Libertarian Party

Mr. Prickles here represents the Libertarian Party during election time.

“”To all that were attracted to the Libertarian Party by my 2020 candidacy: I am sorry. It has become a terrible dumpsterfire of a shitshow. I regret my involvement in such a non functional embarrassment full of paleo dipshits, pedo apologists, and culture war fuckwads.

—Vermin Supreme, former Libertarian Party presidential nominee

“”The abhorrence of child abuse is woven into the universal moral fabric. Libertarianism (and politics, in general) cannot solve every moral problem and it should not be used to solve every moral problem.

—Libertarian Party Chair using a bizarre choice of words

God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics

Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner

Religious Right Path to Prosperity Faith-based initiative John McCain Paul Wolfowitz Clean living movement 2018 United States mail bombing attempts

Persons of interest

Spiro T. Agnew Dick Armey Sam Brownback Kevin McCarthy Doug Mastriano Mike Johnson v - t - e

The US Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 and claims to be based on the principles of libertarianism. The party's National Chair in 2024 endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump, has argued for insurrection in support of Trump, promotes mass exodus from her party and is openly homophobic. In recent years, it is unclear to party members and the general public the degree to which they are a fusion party masquerading as an independent party or are actually committed to being an independent political party.

The Libertarian Party has been one of the larger minor political parties in America. They claim to be active in all 50 states, and threaten to sue state parties who want to dissolve (which happens more often than you'd think). They have more than 280,000 registered voters, or... 0.1% of the United States eligible voting population. (In fairness, it's just a mathematical fact that under First-Past-the-Post all systems will trend towards two-party.) No party spokesman has addressed the irony of a group of alleged individualists pooling their efforts to join an entity they despise. In the 2020s, the Libertarian Party started to shift far harder right after the Mises Caucus took control.

Libertarians Party members skew right-wing and socially conservative. Numerous party splinters have emerged for the tiny liberal base of the party that has been shedding the party like mad.

Current status

The two-variable Nolan chart

2007 elections

In the 2007 Elections, Libertarian Party candidates won 14 elective offices, including an election for mayor of Avis, Pennsylvania (population 1,492).

2008 presidential nominating process

Several candidates sought to become the party's 2008 presidential nominee. Mike Gravel changed from the Democratic Party to the Libertarian Party. Bob Barr, a former Republican U.S. Congressman, announced on May 12, 2008, that he would seek the nomination. The final choice of Bob Barr (and his running mate, Wayne Allyn Root) was made at the 2008 national convention in Denver, Colorado in late May.

Ron Paul, who was the party's 1988 candidate, had been mentioned as a possible nominee as well, but has officially denied any intent to run under any third-party banner. On December 12, 2007, the Party adopted a resolution requesting Paul to run on the Libertarian ticket if he does not win the Republican Party nomination.

2012 elections

Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico, ran with running mate Jim Gray on the top of the Libertarian ticket. Johnson received slightly over 1 million votes, or about one percent.

2016 election

• John McAfee, a filthy-rich burn out psycho with an endearing amount of honesty but little understanding of the government's complexity. (Trump on steroids.) He'd be the best for getting name recognition up, if only because he could generate the most bizarre headlines. On the other hand, he'd be the worst for winning over anti-Trump Republicans for the same reason.
• Gary Johnson would be the best for actually winning over Independents...but he's basically a Republican. He's what white bread conservatives become when they go to college. Still, he could do worse. Update: But remember, cakes were the most important issue of the 2016 campaign. It is better to vote for someone who isn't libertarian at all than someone who deviates from libertarianism on one issue.
• Austin Peterson is pretty much any rando you've met on Reddit. His argument style is literally repeating libertarian memes. "Muh roads! Where we're going, we don't need roads! Because we will have jetpacks!"^{[No, not The Onion]} If Libertarians want to be a party of internet trolls, vote Petersen.

Johnson has stated that he will run again in 2016, "as long as he's relevant," whatever that may mean. Some reports had him running for the GOP nomination and, if unsuccessful, seeking the Libertarian Party nomination in a replay of 2012. Considering Johnson's relative level-headedness compared to the mainstream GOP, his support of gay and immigration rights, and love for pot, this is likely to happen. If he can gain one percentage point, he is on track to win the general election by 2412 with a literal Ron Paulbot as his running mate.

2020 election

For the 2020 US presidential election, several people threw their lot in for the Libertarians, the most notable among them being former Republican and anti-war activist Adam Kokesh and the nutty, tax-evading inventor of antivirus software John McAfee. Jo Jorgensen was the 2020 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee.

2024 election

During 2024, the party nominated a salesperson named Chase Oliver. He came in fifth place, behind Jill Stein in third and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in fourth. Disapointed in polling below someone who dropped out, Oliver blamed the party for a lack of support. The party had been continuously disintegrating since their 2016 nominee failed to identify Aleppo Syria during the Syrian refugee crisis and their convention featured an obese stripper. At this point, the party is just a part of the Republican Party, with the national chair more or less endorsing Trump over her own nominee.

Mises Caucus takeover

In the wake of the Unite the Right riot in 2017, then-Chair Nicholas Sarwark wrote an open letter denouncing fascism and racism, and asking racists to stay away from the Libertarian Party. This enraged a group of Libertarians affiliated with the Mises Institute, who denounced Sarwark's statement as "woke" and went on to found the Mises "Caucus" (which is actually a PAC). The PAC made many allies with the alt-right over the next few years, including Nick Fuentes, League of the South co-founder Tom Woods, and Hotep Jesu, and gradually took control of several state affiliates as well as winning a handful of seats on the National Committee. They also drew headlines for extremist posts on social media, including advocating for child labor, celebrating the anniversary of the death of John McCain by tweeting "Happy holidays" accompanied by a picture of his daughter crying over his coffin, and one by the Delaware affiliate which appeared to advocate throwing transgender people into woodchippers. In the leadup to the party's National Convention on Memorial Day weekend 2022, observers both within the party and out expressed concern that the Mises Caucus would take control of the entire Party, including an expose from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Those concerns proved founded as Mises-endorsed candidates won every seat on the National Committee and succeeded in repealing a platform plank condemning bigotry as "irrational and repugnant", on the grounds that such a statement was "divisive" and would discourage people from joining. This led to the departure of numerous long-time members who were relatively sane, or at least not raging bigots, and the attempted disaffiliation by state affiliates in New Mexico and Virginia, to which the Mises-backed National Committee responded "Actually, we're disaffiliating you" to the former and "You're affiliated with us whether you like it or not" to the latter. The Libertarian Party has skidded off the rails since then, even compared to its previous standards, openly embracing the alt-right, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and anti-Semitism, and driving off any previous members who did not stand for those things. Meanwhile, the new Chair is a sovereign citizen and a proponent of German New Medicine, a pseudoscience/conspiracy theory that states that all modern medicine is a conspiracy by Jews to kill non-Jewish patients. At the National Convention, the first run under new leadership, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (neither of whom are members of the Libertarian Party) were both invited to speak, drawing national media attention but creating fierce controversy within the party.

Polls

The Libertarian Party website also has some polls for its members, with results that can turn out only slightly saner than WND polls.

• "The White House is starting a media war against Rush Limbaugh. What does Obama hope to distract attention from?" Highest result (48%; 1491 votes): "Economic research showing Obama’s spending plan prolongs the recession and eliminates jobs"
• "What is the cause of "global warming"?" Highest result: (47%; 249 votes): "Cycles of nature"
• "How should we deal with the financial problems of the Social Security system?" Highest result: (53%; 2392 votes): "We should completely get rid of Social Security."
• "Is human-generated global warming a myth?" Highest result: (56%; 220 votes): "Yes"
• "Should we go back to the gold standard?" Highest Result: "No"... Just pulling your leg, it was actually "Yes" with 64% of the vote (194 votes).
• "Do you believe people have a "right" to healthcare?" Highest result: "No" with 59% of the vote (547 votes)
• "Do you consider Obama to be a "socialist?" Highest Result: Take a wild guess.

Quotes

“”Leftists are really mad about the Libertarian view on child labor.

—Libertarian Party Chair

See also

• Ron Paul - A Lifetime Member. Paul is irrefutably a huge racist and conspiracy nut, and Rand has embraced his father's legacy by showing up on Alex Jones, opposing the Civil Rights Act, and hiring numerous racist staffers.
• Tea Party
• Nathan Larson - Former Libertarian Party candidate

References

United States political parties

American Independent Party - Green Party of the United States - Reform Party - Socialist Party USA - Yippie - Federalist Party - Communist Party USA - Democratic-Republican Party - Know Nothing - Republican In Name Only - States' Rights Democratic Party - Revolutionary Communist Party (US) - World Socialist Party of the United States - Socialist Workers Party (US) - Progressive Labor Party - Workers World Party - Falconist Party - Prohibition Party - Party for Socialism and Liberation - Veterans Party of America - Constitution Party - Republican Party - Democrat In Name Only - Black Panther Party - Greenback Party - Christian Liberty Party - Democratic Party - White Panther Party -