Libertarians Should Stop Trying to Appeal to Voters

For the last decade (and probably much longer) there has been an argument in libertarian circles regarding which strategies and tactics would be most likely to bring about a free society. One side of this argument was illustrated last week when Adam Kokesh and Larken Rose debated on the subject of whether or not libertarians should even participate in the political process. I think the answer is a pretty clear “yes,” to that question because if we don’t then the statists get to just keep voting for one another and claiming “consent.”

You can see that debate here:

But what tactics should we take once we engage in the political process? How do we avoid being blocked, like Ron Paul was? How do we attract libertarians to vote for us, which Gary Johnson failed to do?

The answer is obvious: we should run libertarians with a bold, freedom-oriented message. This not only excites our base but it makes a clear line of demarcation between what we stand for and what the old parties stand for.

For too long we’ve been running these milquetoast libertarians in an effort to attract voters by looking like, sounding like, and campaigning like the old party candidates.

And, guess what we’ve discovered? Voters don’t defect! They don’t come over and vote for us even when we give them two former state governors with the most tame (or lame) version of Libertarian messaging possible. Barely Libertarian messaging. The version of libertarianism that sounds most like the “best” ideas from the old parties.

It inspires nobody, it attracts nobody, and it accomplishes nothing.

So let’s stop doing that.

I have traveled the country with Adam Kokesh over the last year and I’ve seen how people - just everyday people in the grocery store - respond to his message of freedom and Localization. And they love it. We do our movement a giant disservice when we cower to those who tell us that we need to make the message of freedom more “digestible,” to the mainstream voter.

Guess what? We don’t need to target the “mainstream voter.” They don’t defect from the old parties, anyway.

Our target demo should always be the young voter - whose voting habits haven’t been cemented yet - and the nearly 50% of registered voters who don’t typically vote.

That’s our target demo. It’s obvious.

So, how do we do that? Well, that’s what I’ll be writing about in the next few installments.