The Differences Between Republicans, Republican-Lites, Pragmatists, and Principled Libertarians
I would estimate that the Libertarian Party membership breaks down as follows:
Republican-Lite Libertarians: 70 percent.
Pragmatist Libertarians: 20 percent.
Principled Libertarians: 10 percent.
Given that Republican-Lites and Pragmatists now dominate and control the Libertarian Party, I believe that it’s important for people to understand the differences between Republicans, Republican-Lites, Pragmatists, and Principled Libertarians with respect to the important issues facing our country.
Social Security
Republicans: Save Social Security but reform it.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Save Social Security but reform it.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Save Social Security but reform it.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal Social Security and all other socialist programs immediately and without hesitation. Separate charity and the state.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare
Republicans: Save Medicare and Medicaid, abolish Obamacare, and reform healthcare with health-savings accounts or other healthcare reforms. Oppose healthcare lockdowns and mandates and appoint free-market advocates to federal healthcare departments and agencies.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Save Medicare and Medicaid, abolish Obamacare, and reform healthcare with health savings accounts or other healthcare reforms. Oppose healthcare lockdowns and mandates and appoint free-market advocates to federal healthcare departments and agencies.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Save Medicare and Medicaid, abolish Obamacare, and reform healthcare with health savings accounts or other healthcare reforms. Oppose healthcare lockdowns and mandates and appoint free-market advocates to federal healthcare departments and agencies.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare immediately and without hesitation. Oppose healthcare lockdowns and mandates and abolish all federal healthcare departments and agencies. End all government involvement in healthcare. Separate healthcare and the state.
The welfare state
Republicans: Keep the welfare state in existence and reform it. Appoint free-market advocates to welfare departments and agencies.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Keep the welfare state in existence and reform it. Appoint free-market advocates to welfare departments and agencies.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Keep the welfare state in existence and reform it. Appoint free-market advocates to welfare departments and agencies.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal the welfare state and abolish all welfare departments and agencies immediately and without hesitation. Separate charity and the state.
Education
Republicans: Abolish the federal Department of Education. Improve the public-school system with school vouchers and other reforms. Run candidates for local school boards with the aim of improving the public-school system. Keep school taxes, compulsory-attendance laws, and government-approved textbooks and curricula.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Abolish the federal Department of Education. Improve the public-school system with school vouchers and other reforms. Run candidates for local school boards with the aim of improving the public-school system. Keep school taxes, compulsory-attendance laws, and government-approved textbooks and curricula.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Abolish the federal Department of Education. Improve the public-school system with school vouchers and other reforms. Run candidates for local school boards with the aim of improving the public-school system. Keep school taxes, compulsory-attendance laws, and government-approved textbooks and curricula.
Principled Libertarians: Abolish the federal Department of Education. Abolish public schooling and repeal school taxes and compulsory-attendance laws. End all government involvement in education. Separate education and the state.
Immigration
Republicans: Strengthen America’s immigration-control system and the immigration police state that is used to enforce it. Secure the border with warrantless searches of ranches and farms, highway checkpoints, roving Border Patrol checkpoints, the criminalization of hiring, transporting, and caring for illegal immigrants, a massive border wall entailing the eminent-domain taking of people’s private property, violent raids on American businesses, masked kidnappings of people walking down the street, mass deportations, and more.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Strengthen America’s immigration-control system and the immigration police state that is used to enforce it. Secure the border with warrantless searches of ranches and farms, highway checkpoints, roving Border Patrol checkpoints, the criminalization of hiring, transporting, and caring for illegal immigrants, a massive border wall entailing the eminent-domain taking of people’s private property, violent raids on American businesses, masked kidnappings of people walking down the street, mass deportations, and more.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Strengthen America’s immigration-control system and the immigration police state that is used to enforce it. Secure the border with warrantless searches of ranches and farms, highway checkpoints, roving Border Patrol checkpoints, the criminalization of hiring, transporting, and caring for illegal immigrants, a massive border wall entailing the eminent-domain taking of people’s private property, violent raids on American businesses, masked kidnappings of people walking down the street, mass deportations, and more.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal America’s border-control system and all police-state measures that are used to enforce it immediately and without hesitation. Open the borders to the free movements of goods, services, and people.
National-Security State
Republicans: Strengthen and expand the Pentagon, the vast military establishment, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Reduce the size of the military and reform the CIA and the NSA.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Reduce the size of the military and reform the CIA and the NSA.
Principled Libertarians: Dismantle the national-security state immediately and without hesitation and restore America’s founding system of a limited-government republic with just a basic military force.
Drug War
Republicans: Strengthen the drug war with asset-forfeiture laws, mandatory-minimum sentences, foreign interventions, and other police-state measures. Kill suspected drug dealers on sight.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Legalize only marijuana and continue waging the drug war against other illicit drugs (e.g., heroin, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, etc.). Reform drug laws.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Legalize only marijuana and continue waging the drug war against other illicit drugs (e.g., heroin, cocaine, meth, fentanyl, etc.). Reform drug laws.
Principled Libertarians: End the drug war immediately and without hesitation. Legalize all drugs and repeal all drug-war police-state measures. Separate drugs and the state.
Foreign Wars and Interventions
Republicans: Employ invasions, undeclared wars, wars of aggression, coups, assassinations, sanctions, embargoes, blockades, torture, indefinite detention, foreign aid, and foreign alliances whenever it is in the interests of national security to do so.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Employ foreign interventionism but only when national security requires it.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Employ foreign interventionism but only when national security requires it.
Principled Libertarians: End all foreign interventionism. Limit government to protecting the United States from a foreign invasion. End the concept of national security.
Monetary Policy
Republicans: Maintain and reform the Federal Reserve System and America’s paper-money system.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Maintain and reform the Federal Reserve System by limiting its inflation of paper money or, alternatively, end the Federal Reserve and restore the gold standard.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Maintain and reform the Federal Reserve System by limiting its inflation of paper money or, alternatively, end the Federal Reserve and restore the gold standard.
Principled Libertarians: End the Federal Reserve System and America’s paper-money system immediately and without hesitation. Repeal legal-tender laws. Establish a free-market monetary system. Separate money and the state.
The Regulated Economy
Republicans: Enact regulatory reform and appoint free-market advocates to regulatory departments and agencies.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Enact regulatory reform and appoint free-market advocates to regulatory departments and agencies.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Enact regulatory reform and appoint free-market advocates to regulatory departments and agencies.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal all economic regulations and abolish all regulatory departments and agencies. Separate economy and the state.
Income Taxation
Republicans: Reduce the federal income tax and reform the IRS.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Reduce the federal income tax and reform the IRS.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Reduce the federal income tax and reform the IRS.
Principled Libertarians: Repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS immediately and without hesitation.
Tariffs
Republicans: Raise tariffs.
Republican-Lite Libertarians: Reduce and reform tariffs.
Pragmatist Libertarians: Reduce and reform tariffs.
Principled Libertarians: Abolish tariffs immediately and without hesitation.
Four Questions
Four questions naturally arise for every member of the Libertarian Party to ponder and about which to engage in some serious soul-searching:
1. Why would any Republican voter ever waste his vote on a Republican-Lite Libertarian Party candidate or a Pragmatist Libertarian Party candidate when he can vote for a real Republican who has the same positions, especially given that the Republican-Lite candidate and the Pragmatist candidate are unable to win?
2. Should the Libertarian Party continue describing itself as the “Party of Principle” given that it is now dominated and controlled by Republican-Lites and Pragmatists who hew to anti-freedom positions that are simply labeled as “libertarian”?
3. Should the Libertarian Party continue requiring members to pledge not to support the initiation of force when the party is now dominated and controlled by Republican-Lites and Pragmatists whose positions violate the non-aggression principle, which is the core principle of the libertarian philosophy?
4. How does the Libertarian Party expect to lead America to freedom when it is now controlled and dominated by Republican-Lites and Pragmatists who hew to Republican anti-freedom positions?