in which I am fighting both Republicans and Democrats as a Libertarian rather than as a Republican-Lite Libertarian.
Not surprisingly, in the past year I have received fierce pushback from various L.P. members who have taken me to task for my commitment to principled libertarianism on various issues, especially immigration and school vouchers. But I am not naive. I fully expected that kind of reaction when I embarked on this quest. But I remain 100 percent convinced that I can succeed in convincing most L.P. members of the critical importance of the shift toward principled libertarianism that I am advocating.
Chase Oliver’s major shift on immigration
And then suddenly and unexpectedly, a major shift away from Republican-Lite and toward principled libertarianism occurred yesterday, June 27, which provides me for lots of optimism and hope. Another candidate for the L.P. presidential nomination — Chase Oliver — announced publicly on Twitter that he is now embracing the Libertarian position of open immigration, which is one of the most difficult libertarian positions to embrace. Oliver sent out the following tweet stating in part the following:
“If you support free markets, you should support free immigration. Labor and capital should be able to easily cross arbitrary borders, leading to greater market efficiency and outcomes.”
Why is Oliver’s announcement so significant? Because just one-and-a-half years ago, he was ardently embracing and promoting the standard Republican-Lite reform position on immigration in his much-publicized race for the U.S. Senate in Georgia. His Senate campaign website reflected perfectly the reform-oriented position that he took during that campaign:
“I want to work on fixing our broken immigration system so we continue our nation’s legacy of being a beacon of liberty to the world…. We need a Senator who will break the partisan logjam and bring people from all parties together to reform our broken immigration system.”
Moreover, during his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, Oliver participated in what was undoubtedly one of the most watched televised debates in the country, one in which he was able to get his message out to all the voters in Georgia. Here is what transpired during that debate:
Questioner: Mr. Oliver, you mentioned one of your priorities is fixing the immigration system….
Oliver: “We need somebody in the United States Senate that is willing to sit down at the table with Republicans and Democrats and fix this broken system.We need the immigration system to be more efficient, less costly, and more responsive to people…. We have to fix our broken immigration system….”
The immigration position of the Democrat, Senator Raphael Warnock, was the same as that of Oliver. Warnock stated, “We’ve got to get comprehensive immigration reform done in our country…. We can do that and secure our border at the same time.”
The Republican candidate, Hershel Walker, did not participate in the debate but his position on immigration was the same as that of Oliver and Warnock. His campaign website stated that if elected he would “secure our southern border and fix the immigration problem.”
The significance of Oliver’s shift
The way I figure it is that if Chase Oliver can abandon the Republic-Lite reform position on immigration and adopt the libertarian position on open borders, so can the other declared L.P. presidential candidates. How about it, Mike ter Maat and Lars Mapstead? Will you also now publicly reject the Republican-Lite reform position on immigration and join Chase and me in our mutual public support of open borders?
The importance of Chase Oliver’s shift on immigration cannot be understated. The way I figure it is that If he can shift away from the Republican-Lite reform position on immigration, especially after adhering to the Republican-Lite reform position in his campaign for U.S. Senate just a year-and-a-half ago, and embrace the libertarian position of open borders, then so can every other L.P. member. And then we can go from there and restore the Libertarian brand of principled libertarianism on all the issues facing our country, not just on immigration but also on Social Security, school vouchers, Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare, trade, money, the national-security state, foreign policy, and all the others.
Leading America to freedom
We can restore the Libertarian brand of principled libertarianism. We can restore the Libertarian Party as the Party of Principle in the political arena. We can lead America and the world to the highest reaches of freedom, peace, prosperity, and harmony with the people of the world.
Here are the Substack articles I published last fall. I would respectfully invite every L.P. member to read them and give them his or her careful consideration:
The Party of Principle? (September 5, 2022)
The Bill Weld Phenomenon (September 11, 2022)
The Psychology of Libertarian Self-Esteem (September 20, 2023)
The L.P. Leadership and the “Party of Principle” (September 24, 2023)
How the Libertarian Party Became the Party of Reform and the Party of Republican-Lite (October 1, 2023)
Reform and Republican-Lite: A Losing Political Strategy (October 7, 2023)
The Falsity and Fallacy of the Libertarian Spectrum Concept (October 13, 2023)
A Problem of Leadership (October 22, 2023)
The Libertarian Party and the CIA (October 29, 2023)
None Dare Call for Repeal of Social Security (November 5, 2023)
Marc Victor’s Surrender to the Republicans (November 7, 2022)
Republican-Lite Is a Losing Strategy (November 18, 2023)
A Winning Political Strategy for the Libertarian Party (November 27, 2023
The Libertarian Party and Healthcare, Part 1: Medicare (December 6, 2023)
The Libertarian Party and Healthcare, Part 2: Covid (December 11, 2023)
Pragmatism and Republican-Lite Are Both Losing Political Strategies (December 23, 2023)
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