For the Republicans on this board who like to claim they are actually Libertarians

Nice faux outrage.

The dems do the same crap.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politic...emocrat-appeal-to-keep-green-party-off-ballot

Democratic Party schemes to remove COVID-19 whistleblower, Green Party candidates from the ballot

This one from 2020 in Texas…

Texas Democrats are successfully suing to kick Green Party candidates off the November ballot

 

Hahahaha. Midterms are coming very soon. Buckle up.

 

I think it’s valuable to take an evolutionary perspective when analyzing political parties and politicians. The primary evolutionary rule is probably that any entity that doesn’t take care of its own survival will at some point cease to exist. The longer the political game runs, the more it should be dominated by what we might call “selfish” entities, who ensure their own survival.

We can take Liz Chaney as an example. Let’s assume that she is now actually standing up for her principles (instead of miscalculating her best path to survival). What is to become of her? The likely answer is gone.

I agree Channing that republicans aren’t libertarians, but I don’t think this is the best demonstration of that. As Q points out, the democrats will push on the Green Party, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in the environment. I think the evidence is in their deeds, like DeSantis’ outlawing the investment in firms that appear to be woke.

 

Hmm, I think we might be seeing two similarly sounding but separate concepts: Libertarian, big L, which is one who belongs to the Libertarian political party, or libertarian, small l, which is one who favors individual liberty. I’m assuming that the “libertarian” folks who vote Republican are claiming the latter identity. Just as many Democratic voters see themselves as “green” rather than “Green”.

I still think you have a point that many Republican actions go against libertarian, I.e. classical liberal, philosophy, but I don’t think these people are actually interested in the Libertarian political party.

 

Righties defense for everything is “The libs do it too!” Lol

 

There are not a bunch of pubs running around claiming to be libertarians.

 

Not all the time, but when its convenient they do

 

While I'm sure the Libertarian Party and the Greens are both homes for disaffected Dems/Reps and plenty of cranks/opportunists, "Green" isn't really a coherent ideology like Libertarianism.

 

Thanks for helping make my point. Both sides do this crap and what is convenient to them…

 

I dont think both sides claim to be libertarians when convenient

 

I am not defending it. Just point out this crap happens on both sides.

 

No. They claim to be whatever is convenient. Worse is when they just make false claims to agitate. Both sides…

 

I remember years ago (decades ago, to be honest) that I considered true libertarians to be a kind of kooky element on the left. Now they're on the right.

Or was the change my imagination?

 

Certainly an oversimplification, but the right traditionally seemed more interested in economic than social liberty, and the left more interested in social rather than economic liberty. Libertarians would have highly been interested in both, so it’s not self-evident to which side they more closely align. They seem to have more of a political connection to the right today, but I don’t think it’s very strong.

 

The old joke was that libertarians are Republicans who smoke weed. It's all a spectrum of course, and I'm not sure either side should feel the need to place ideological purity over practical concerns.

 

Both major parties try to keep minor parties that can draw votes from their candidates off the ballot. It's strategic. The difference between the Republicans and Libertarian Party and the Democrats and the Greens is that on environmental issues the Green Party is more hard line whereas mainstream Democrats are willing to compromise. On the other hand there is a real difference between the Republican Party and Libertarians on issues of personal freedom and the role of the state. While using the rhetoric of freedom, today's Republican Party has no problem with using the state to restrict individual choice most prominently the right to bodily autonomy for women which conflicts with the theology driving the party. Libertarians support personal freedom whether it's the right to an abortion especially early in pregnancy or the right to use recreational drugs.