The Libertarians' Ill-Conceived Warning

In time for this year's 9/12 March, the Libertarian Party issued a press release two days ago featuring statements from its executive director, Wes Benedict, in which he warns the Tea Partiers of the dangers of allying with the Republican Party.

Going through Mr. Benedict's statements, I suspect he not only underestimates the movement, he also doesn't understand them.

Mr. Benedict starts off by comparing Republicans and Democrats in an attempt to present the two major parties as joined-in-the-hip big government proponents, citing presidential administrations (including Ronald Reagan's, while conveniently overlooking the fact he was ending the Cold War against the Soviets) and the congressional leadership under Newt Gingrich.  He also cites the usual suspects in the current ranks of the Republican Party, such as John McCain, John Cornyn and John Boehner.  In the middle of the comparisons, Mr. Benedict notes:

"Republicans seem to think we're idiots. For decades they have paid lip-service to shrinking government, while consistently doing the opposite in office.

"Our fear is that Tea Partiers might say 'This time it will be different.' No it won't. If you vote for Republicans this time, it will just reinforce the message that they can lie to you and grow government with impunity.

What Mr. Benedict fails to understand (or doesn't want to understand) is that the Republican Party is the strongest vehicle for the overall Patriot movement to use in order to stop the progressive agenda in Washington, since we are (like it or not) a nation with an unwritten system of two major parties, and the Republican Party is one of those major parties.  The Libertarian Party is still a minor party, and an alliance right now between the movement and the party would result in the Democrats retaining control; in other words, the progressive agenda continues.


Mr. Benedict further fails to understand that the Tea Parties (as well as the 9/12'ers and like-minded groups) are not supportive of any political party, but rather individual candidates.  Those individuals in the Republican Party Mr. Benedict goes after, like John Boehner and John Cornyn, are not immune from the efforts of the Patriot movement.  If they continue to pursue big government policies, he can be sure the Tea Parties, the 9/12 Project and like-minded groups will fight to replace those leaders with leaders who will pursue policies of limited government.

This leads to Mr. Benedict's underestimating of the movement, forgetting the fact that at least two sitting Republican Senators and one sitting Republican Congressman have already been upset by primary challengers; something the Tea Parties and others played a role in.  Quite frankly, we're getting rid of the big government Republicans, the moderates who compromise with progressives; something Mr. Benedict fails to notice, as also with this particular line:

"Current Republicans are just as bad as past Republicans.

Is that what he thinks of Marlin Stutzman?  Jackie Walorski?  Mike Pence?  Sarah Palin?  Joe Miller?  Sharron Angle?  Rand Paul?  Marco Rubio?  Christine O'Donnell?   Maybe not, but even so, Mr. Benedict overlooks the contribution of limited government proponents in the Republican Party, including Ron Paul (whom he talks about approvingly in his press release).

Frankly, Mr. Benedict's warning to the Tea Parties is an ill-conceived one.  There may come a time when Tea Partiers, 9/12'ers and like-minded individuals will be supporting more Libertarian candidates than Republican, but 2010 is not the year.