The Libertarian Party Stays Woke

By Michael Lucas -

Michael Lucas–Despite the presence of Vivek, Trump, RFK Jr. and Ron Paul at the Libertarian Party convention, none garnered more attention, or caused more commotion, than the LP’s presidential candidate, Chase Oliver. Who? Good question!

Perspective by Michael Lucas
May 31, 2024

The Libertarian Party (LP) held their national convention in Washington, D.C. this past weekend. The event featured several big-name political figures, too—Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump and Ron Paul all made appearances. Yet, despite their presence, none garnered nearly as much attention, or caused more commotion, than the LP’s presidential candidate—Chase Oliver.

Who? Good question! Let this be your introduction to the latest “face” of Libertarianism:

“This is the ‘how to get Libertarians to vote for Trump’ pick” is an incredibly apt observation. Who wants to be guilty by association? And what exactly would they be getting themselves into? As it turns out, Oliver’s track record is abysmal for a so-called “Libertarian.”

As the great Robert Barnes correctly pointed out on X:

This is your best, LP? This is the face of limited government, civil liberties and anti-interventionism?

If ever I wanted to undermine a political party that could be seen as an alternative to the #uniparty, I’d work tirelessly to plant Oliver deep within its ranks.

So, let’s review: Oliver supports the communist-led BLM movement, unironically wears “Live Free” facemasks during lockdowns, celebrates the fake “Juneteenth” holiday meant to frame American history entirely in terms of slavery, confidently broadcasts his wearing of BDSM leather attire, supports “gender-affirming care” for minors so long as its “only” hormone therapy and vigorously supported lockdowns and vax mandates.

No kidding, Meghan.

Listen, folks: THIS IS NOT LIBERTARIANISM. It is an unequivocal fact that Libertarianism is a conservative political philosophy that advances liberty—people’s right to live their lives as they see fit and to be left alone, exactly as the founders intended.

The wacky, unhinged, ridiculous and dorky statists that we are all so familiar with—the so-called “representatives” of Libertarianism like Oliver and Gary Johnson —are the product of a concerted Psy-op to discredit the liberty movement. Not a single sensible Libertarian supports these clowns.

Suffice to say, the libertarian movement as expressed on X is not happy.

But how did this happen? How did someone like Oliver manage to become the face of Libertarianism?

Here’s some quick inside baseball to catch you up to speed: Two years ago there was a coup within the LP.

The previous chairman, Nicholas Sarwark, and all of the LP leadership were kicked out and replaced by members of the Mises Caucus.

After the Mises Caucus took over the national party, they began making plans to advance Tucker Carlson’s recent guest, Dave Smith, to run for the Libertarian presidential ticket. Smith’s VP running mate, Clint Russell, was also prepared to campaign for 2024.

Here’s the problem: Smith ultimately decided not to run for the Libertarian ticket, and the Mises Caucus had no one in line to take his place.

Enter: Oliver. Oliver ultimately becomes the candidate for the old Sarwark-type delegates; delegates whose principal concerns were “bigotry”, “systematic racism”, and LGBTQ talking points.

In typical fashion, these delegates voted for the candidate that had “the most political experience,” and who was an “ally” to “disenfranchised and repressed” minority groups. Chase Oliver.

Of course, Oliver’s only political experience is that he lost bigly in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race in 2022. But with respect to the other criteria, he passed with flying colors!

The real motivation for nominating Oliver is that he ticked a bunch of leftist checkboxes: he’s young, gay and voted for Obama in 2008. Oh boy!

When it came time for the LP to nominate a presidential candidate, the Sarwark delegates fell back on their programming and Oliver received 60% of the vote. It’s worth noting, however, that 37% of delegates voted for “None of the Above” as their presidential candidate.

This perception of Libertarians as “softcore leftists”—this deliberate marketing campaign that is completely antithetical to what Libertarianism is really about—is precisely the reason that most Libertarians don’t bother getting involved with the LP and instead choose to align with the Republican party. It’s also a huge reason why they don’t call themselves Libertarians.

Think about Ron Paul. Ron Paul was the LP presidential candidate in 1988 and left to join the Republican party because “You can’t win as a Libertarian.” He then led a great political career, embarrassed Rudy Giuliani on national television (Borat did that as well) and inspired the Tea Party movement. Ya’ know, the largest political movement in recent history calling for a return to the principles of the founding generation?

His son, Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul, is in much the same boat. Rand has called himself a Libertarian and loves Hayek and Mises. Great! Yet he, too, decided to join the Republican party, not the LP.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who spoke and debated at the LP convention, said that he’s a Libertarian at his core but also chose to run as a Republican. Justin Amash (MI) entered politics as a Republican for the same reason as Paul and only later switched to the LP. The list goes on…

Furthermore, there are already entire Libertarian wings within the Republican party, notably the House Liberty Caucus and to some extent the House Freedom Caucus, which do a much better job of attracting liberty-minded people than the LP.

Since day one the LP has been a precarious organization—and today is no different. So ridiculous and antithetical to Libertarian principles is the conventional LP that most Libertarians no longer describe themselves as such—much easier to say you’re a paleoconservative, constitutionalist or capitalist.

Perhaps given a few more years the Libertarian Party will manage to find itself and be shed of all the kowtowing to the leftist political platform.

But as of 2024, the Libertarian Party stays WOKE.