The Growing Rift Between Libertarians and Republicans
Although a temporary truce between Libertarians and Republicans has been in effect for the Tea Parties, divisions over legalizing marijuana, domestic espionage, abortion, torture, gay marriage, the separation of church/state, immigration, and de-militarization are starting to take a toll. The schism between Libertarians and Republicans is widening.
Although the Libertarian philosophy has been around since the late-Enlightenment period, the party was established in the US in 1971. The Republican Party was established in 1854, and originally “put forward a progressive vision of modernizing the United States” before increasingly becoming the home of conservatives.
There have been periodic alliances between Libertarians and Republicans in the past, although the last few years have demonstrated increasing distrust between the two.
2008 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Roots of the rift between Libertarians and Republicans can be traced to many of the policies pushed through Congress during the George W Bush presidency, in particular the invasion of Iraq, spying on Americans, and the burgeoning yearly deficits. The libertarian Ron Paul (R-TX) gained enthusiastic online and grassroots support seeking the 2008 Republican nomination for president. Despite this, libertarian ideals did not play well with the conservative GOP base, and as a consequence, he was greeted with numerous boos and not even invited to the debate sponsored by Fox ‘News’.
TEA PARTIES
The first Tea Parties were libertarian events for Ron Paul, starting with the ‘money bomb’ during the Republican primary in December 2007. A few speaking events and a ceremonial dumping of barrels into Boston Harbor followed in 2008. These early Tea Parties were generally smaller events based on the libertarian platform.
Following the landslide victory of Obama and progressive Democrats in the 2008 election, the Republicans recognized the need to disassociate themselves from the actions of the unpopular Bush administration and GOP-led congress, so a plan was hatched. In February 2009, CNBC’s Rick Santelli freaked out on the air, attacked the new direction of the country, and called for a “tea party” in Chicago the following summer. This staged rant was quickly picked up by a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com and spread from there to the Drudge Report, and then caught MSM traction, particularly on Fox ‘News’.
According to Mark Ames & Yasha Levine, “What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign.”
In essence, the Republican Party needed cover, and they decided the perfect place to hide was behind the libertarian banner. Corporate front groups such as former GOP majority leader Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks began to organize diligently behind the scenes, web domains were sponsored, a blitzkrieg of training seminars on how to organize were done, and the first New Tea Party took place on April 20th (tax day).
Instead of small events, up to 300,000 showed up in multiple gatherings around the country. The focus was kept exclusively on economic issues: taxation, deficits, the economic stimulus package, and the national debt. This is an area where there is supposed to be common ground between Libertarians and Republicans, although the latter only pays lip service to it as explained later.
This was the moment when the Tea Parties ceased being Libertarian events, and turned into Republican ones. Despite finding some common ground ideologically on economic issues, from this point forward the party platform of the Libertarians would take a back seat to Republican and corporate plans.
DIFFERENCES ON ISSUES
The issues that divide Libertarians and Republicans are numerous and intense. Although the outward similarity on fiscal policy has bound them together temporarily, these topics are increasingly becoming points of contention between them.
Legalizing Marijuana
Responsible Fiscal Policy
Domestic espionage (Patriot Act and FISA)
Abortion Rights
Torture, Rendition, Capital Punishment
Opposing corporate welfare
Get the government out of marriage
Separation of Church and State
Immigration
De-Militarization
Libertarians believe in the full legalization of marijuana and other drugs. Republicans have been pushing the failed ‘War on Drugs’ since Reagan. This irrational prohibition on a plant and the surrounding hysteria behind it has been behind the largest increase in the incarceration rate in the world. The United States is now the world’s leading jailer, with 1 in 32 Americans either behind bars or on probation, mostly due to marijuana arrests (approaching 1 million per year).
Libertarians believe in a deficit neutral economic policy. The Republicans have given lip service to this, while actually employing the Starve the Beast policy where deficits are deliberately run sky high. Recent GOP administrations are responsible for 82% of the national debt, including the majority of the deficit for fiscal 2009 (Bush budget, Great Recession, etc.).
Libertarians believe in repealing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Patriot Act to finally end domestic espionage. Republicans believe that surveillance of American citizens is an integral part of keeping the country safe.
Libertarians believe the government should be kept out of the abortion issue. Republicans continue to pander to their religious right base in pushing for more government laws to end a woman’s right to chose.
Libertarians believe in ending torture, rendition, and capital punishment. Republicans are big supporters of all three.
Libertarians believe in ending corporate welfare. Republicans have traditionally advocated supporting many big industries, such as defense contractors and Big Oil.
Libertarians believe in getting the government out of marriage, which would effectively give LGBT couples the same rights as straight folks. Republicans support the continued government mandated discrimination against gays being able to marry.
Libertarians believe in the separation of church and state. Republicans continue to support religious ceremonies in school functions, government buildings, endorsement of Christianity on legal tender, the courts, and elsewhere. In fact, it is one of the wedge issues that they use most often.
Libertarians believe in an open border policy on immigration. Republicans continue to demonize undocumented immigrants seeking a better life in the US.
Libertarians believe in a small, lean, and defensive Department of Defense. Republicans favor more military, bigger budgets, and more interventionism abroad. The US currently has over 400,000 troops stationed in 144 countries around the globe. The official cost of this has soared to almost $500 billion per year although the hidden costs easily double this. The US actually spends as much as the rest of the world combined on military expenditures, hardly a sound fiscal policy. Any talk of bringing our troops home and ending foreign wars results in Republican accusations of surrender.
LIKELY TRAJECTORY OF EVENTS
The Tea Parties have been the glue that binds the two groups together so far. The think tanks behind the themes of these events have been very careful to keep the focus on economic issues, although as time passes, more conservative social and foreign policy issues are being brought to the forefront. Libertarians who dare carry signs advocating a withdrawal from Iraq, ending the drug war, or allowing gay marriage will suffer the same fate as Ron Paul during the primary debates: an angry wall of intolerance and open hostility, just like this peaceful counter-protester who dared to carry a Public Option Now sign to Glenn Beck’s 912 DC rally.
To add to this, the Republicans are going to have an increasingly difficult time with cohesion as non-economic issues are brought to the forefront. The upcoming battles over the Employee Free Choice Act and Campaign Finance Reform are not likely to cause a rebellion by Libertarians, although Immigration Reform, the closure of the torture facility at Guantanamo, and equal rights for LGBT folks certainly will. There will simply be no way for this temporary truce to last in the wake of issues such as this.
One of the main curiosities of this situation is whether the Libertarians will do as they have done before, become disenfranchised with the political system, and accept a minor 3rd party status, or whether they will stand their ground and try to create a larger movement.
DIVISIONS ERUPTING
There are many non-partisan community organizers in the Tea Party movement who are actively trying to stop the slide into Republican control. This is apparent in the recent division between the Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express as reported by the Rachel Maddow.
Amy Kremer
What this boils down to is ‘Our Country Deserves Better’, the Republican political action committee (PAC) being behind the Tea Party Express bus tour.To make matters worse, Fox ‘News’ appears to have chosen a side, not surprisingly with the Republican Tea Party Express. The Tea Party Patriots are not happy and ejected Amy Kremer, the Atlanta activist who co-founded the organization, after she jumped onboard the Express.
There is more. In September, Florida Republicans purged Libertarians from the GOP. According to the Daily Paul:
“On Friday — timed just right to minimize news coverage — Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer and the state party Grievance Committee notified a number of party members, many of them holding elective office, that they were effectively purged from the party and had been removed from their offices and would be ineligible to hold any other party positions for periods ranging from two to four years. The targets of this purge are mostly members of the Florida chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus”
As a matter of political philosophy and organization, the cracks in the foundation are spreading. From differences in core beliefs to resentment over the Tea Party movement being hijacked, the rift between Libertarians and Republicans is growing.
You can read more about this on my interview with Kenneth Gladney on the Tea Party Express at NewsJunkiePost.
I consider myself to be a libertarian (not a Libertarian because the Libertarian party has lost its founding principle and become closer to neo-con lite) i did like how fair the piece was toward people of a liberty mindset and while i disagree with some of it would like to thank the author for his/her portrayal of libertarianism which is something i seldom see from either side again thanks
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i'm a little confused, it seems that the libertarian party has turned sour, alot of what they so called “support” kinda seems outta wack. am i wrong?
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Teabagging for jesus baby!
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Teabagging for jesus baby!
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I identify with your post. However, you're missing the boat on a few things with us Libertards. LGBT folks – We could care less, which means we support no role for the government to legislate more rights that every man or woman already hold. Most of us do support capital punishment and a strong national defense. We shudder to think what will happen with the public option, remember we're for small or no government.
Other than that, you're spot on!
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sorry. this 2 party system is stale, worn and irrelevant to the interests of today. i'll give the libertarians a subtle nod…as much as i can.
until people can wrap their heads around the concept of free-association and voluntary cooperation (stateless, socialist-libertarianism. or anarchism if you need it spelled out for you.) and realize they're effectively the pawns of authoritarians and capitalist blood-suckers, this country will never become anything more than a finger pointing childs argument.
but i'm sure you'll just laugh at me.
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As a Libertarian, I find it incredibly irritating that the FIRST point of contention between Republicans and Libertarians that is listed is legalizing marijuana. Yes, I absolutely agree that laws prohibiting use of marijuana are invasive, however, it is NOT the first point of contention. I would think that the ever exanding role of government in our daily lives oppressive tax rates would be first. For Libertarians to be taken seriously, our first 'point of contention' cannot be about legalizing drugs. It has to be about the larger issues that more of our fellow Americans are worried about. Making 'legalizing marijuana' #1 on the list just makes us look crazy.
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I go back to 1980 when I was first involved in the Libertarian Party. I campaigned for Ed Clark that year. Very tough since my parents were for Reagan and so were most voters. But even back then, the “Moral Majority” had too much clout. Since then, social conservatism seemed to take precedence over fiscal conservatism. Reagan was the least destructive Republican president to free enterprise. But he was honest. He always said he is trying to cut the rate of increase in deficit spending. I give him a lot of credit for that.
There are a lot of well-meaning Republicans who hold up the book “Atlas Shrugged,” and say we should be like the heros (Rush Limbaugh), but they turn around and support The Patriot Act, tracking sexually active young women to make sure they don't get an abortion, and prosecuting customers of prostitutes in voluntary consensual activities to the fullest extent of the law.
The battle for individual liberty is not won in the Republican Party. Just one year ago there was one in the Oval office who was anything but capitalist. Just three years ago the Congress was led by Republicans who pushed through the socialist Prescription Medical Benefit. The word is out: The talk is Capitalism. The walk is the religious agenda. And the average American sees the hypocrisy.
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This is a pretty good description of the policy differences between republicans and Democrats.
I think there is some misunderstanding implying that the Libertarion position on gay marriage is closer to the Democrat position then it really is. I am not an expert but I will try to outline my understanding of the Libertarian position on this issue.
It is true the libertarians want Government out of marriage this does not mean they will show much interest in extending a government mandate for gay marriage or civil unions. Keep in mind the libertarians want less government. The libertarians might characterize the Democratic position as an extension of priviliges only granted to individuals who have sex with the official approval of the government. Still discriminatory to everyone left and a reaffirmation of the governments power to meddle in a person's sex life.
While I believe the libertarians are unlikely to show much enthusiasm for either the Democratic or Republican positions on this issue, I expect some reciprocity from either party on other issues could obtain some token support from libertarians. I say token because most libertarians like to think of themselves as unwilling to compromise their principles. This is not strictly true as previous seductions by the Republican's has proved. However, once bit twice shy and they have recently been bit hard.
If it was up to the Libertarians, they would just leave it up to you and the churches, sea captains, a shamman or whomever you felt had the authority to marry you. I imagine they expect most people would get married in a church just like now. However, this doesn't mean the Libertarians think the churches should have any legal authority over what constitutes a marriage. If you think it requires a priest, then fine. For you it does.
This of course would make heterosexual, and LGBT couples equal. As well as unmarried people, I might add. What about insurance? They would say that's between you and your employer. Filing jointly and other legal perks of marriage? They would say there shouldn't be any. Not from the government anyway. Keep in mind they wouldn't advocate removing tax deductions, inheritance allowances, etc from married couples. Instead they would advocate expanding those things to everyone regardless of marital status. As far as the Libertarians are concerned you shouldn't even have to tell the government if you are married or not.
Divorce would be sticky under a Libertarian approach. I mean if the government doesn't even now your married how are they supposed to referee a divorce? It would probably lead to many people adopting very formal legal contracts entered at the time of marriage spelling out any future division of assets in case of divorce.
Of course this position is easily attacked, “What! You mean polygamy would be legal?” Yup. If you and a bunch of other people all want to say you are married, then most libertarians would have no problem with this. In the most extreme cases, (underage marriage, beastiality, etc.) I think you would find some split within libertarians. The majority of libertarians would probably come down on the traditional side of these cases even though an argument could be made following libertarian principles that even these cases should be legal.
Finally, I also think the description of libertarians being for seperation of church and state is a little misleading as well. They do support the seperation of Church and State. But they also support the seperation of school and state. Thinking that libertarians are going to find common cause with Democrats in keeping religion out of schools is misleading. Libertarians would privatise all schools then let the parents send their kids to schools with as much or as little in school religion as they wanted and could find.
If this is a mischaracterization of the libertarian position forgive me, I follow quite a few libertarian blogs but this may still only represent a slice of libertarian opinion.
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[...] the 2009 Tea Parties. This pledge is also likely to cause even greater friction in already strained relations between Republican conservatives and the Libertarians who originally started the Tea [...]
[...] over the Tea Parties and purging genuine libertarians from the leadership roles, leading to a growing rift between the two. The claim of non-partisanship has been rocked recently by open sponsorship of [...]
[...] note: This is a first hand account of something going on behind the scenes in the Growing Rift Between Libertarians and Republicans, as first reported by [...]
I agree with the description of party differences, with maybe one exception; it's my understanding that most Libertarians and Ron Paul were for closed borders and legal immigration.
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