Edgier group takes control of the LP

The Libertarian Party is the nation’s third-largest political party, yet has never made an impact on the electoral process outside of being a spoiler in a few races. The party fields candidates who rarely win office, and its largest presidential vote total (3.3%) came in 2016 with Gary Johnson at the head of the ticket.

As a result, few people pay attention to the LP’S usual party infighting, which is reminiscent of the famous saying about academia: The politics are so vicious because the stakes are so small. Yet now the party is making national headlines.

The party’s Mises Caucus — an outgrowth of former Republican Congressman Ron Paul’s liberty movement — has methodically taken control of the party organization. At its national convention in Reno last month, 69% of delegates elected the caucus’ candidate, Angela Mcardle, to become the party chairperson.

The caucus previously grabbed control of 37 state parties.

As libertarian Reason magazine put it in a recent article, “the Mises Caucus claims to offer an edgier, more libertarian organization. Foes accuse it of right-wing deviationism and racism.” The lefty Southern Poverty Law Center accuses the Mises group of allying with the “hard right” — a criticism the emergent faction simultaneously relishes and denies.

Mises Caucus’ efforts certainly give libertarians reason for concern. It immediately removed this line from the platform: “We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant.” It softened the party’s pro-choice and open-borders stances. Its social-media approach relishes fights against “woke-ism.”

Most positions remain standard-issue libertarian (ending the drug war, stopping U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts). And its more-sophisticated organizing tactics — focusing electoral efforts on local elections while using national races to promote big ideas — are a change from the LP’S rudderless past.

The LP has shifted from a party with a socially liberal edge to one that courts social conservatives, proving there’s no respite from our culture wars. The new party will garner attention and controversy, but we hope it doesn’t lose sight of the main goal: winning more Americans from all walks of life to the cause of liberty.