PJ Media

I went through similar, but ten years or so before you, with Ron Paul being the last time I took serious interest in an LP candidate.

I first heard of “libertarian” as a more logical alternative to conservative and liberal in 1976 somewhere between 9th and 10th grades leading up to Ford’s election. Er… I mean Carter’s election… ugh. The description of socially liberal and fiscally conservative clicked like it was the most logical thing I had ever heard.

I followed Ed Clark’s candidacy in 1980, but I think I voted for Reagan because, hello, I had to vote against Carter, and Reagan smartly sounded libertarian in some of the most important ways, nullifying that threat when it was at its worst.

I discovered and subscribed to Reason in the early eighties. Well, it would have been the end of 81 or beginning of 82. It was around the same time I read 1984 and ended up with nightmares, to which I was not prone. Then I read Atlas Shrugged, which made them go away. After that, I joined the Massachusetts and national Libertarian Parties, attending about three annual state conventions.

My very first impression of Libertarians in person was the attractive young lady who manned the registration table bitching whinily because I, being a little late to arrive, was making her miss part of a film being shown. It was, as I recall, Anarchism in America.

My lasting impressions of Libertarians in person, apart from the overall conclusion that at least the state party was too much of a clique, were twofold:

One was when I was shopping for books at the obligatory book dealer table at the convention. I was looking eagerly at a book about a legal theory of strict liability, because it was a concept I had come up with entirely on my own and was intrigued to see in the title of a book. An overbearing LP guy, aware I was a newbie, insisted almost to the point of forcing me that I would NOT buy that book, but would stick to more basic books instead. I still can’t believe the gall.

Another was Rebecca Shipman, whose candidacy for governor fell during my membership, laughing at me for not knowing that men could belong to the League of Women Voters. She was one of those overtly friendly yet obnoxiously smarmy and superior people. The same thing made me uncomfortable with my marketing professor and helped ensure I didn’t choose that as a major.

So, yeah, there were cool people, and it would have helped were I less shy and more assertive, and more actively interested in hands-on political participation, but it was very much a clique.

I’ve never stopped being a libertarian, but the Libertarians are unrealistic (a more verbose and polite way of saying “crazy”) and serve best as a fount of libertarian nudging. This Presidency went completely off the rails when the scope or even the presence of the libertarian leaning elements among the voters was dsmissed.

The one thing Libertarians used to point out that was true is that most people are at least 51% libertarian. Right now a Ron Paul, as much as 100% so, can’t win, but a 70% or so libertarian Republican could.

A shame there’s not one handy.