The Alabama chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations recently endorsed 26 Libertarians for office across the state.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, more commonly referred to as the AFL-CIO, is the largest federation of labor unions in the United States. The mission of the Alabama affiliate, per their website, is to improve working families’ lives, bring economic justice to the workplace, and social justice to Alabama and beyond.
Earlier this month, the Alabama chapter released a list of candidate endorsements on its website. This list included 73 Democrats, nine Republicans, and 26 Libertarians. Of those Libertarian endorsements, seven are candidates running for State Senate and 19 are running for the Alabama State Legislature.
The Libertarian Party of Alabama was assisted in recruitment efforts by the Libertarian Policy Institute. The Libertarian Policy Institute (LPI) is a New Hampshire-based nonprofit that exists to “develop practical libertarian solutions to real world problems.” Other than Alabama, LPI has also been heavily involved in candidate recruitment efforts in Arkansas.
Alabama yields a unique opportunity for Libertarian candidates. The Party has returned to the general election ballot for the first time in 20 years, giving Libertarian supporters and voters sympathetic to minor parties a choice outside of the duopoly. Ballot access also means that voters can utilize straight-ticket voting for Libertarians or the practice of easily voting for an entire slate of candidates from a specific party.
Outside of organizational endorsements like those of the AFL-CIO, ballot access has additionally led to the Libertarian Party candidates in Alabama receiving considerable local media. Lagniappe, the largest independently owned weekly newspaper published in Mobile, Alabama, recently spotlighted the Libertarians on their front cover and gave voters an extensive spread detailing the goals of the party and the work needed to secure a spot on the ballot.
Pressure to succeed is also unsurprisingly high for Alabama Libertarians this cycle. Achieving ballot access was a considerable victory; however, it’s short-lived and the luxury of having continued access is on the line.
Outside the legislature, Libertarian candidates are also contesting a number of statewide positions, including Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, Auditor, Treasurer, and two spots on the Public Service Commission. If any of these Libertarian candidates can successfully earn 20% of the total vote, ballot access for the Party will be guaranteed into the next cycle.
Failure means restarting a process that took Alabama Libertarians approximately 80,000 signatures, $250,000 in costs, and years to accomplish. The general election in Alabama will be on November 8, 2022.
I agree, Gene. Many libertarians seem to have a hostility to unions, particularly in the government sector. Unions provide a way for individuals to associate to stand up against the power of the government or of other individuals organizing themselves in the corporate form. They are in and of themselves profoundly libertarian. Some of the policies or actions they advocate may not be, but they themselves are.
In the early 1960s Nathanial Branden wrote in The Objectivist Newsletter that Right to Work laws interfere with freedom of contract, and therefore Objectivists oppose Right to Work Laws.
We can hope the Libertarian candidates in Alabama have committed to the free market position in opposition to Right to Work laws, and that might be why the AFL-CIO backed them.
Hi! When writing this article, I intended to focus more on the campaign endorsements and less on the specifics surrounding the races because of the many candidates. As a result, I did not anticipate the degree of interest from readers. Following several requests from here and elsewhere, I plan to revisit this story for a future article.
“The LP traditionally supports right-to-work laws”
No.
In general libertarians should not support any statutes unless there is a reasonable waiver, it formulates practice on a core right, or revokes a bad statute.
The devil is in the details with RTW’s, but generally they interfere with freedom of agreement in the associative aspect of unions. As far as attorneys for the worker aspect, they can’t write that away. as the far-left pretends, the real problem . At best most RTW’s are another far-right conservative half-way solution on the issue. They try and fix a defective statute with another.
Rand, Friedman, Nolan, Rothbard, Hospers, and most important I never advocated RTW. Some nice things were said in certain cases or limited times to adress another issue, true. Some officers or LP’s may have been confused on the matter.
Increasingly unions are being officered by libertarians. I’ve been a Union member for decades
I agree Root’s teeth look awesome, and would like more specifics on the endorsement…
Thanks for your comment.
The article doesn’t say why the AFL-CIO endorsed LP candidates. It would be interesting to know.
The LP traditionally supports right-to-work laws, which unions oppose. So, what attracted the AFL-CIO to the LP this time?
Good.
Why? Yes, there may be that few Democraps running, but the AFL-CIO has the option of not endorsing anybody. Off to blog after doing what IPR didn’t do and looking up the races on Ballotpedia to see what’s what, at least in the LIbertarian and Republican endorsements.
I can given you my first hit right now, Jordan. The AFL-CIO is endorsing an unopposed Rethug in State Senate District 5. What a joke. (From my point of view, this isn’t “LOOK, Libertarians,” it’s “LOOK, narcissistic something or another of the Alabama AFL-CIO.) Off to blog. https://ballotpedia.org/Alabama_State_Senate_District_5
That endorsement will help the Libertarian Party candidates. Congratulations to the LP of Alabama for its success and to the AFL-CIO for its wise endorsements.
That’s good. If the AFL-CIO endorsement of one of those could gets Democrats to vote for them, then 20% might be very doable.
Off the top of my head, I know that the Lt. Governor, Auditor, and Public Service Commission races are between Republicans and Libertarians.
Are any of the statewide races involving Libertarians two way?
I have a physical copy of the Lagniappe issue that I’ve been meaning to explore further if anyone is interested in learning more.