Will the Libertarian Party Field A Candidate Against Presidential Candidate Rand Paul?

[CaptLouAlbano]

If they did that, they'd be stupid, but I don't know that they would. Heck, Ron ran as the LP candidate before.

They ran a candidate against Amash in 2012. I wouldn't put it past them.

And yes Ron ran on the LP ticket after he left Congress. In my opinion, he was an opportunist. He used the LP ticket as a platform which helped him build a mailing list, which he then converted to newsletter subscribers. I don't believe Ron was under the delusion that he could actually win - I think he is smarter than that. Note that when Ron re-entered politics he did so as a Republican, and at no point during his second term as a House member did he switch to the LP, which he very well could have and may have been able to retain his seat.

Oh and before anyone says "Ron is a lifetime member of the LP". Big deal. It's a donation that gets you that "membership", it has nothing to do with party registration. Considering he was using their party for his 88 campaign, it's no surprise that he would throw a few bucks their way.

 

[mosquitobite]

If Rand took back his "I'm not a libertarian" statement, I could see them stepping back.

As it stands, Rand is putting forth the idea that he's a "True-blue-conservative-constitutionalist-Republican" - and he's not talking about libertarian philosophy or having a discussion about what the role of government should be from a libertarian POV.

To pretend that he's a "good enough" libertarian to not run a candidate is to give up on libertarianism altogether.

They ran Bob Barr??!

 

[torchbearer]

yes.
they will elect national delegates.
those national delegates will nominate only those who are interested in their nomination. (rand won't be)
thus, the LP will have a candidate on the ballot.

perhaps all those people should just eliminate their party so some people here will feel better.

 

[cajuncocoa]

They ran a candidate against Amash in 2012. I wouldn't put it past them.

You do know that they don't exist to help the GOP, right? And by Rand's own words, he's not a libertarian, so why shouldn't they? I wouldn't worry about it though...and I'd probably vote for Rand over whomever they run anyway.

And yes Ron ran on the LP ticket after he left Congress. In my opinion, he was an opportunist. He used the LP ticket as a platform which helped him build a mailing list, which he then converted to newsletter subscribers. I don't believe Ron was under the delusion that he could actually win - I think he is smarter than that. Note that when Ron re-entered politics he did so as a Republican, and at no point during his second term as a House member did he switch to the LP, which he very well could have and may have been able to retain his seat.

Oh and before anyone says "Ron is a lifetime member of the LP". Big deal. It's a donation that gets you that "membership", it has nothing to do with party registration. Considering he was using their party for his 88 campaign, it's no surprise that he would throw a few bucks their way.

Never let an opportunity to take a dig at Ron go to waste.

 

[VoluntaryAmerican]

They ran a candidate against Amash in 2012. I wouldn't put it past them.

It's their strategy to get as many people on the ballot as possible.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

yes.
they will elect national delegates.
those national delegates will nominate only those who are interested in their nomination. (rand won't be)
thus, the LP will have a candidate on the ballot.

perhaps all those people should just eliminate their party so some people here will feel better.

No need to eliminate, just need to do the hard work that it takes to build a political party, instead of fucking around and wasting money by running someone for national office. How about each state affiliate focuses all of their time and effort on winning ONE congressional seat per state. If they had 20% success, they would actually have a party.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

Never let an opportunity to take a dig at Ron go to waste.

Not a dig at all. If Ron ran in '88 thinking he would win, he would be fucking delusional. I don't think he was. I think he saw an opportunity and he took it - therefore he is an opportunist. Is English your native language because you see to have trouble with it at times.

 

[compromise]

You do know that they don't exist to help the GOP, right? And by Rand's own words, he's not a libertarian, so why shouldn't they? I wouldn't worry about it though...and I'd probably vote for Rand over whomever they run anyway.



Never let an opportunity to take a dig at Ron go to waste.

Rand clearly said that he's a libertarian Republican.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

It's their strategy to get as many people on the ballot as possible.

That's worked real well for them. They are 0 for ??? in the last 20 years.

 

[torchbearer]

No need to eliminate, just need to do the hard work that it takes to build a political party, instead of fucking around and wasting money by running someone for national office. How about each state affiliate focuses all of their time and effort on winning ONE congressional seat per state. If they had 20% success, they would actually have a party.

the state parties are focusing on congressional races, but the party has rules, it has elections-
they are prescribed in time.
those elections will occur. they won't take away from any other effort...
unlike the GOP primary, the campaign for an LP delegate is less than a day long. you show up to the convention with your friends, and you get elected.
does not burn up any extra resources.
the reason LP can't be successful is because Boobus is ignorant.

 

[mad cow]

No need to eliminate, just need to do the hard work that it takes to build a political party, instead of fucking around and wasting money by running someone for national office. How about each state affiliate focuses all of their time and effort on winning ONE congressional seat per state. If they had 20% success, they would actually have a party.

How about each State affiliate focus on winning one STATE representative or senator?If they had a 5% success rate,they would have more of a party than they have today or have ever had.

And I would cheer them on.

 

[AuH20]

the state parties are focusing on congressional races, but the party has rules, it has elections-
they are prescribed in time.
those elections will occur. they won't take away from any other effort...
unlike the GOP primary, the campaign for an LP delegate is less than a day long. you show up to the convention with your friends, and you get elected.
does not burn up any extra resources.
the reason LP can't be successful is because Boobus is ignorant.

The progs have no problem using the Boobus' ignorance against him. Seems that the LP is just not cut out for the trench warfare that typifies American politics.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

the state parties are focusing on congressional races, but the party has rules, it has elections-
they are prescribed in time.
those elections will occur. they won't take away from any other effort...
unlike the GOP primary, the campaign for an LP delegate is less than a day long. you show up to the convention with your friends, and you get elected.
does not burn up any extra resources.
the reason LP can't be successful is because Boobus is ignorant.

No they cannot be a success because they have never worked from the ground up. They run people for office that are in way over their head. For petes sake they are running a waitress/retail manager with an Associates Degree for Governor of Kansas. And yes the states do focus on Congressional races, usually a whole lot of them. Instead of picking one race where they can possibly be competitive, running a candidate that has some past electoral success and standing in the community, they take a shotgun approach and run a bunch of people and get absolutely no where.

If you think the only reason the LP cannot win is because the voters are ignorant, then you are clearly not looking at 40+ years of evidence of the LP's repeated failure. Yet every year they keep doing the same thing. That is insanity.

 

[torchbearer]

No they cannot be a success because they have never worked from the ground up. They run people for office that are in way over their head. For petes sake they are running a waitress/retail manager with an Associates Degree for Governor of Kansas. And yes the states do focus on Congressional races, usually a whole lot of them. Instead of picking one race where they can possibly be competitive, running a candidate that has some past electoral success and standing in the community, they take a shotgun approach and run a bunch of people and get absolutely no where.

If you think the only reason the LP cannot win is because the voters are ignorant, then you are clearly not looking at 40+ years of evidence of the LP's repeated failure. Yet every year they keep doing the same thing. That is insanity.

apparently, libertarians aren't as superficial as you are.
they don't care what you do for a living, they care what your ideas are.
You are an example of the general populations superficiality.
An example why the LP will never win. the problem is the superficiality of the minds of people, not the LP running waitresses.

 

[torchbearer]

The progs have no problem using the Boobus' ignorance against him. Seems that the LP is just not cut out for the trench warfare that typifies American politics.

yes, that is correct.
they believe in the ideas.

 

[cajuncocoa]

Rand clearly said that he's a libertarian Republican.

He also said he doesn't want the "albatross" of the libertarian label around his neck...so that's conflicting.

 

[Christian Liberty]

They ran a candidate against Amash in 2012. I wouldn't put it past them.

To be clear, I like Amash, even more than I like Rand. I wouldn't run a candidate against Amash if it was up to me (Or Rand, for that matter.) That said, Rand and Amash are libertarian leaning conservatives. Ron Paul and Napolitano are full-blown libertarian minarchists. The only way you can really get more libertarian than Ron or the Judge is to be a straight ancap. I'm not saying you're definitively wrong here, but considering the last two LP candidates for President were inferior to even Rand Paul... well come to think of it they might be the establishment in your hypothetical.

And yes Ron ran on the LP ticket after he left Congress. In my opinion, he was an opportunist. He used the LP ticket as a platform which helped him build a mailing list, which he then converted to newsletter subscribers. I don't believe Ron was under the delusion that he could actually win - I think he is smarter than that. Note that when Ron re-entered politics he did so as a Republican, and at no point during his second term as a House member did he switch to the LP, which he very well could have and may have been able to retain his seat.

I don't think any of them think they can win. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. I'll agree with you that the likes of a Rand Paul or Justin Amash, maybe even a Mike Lee... in that type of case the LP shouldn't run against them. But when you've got a Romney or McCain vs Obama election, I think it makes perfect sense to get involved even if you aren't gonna win, just to make a point. 2012 showed us that 1% of the electorate cares but is not going to accept the establishment crap. And no, Gary wasn't my favorite candidate, but you can't compare him to Romney or Obama, he was WAY better than that.

Oh and before anyone says "Ron is a lifetime member of the LP". Big deal. It's a donation that gets you that "membership", it has nothing to do with party registration. Considering he was using their party for his 88 campaign, it's no surprise that he would throw a few bucks their way.

I care what an individual does, not what party he's in. Republicans like Amash and Massie are way better than Libertarians like Barr (horrible) and Gary Johnson (Decent, but not great.)

 

[Christian Liberty]

He also said he doesn't want the "albatross" of the libertarian label around his neck...so that's conflicting.

To be fair, its really hard to tell if he meant "Libertarian."

 

[Brett85]

So even Justin Amash is too big government for the Libertarians?

Justin Amash doesn't support baby murder, so the Libertarian Party probably doesn't view him as being an authentic libertarian.

 

[Jeremy]

Hopefully not