I regret to inform you that the Libertarian Party is doing Libertarian Party things again.
As RedState reported, Donald Trump showed up at the Libertarian National Convention on Friday, and things did not exactly go as planned. The crowd was overly hostile, raining down boos throughout the former president’s speech, though he had a few applause lines surrounding a potential pardon of Ross Ulbricht.
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Still, as I argued in the aftermath, that was a good thing for Trump. Showing up and facing people who don’t like you shows strength, not weakness. He also dunked on Libertarians to their faces, and that alone was worth the plane ride there.
SEE: Trump Was Booed Relentlessly At the LNC, Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing for Him
To provide a disclaimer, there’s a difference between a libertarian and a Libertarian, i.e., someone who is a member of the national party. Sen. Rand Paul is a libertarian, and he’s got some great policy positions. Some RedState writers are libertarians as well, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Heck, most Republicans hold some libertarian views.
But the Libertarian Party? As an entity, it’s a joke, and as if to vindicate Trump’s criticisms, this is who they ended up nominating.
Let me offer some unsolicited advice to the Libertarian Party that they aren’t going to want to hear. If your entire idea of “freedom” revolves around legalized cocaine, transitioning children, and open borders (which means the property rights of others being violated), you deserve to languish in obscurity.
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If the Libertarian Party wanted to become relevant, and I’m not sure that they do, they’d hone their message to uncontroversial libertarian ideals surrounding things like government spending, personal freedom, and the Second Amendment. Instead, like a mouse to cheese, they just can’t help but center the conversation on eliminating the age of consent and “transitioning” children. That’s never going to be a popular platform, nor should it be.
One can be libertarian and still believe in the existence of borders. One can be libertarian and believe that a business shouldn’t have the right to force its employees to get a vaccine unrelated to their job. One can be libertarian and think the mutilation of children in the name of transgenderism shouldn’t be legal.
Should the Libertarian Party have nominated Donald Trump? No, they shouldn’t have. That would have been stupid because he’s not a libertarian in any real sense. Still, could the Libertarian Party try nominating someone halfway normal for once? Someone in the Rand Paul mold, for instance? I suppose the answer is no.