Libertarians Argue With Libertarians

For once, something is actually on the line....

Time to be honest — although I’m a libertarian, I have very little knowledge of Libertarian party politics. I don’t know who’s running for the nomination at the top of the Libertarian ticket, and the only VP candidate I’ve heard of is Clint Russell. (Who tweets a lot of stuff I agree with.) For that reason, I’m going into this Libertarian VP debate almost blind. I’m not sure if that’s going to make this more fun or less — only one way to find out!

It turns out Dave Smith is moderating this thing! Score!

Clint Russell is indeed one of the two candidates, and he took the microphone first where he explained the covid years really ‘radicalized’ him. He responded by starting a podcast where he “screamed into the æther” about the ridiculousness of the covid rules. He was further upset about how the Libertarian party didn’t speak out against those covid rules. Russell thinks and fears that World War III could be even more authoritarian and spoke out against the multiple endless wars we’ve found ourselves in.

The other candidate for Libertarian VP is Larry Sharpe, who has spent the last 8 years inside the party. He noted that he’s the only candidate since 2016 who’s still around. (He uttered the phrase “celebritarian”, which I’d never heard but I like.) Sharpe notes that he was worried that Gary Johnson (the 2016 candidate) would leave the party — which he did. Sharpe stated that he’s spent 8 years building coalitions between libertarians (which is much like herding cats). Sharpe claimed this led to over 100 Libertarian victories — though those victories have since been erased. Sharpe explained that he’s only in the race because of Lars Mapstead, who understood his plan all along.

With the opening statements out of the way, Smith prodded Russell to name his preferred candidate and what the goal of the campaign should be. Russell responded that he expects Libertarian turnout to be smaller because RFK Jr. is in the race taking up a lot of the dissident vote. He then claimed Josh Smith and Michael Rectenwald were both great options for the top of the ticket.

Sharpe noted that with RFK Jr. on the ballot, the Libertarian party is in danger of losing ballot access by dropping below 0.5%. He predicts that Libertarian party will finish FIFTH without drastically changing course. He stated he wants to ensure the party gets the most votes possible, and Mapstead is the key to retaining ballot access.

Russell countered by stating that while ballot access is important, it can’t be the focus of the campaign — that should be the man-made disasters affecting the country. Russell believes that starting a Ron Paul-like movement is the most important thing. He stated that he wants to bring people into the party long-term, not court people who will just leave after the election.

Sharpe noted that while it’s great to get on a huge podcast, he’d rather speak directly to the people who can raise money and then let local libertarians do the heavy lifting.

Turning to policy issues, Smith asked the candidates about Ukraine.

Going first, Sharpe noted the question is really about the American Empire, and explained that the military industrial complex is actually a jobs program, and we can’t just shut it down cold turkey. Sharpe explained that we should fund peace, not war. He stated we can’t just down bases overseas, we have to allow contracts to end and wean ourselves off the war machine.

Smith wanted clarification with regards to Ukraine and Israel, and Sharpe asserted we should not be funding any wars. Since we’re spending the money anyway, Sharpe argues it would be better spend funding peace, perhaps in Jordan.

Russell took the position that it’s deeply immoral to be funding these wars. He doesn’t want to wean ourselves off the war machine, he wants to shut it down ASAP. He noted we can’t afford these wars even if we wanted to, and Boeing employees can find something else to do.

Smith turned the conversation to immigration and asked the candidates their views.

Going first, Sharpe explained that in a perfect world, Libertarians could be for open borders, but in today’s world that’s not reasonable. He noted that in New York City, illegals simply get an ID so they can work in the United States, and those corporations will get their cheap labor one way or another. Sharpe suggested making legal immigration easier so that fewer people would cheat while also deporting the ‘bad guys.’ (He also claimed Trump was lying about deporting illegals.)

In response, Russell noted that we’re dealing with nearly 10 times the number of illegal immigrants from the Bush years. After doing his research, he found the UN funds the NGOs that fund the illegal immigration. Russell agreed with Sharpe that increasing legal immigration is key, though he’s more open to shutting the border.

Next, Smith asked the candidates about the current Libertarian convention. Is it acceptable to have so many non-Libertarians speaking at the convention?

Russel expressed his appreciation for the attention, and noted that the more attention the convention gets, the more attention libertarians (and their ideas) get. He noted that RFK Jr. just said he would pardon Snowden — and that probably wouldn’t have come up if Kennedy hadn’t been speaking to a room full of Libertarians.

Sharpe took the opposite position, worrying that the media could trash Libertarians due to Trump’s presence. (lol) He claimed he’s cautiously optimistic from what he’s seen so far, though.

Due to the debate starting late (lol Libertarians), so the debate moved directly to closing remarks.

Up first, Sharpe stated the job of the VP is to support the presidential candidate. He pointed to the 2016, when he was sometimes in the role of supporting presidential candidate Gary Johnson. He explained this experience makes him the better VP candidate, and once again promoted Lars Mapstead for president.

Russell conceded the fact that he’s not a politician and didn’t even want to do run as VP. He admitted that Sharpe is the better politicker, but he’s in the race to simply tell the truth — and if that doesn’t exactly support the presidential candidate, too bad. He believes the current moment requires a wave of truth-telling. Russell is worried that RFK Jr. is getting support because of his truth-telling surrounding covid, but Russell stated the race is about more than that singular issue.

After a straw poll of the audience, one of these candidates will be back shortly to debate Vivek Ramaswamy! (I’ll update once results come in!)

Edit: Clint Russell won, 342-305. He will be debating Vivek shortly!

The full video of the debate can be found here. (I’ll embed if possible later)

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