After Forty-Five Years in National Politics, It’s Time for the Libertarian Party to Win Some Elections
By Lee Enochs
“The Best Government is the Least Amount of Government”
It is time for the Libertarian Party to win some elections. This is the conclusion I have come to after thinking through the current political atmosphere in the United States.
After forty-five years of being in national politics, it is high time for Libertarians to develop a viable strategy to win elections on the local, statewide and national levels.
The Libertarian Party is by far the party with the best ideas on personal liberty and economic liberty, so why can’t they win some elections?
There are plenty of reasons for this lack of electoral success. First of all, as a much smaller entity than the Democratic and Republican national conventions, Libertarians do not have the advantages and infrastructure that the older more established parties maintain.
Secondly, the fact that no politician running as a Libertarian Party candidate has won a consequential election is a determining factor in the lack of electoral success. Many voters do not want to vote for a candidate of an entity that they perceive as an obscure political party with no chance of winning.
If the Libertarian Party actually won and election or two, this would go a long ways to undermining skepticism in the minds of the voters as to the electability of a Libertarian.
The third reason that the Libertarian Party has had very little electoral success has to do with petty infighting between Libertarians themselves. While it is good to debate issues and have strong convictions about things, many people will not vote for a party of a politician who seems to always be squabbling with each other.
For the Libertarian Party to start winning elections, there must be a degree of pragmatism on the part of Libertarians to adapt their message to contemporary audiences that can understand and relate to it.
The recent success of former Libertarian Presidential candidate Austin Petersen to use social and national media to communicate a viable, small government message should pointed out as an example for Libertarians to follow.
Libertarians can win elections if they change their political culture and adapt their message to the contemporary electorate. As the Rolling Stones once said, “the time is ripe for revolution.”
