Extorting the Republicans
Libertarians only have one power, and they should use it
One of the most often things you hear about Libertarians is “they can’t win!” And this is an accurate statement for the most part. Libertarians have not gotten to a place where they can win statewide elections and implement the policies they want, but they do have one ace up their sleeves: throwing elections.
In Arizona, there is a tight Senate race between Republican Blake Masters and Democrat Mark Kelly, with Libertarian candidate Marc Victor covering the spread between the two candidates. Some argue that Blake Masters is a libertarian at heart, but he has run his campaign claiming that we need to put sanctions on Russia, support Ukraine in their fight against Putin, “toughen up” on China, and fight wars “for our allies like Israel.”
The reason some believe that Blake Masters is a good option for Libertarians is because of his history. He graduated from the Mises Institute and wrote compelling anti war articles about 15 years ago. However, I would argue if we are expected to throw any amount of support behind this guy, we should have a list of demands to show that he still holds ANY of our values.
Marc Victor could cost Masters the election in Arizona, and Republicans should try to learn a lesson from this should it happen. If they actually ran candidates that believed in small government, putting America first, and personal freedom, maybe they would win elections. If the Republican were good enough, he wouldn’t even have to worry about losing votes to a libertarian. And if he were leaning in our direction, he could compel us to get out of his way.
We have a similar situation taking place in New Hampshire. Jeremy Kauffman has been polled up to 5 percent in recent polls, with a significant poll putting him at 4 percent, as opposed to Maggie Hassan’s 49 and Don Bolduc’s 43.
Don Bolduc has not given Libertarians in New Hampshire any reason to vote for him. For the past several months, he has changed his position based on political opportunism and never given us any sort of reason to believe he’ll try to calm down tensions with Russia or China. He has said we need to go “all in” on Ukraine and need to “go after” China. He has said that Putin is an “enemy to the world” and that we need to support Ukraine.
Until recently, the Senate race looked like a pretty easy victory for Maggie Hassan, until a recent surprise endorsement from an acquaintance of mine, former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.
As you may know, Tulsi Gabbard left the Democratic Party a couple days ago, condemning them for “above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.” She had a litany of other reasons laid out in the video above, but the biggest one was the issue behind which she established her campaign, seeking a non-interventionist foreign policy.
Now, as I have covered before, Tulsi is no libertarian, and she’s not even really anti war, just not a neocon. But endorsing Bolduc flies in the face of even her standards. She has constantly warned against escalating tensions with Russia through sanctions, proxy invasions and NATO expansions, and those are ALL things that Don Bolduc has advocated. See the video above where Tulsi schools Sean Hannity on Ukraine and see the video in the tweet below where Bolduc gives an almost identical answer to Hannity’s position.
Although I am disappointingly unsurprised in Gabbard’s endorsement, I am glad that she did it. She has suddenly brought nationwide attention with her announcement that she is not only endorsing Bolduc, but coming to the state to campaign for him. This gives us an excellent opportunity to point out to Bolduc that if he wants to win, he needs to give us some sort of assurance that he will stand on the principles of liberty. However, even if he gives these assurances, they are as empty as his promises on the campaign trail during his primary. He campaigned saying “the election was stolen” and literally flipped his position a couple days after being nominated.
Regardless of the outcomes of the ultimatum, the optics of the situation are nothing but a win for us. It sends a message to the two parties “if you want our support, you need to throw us a bone. And if you suck, we don’t care which one of you wins.”
Another ironic level to this situation is that Jeremy Kauffman has been disallowed from coming to the debates through arbitrary polling requirements. This is the exact same thing that happened to Tulsi Gabbard in 2020 at the Democratic debate in New Hampshire. In fact, I personally went to a protest with over 100 Tulsi supporters from all over New England to demand that she be allowed to debate. When she comes to New Hampshire to campaign for a war hawk pushing us closer to armageddon, will she also turn her back on democracy that she claims to hold so dear?
I will be attending the first town hall that Tulsi will be co-hosting with Bolduc, and plan to ask these questions directly. Join me if you can. I will also be attending the official debates in New Hampshire and protesting along with other Libertarians if they don’t allow Kauffman into the debates.
If Republicans want our votes, we can’t just keep giving them to them without any sort of demands. This is exactly how we end up with people like Crenshaw sending 40 billion dollars to Ukraine. They need to realize that we are an important part of their voting block in New Hampshire, and that if they ignore us, they will lose.