United Liberty
Should libertarians support Mitt Romney?
Mon, 09/24/2012 - 12:20pm | posted by Kevin Boyd
One of the biggest questions many libertarians are dealing with is who to support for president this year. The Libertarian Party has nominated a somewhat credible candidate, at least by his resume alone, in former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Some others are trying to mount a nationwide write in campaign to try and get Ron Paul elected, even though his campaign is over.
While our conservative friends are trying to persuade us to support Mitt Romney. Kurt Schlichter has written one of the more persuasive pieces over on Breitbart’s Big Government:
There is no more time for games, no room for hurt feelings. Ron Paul fans, you need to choose, because not voting for Romney is a vote for Obama. It’s that simple. And you could make the difference.
[…]
Making no choice in this election is a choice –it’s a choice for a collectivist who will get two or three Supreme Court picks over a man who picked a guy, Paul Ryan, who understands capitalism and its unbreakable link to human freedom. Now, this is a two-way street. Romney and Ryan need to reach out to libertarians over their common ground. Fortunately, there is lots of common ground.
No, the Republican Party is not a libertarian party, but it is the only party with any libertarian element. It’s the only place you have any chance of being heard. And with guys like Rand Paul and the libertarian-friendly Tea Party elements, you can be in the GOP.
Most of that is true. The Republican Party of the two major parties is the one that has a genuine libertarian element. The Democratic Party as seen in its convention is generally hostile to individual liberty.
The Republicans are not libertarians, but at least libertarian-conservatives make up an influential and growing part of the party. There are exactly zero “libertarian-liberals.” Nor can there be; Democrats embrace everything libertarians oppose.
That’s partially true. Libertarian-conservatives (like myself) are growing in influence in the GOP. However, there are left-leaning libertarians. They’re more concerned about social liberty than economic liberty. They will never cast a vote for Mitt Romney.
Finally:
The Romney-Ryan camp needs to do its part too; they need to reaffirm their commitment to Constitutional liberty. Freedom needs to be part of the conversation, not just Obama’s appalling record. While they can’t undo the gratuitous insults at the convention, they can make their case to the possibly decisive libertarians.
The reason why many libertarians can’t back Romney right now is that he has not made this argument. He needs to not only articulate a vision for freedom, but a positive one as well. The current argument he’s trying to make with the “makers vs takers” is a negative one that will turn off more people than it engages.
If and when Romney starts to makes the positive argument for freedom, libertarians should back him. Until then, each libertarian should vote their conscience.
Republicans are very good at talking the talk when it comes to “the positive argument for freedom,” they are absolutely horrendous at actually advocating and passing into law policies that promote freedom.
So don’t we need something more than mere words before voting for the next George W. Bush?
My take is no, and in general the Breitbart piece is condescending as hell and does not make a compelling argument:
http://www.libertariansjustlikeyou.com/2012/09/delusional-appeals-from-b…
Very informative and helpful. I was searching for this information but there are very limited resources. Thank you for providing this information
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Mitt Romney and Obama are both for “BIG GOVERNMENT.” Obama wants to increase the debt through entitlement programs and the big brother security state. Mitt will cut the entitlement money but then funnel 100% of that and borrow another 40% from China and pump it all into military spending for more endless neocon warfare. F___ both of these guys. As a voter, I refuse to fall for the old lesser-of-two evils choice advice coming from the Romney old guard republican handlers.
Has Romney given Libertarians any reason at all to vote for him?
The reason I am going to vote for Romney is because if I dont, Obama will get elected. OMG Obama is a socialsit with a communist and Marxist upbringing. Look up his mentor Revernand Wright if you want to see what Obama really believes. Its scarey!!!! We dont have much choice at this point and it may bug the crap out of me that we cant get Johnson or Ron Paul but I certainly dont want OBAMA—You think its bad now!!!
Should libertarians support Mitt Romney?………….Nope! They should support a Libertarian silly. As for the other two guys……what the hell’s the difference?
The difference is Obama is a socialist—do research on his background—it will scare you. Go see the movie 2016 Obamas America. You will be shocked. At this pioint we only have 2 choices—Romney or Obama and Romney isnt HALF as bad as Obama. Obama is corrupt as they get—and he hasnt done ANYTHING for this country.
When Romney says that he does NOT support NDAA or the Patriot act I will support him, otherwise….NO.
In order for Romney to win my vote he’d have to move to the right.
Neo-Cons begging Ron Paul Supprters for votes is very entertaining. The GOP really screwed the pooch when they nominated Twitt Romney. They’ll just get a re-play of the 2008 defeat. Because the GOP nominee is a Liberal Neo-Con; I’m voting Constitution Party, again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDJEc92d38
Thanks for the article. As far as I know, most non-LP libertarians vote Green or Dem.
For info on people using voluntary Libertarian tools on similar and other issues, please see the non-partisan Libertarian International Organization @ http://www.Libertarian-International.org ….
There is no such thing as a libertarian voting for Mitt Romney. It doesn’t exist in nature. Voting for Mitt Romney (or Barack Obama) is an explicitly anti-libertarian action. They both stand somewhere around 80-90% against individual liberty. Therefore a vote for them is a vote against individual liberty. Thus, not libertarian.
10% libertarian is not libertarian. Those who’ve been suckered into propping up Republicans because of the GOP’s supposed semi-libertarian nature need to remember that.
Dont cut off your nose to spite your face as they say…If you don’t vote or you vote for Gary Johnson, you might as well be voting for Obama. Obama is a socialist and a WHOLE heck of a lot scarier than Romney. When you vote for Johnson or dont vote at all—you are taking votes away from Romney who will lose to Obama. You can have your priciples or stand your ground but at this point, Johnson doesnt have any chance to win so Romney is the better of the 2 choices. I say Romney is better than Obama BY FAR!!!
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