Where is the libertarian party?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I have to say they are missing a major opportunity. 

They should be in full press to pick up disillusioned Republican voters.  As it is most Republicans are actually more aligned with the libertarians already. 

They have a chance to pick up supporters with a message of “tired of being in the party of hate,  the party of billionaires, the party of a failed coup.  Not interested in joining the big government, higher taxes, nanny state the other party offers.  We are pro-lower taxes, for smaller government, pro-second amendment, oppose drug laws, oppose large police departments, we are prochoice and don’t care what your sexual orientation or race is.”   

So far the only thing they have done is blame Biden for deploying the National Guard to the capitol.  Which is stupid as Biden doesn’t have any authority at the moment.

They really have an opportunity to something that hasn’t happened since the Republican party replaced the Whigs. 

[Dave Gray]

I don't think there's a chance of that -- people are too attached to the tribalism of the "R" itself.  So, the idea has merit, but libertarians would have to run as Republicans, kinda like how Bernie is a Democratic-Socialist who flies the "D" banner.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Sanders doesn’t run as a dem for the senate, he caucuses with the dem.  Libertarians could pick up seats in the 2022 house and senate races and then caucus with either party.

Hypothetically 2022 senate 49 dems +vp, 48 Rep, 3 Libertarians.  Those three then determine which party is the majority party and have major sway in setting the agenda. 

[Fau Teixeira]

I don't see a path for the libertarian party. The entire concept of a small government is dead and done with.  That will never happen. There are too many entrenched interests and to be honest, that type of government has failed historically or been replaced by large government.  It's the economic stances of the LP that are pie in the sky unrealistic. The social stances are fine and in principle I'm alright with them.

The correct approach here would be for a party (either the Rs or Ds) to nut up and adopt a populist message and policies. And stop catering to the donor class. That would have a vote winning result. That's one of the reasons Trump won the first time around. His message was very populist. The problem with Trump was that he's a lying moron and couldn't or didn't want to actually act on his campaign. So that led nowhere and he ended up being a do-nothing achieve-nothing president that got crushed the next time on the ballot box.

The party that can communicate with the public and deliver on populist wants will win elections. I'm obviously hoping it's more of a left leaning populism economically speaking. Universal healthcare, parental leave, public education from pre-school to college, a living wage minimum, I'd even consider experimenting with UBI. (it works very well in Alaska already)

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

There is a path.  They just don’t seem to want to take it.  The libertarian party has way more sympathizer than voters.

If everyone who preferred Johnson over Clinton, who voted for Clinton to stop Trump b/c Johnson wasn’t viable had voted for Johnson had combined wit everyone who voted for Trump to stop Clinton because Johnson wasn’t viable than Johnson would have won in 2016.

The libertarians have two main groups of supporters.  Centrist and nut jobs.  The former are folks like William Weld.  People who are considered socially liberal Republicans or fiscally conservative Democrats.  Then there are the 3%er types that  joined the Trump movement.  The libertarians seem to be more interested in getting the nut jobs back from the republicans, than attracting Mitt Romney to leave the republican party and became a libertarian. But their path to emerge as one of the two major parties and overtake the republicans is to start by attracting the Lincoln project/RVAT crowd as an alternative to both Trumpism and democrats while painting the republicans as the party of Boebert. 

[Fau Teixeira]

There is a path.  They just don’t seem to want to take it.  The libertarian party has way more sympathizer than voters.

If everyone who preferred Johnson over Clinton, who voted for Clinton to stop Trump b/c Johnson wasn’t viable had voted for Johnson had combined wit everyone who voted for Trump to stop Clinton because Johnson wasn’t viable than Johnson would have won in 2016.

The libertarians have two main groups of supporters.  Centrist and nut jobs.  The former are folks like William Weld.  People who are considered socially liberal Republicans or fiscally conservative Democrats.  Then there are the 3%er types that  joined the Trump movement.  The libertarians seem to be more interested in getting the nut jobs back from the republicans, than attracting Mitt Romney to leave the republican party and became a libertarian. But their path to emerge as one of the two major parties and overtake the republicans is to start by attracting the Lincoln project/RVAT crowd as an alternative to both Trumpism and democrats while painting the republicans as the party of Boebert. 

The problem with the libertarians with regards to winning over republicans is that the taliban/theocratic wing of the republican party can't stand the social libertarianism of the libertarian party. It's fine and all to be a "small government" conservative .. but a conservative that doesn't want to force their religious morality on others?  That's a line that they won't cross.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The problem with the libertarians with regards to winning over republicans is that the taliban/theocratic wing of the republican party can't stand the social libertarianism of the libertarian party. It's fine and all to be a "small government" conservative .. but a conservative that doesn't want to force their religious morality on others?  That's a line that they won't cross.

Agree, if the Libertarians take the path I propose they won’t get the hardcore pro-life anti-gay wing of the Republican party.  But the republican party would become the 3rd party with dems and libertarians would be the majors.

[Spider-Dan]

Why would the libertarians form their own party?  The only major legislation Trump was able to pass was an enormous tax cut for the top income earners, and he was able to nominate three anti-regulation, anti-environment justices to the Supreme Court.  The Trump Administration was an unqualified success for libertarian principles.*

*where "libertarian principles", as always, are defined as "I got mine, fuck you"