Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The New Republican-Lite Libertarian Party Heartthrob, Part 1

I am a candidate for the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential nomination: jacobforliberty.com.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The New Republican-Lite Libertarian Party Heartthrob, Part 2
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The New Republican-Lite Libertarian Party Heartthrob, Part 3
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The New Republican-Lite Libertarian Party Heartthrob, Part 4

For the past three years, the heartthrob of some Republican-Lite Libertarians has been Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and, for some, even Blake Masters, the “liberty-leaning” Republican who lost his bid for the U.S. Senate in Arizona in the 2022 elections. The idea has been to recruit either DeSantis, once it becomes clear that he will lose the race for the Republican presidential nomination, or Masters to come over to the Libertarian Party and “save us” by becoming the L.P presidential nominee and bringing us a 3% national vote return, heaps of national media hoopla (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!”), and lots of big money to replenish the LP coffers. 

However, there is now a fascinating phenomenon taking place among some Republican-Lite Libertarians. Some of them are shifting from the right and moving to the left, with the hope of recruiting Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to come over to the Libertarian Party, once it is determined that he cannot defeat President Biden, and “save us” in the same way that DeSantis and Masters would be expected to “save us” — with a 3% national vote total, heaps of national media hoopla (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!”) and lots of big money to replenish the LP coffers.

A rudderless ship

One year ago — August 2022 — I began publishing a series of articles on substack.com detailing the critical importance of restoring the Libertarian brand of principled libertarianism and restoring the Libertarian Party as the “Party of Principle” in the political arena. Those articles are linked in the Written Blog section of my campaign website (jacobforliberty.com), beginning at the bottom of the page with my August 2022 article “Restore the Libertarian Brand.” I hope that every L.P. member will read and carefully consider that entire series of articles because I believe that they hold the key to getting the Libertarian Party back on the right track.

In those articles, I stated that if the 2022 “Reno Reset,” in which the Mises Caucus took control over the Libertarian Party, resulted in nothing more than a change in management, the takeover would be for naught. It was imperative, I argued, that the new Libertarian Party hierarchy commit itself to one top priority: to reject the welfare-warfare state reform-oriented, Republican-Lite direction in which the Party has been headed for some 25 years and to head the party directly in the direction of principled libertarianism. Otherwise, I argued, the Libertarian Party would continue to drift like a rudderless ship and the Party would continue to be characterized by conflict, strife, and demoralization. 

What better evidence of the rudderless direction in which the Party has been headed than the flitting from a rightwing Republican electoral loser to a leftwing Democrat electoral loser to come into our Party to “save us” with a 3% vote total, heaps of media hoopla (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!”) and the prospect of big money to replenish the L.P. coffers? Given such rudderless right-left meandering, how can it be any surprise that the Libertarian Party continues to be characterized by conflict, strife, and demoralization?

Our greatest asset

I have long held that our pure, genuine libertarian principles and positions are our greatest asset. They are the only hope for leading America out of the deep statist morass into which both Republicans and Democrats have plunged our nation. It is our libertarian principles and positions, not welfare-warfare state reform or Republican-Lite principles and positions, that will lead us to the free, prosperous, peaceful, and harmonious society for which we yearn.

From a political standpoint, I have also long held that our genuine Libertarian principles and positions are not a liability or an albatross, as Republican-Lite and reform-oriented Libertarians maintain. Instead, it is our pure, genuine Libertarian principles and positions that can enable us us to break out of the standard .05%-3% of the national vote in the presidential race and break us into the 7-10% (or higher) range. 

When I sought the L.P. presidential nomination three years ago, my aim was to show that a principled presidential campaign — that is, one that was based totally on pure, genuine, libertarian principles and positions — was a vote-getter, not a vote-loser. Therefore, with that aim in mind, I announced early on that I would be entering the presidential primaries in those states where the L.P. was qualified to run primaries.

I ended up winning 7 out of 9 pre-convention primaries and came in second in one of the two primaries I lost. Of course, those primaries were not binding, but I knew that going into them. My aim was simply to show L.P. members that a presidential campaign of principle was a vote-winner, not a vote-loser.

It was the same in my 2002 race for the U.S. Senate in Virginia. I was running against one of the most popular U.S. senators in the history of the state — Republican Senator John Warner, who had been married to the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor and who was the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Knowing that they couldn’t defeat Warner, the Democrats decided to not even run a candidate. 

The LaRouchies, however, did run a candidate and she undoubtedly won all of the votes of those Democrats who bothered going to the polls. There was no way that any Democrat was going to vote for me, given my Libertarian position calling for the immediate repeal of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income taxation, and all other socialist welfare-state programs. 

There was also no possibility that any Republican would vote for me, given that this was just after the 9/11 attacks and I was pointing out the role that Republican-Democrat interventionist foreign policy had played in motivating those attacks. I was also ardently opposing the invasion of Afghanistan and the upcoming invasion of Iraq. Those were not popular positions among Republicans, to say the least.

Nonetheless, running a low-cost guerrilla campaign, I garnered 7.1% of the statewide vote. 106,055 people took the time to go to the polls and cast their vote for me, even though they knew that I could not win. But it wasn’t me they were voting for because hardly anyone knew me from Adam. They were voting for the principled message of liberty that I was expounding. Among my proudest achievements in that race was receiving the endorsement of John O. Peterson, pastor of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia, and member of the African American Hall of Fame.

A campaign of principle

I am now seeking the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential nomination. This time around, I am not going the primary route simply because I believe that I’ve already shown that the principled message of liberty is a vote-winner. This time, I am devoting my time to showing L.P. members how it is possible to wage a hard-hitting political campaign against both Republicans and Democrats employing genuine, pure, uncompromising libertarian principles and positions, and without resorting to flailing, personal attacks, “macho-flash,” inflammatory declarations, profanity, and other antics to which some Republican-Lite and reform-oriented Libertarian Party candidates resort with the aim of garnering votes. One can see how I have been waging my campaign since last February by viewing my video and written blogs on my campaign website at www.jacobforliberty.com.

A disaster for the L.P.

I believe that making Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Libertarian Party presidential nominee would be an absolute disaster for the Libertarian Party, even if he were to get us 3% of the vote, lots of media hoopla (“Publicity, Jacob! Publicity!”) and big money. For that matter, I believe the same with respect to DeSantis and Masters or any other “liberty-leaning” Republican (e.g., Wayne Allan Root, Bill Weld, etc.). 

But given that Kennedy has become the latest heartthrob among some Republican-Lite Libertarians, including in the national Libertarian Party hierarchy, I figure that it would be politically wise and prudent to show now why he would be a disaster for the Party rather than waiting for the tsunami of media hoopla that his entry into the race for the L.P. presidential nomination would inevitably bring.

NEXT: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: The New Republican-Lite Libertarian Party Heartthrob, Part 2