Arvin Vohra, Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party released this open letter to Democratic voters today in response to their candidate’s decisive defeat:
Democratic voters:
Do you know why the Democratic Party lost despite better organization and more money?
It’s because you literally nominated an openly pro-war Democrat. (Obama at least pretended otherwise.)
The current version Democratic Party is strongest in politically correct parts of cities, where people are often more influenced by the fashion of politics than by the substance. But the real Democratic voters, the ones who have been Democrats for decades, are not really interested in safe spaces and nonsense. They are opposed to war. Many of them became Democrats in response to the Vietnam war and to Nixon’s War on Drugs (which is ironic, given that Democrats initially got the U.S. military involved in Vietnam).
When you nominated an openly pro-war “Democrat”, that was frankly too much. They could not support that type of person. And rightly so.
To those anti-war Democrats: what do you do when a spouse mistreats you? First you try to convince them otherwise. If that doesn’t work, you leave, and make them earn you back.
It’s time for you to ditch the pro-War “Democratic” party. Join the actual anti-War party: the Libertarian Party. If the Democrats want your vote and your energy, make them earn it. Make them pledge to end the War on Drugs and end U.S. involvement in foreign civil wars. Libertarian Candidates have already signed pledges to that effect.
And to the anti-War left that has been missing since 2008: please stop the hypocrisy. Democrats bombing foreign countries is just as bad as Republicans bombing foreign countries. If you cannot hold your own candidates the the same standards you hold Republican candidates, you are either hypocrites or fools.
If you want to stop war, bring the troops home, shut down foreign military bases, and cut taxes accordingly, please join the Libertarian Party. Learn more at lp.org.
In Liberty,
Arvin Vohra
Vice Chair
Libertarian National Committee
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The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 and is the third largest political party in the United States.
The Libertarian Party seeks to expand personal freedoms, dramatically reduce taxes and government interference in the economy, and avoid meddling in overseas conflicts.
Issue statements, and open letters like this one through standard media, and social media channels more than bi-annually
The LNC used to email weekly press releases. Maybe they still do? The LPCA likewise emailed weekly op-eds.
The problem was never a lack of libertarian press releases. It’s that the MSM usually ignores them.
I’ve lost count of the friends I’ve lost (DemoCraps and NSGOPers) for supporting Gary Johnson….
Mr. Mackie, did you at least vote outside the two-party duopoly like I did?
Before the libertarian party becomes one that will garner enough votes to make a difference in a national election, they should stand up a candidate who can hold their own in a public forum. Being the anti-war, pro-drugs party is awesome, but that doesn’t mean the libertarian party candidate should have zero knowledge of issues outside the borders. Johnson’s foreign policy knowledge paled in comparison to any person who bothers to tune in to NPR a couple days a week. That’s just unacceptable, and it cost him my vote.
Also, the Libertarian party needs more visibility in general: more visibility on MSM all the time, not just when elections are happening. Issue statements, and open letters like this one through standard media, and social media channels more than bi-annually (look, it got me here to this website). Get the contrasting Libertarian party brand out there for every major policy decision. Look at the success of The Young Turks on YouTube and satellite radio, emulate that success with shows/podcasts of your own or, at the very least, get some guest spots there when you can. Don’t make the mistake of just speaking to your own Libertarian echo-chamber, speak to people who disagree with you, or don’t know you yet and start the process of showing them the difference. Start now for 2020, start priming your candidate now and gaining some name recognition so you aren’t left out of the debates next time around.
I live in NH, the landing spot for the “Free State Project.” We barely see libertarian candidates on the state ballot here in anything but the major seats. For example, there were none for state senate seats this time around despite seven incumbent state senators not seeking re-election. That seems odd. How is the Libertarian party going to make any headway if they don’t bother with state-level government? For Federal appointments, this time around for senate, Libertarian Brian Chabot got fewer votes than Aaron Day (the independent). Libertarian House candidate Robert Lombardo got less than independent Shawn O’Connor. What is going on at the national level to support them?
The summary is, I like this open letter. Too bad it wasn’t sent before the election and too bad it’s the first open letter from the Libertarian party I have seen.
-WilliamMackie
With respect I’m going to disagree somewhat with a vice chair having been to both the RNC convention and that the DNC convention I can say with authority that very few peoplr really thrilled with the way that went down at either event. It was demonstrated by both parties who was going to be the pick. The people didn’t have a say, not really.
Consequently many Bernie supporters stayed home. Due to the fact that government has been an utter failure in providing services for other demographics, those people stayed home as well.
Meanwhile there was a certain “Disgust Factor” people heard the FBI would the FBI said that if any other people did what she did, those people would be in jail. Trump got those people. This race was not about anti-war vs. War because both candidates we’re talking about getting US military forces involved overseas in places where we don’t belong. If it was ONLY a war vs anti-war race Gary Johnson would have won.
Unfortunately the entire population of the United States is going to have to deal with the policies made by Trump, and the sad reality is that all of his policies are not going to be any different than what we have been dealing with all along. In short the next four years is going to look much the same as the years since George Bush II took office. We will have more debt we will have a continuation of the endless Wars of aggression we will lose more freedoms, and in four years unless the libertarian party recruits a legitimate candidate we will windup with another Democrat in office to continue the downward slide of our nation..
Sincerely,
Steve Scheetz