Third Party Devotees, It’s Time for Something New

In the 1800s the Whigs lasted 20-some years and then were tossed into the dustbin of history. Issues and political movements come and go. In 1948 the Dixiecrats had their boomlet. 

In the 1970s, even into the ’80s, to me it made some sense to be a Libertarian. They were for self-reliance; they were conservatives against war. Some of their other ideas appealed to me, too. In the last 20 years, with most people who call themselves Libertarians consistently voting Republican, the Libertarian movement has been assimilated. Its original philosophy has become an anachronism in the political milieu.

In the 1990s, to advance the cause of the Greens, it made sense to back Ralph Nader as a presidential candidate. In 2004 voting for Nader seemed more stubborn than loyal; it seemed more foolish than progressive.

The gun-toting Libertarians of 2014, who are marching to the beat of the perpetually angry Tea Party, bear little resemblance to their forerunners. It's time for today's sincere Libertarians, who aren't actually cloaked Republicans, to do more than merely try to sabotage major party candidacies. Sorry, sabotage isn’t a solution. It isn’t a philosophy or a plan to accomplish anything. It's mostly noise.

It's high time for authentic Libertarians to pack up their good intentions and walk away from the mean-spirited rightwing extremists with which they have little in common. Yes, third party devotees, it’s time for something new.